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More Than 700,000 Without Power In Louisiana Amid Scorching Heat; Safety Of NYC Basement Apartment Under Scrutiny After Ida; The Connection Between Climate Change And Severe Weather; Afghan Women Reportedly Tear-Gassed, Beaten And Tased; Abortion Clinics Already Forced To Turn Away Patients; Georgia Breaks Hospitalization Record With 6,000-Plus COVID Patients; Talk Hosts Who Dismissed Virus And Bashed Vaccines Die From COVID; Storm Blamed For At Least 63 Deaths. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired September 04, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The safety of basement apartments under scrutiny in New York City tonight after 10 people, including a 2-year-old boy died in their homes during catastrophic flooding.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: We know that basement apartments create a whole set of particular challenges.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got wind damage everywhere. There's not a neighborhood that's been spared. There's not a street that's been spared.

ADRIENNE BROADDUS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's still no power in some parts of the city and across the state, more than 700,000 people are still without electricity. And tensions are rising. Less than 10 miles from where we are right now, police say a man was shot and killed, who was trying to get gasoline.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A Texas judge has issued a temporary restraining order against the state's largest anti-abortion group.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The most pernicious thing about the Texas law, it sort of creates a vigilante system. It just seems -- I know this sounds ridiculous, almost un-American.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

AMARA WALKER, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Thanks for being with me. I'm Amara Walker in Atlanta in for Pamela Brown. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

East Coast, West Coast, Gulf Coast. The nation reels from a devastating week of extreme weather and the reality of a climate in crisis. The death toll has climbed to at least 50 in the northeast from Ida's record rainfall. New York officials blame illegal basement apartments for most of the city's in-home deaths. In New Jersey, searchers are looking for two college students who were swept away into a storm drain. Receding floodwaters left their empty car hanging above the drain.

To get an idea of just how fast and deadly the rainfall was, watch this. The wall of a flooded basement in New Jersey buckles and unleashes a wave of water. And in hurricane-ravaged Louisiana, temperatures are climbing, desperation is growing for food, water, electricity, and fuel. In Jefferson Parish, a man has surrendered after allegedly shooting and killing another motorist in line at a gas station. Some stations are seeing violence with lines lasting up to five hours.

Experts say one thing is clear, climate change is super charging our weather, from ferocious storms to the wildfires burning in the West. The president echoed this warning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: The past few days of Hurricane Ida and the wildfires in the West and the unprecedented flash floods in New York and New Jersey is yet another reminder that these extreme storms and the climate crisis are here.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: All right. Let's get right to Louisiana, the epicenter of Hurricane Ida. And CNN's Nadia Romero in New Orleans.

Nadia, just give us a sense of what people are going through there. You've been talking about extreme heat. People getting desperate. Tensions flaring. What's the latest?

NADIA ROMERO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Amara, this is unfortunately what we knew could happen if Hurricane Ida was going to be as powerful as what was forecasted. That people could be without power and other life-saving needs for weeks to come. And now we're dealing with it. And some people have said, they're done. They don't want any more of what New Orleans has to offer, until power comes back on and things get better.

So if you look behind me, we've got one, two, three, four, five coach buses that are lined up, right outside the Convention Center. And they are able to take about 50 people at a time, up to 2200 people a day can leave from here to go elsewhere. And a lot of people I talk to say, I want to go anywhere where there's power and air-conditioning. I can get some clean clothes and a hot meal. And they're trying to get out of the city, so they're headed to Texas or northern Louisiana, like to Shreveport just to get out of the way.

So who's on these buses? Well, there are people from nursing homes and assisted living facilities. The people who have special needs and also folks who have homes that are damaged. So if you think about the power is being restored to some people, but even after the power is restored, you still have other issues, like mold in your home or maybe all the food in your fridge has spoiled. And so we spoke with one woman. Her name is Miss Mary Carter. She was

gracious enough to speak with us. She has lived in New Orleans her entire life and she told me she needs to leave, but she wants people around the world to know that people here in New Orleans need help. Listen to her desperate plea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY CARTER, NEW ORLEANS EVACUEE: Would you please help us? We need help.

[19:05:02]

Please, I need a place to stay. I'm scared and I'm tired. Please, our president, help us.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ROMERO: And she knew that President Biden came here just recently, just yesterday, and she's hoping that there's more help from the city, from the parish, from the federal government, because she's not sure if she wants to return home to New Orleans, but she knows now that she's basically starting over from scratch.

Now behind me you saw all the linemen that were coming in from 40 different states to help restore the power again. That's only one issue and that's what's happening here in New Orleans. But we know that Hurricane Ida devastated all the way up through the northeast. So I'm going to go my colleague now, Mark Morales, who's in New York, with the devastating flash flooding we saw there -- Mark.

MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Joe Biden is expected to reach New York and New Jersey on Tuesday and one of the areas where he's expected to go to was hardly hit during the storm, which is in Queens, New York. You know, Queens was home to most of the victims during the storm. Most of the fatalities happened to people that were living in Queens.

Important to note about those fatalities is that those people were living in what's known as illegal basement apartments. Now legal basement apartments are homes where the owner converts their basement into a makeshift room. So the hallmarks are usually has shoddy wiring or cheap materials that are used, but the main problem is that there's usually no escape route. First responders have long called these fire traps for obvious reasons. This is the first time, however, that we've seen people die because of massive flooding.

Now I want to play for you a clip of a Queens resident, her name is Deborah Torres, she's 38 years old. Her downstairs neighbors were a family of three, three victims from this storm. A 2-year-old boy and both of his parents. And listen to Deborah. She'll talk a little bit about how gut wrenching it was for her to be in this scenario, knowing that these people needed help. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DEBORAH TORRES, NEIGHBOR OF FAMILY THAT DROWNED: I wasn't -- honestly I was in charged with my daughter, trying to help my daughter, and they called 911. Right now, she's -- she can -- she's not good. My daughter, she's not good because she knows the baby for one year. We always hear the baby. Because we live in the first floor, we can hear everything. What I could do ? What I can do to help them? But I don't know how to swim. I don't know. I'm scared. I don't know how to swim.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORALES: Now as you see, 10 of the 13 victims lived in illegal basement apartments and you go there today and you see a lot of the residents in Queens are sort of picking up the pieces and they're trying as best they can. They're drying out their possessions that are out on the street and there's a lot of damage that's been resulting from this storm.

Now the city has responded. Mayor de Blasio has come out and saying that he is trying to create a task force that the next time a storm of this nature hits, there are more warning systems. Whether it's an app that buzzes on your phone or a door-to-door service where people knock and say, hey, you need to leave right now.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul has also been going around to various parts of the city that were ravaged by this storm. She was in East Elmhurst today in Queens, where there was a mobile unit that's designed to help people who have to file insurance claims. So the city is responding, they're trying to respond to this issue that has really damaged a lot of the city.

And my colleague, Natasha Chen, has been following the climate crisis on the West Coast and here she is with more.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Mark, if you just think about the fact that from the beginning of just this year, the amount of land burned in California is larger than the state of Delaware. And this season, that's three times more land that was burned during the same time period in California last year. So the effects of climate change, these fires, the flooding that you're talking about, the hurricanes, these effects are happening in our lifetimes, unfolding right before us. Not just a problem that future generations have to deal with.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN (voice-over): From coast to coast, people are fleeing flames, wind, and water.

DAVE LAUCHNER, CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF FORESTRY AND FIRE PROTECTION: They are very dangerous conditions. In 22 years of doing this, I've never seen fire conditions like we're seeing now.

CHEN: The Caldor Fire has forced tens of thousands of people in the South Lake Tahoe area to evacuate. It's the 15th largest wildfire in California history. And out of the largest 20 California fires, 11 of them happened in the last five years. Up the coast, the Pacific northwest saw a record-breaking heat wave earlier in the summer.

DALE KUNCE, AMERICAN RED CROSS: The Red Cross traditionally doesn't support cooling centers, but this is unfortunately our new normal. This is the first time it was 116 degrees. It won't be the last time.

[19:10:05]

CHEN: In the south, people are displaced from Hurricane Ida, which arrived on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. And in the northeast --

DE BLASIO: We are in a whole new world now. Let's be blunt about it.

CHEN: The remnants of Ida brought flash flooding and tornados to areas that rarely saw these events in the past.

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: The records that were broken in Central Park, for example, 3.15 inches in one hour. It broke a record literally set one week earlier. That says to me that there are more cataclysmic unforeseeable events.

CHEN: In August, the United Nations' intergovernmental panel on climate change said it is, quote, "unequivocal that humans have caused the climate crisis." The report confirms that widespread and rapid changes have already happened. Some of them irreversibly. A lead author of that report, Kim Cobb, explains how the earth has warmed more than 1 degree Celsius since pre-industrial levels.

KIM COBB, DIRECTOR, GEORGIA TECH GLOBAL CHANGE PROGRAM: We've, of course, known for decades that rise in fossil fuel emissions are driving warming across the planet. This warming is related to the heating of the atmosphere that has caused a 7 percent increase in the amount of water vapor that the atmosphere can hold.

CHEN: More water vapor leads to higher humidity, in some areas, more drought.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've had drought cycles, but this is the first time we've ever seen a megadrought, where it's year after year.

CHEN: And in other areas, a potential for more rainfall and more frequent heavy rainstorms, with oceans retaining more heat, hurricanes can get stronger, slower, and wetter, and Ida was a prime example of those changes.

With every fraction of a degree of warming, the effects get worse.

COBB: If we think this is bad, we have to get ready for the climate of the next decades, when we know we have a couple tenths of a degree warming more.

CHEN: In the U.N. report's most optimistic scenario, the world's emissions need to drop sharply, beginning now to net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Even then, we'll peak above a dangerous warming threshold before falling again.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHEN: And Amara, you and I both grew up in California. I don't remember in the '80s and '90s hearing about such large wildfires, as frequently as we do today. And at first, I thought, maybe I was a kid and not paying as much attention. But no, if we looked up the list of the largest wildfires in California, the largest 20, and the most destructive 20 wildfires in California, most of them did happen in the last 10 to 20 years.

So Amara, things are definitely changing before our eyes.

WALKER: Yes. It sure is. And that's a good point, right? I mean, when we were younger, there was a fire season, a start date and really much an end date. And now it seems like the fire seasons are just kind of blending for as long as they continue. Very concerning.

Natasha Chen, thank you so much.

Women in Afghanistan reportedly tear gassed, beaten, and tased by Taliban firefighters. Their crime? Simply marching for equality.

Also ahead --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not be vaccinated. You must survive the genocide.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

WALKER: The anti-vaccine talk show hosts who died from COVID. Will their deaths make a difference to their followers? The story is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:29]

WALKER: A small but determined group of Afghan women marched through the Taliban-controlled streets of Kabul today demanding equal rights and the ability to participate in government. It is at least the third public challenge to the militant group in the past week. But what might be seen as simple acts of defiance in many countries, it means putting your life at risk in the Taliban's Afghanistan.

CNN's Sam Kiley has more on their bravery and the consequences.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The third public protest by women demanding equal rights under the Taliban is taking place in Kabul. This time, amidst a degree of violence that we haven't really seen before with the women on this demonstration being hit, they said, with magazines of rifles, with electric tasers and with whips. At least one of them showing quite nasty injuries to the side of her face. This flying very much in the face of promises made by the Taliban to

respect human rights and above all the rights of women, particularly women in the workplace and women seeking education. This is what this demonstration was demanding. It was the second, at least, that we've seen in Kabul. And there's been another one in Herat. We've also been in touch with women privately who would have wanted to take part in the demonstrations but did not do so for fear of retaliation.

Some of them claiming to have been threatened already by telephone and other message. So a very difficult time indeed for the Taliban when they're trying to spread the idea internationally that they're a moderating force. And yet on the ground we're seeing something very different. They have admitted, the Taliban, in the past, that they have elements within their own ranks that need education, need training in dealing with women, in particular.

So there is some hope there. And this all coming amidst a visit of the head of Pakistan's intelligence service, the ISI, deeply influential figure there. Perhaps also trying to push this idea that the Taliban need to be moderate, so that they can get international aid and trade, and avert a humanitarian situation in Afghanistan that would have an immediate knock-on, probably destabilizing knock-on in neighboring Pakistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Incredibly brave women. Sam Kiley, thank you for your report.

Now to Texas where abortion clinics are being forced to turn away patients after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to block a law that essentially bans the procedure. Abortions won't be allowed in Texas after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which is around the six-week mark, before many women have an inkling that they're even pregnant.

[19:20:11]

Cases of rape or incest doesn't matter. What's especially astonishing is how the law lets citizens sue abortion providers for alleged violations. Any stranger can sue and get potential payouts of some $10,000. Also under fire, anyone who helps a woman get an abortion.

So where does the legal battle go from here?

Kim Wehle is a law professor at the University of Baltimore and the author of "How to Read the Constitution and Why."

Kim, thank you for joining us. Let's get right to it because your editorial in TheHill.com accuses the Supreme Court of siding with Texas over the Constitution. You say the Texas law is unconstitutional and an undisputed violation of "Roe v. Wade." Tell me more.

KIM WEHLE, LAW PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BALTIMORE: Well, it wasn't disputed even in the Supreme Court. One of the dissenting justices noted that this is bedrock, established law, and there's a pending case in the court called Dobbs out of Mississippi abortion law, where the court can decide whether to address "Roe v. Wade," to change "Roe v. Wade." This was done on an emergency basis.

There's no argument, even amongst the parties, really that at the six- week mark, the government has a constitutional right, a right to interfere with a woman's decision, whether to carry a baby to term. This is established law under Supreme Court precedence. Really stunning that the court didn't stand up for its own authority here.

WALKER: Yes, to be clear, this was not a ruling by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the Texas abortion ban. And Kim, what makes this Texas law different is the way that it empowers, right, and incentivizes just random strangers to enforce this abortion ban. What could that look like? I'm thinking about people policing people. That's a little frightening.

WEHLE: Sure. So it's that cynical outmaneuvering of the court's power over this case, which is why the court decided not to step in. The majority decided not to step in. The Texas legislature says, listen, let's take the power away from the government and give it to random people. That way, if someone tries to enjoin or stop the government, there's nobody to sue. And that is the kind of cynical argument that won.

But absolutely, I think we can't even imagine what we will see in terms of neighbors spying on neighbors, bullying, harassment, sort of trickery, potentially. Uber drivers, friends, families. $10,000 is serious. And we're already seeing Florida, Oklahoma, other states piggyback on this as an end run around the Constitution itself. And it's really an ugly scenario, which is why, under the standard for granting immediate relief, I don't understand why the Supreme Court didn't stop this because the standard includes harm to people.

Of course, women and their families and friends are being harmed. And harm to the public interest. This kind of law is unprecedented. And we just don't know where it's going to go on the ground in Texas.

WALKER: Yes. And that leads me to my next question, right? Because it is unprecedented. The fact that the Supreme Court did not stand in the way of this six-week abortion ban. That in itself sets a precedent, right? Because if I were a red state, I would say, oh, hey, look, the Supreme Court is not standing in the way. Why don't we replicate this law? Do you see many more states following?

WEHLE: Sure. There are some predictions that add up to a quarter of states could follow along, because we are already seeing, up until the Texas law, and as I said, Oklahoma has a similar law that goes into effect November 1st. Up until the Texas law, anti-abortion legislatures sort of tinkered within Roe, said, this is the constitutional -- this is the law as it stands.

So they sort of pushed it within Roe. Texas went -- bulldozed right through it. And so now it's really a green light to do this not just frankly for abortion rights, but there's no limitation on limiting the Second Amendment and running around the Second Amendment, and running around other constitutional rights that people at different parts of the political spectrum might want to preserve. This is a big gaping hole in the rule of law itself. WALKER: And, you know, we've got to get going, but I do want to

mention this last point that you mentioned in your article. The irony, right, of conservatives, you know, who have been arguing when it comes to the mask and vaccine debates. That this is about our personal freedoms. The government should not be telling us or forcing us to wear masks or get vaccinated. But on the flip side, the government apparently can force women to have babies.

Law professor Kim Wehle, appreciate you joining us. Thank you so much.

WEHLE: Thank you for having me, Amara.

WALKER: Up next, makeshift ICU wards and overworked ER doctors. COVID patients are overwhelming Georgia hospitals.

[19:25:00]

When we come back, emergency medicine Dr. James Black explains how hospitals are being forced to adapt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WALKER: Georgia is now seeing more COVID hospitalizations than at any time since the pandemic began with more than 6,000 people in hospitals right now.

Phoebe Putny Memorial Hospital in Albany has been here before. The small city in southwest Georgia made headlines last year when it became one of the worst COVID hot spots in the country.

My next guest is that hospital's director for emergency services, Dr. James Black. And he says this current wave is even worse?

My next guest is the Hospital Director for Emergency Services, Dr. James Black, and he says, this current wave is even worse.

Doctor, thank you for your time. You know, I was in Albany earlier this year to report on the pandemic and the vaccination outreach after that horrible outbreak that started with those two back to back funerals. And now you're back to what's worse than square one.

Can you explain what's happening?

DR. JAMES BLACK, DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY SERVICES, PHOEBE PUTNEY MEMORIAL HOSPITAL: Oh, yes, ma'am, it is quite disheartening. You know, a few short weeks ago, we were down in the double digits as far as patients admitted to the hospital for coronavirus, and within it seemed like no time at, all the numbers sprang up and even surpassed our numbers that we had at the outset, at the beginning of the pandemic, when he mentioned we were actually ranked number four in the world as far as death rate.

So, it's kind of disheartening to be right back and even past that point.

WALKER: What do your ICUs and emergency rooms look like right now? And what's the percentage of patients that are there, that are COVID patients?

BLACK: The emergency department is full and the hospital is full. We are unable to place many patients, anytime a patient is discharged, we have patients waiting on those beds in the emergency department.

By extension, it is also for holding patients that need to be admitted, as well as caring for those that present to be evaluated. So, it's really a shuffling game that anytime we can create space, we do and the hospital has done a great job of creating additional ICU space. We've nearly doubled our ICU capacity, but we've needed that capacity in order to manage those patients.

WALKER: Now, you sound so measured. And you tell me, Dr. Black, how this is disheartening. And, you know, I have to -- full disclosure, my husband is in Medicine. I know a lot of his colleagues, many who have been on the frontlines here in Atlanta when it comes to COVID.

And, you know, a lot of them tell me just how frustrated they are and the difference between this year and last year is now there is a vaccine. And now we know a lot more about what kind of virus that we are dealing with.

Can you talk to me a bit about the morale and what your colleagues are saying and how frustrated doctors, nurses, the medical staff are?

BLACK: We were frustrated, a little bit bewildered, especially given what we've been through at the onset of the pandemic. We certainly thought we would have a much better response to the vaccine. And we were all hoping and waiting for the vaccines to become available to us, thinking that was going to help put us over the top and, you know, beat down with the pandemic.

And, you know, our response rate in Georgia kind of lags behind the rest of the country, and even in our area, which was devastated and hit so hard, we were a little bit kind of surprised and disappointed at the lack of turnout.

So, you know, again, we've had to redouble our efforts and you know, pick each other up. And certainly, we hoped not to be having the same discussion 18 months into it. But here we are, and seemingly in worse shape overall than we were initially.

WALKER: In worse shape than initially, and we didn't think that it could even get worse, right? Can you talk a little bit about what this means for patients who don't have COVID, who need to go to the ER for a traumatic injury or you know, their child might be sick with RSV or you're dealing with a heart attack? Does that mean you're going to be waiting much longer and may not even be seen in time?

BLACK: It certainly presents a challenge, and one of the things we've noticed during the initial outbreak of the pandemic, the hospital was almost -- the emergency department itself was almost empty except for patients with those typical COVID symptoms. And the difference this time is that the other patients are still presenting.

And you're right, it does present a challenge to determine which one of those patients need emergency urgent need, and trying to see them in a timely fashion when the hospital emergency department is still full.

So again, trying to find every nook and cranny that we can to keep an eye on every patient and seeing them in a timely fashion becomes a little bit of a juggling act.

WALKER: Well, Dr. James Black, I can't tell you how appreciative I am of your time because I know it's precious and that you, along with your colleagues and your staff are working around the clock again on the front lines and we thank you again for everything that you do and the risks that you take.

Dr. James Black, appreciate it.

BLACK: Thank you for having us.

WALKER: Throughout the pandemic, one of the greatest sources of disinformation has been conservative media. Its radio and TV hosts have used their platforms to dismiss the very existence of COVID and to spread false information about the vaccine while urging their listeners to ignore science and reason.

But in the past couple of months, some of them have fallen ill and even died of COVID-19. Could their deaths convince their fans to reconsider?

CNN's Sara Sidner has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not be vaccinated, you must survive the genocide.

[19:35:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): There is a growing number of conservatives who have used their platforms to bad mouth COVID-19 vaccines, but did not live long enough or are too sick to tell their public just how much they regret it.

AMY LEIGH HAIR, FRIEND OF DICK FARREL: I didn't want to be a guinea pig, he didn't want to be a guinea pig.

SIDNER (voice over): Amy Leigh Hair is talking about her friend, Florida conservative radio show host, Dick Farrel. He repeatedly told people not to trust the vaccine. "Why get a vax promoted by people who lied to you?" He posted, and "Vaccine bogus bull shid," he proclaimed. That was early July. A few weeks later, he was in the hospital dying from COVID-19.

HAIR: He told me this pandemic ain't no joke and he said, you need to get the shot and he told me he wish he had.

SIDNER (voice over): The statistics that more than 600,000 Americans have died from COVID hadn't swayed him or her. SIDNER (on camera): Why did it take Dick Farrel dying from COVID for

you to say, I'm taking it.

HAIR: There is a pandemic of misinformation out there and I think there's no truer thing ever was said.

SIDNER: And didn't Dick Farrel add to that misinformation?

HAIR: Oh yes, he did.

SIDNER (voice over): But, she is sharing his last words to her hoping they resonate.

HAIR: There's just a whole bunch of people that said because of Dick, I went and got it, so hopefully he did some good in the end.

SIDNER (voice over): Farrel's story is not an anomaly. Two weeks after his death, conservative radio talk show host and vaccine skeptic, Phil Valentine also died of COVID-19.

Before he got sick, he wrote a song mocking the push to get vaccinated.

TEXT: And I don't care if you agree.

SIDNER (voice over): Changing the Beatles' "Taxman" to "Vaxman."

Valentine told everyone he was not getting the vaccine. He got COVID, instead. His family had to relay his regret.

MARK VALENTINE, PHIL VALENTINE'S BROTHER: He recognizes now that his not getting the vaccination has probably caused a bunch of other people not to get vaccinated and that he regrets.

SIDNER (voice over): Valentine died, but his brother said his story influenced dozens to get the shot.

No surprise to behavioral scientists.

HENGCHEN DAI, UCLA BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE EXPERT: When there is a vivid story about someone you trust, you know got sick, got hospitalized, or even died. That vivid story would carry more weight.

SIDNER (voice over): But there are a litany of other vaccine skeptics who got COVID and have yet to acknowledge the benefits of the vaccine.

From conservative Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke who used his pulpit to spread baseless conspiracy theories about the vaccine and ended up on a ventilator.

CARDINAL RAYMOND LEO BURKE, AMERICAN PRELATE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH: And even the kind of microchip needs to be placed under the skin of every person.

SIDNER (voice over): To Florida Pastor Rick Wiles.

RICK WILES, SENIOR PASTOR, FLOWING STREAMS CHURCH: I am not going to be vaccinated. I'm going to be one of the survivors.

SIDNER (voice over): He too was hospitalized with COVID, but remains defiant about the vaccine.

SIDNER (on camera): How big of an influence is our own ego.

DAI: So, they don't want to recognize that you have made a mistake, especially publicly.

SIDNER (voice over): But Hair has no problem is saying she changed her mind to honor her friend's wishes.

HAIR: I just thought it was important that I put it out there because I did change my mind.

SIDNER (voice over): Sara Sidner, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: COVID is real, vaccines work. It's simple as that. Sara Sidner, thank you.

Just 53 percent of the total United States population is fully vaccinated. That is with an over-abundance of vaccine supplies available nationwide and millions of doses having to been thrown out.

But in other parts of the world, the vaccination rate is 70 percent or higher. The dark green is reflecting that and you can see that in Canada and in many parts of Europe.

President Biden will see more storm damage for himself next week as people in Louisiana clean up from Ida's wreckage and grapple with the losses that can never be replaced.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I close my eyes and I just see the tree hitting him. Like it's just -- it's horrible. The tree that he hated. The tree that he hated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:43:43]

WALKER: Hurricane Ida has claimed 63 lives so far. CNN's Ed Lavandera has the tragic story of a father in Louisiana, who died in his backyard after he was hit by a falling tree.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Recovering from the aftermath of a major hurricane is hard enough. Figuring out how to recover from a broken heart at the same time is even harder.

That's the nightmare Chasity Fatherree and her family are cleaning up.

CHASITY FATHERREE, LOST FATHER TO HURRICANE IDA: I close my eyes and I just see the tree hitting him and I'm like -- this is just -- it is horrible. The tree that he hated -- the tree that hated.

LAVANDERA (on camera): He wanted it gone.

FATHERREE: He wanted to gone.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Sixty-year-old Dennis Duplessis was finishing last minute storm preparations at his house in Gonzales, Louisiana. That tree Duplessis hated so much, a nearly 100-foot tall oak crashed down on him in the darkness and driving rain as he stepped out of this truck.

FATHERREE: My mom called me and my uncle had to break it to me.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Duplessis family says a tree limb severed an artery in his leg. As they waited for medical help to arrive, a relative held him.

[19:45:06]

FATHERREE: She was with him and even when he took his last breath and I'm so thankful that he was not alone.

LAVANDERA (voice over): They say Duplessis recited the "Our Father" prayer. He asked that one last message be shared with his wife. "Tell Hope, I love her." Those were his last words.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Storms like Hurricane Ida change lives. The damage can't be measured solely by the physical destruction. Storms take symbols of the past.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A lot of plaster damage.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Joy Banner is the Communications Director for the Whitney Plantation Museum west of New Orleans. She is a descendant of the slaves who once lived here.

JOY BANNER, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR, WHITNEY PLANTATION MUSEUM: Whitney Plantation is the only plantation in this region that focuses on the experience and the life of the enslaved people.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Hurricane Ida flattened some structures and damaged the Plantation's historic church, artifacts touched by the hands of slaves and freed slaves. History that lives today.

BANNER: There were lots of tears when I was walking through the site. I've never -- it was such a surreal experience, and it was such a sinking feeling in my heart just walking around and seeing some of our buildings did collapse, seeing the trees and the debris all over the site.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Banner rode the storm out in the Plantation's main house built in 1791.

BANNER: It was built with the artisanship, the craftsmen, the skill of the enslaved Africans and their descendants.

LAVANDERA (voice over): Two hundred thirty years of history survived the storm. Taking measure of all that's lost is part of recovering from a storm like Hurricane Ida. The landscape changes in ways big and small. Life is never quite the same.

Ed Lavandera CNN, LaPlace, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALKER: Up next, we remember a beloved face from morning TV who brought us the weather and Happy Birthday wishes for years.

And a quick programming note, next Saturday marks 20 years since the September 11th terror attacks. We remember the heroes, victims, and survivors.

CNN Films presents "9/11" airing tomorrow night at eight right here on CNN.

And join us tomorrow night when we talk to the three filmmakers of this documentary.

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[19:52:05]

WALKER: Finally tonight, America says goodbye to a broadcasting legend. Longtime weatherman Willard Scott of the NBC "Today" Show has died.

Scott who was 87 was known for his goofy and gregarious persona that made many Americans smile over their morning coffee. He was also famous for wishing Happy Birthday to fans who turned 100, reading their names off one by one.

Scott's cause of death has not been shared. But "Today" show co-host Al Roker, who replaced him in the mid-90s tweeted that he passed peacefully surrounded by family, saying: "He was truly my second dad and I am where I am today because of his generous spirit."

Let's talk more about his legacy and his life. I want to bring in CNN meteorologist, Gene Norman. And Gene, you know, it was interesting that tweet that we just saw there. I guess, a lot of people, you know, credit him with making weather more mainstream.

GENE NORMAN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, Amara. And first of all, we want to express our condolences to the family, and many, many who are just reflecting on what Willard Scott meant to a lot of people.

I think the thing that sticks most with me is how relatable he was and how he made the weather fun. That was kind of his bottom line premise, "I'm going to have fun." And as someone who has worked in local television markets for over 25 years, I know that the key is having viewers like you want to watch you.

Well, he had that likability factor in spades. I mean, you know, the model that if you want to work with someone, you need to know, like, and trust them. Well, he made it easy to check all three of those boxes.

Everyone remembers the time that he would get on TV and dressed up as Carmen Miranda, or the time that he dressed up as Boy George.

You know, those are touchstone moments for a lot of people and that's what they remember.

You know, I'm standing in front of a high tech gizmo that shows you all kinds of useful information. But for a lot of people, they just kind of gloss over that. They want to hear from you. What are you telling them? And that's what Willard Scott delivered.

WALKER: And perhaps you know, that's the persona that Al Roker emulated. I mean, he was saying in his tweet that, you know, he was like a dad to him, presumably a strong mentor in his life. And, you know, that's why perhaps, you know, he's also such a likable personality in the morning news realm.

And you know, Willard Scott described himself as a buffoon, those are his words and called that his act. I mean, did that kind of wackiness inspire other forecasters?

NORMAN: Well, you know what I think about it, though, Amara is he was being his true self, right. He didn't have to put on an act. He didn't have to put on airs. He didn't have to pretend to be anybody else than who he was and that made him so likable to a lot of people.

[19:55:03]

NORMAN: You know, there's a lot of things you see when you watch a local newscast or even a national newscast, not all of them are very pleasant, but when someone can come on and make you feel good, just for a few minutes, that's an important ability and that's an important skill, and I think he did that and he may have even drawn people to become interested in weather, beyond perhaps that fun act.

WALKER: Well, we'll leave it there, Gene Norman, thank you so much.

I'm Amara Walker. I'll see you again tomorrow night starting at six Eastern.

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