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State of Emergency Declared in New York and New Jersey; Tornado Ripped Through Houses; Hurricane Ida Not Yet Done; Texas Passed Controversial Abortion Law; Caldor Fire Raging in California. Aired 3- 4a ET

Aired September 02, 2021 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Welcome back to CNN's breaking news coverage from CNN headquarters here in Atlanta. I'm Rosemary Church.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): I'm John Vause.

Two major stories this hour. State of emergency in effect for New York and New Jersey as the remnants of Hurricane Ida brings severe flooding, heavy rain, and tornadoes.

CHURCH: We are also following breaking news from the U.S. Supreme Court. In a split decision the court refusing to block the strictest abortion law in the country. More from Texas in just a moment. But first, the latest on what's being called a historic weather event.

States of emergency are now in effect in New York and New Jersey, as the remnants of Hurricane Ida hammer the U.S. northeast with record rainfall, flash flooding and tornadoes.

VAUSE: The first ever flashflood emergency was issued for New York City, it is now being downgraded to a flash flood watch. But the city subway system is flooded, with most lines effectively shut down. A ban is now in place for all non-emergency travel in the city for the next few hours. New York Governor Kathy Hochul says right now the situation remains dire.

(BEGIN VOICE CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): We've engaged our utilities first of all, we were actually preparing for the Hurricane Henri last, you know, two weeks ago, so we already having the outset in place. So, we're not an experienced in this, but it was always quite shocking when you literally see the streets of New York looking like rivers flowing, and people just in shock of what's going on. Disgust of the images of what's happening in the subway.

So, these are dangerous situation. People should stay away from them. But we can take all the precautions in advance, and we did deploy assets to be on the ground in anticipation, but mother nature will do whatever she wants. And she is really angry tonight. We have to be prepared to clean up tomorrow. I'll be on flight in the morning, making sure that this is going well. Right now, we are in a very dire situation. I do want to give you the MTA number one more time. I think I misread. The numbers at new.mta.info.

(END VOICE CLIP)

CHURCH: And in New Jersey, the National Weather Service confirmed at least two large and destructive tornadoes, almost all rail service in the state is now suspended due to the extreme weather.

So, let's begin in New York. Shimon Prokupecz is there. He joins us now on the phone. Shimon, when we spoke with you last hour you were talking about the possibility of at least one train up and running. What's the latest on that?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes. So, I can tell you from what I've seen. There's now been two trains that are on the 8th Avenue line here in Times Square. And the 8th Avenue line, the A train and the C train are both running with limited service.

So, they are running down, they seem to go up to a certain point, and then they can no longer run because there's still a lot of flooding in the subway system. All the parts of the subway system are still shut down.

I'm back to where I've been most of the night at Times Square on the 7th Avenue line. That still remains shut down. There are still people everywhere here at subways stop, sleeping, laying on the subway platforms. Some people are sitting on stairs, others are laying on benches.

So there still a lot of people who, being still, are going to be spending the night here. I was here a couple of hours. I'm still seeing the same faces that I saw here earlier. I did see some additional track workers working through here walking through here.

So, it seems, I believe their time to expect the (Inaudible) and make sure there is no damage and then perhaps will start moving more train. So, really just unprecedented what's going on here tonight, and earlier in the day with the flooding, with the rain. The MTA calling it a historic day that the system has just inundated with floodwaters, so they had to shut down the subway system.

The other thing they have to do was there are other people that were actually stuck in between station, so they had to run in and rescue these people, as well as many people driving through the streets when the torrential rain started and just kept coming.

People thinking they can keep driving with flood, you know, flooded streets, and they thought they can drive through them, and they had to be rescued by emergency personnel, fire department, police department, working really through the night to try and rescue people, get people who are stuck inside these cars.

We're also hearing that some homes were flooded, and in some cases, people have to be left (Inaudible) of those homes. So that was what's going on. It has stopped raining for the most part here which is some good news. And now just comes the cleanup and kind of the recovery of getting the city back up and running.

[03:05:05]

I mean, just think about the subway system is so vital to the city. They got to get this back up and running. So hopefully in the next few hours here they can start getting them back up, and people can hopefully go home because it's just horrific.

So many of these people who are working all day, even the people, a lot of the people that are stranded here are not people who are out partying or hanging out. People are coming home from work. They are trying to get home. They worked all day as a health care worker, as restaurant workers, you know, many of them frontline workers people we've come to know who were there during the pandemic at the height of the pandemic dealing with so much. Many of them, you know, you look around, looking around and everyone is just lying here, just stranded and it's hard to watch.

CHURCH: Yes. Just having to deal with so much. Just reminding our international and our U.S. viewers of course, it is 3 a.m. Just after 3 a.m.

PROKUPECZ: Right.

CHURCH: Three-o-five a.m. in fact. Shimon joining us there from New York City. Many thanks for bringing us up to date on the situation. John.

PROKUPECZ: Sure.

CHURCH: John?

VAUSE: Well, from New York City, let's go now to Brooklyn. And CNN's Mark Morales is there live with the very latest.

So, these people are getting on these trains, where are they getting home to, what's the latest on the damage in the flooding in your area?

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Well, good morning. And I can tell you right now what a difference a few hours make. I mean, behind me right now you'll see one of the major thoroughfares here in the Brooklyn, the Brooklyn Queens expressway. Packets of this roadway were filled with flooding. So much so that you had a lot of cars that were stuck in the roadways that were stuck with flooding.

You had NYPD vehicles that were going through trying to check up on people, but right now, there is a traffic (Inaudible) in the city where officials are saying they suggest that much of nonessential vehicle to stay off the roads. Most people have adhered to that. There are certain packets where you'll see behind me if there are cars driving on the roads.

As we've been saying there's been very limited service on the MTA. We are seeing some vehicles drive past behind me. This has been a situation where in a couple of hours it will be sunrise and people will be coming out. And you're having all (Inaudible) members, the police department, the (Inaudible). It's going to be after (Inaudible) single report.

And remember, for few hours there were really dangerous (Inaudible) happening here and you have this -- you have this very dangerous where there were ongoing rescue efforts by the NYPD. So, it's going to be a long time to sort of tear apart and take down and decide what it is that happened here.

VAUSE: But right down, Mark, what you are saying is that essentially the authorities have the situation pretty much under control. Most people are observing that travel ban and they are staying indoors, right?

MORALES: That's right. They are. And it helps that this is also in the late hours of the evening, so traditionally you wouldn't have a lot of people that were traveling anyway. However, you had a situation over in Queens as the U.S. Tennis Open that the tennis center had still ongoing matches down there so you had to be getting people out of the stadium.

So, it's been getting them off the stadium, it's been getting to an offsite location so that they can figure out a way to get home whether it's from delivery cop service or some sort of delivery train service, something like that. So, it's been -- it's been tough to sort of figure out how they are getting (Inaudible) around with these travelers.

VAUSE: Just very quickly. Is there any indication that the water levels are receding at the moment or are they are still pretty because the rain stopped at least?

MORALES: The rain has stopped and the water levels have receded. There are still high (Inaudible) a little bit of water with as we drive through, you'll still drive through some way fill up but it's not anyone close to what it was during the height of this. I mean, you had water that was coming up to the car window where NYPD vehicles, the emergency services units had to go and then try and rescue people.

There are rescue efforts going on all over the city. You are not seeing that right now. The water levels have really receded, and you can tell if you drive through certain parts of the roadway because you just see a lot of debris from just coffee cups or leaves or what have you and that all came from the rising water levels because (Inaudible) and really do have to (Inaudible) this roadway and just (Inaudible) to the city.

VAUSE: OK. Mark, thank you. CNN's Mark Morales there with the very latest on the situation in Brooklyn. We thank you.

Well, at least one death from the storm is confirmed in New Jersey. A man whose vehicle was overtaken by floodwaters. The governor is urging everyone to stay off the roads to the piece that they are doing that in many places. Officials say rescuers have been pulling people from cars trapped underwater.

[03:09:58] CHURCH: The storm has also spawned numerous reports of tornadoes across the region, including at least one large destructive twister in southern New Jersey. And we get more from Christie Ileto, our affiliate WPVI in Philadelphia.

UNKNOWN: Look at that tornado!

CHRISTIE ILETO, REPORTER, WPVI: A dark cloud of (Inaudible) touches down in Mullica Hill bringing traffic to a halt. Another angle shows it barreling towards homes and suddenly, Josephine Ln is directly in its path.

UNKNOWN: We hear just a little noise and that's when we heard everything just breaking.

ILETO: The National Weather Service says an apparent twister pummeled Gloucester County. Troy Brannenberg (Ph) and his children were in the basement. Minutes later, the family emerged unharmed, their belongings those scattered throughout the south Jersey neighborhood.

You've lost like half of your roof.

(CROSSTALK)

UNKNOWN: Not the whole roof.

ILETO: Brannenberg's (Ph) neighbors bore the brunt of the storm, aluminum siding, roofing, furniture and children's toys are piled on top of the family car. The house unlivable. First responders remain on seen along with utility companies who spent the evening going door to door.

UNKNOWN: It's horrible. You know, I mean, you never expect anything like this to happen in this area.

UNKNOWN: My daughter run out and said get in the house quick. So. Then we came out and this is -- this is what's happening.

ILETO: Piles of debris that can be replaced. Families fortunate this wasn't worse. Now tasked with how to rebuild.

UNKNOWN: So, what do you start to, you know.

ILETO: Yes.

UNKNOWN: Right now, we're trying to figure what we're going to do. Plenty of support, neighbors, friends, family. But what do you do?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera: Downtown Annapolis, Maryland, and the state capital home of the U.S. Naval Academy also to be directed from the tornado as Ida rolled through. Section on the main highway into the city was shut down by down power lines. Businesses, trees, as well as debris.

Cleanup is expected to take up about a day. No injuries have been reported but fire officials say some homes were damaged. There was also a gas leak in the area.

Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is with us again for the very latest on the storm. So, you know, where -- where we're looking here, we're seeing the rain easing up in parts. But obviously, it's down moving further away to Rhode Island, to Massachusetts. Right?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. You know, around New York City, around portions that have already been very hard hit across New Jersey as well, conditions beginning to gradually improve. So, the rain showers is now kind of tapering off in the last couple of hours.

But that energy, essentially the last area across the entire country here that we're going to see what is left of Ida is going to be right across parts of Rhode Island, Connecticut, into Massachusetts, Boston, one of the largest cities in line here to see another round of heavy rainfall before it's all set and done.

And this polygon here that is a tornado watch that is still in effect through six in the morning local time. This storm has produced at these five tornadoes in the past few hours. As we often see with tropical systems as they move over a region.

That rotation in the atmosphere enough spin in the atmosphere to produce tornadoes. Not too often you see that, but again, when we see it into the overnight hours it becomes that much more dangerous as people could be caught off guard.

But how about this. Rainfall amounts are staggering as you will ever see it. Some of these rain amounts may exceed what end up happening across portions of Louisiana the totals when it's all said and done. But New York, New Jersey coming in with the wettest single day on its record history there. About 8.32 inches, previous record only 6.7 inches. Shattering that record.

New York City Central Park comes in with 3.15 inches of rainfall in one hour. This event has a recurrence interval or a probability of occurring it is a 200-year event. So, you see this take place here, and we know just about 12 days ago Henri brought in historic rainfall towards New York City they saw at that point one in the 25-year event that took place there with about 1.9 inches that fell that shatters the previous records.

And records here have been kept since the 19th century. But here goes what is left of the system. We expect around say, eight, eight this morning this will all begin to taper off and move offshore. That's the good news. Notice some 70 million Americans still underneath these flood alerts. The flood emergencies, they've all been allowed to expire. That is among the most rare of flooded products.

But the rainfall on what is left here still could see at least two to three inches in some of these areas around that eastern Massachusetts into the Cape Cod region. So that's why we're going to watch carefully here going into the next few hours.

And John, you know, we've talked about how this all plays out and I've mentioned how with every degree warming, the atmosphere is able to retain about 10 percent more water vapor. And we've seen temperatures warm at least one degree Celsius since pre-industrial time.

So, when you see heavy rain events like this, to a meteorologist it makes complete sense why it's happening as moisture is much more prevalent? Because a warmer atmosphere is able to hold more moisture than a colder one. So, this is what's happening around this region.

VAUSE: Yes, do the math. It all adds up, right? Thanks, Pedram.

JAVAHERI: Yes.

VAUSE: Another breaking story we're following this hour. The U.S. Supreme Court has refused to block a controversial new abortion law in the state of Texas. The decision was five to four with Chief Justice John Roberts joining with three liberals.

The Texas law is almost a total ban prohibiting abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy. Up to 90 percent of all abortions in the state are done after the sixth week.

[03:15:03]

It also allows anyone in the United States to bring a civil suit against those who help a woman seeking an abortion.

CHURCH: Well, joining me now from La Jolla, California, former U.S. attorney Harry Litman, he is currently the host of the Talking Feds podcast. Always good to have you with us.

HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Thanks, Rosemary. Good to be here.

CHURCH: So, Harry, the Supreme Court has now formally denied a request to block this controversial Texas abortion law. What is your reaction to that move and is there anything women's rights groups can do to fight this?

LITMAN: Right. So first, we've said controversial a couple of times, you could really say lawless. There is not the slightest doubt that the law is completely irreconcilable with the governing president of the land Roe versus Wade.

So, in Texas alone, this evening, women, pregnant women don't have the same rights as in 49 other states. It was also really remarkable that they would do this. There is procedural reasons that they invoke, but I can just say with confidence that the court from when Roe was decided in 1973 to 2016 when the newest Trump appointees arrived, would, without doubt, have not let this law go into effect.

What can women's groups try to do now? Possibly a couple of things. There is going to be, I think, a bit of a groundswell to see if there is a federal possible response that at least the Democrats could put through and it's arguable that there is a way to combat it. But that hasn't been tried before. They will also hope that the -- there a challenge could still be made

by someone who can prove they are being injured. For instance, they are being denied an abortion, but the statute is set up to make it so difficult and exact such penalty is not only on women but on providers, that right now, all the clinics have said we give up, we are closing our shop because otherwise we could be subject to a crime.

And that's really a chilling effect that's going to make it hard to challenge this. And again, puts Texas completely beyond the pale of where the law really remains in this country until the Supreme Court says otherwise.

CHURCH: And Harry, this is so draconian. That if a young girl is raped and if incest is involved in any of this, she still is unable to have an abortion. And you say that this is lawless. But the Supreme Court allows it to stand. So where does that leave the country and where does that leave Texas?

(CROSSTALK)

LITMAN: There you have it. I mean, I think it's perfectly accurate, it's lawless in the sense that it's completely inconsistent with the law of the land, for the reasons you say. Also, women at six weeks often don't even know they are pregnant. Roe and reaffirmed by the later Casey case made it clear, you may not do this, a state may not do this before viability which is something like 24 weeks.

In that sense, it is lawless. It's also kind of cruel or even perverse because they took the features of this law that make it so difficult for anyone to challenge and use that as an excuse to let it go into effect.

As you mention, Chief Justice Roberts, no liberal, joined the three progressive members of the court to say exactly that. This is a situation where the state has maneuvered to keep us from trying to review it. We must have the power, and we do have the power now to at least not allowed to go into effect until we can look at its constitutionality.

But the five, you know, ultra conservative members of the court very boldly ignored the chief justice and rammed right it through. It's a stunning day, I think, as Justice Sotomayor said in this act.

CHURCH: And Harry, do you think that there is any possibility, because there will be a groundswell over this, do you think that the Democrats could push to expand the U.S. Supreme Court on the basis of this? Because it does threaten Roe versus Wade as you pointed out.

LITMAN: Yes. So, it just, Rosemary, involves a whole bigger set of considerations and I do think at the end of the day, it's unlikely that 50 members of the Congress would want to make really fundamental changes to the Supreme Court. They might try to put in legal remedies and even that would be by a razor-thin margin.

[03:20:03] I think federal legislation is hard here and what you are going to want to happen is figure out a way to get a challenge to the statute. The court didn't say that couldn't happen, they said it can't happen now, and then have it decided on the merits.

In the meantime, thousands of young women in Texas will be deprived of their clear constitutional rights to have pre-viability abortions.

CHURCH: It is a shock to women across the country --

LITMAN: Yes.

CHURCH: -- and indeed across the world. Harry Litman, thank you so much for your analysis. I appreciate it.

LITMAN: Thank you, Rosemary.

VAUSE: Well, still to come, with wildfires forcing thousands from their homes in California, the White House issues a presidential emergency declaration for direct federal assistance.

And we'll continue to follow the breaking news. A major flooding and extreme weather now battering the northeast of the United States.

Stay with us. You are watching CNN.

[03:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): We are following breaking news out of northeastern of the United States where the remnants of Hurricane Ida are bringing torrential rain and flash floods to the area.

The governors of New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergencies and there are more than 240,000 homes and businesses without power throughout the region.

VAUSE: In New Jersey, flash floods have killed at least one person who was trapped in their car, and now the severe weather is moving towards New England.

On the U.S. West Coast, the huge Caldor fire is now 23 percent contained. But with better weather in the forecast, there are hopes of bringing the blaze under control. Strong gusty winds which have been driving the fire towards the mountain resort area of like Lake Tahoe are expected to ease in the coming hours.

But conditions remain bone-dry and humidity low. More than 200,000 acres have burned. At least 700 homes and structures destroyed. Tens of thousands of residents have been forced to evacuate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEY ANDERSON, RESIDENT, CHRISTMAS VALLEY, CALIFORNIA: We raised all eight of our children here. I want to go, but I also want to stay. I know once I leave, I can't get back in. So that's the main thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE (on camera): The White House has now approved a request from California for a presidential emergency declaration for a direct financial assistance.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is Near Lake Tahoe with the details.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm standing in the midst of the Caldor fire that is burning in northern California and working its way towards the Nevada border. This is Echo Lake. And right now, firefighters are using it as a source of water to take up and fight the blazes that we can see here up in the mountainside.

One thing that has made this fire very difficult to fight is the fact that so much of the terrain is very rugged. It's very remote, it's out there. Also, not all of this territory has seen fire. Take a listen to the head of Cal Fire explain to me how long it's been since some of this area has burned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

THOM PORTER, DIRECTOR, CAL FIRE: The Caldor fire is burning in areas that have no fire history that we have over 100 years to areas that have burned within the last 20 years. All of the above. And we are seeing it burn through different vegetation types and age classes that we wouldn't necessarily expect fire to spread through. And that is absolutely drought, climate change, dry fuel conditions that we just haven't seen before.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELAM (on camera): The chief also told me that people did heed those evacuation warnings around Lake Tahoe, which if you haven't been around here it's a great tourist destination that people come to pretty much year around. During the summer months they come to enjoy the lakes and during the winter they come here to ski.

So, this is really crucial to a lot of people. And he says that as of now, they have been able to protect Lake Tahoe. But still, this Caldor fire has been devastating burning more than 200,000 acres and more than 500 residencies have been lost.

Near Lake Tahoe, I'm Stephanie Elam, CNN.

CHURCH: In other news, Texas passing a law that could put Roe versus Wade at risk. It is a case of a minority in the U.S. making rules for the majority.

Plus, the remnants of Hurricane Ida cause rainfall New York has never seen before. The latest on the cities rescue efforts amid the floods. We're back in just a moment.

[03:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Welcome back everyone. A travel ban in New York City is in effect for another hour and a half after a torrential rain deliver by the remnants of hurricane Ida. Flooding was so sudden, cars were submerge. People were left trapped. New York's mayor said it was a historic weather event.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Flooding force most of the city's subway lines to close. Limited service is returning on some lines, but many commuters, it was a long night spent at the subway waiting to get home.

VAUSE: The danger of the rushing water was obvious in front of these stores in New Jersey. The Governor urged people to stay off the roads. And a confirmed tornado raced through South Jersey Wednesday night, moving at 40 miles an hour.

CHURCH: The torrential rainfall that broke records in New York is moving on from the city heading northeast, but all that water of course, have to go somewhere. The subway service in the city is extremely limited with emergency crews working to rescue passengers stuck on trains. And we heard from New York's mayor, a little earlier, urging everyone to stay indoors.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: I'm very, very worried about what's happening out on the roads. I want to urge everyone, get in quickly. Do not stay out on the roads. It's dangerous. We are seeing a kind of rainfall we almost never see. This kind of speed at which the rain has come. Everyone has got to get to safety. Do not be out on the road. There's no choice. And the subways also, I'm sad to say, the subways are basically out of commission at this point. It's also not safe to go there. Tomorrow, do not go into a street, a road, a highway, we have a lot of water accumulated. That could be super dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[03:35:00]

CHURCH: Joining me on the line now from Brooklyn, New York is James West. Thank you so much for talking with us.

JAMES WEST, BROOKLYN, NEW YORK (on the phone): Rosemary, thanks for having me.

CHURCH: And James, you just flew home to New York City from abroad. What did you think once you realized that the city was flooding? How did you get home?

WEST: Well, I was arriving from London at JFK Airport. And it's usually a bit crazy getting home, usually about half an hour to 40- minute trip. This time it turned into over two hours, maybe 2.5 hours to get home, straight into the aftermath, the remnants of hurricane Ida. And I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. I was here for hurricane Sandy in New York City, and your viewers may remember flooded streets, flooded subways.

Well tonight, in New York City, the entire subway system is essentially suspended. The roads, everywhere I saw coming out of the airport and beyond, flooded. Dozens and dozens and dozens of cars, (inaudible) are stranded. People are trying to work out what to do, get out of their cars, try to walk somewhere in the pouring rain. Fortunately, I had a very battle harden New Yorker Uber driver, who is committed to getting me home, to some very sticky patches, but it was like rivers out there and I saw many, many people in a lot worse condition than I was. Thank goodness.

CHURCH: And James, as you've been speaking with us, we've been looking at these pictures, the images are just extraordinary in the subway, on the roads, just amazing. As you say, you've never seen anything like it, certainly not in New York City. So, once you got home after two hours, normally a 30-minute trip, as you say, took you two hours to get home, what did you find?

WEST: Well, looking out of the window and reviewing some of the photos and videos that I took on my trip home. And fortunately, my neck of the woods is totally fine here. It's been wind swept and obviously very, very wet. But you know, tomorrow morning when the sun comes up, we'll begin to assess the damage. I've seen on Twitter and social media like you and your viewers, just looking at these extraordinary amount of water that's coming into this place. And again, that closest comparison that I have is hurricane Sandy, where we were inundated then and this to me just my experience tonight, this is what I experience then. It's up there with one of the big and major weather events that I've seen in this city.

CHURCH: Yes. I totally understand that, James West. Thank you so much for talking with us. And we're glad you got safely home.

WEST: Yeah, I'm going to dry my hand now I think.

CHURCH: There you go, thank you so much, James. Bye-bye.

VAUSE: The other breaking news here on CNN. The U.S. Supreme Court will not block the most restrictive antiabortion law in the country. Texas has now enacted on a total ban, prohibiting abortion after the six weeks of pregnancy, people and most women even know they are pregnant.

CNN's Supreme Court reporter, Ariane de Vogue, has this story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARIANE DE VOGUE, CNN REPORTER, SUPREME COURT (voice over): Supreme Court is declining to block Texas abortion laws. In fact, the court has just issued this order formally denying a request from Texas abortion providers to free the state law that bars abortion after six weeks. And what's critical here is the road on this midnight order, Chief Justice John Roberts here has joined the liberal in dissent. Remember, this Texas law is one of the strictest in the nation. It bars abortion before many people know they are pregnant, now it's going to remain on the books. And what was interesting and unique about this law is that it allowed

private citizens to bring civil suits against anyone who assist a pregnant person, seeking abortion in violation of the ban. No other six week ban has been allowed to go into effect.

And let me just read to you from the dissent. In this part, there were several dissent, but this one is written by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Stephen Breyer and Justice Kagan. They write the courts order is stunning, presented with an application to join a flagrantly unconstitutional law engineered to prohibit women from exercising their constitutional right, and evade judicial scrutiny. A majority of justices have acted to bury their heads in the sand.

And then it makes note that last night, the Supreme Court effectively did not rule in time to meet a deadline. So the law did go into effect last night simply because the court hadn't ruled on this emergency application from clinics.

[03:40:12]

So Sotomayor goes on to say last night the court finally (inaudible) in the states enactment of a law that flouts (inaudible) 50 years of federal precedent. Today the court belatedly explains so that client declare and release because of procedural complexities of the states owned invention. So, were still reading through it, but this is a very strong dissent from the liberals here.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Thanks to CNN, Ariane de Vogue for that report from Washington.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the law a blatant violation of women's constitutional rights. We'll take a short break. When we come came back, we'll have more from New York and the reports we are getting now of that fatality that has caused by the rising flood waters. More in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:45:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, more now on the breaking news in the northeastern U.S. The Governors of New York and New Jersey have declared states of emergency, because of massive flooding from the remnants of hurricane Ida. Now this is the baggage area at the airport in New York, New Jersey. There was also flooding in airport terminals, at one point the airport shut down all flights, but officials say they have resumed limited operations there. New York had a record eight inches of rain on Wednesday.

VAUSE: We're also learning more about the number of fatalities as a result of the storm. Let's bring in New York City's, (inaudible) I should say, Shimon Prokupecz is there. He is on the phone. Shimon, what details you know about how many people being killed, because we know there had been fatalities in other places like New Jersey as well, but what are you hearing about New York City?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER (on the phone): Yes. It's just really some tragic news. We're just getting from the NYPD that four people died because of the flooding. What we are being told is that a woman in her 40s and a man in his 20s, they were in Queens, and then there's an additional woman in her 40s, also in Queens. And then a man in his 60s in Brooklyn who died. So that's four deaths due to the flooding. And there was also an additional death out of Queens where a building partially collapsed killing someone. So right now five deaths total in New York City.

The NYPD saying to people who died in their homes, they all called for help. You know, we've been talking about this all night, people were calling for help whether they were at home, whether they were in their car. These individuals, they died in their homes. The NYPD finding them after going there trying to help them because of the rising waters that got into their home and sadly, they cannot rescue them and so they had died.

So some really tragic news here out of New York City, where really the torrential rain, the storm that just inundated and hit New York City has really turned deadly here.

VAUSE: I guess the question is, Shimon, how many -- look, I should say what are the concerns, the deaths that we are talking about here in New York City is just the beginning? That there will be many others in similar situations that we will be discovered as the water recedes and people are checked on.

PROKUPECZ: Correct. I mean, certainly, in vehicles. Right now, it seems like some -- a lot of the water in areas has receded so, perhaps this is how in some instances the authorities, police, are finding these people. What is happening is in the outer boroughs in places like Brooklyn, places like Queen, the Bronx and Staten Island, got really, really hit hard. Many people are at home, right? Watching TV, whatever it is, maybe sleeping even, as the storm came in. It came in so fast, people were really not prepared for it. You know, everyone heard, oh it's going to rain.

But you could really tell that this city was not preparing for something so serious. And despite the warnings about flash floods and some of what was to come, you know, no one here really took it seriously. And so it's just taking a really tragic turn.

And yes, I mean, look, there's always the possibility that they can find more as they get into these neighborhoods and communities, and the water starts to recede. You know and cars, that's the other thing, there's so many cars just stranded across the city right now. And perhaps maybe that is where they will find more bodies.

Hopefully not, obviously. But seriously, it is a very tragic turn here. And something that this city is now going to have to deal with for quite some time.

VAUSE: Yeah, I guess the question is where these people alone, were they found together, in a least details we will find out sadly in the coming hours? Shimon, thank you for that reporting, Shimon Prokupecz there on the line in New York.

CHURCH: Yes. That is tragic news there. And we will of course continue to follow this breaking news, do stay with us here on CNN.

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[03:50:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. We are following the breaking news out of the northeastern U.S. We just learned that four people have been reported dead following massive flooding in New York City. People there are under a state stay-at-home order until 5:00 a.m. And of course, we talk about five -- four deaths, maybe five (inaudible) report it. Shimon was suggesting that was possible. That number will most likely go up.

[03:54:58]

VAUSE: (Inaudible), who called for help, and they wanted to be rescued, they are trapped reportedly in a basement. A man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s, one address in Queens, another woman in her 40s also in a separate rescue in Queens. And then there's the 60-year- old man in Brooklyn, all separate addresses.

So, there's two one address, the others at separate. So they may have been alone at the time, we don't know but they were clearly calling for help and this is something which they had been dealing with right now, this rising waters and now there's way to (inaudible) to receive, but at the time it has been horrendous for all the people.

CHURCH: Because it took people by surprise, it came in so fast. Thank you so much for joining us. I am Rosemary Church.

VAUSE: Kim Brunhuber will pick up of our coverage in just a moment. I am John Vause.

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