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Zelenskyy Looking to Evacuate Soldiers at Azovstal; Russians Leave Evidence of Atrocities across Ukraine; Red Square Prepares for Victory Day Parade; Russian Drone Captures Battle in Real Time; Emmanuel Macron to Be Inaugurated for Second Term; Italy Seizes Superyacht with Purported Links to Russia; Poll on Overturning Roe v. Wade. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired May 07, 2022 - 00:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world, I am Michael Holmes at CNN in Atlanta. Thank you for your company.

We begin our coverage in Mariupol, Ukraine, and the evacuation on Friday of at least 50 civilians from that besieged steel factory. Two buses said to have carried some of the evacuees were seen arriving in the town east of Mariupol under Russian military escort. It is not known where they were taken, nor how many remain at the plant.

The building has been under constant bombardment from Russian tanks, artillery and aircraft. President Zelenskyy says that he is pursuing negotiations for a safe evacuation of the soldiers still inside.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are also working on diplomatic options to save our military who remain in Azovstal. Influential mediators are involved, including influential states.

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HOLMES: Monday marks victory day in Russia, commemorating the Nazi surrender in World War II. Russia hastily putting its stamp on wherever it can in Mariupol. A Russian flag flies above a city hospital. Road signs have been changed to Russian. An adviser to the mayor says Soviet-era statues are popping up around the city.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President Joe Biden announcing $150 million in additional military aid but warning that the U.S. is running low on what it can send, without additional approval from Congress. Let's send it over to Lviv in Ukraine, that is where we find our Isa Soares.

Good morning to you, Isa. ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: A very good morning to you,

Michael, as you correctly noted there, Monday's victory day in Russia. It is an important anniversary marking the end of the Second World War In Europe.

Over the years, by the way, Putin has used it as a show of strength and military hardware. It appears that Moscow may try to make a show of the city of Mariupol, what is left of it, as well as other places it controls. Our Nick Paton Walsh is in southern Ukraine and has the very latest for you.

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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR (voice-over): Escorted by armor, curtains closed, inside are said to be some of the latest civilians to evacuate the unbridled hell of Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol. Yet these are Russian troops escorting them out, not the United Nations who helped evacuate earlier in the week.

Ukrainian soldiers here Friday said one of theirs died and six were injured in an evacuation bid.

And while Ukraine said it began a new operation to get people out from under this, the savagery of Russian bombardment at the factory, the U.N. said Friday, a total of 500 people had got out since their efforts began this weekend. Many, many more desperate to flee.

Battered and uninhabitable as much of Mariupol is, still ahead of Monday's Victory Day, it appears the city's drama theater, its basement packed with children when it was bombed by Russia killing hundreds is now being cleared up, excavated.

These satellite images first on CNN, showing rubble visible in April gone in recent days. Vehicles lined up and the ground around the theater cleared to make it more presentable. It's not clear why they are tidying the scene of what many called a war crime.

The warped world of what Russia calls liberation was also on view here in these rare images filmed inside a filtration camp where Ukrainians are held before being forced to go to Russia.

Passports taken, sleeping on the floor or in chairs, illness from the cold, all part of the experience of liberation, according to one woman whose father was there.

And this staged visit, evidence of Russia's rush to assimilate what it has clumsily torn off Ukraine.

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WALSH (voice-over): This is Kherson, the first city it captured and the man in the beard is Denis Pushilin, separatist leader from Donetsk in the visit suggesting Kherson under Russian occupation where protests are crushed will also be declared a tin pot People's Republic soon.

It all has the whiff of empire.

Here, he sits discussing transferring food from Kherson to Russia's separatist areas, watermelons and tomatoes. He might call it trade, Ukraine a food heist.

But Moscow is far from having its way and the costs are heavy. These images CNN has confirmed were filmed in a graveyard in Ryazan, the flags of the Russian Paratroop Division, the elite and there are many just in this one city.

These are the dead behind the propaganda, with so much rubble in Russia's tiny victories -- Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, southern Ukraine.

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SOARES: Apparent evidence of Russian atrocities and war crimes are everywhere across Ukraine's battered landscape. On Friday, President Zelenskyy says he thinks the Kremlin believes it can escape prosecution by blackmailing Europe with nuclear weapons. Prosecuting war crimes is the expertise of David Scheffer, who is the former U.S. ambassador for war crimes at the U.S. State Department.

David, a very good evening to you. Look, what I have been hearing on the ground here is truly horrific. It is fair to say, accounts of atrocities being committed by Russian forces. Only two days ago the Ukraine prosecuting general says that the Russian army admitted that some 9,800 crimes in 70 days.

From what you have seen, what you have heard, is there evidence here of possible war crimes?

DAVID SCHEFFER, SENIOR FELLOW, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Yes, there most certainly is. There is a massive investigative effort taking place on the ground in Ukraine, not only by investigators at the International Criminal Court but also by various countries, including the United States, the European Union countries, civil societies.

This is probably the most significant investigative initiative of atrocity crimes in history. in this period of time. There has not been another conflict where investigators have landed on the ground and begun to investigate atrocities crimes as quickly and as thoroughly as in this situation.

I think we need to distinguish here that it is fairly obvious that the Russian military as an organization is committing war crimes in Russia. The next step, of course, if you want to prosecute individuals in a courtroom, is that you have to prove an individual case of a war crime against an individual.

That is the heavy lift of investigative work. But I do not think that we need to complicate too much whether or not we are witnessing war crimes. Ukraine is the largest crime scene in the world today.

It is unprecedented how the Russian military has destroyed civilian structures in Ukraine, how has routed the people of Ukraine in massive refugee flows. Essentially the Russian military has become a criminal organization.

It is demonstrating that, on such a large level of assault on the civilian population, that the laymen of the world can see it for what it is. It is atrocity crimes, war crimes, crimes against humanity, which means an assault against a civilian population of a country.

We sometimes see some of the red lines of the Genocide Act being approached in Ukraine, so it is before us. And the media is doing an enormous job to bring it to everyone's attention.

SOARES: I have spoken to those investigating war crimes with the U.N., with the E.U. and we have also heard from the prosecutor here, just in the last few weeks, in fact.

Talk us through what you hinted at there, the kind of challenges of verifying and recording that these crimes have, indeed, occurred?

SCHEFFER: I would suggest that there are two levels to look at. One is the individual war crime on the ground, where there has been a missile hit or an artillery firing on a civilian settlement or a mass rape situation in the town. Those are individual crimes.

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SCHEFFER: We know that individual soldiers for the Russian military are engaged in those crimes. The issue is how to identify them.

You do that through witness statements of the victims, you do that by looking through the clothes of dead Russian military soldiers to understand who has been the commander, what unit are they in.

You do a plan of battle analysis, where you need military analysts to understand how the military came into a particular town on a particular day and what they did in that town on that day. Those are highly detailed investigations. They take time.

But the prosecutor general of the Ukraine is doing an enormous job in trying to bring this together. There may be an issue of how all this is being coordinated between international and national prosecutions, that we have to keep working hard at because we don't want to conduct multiple interviews with the same victim.

That is not fair to the victim. So you have to be very careful about who is interviewing whom, what are the protocols of those interviews, how is that evidence then collected and forwarded to the appropriate tribunal, domestic court, et cetera.

There is a great complexity. But I'd also add that the crime impression is a leadership crime. For the crime in progression, you are not dealing with all those little crimes on the ground. You are looking at the leadership of Russia, why or how did they actually launch this invasion, which is a crime of aggression.

It is under the umbrella of a crime of aggression that all these other crimes take place. Frankly, every single military action by the Russian military on Ukrainian territory is criminal in character, because it was implemented under the umbrella of a massive crime, which is the crime of aggression.

SOARES: Clearly, the point that you made very clearly there is that it is not just about prosecuting those officers, the military, that are conducting, had their hands in these were crimes but the country itself, I think that is important.

David, always great to have your thoughts, I am sorry to leave it there, I can speak to you for hours here. Really appreciate it. Thank you, David.

And Michael, this is what we have been hearing. We heard from the prosecutor general here, from the U.N.; two days ago, I heard from the E.U. It is a huge investigation by all these different bodies really trying to verify everything that is happening, keeping them on the record.

You heard from David, clearly, it is taking them to the next level, taking them to International Criminal Court and making sure, of course, that it is not just individuals but also the country that faces the charges. Michael.

HOLMES: The challenge always is proving it up the line, up the chain of command, how high can they find culpability?

That is always a difficult thing. But it is an important conversation and fascinating interview, Isa, thank you so much. We'll check in with you the next hour.

We will now show you the war in Ukraine from an entirely different perspective. It involves a ground battle recorded in real time by a Russian military drone. The footage released by Pro Kremlin, a media outlet. As Salma Abdelaziz reports for us now, the video shows how important drones have become on Ukrainian battlefields.

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SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is drone warfare as Russia wants you to see it, Moscow's troops hunting down Ukrainian defenders in the town of Popasna, backed by surveillance from the skies.

We sat down with a military expert to parse through the 22 minutes of aerial footage released by Pro Kremlin channels.

ABDELAZIZ: What am I looking at here, this column?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are Russian forces there. The first soldiers moved into the trench to clear that trench.

ABDELAZIZ: Then we see that Ukrainian soldier popping out of that shed, over and over again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Small arms fire taking place now. He's essentially pinned in that location. Whoever is on the drone will be speaking to the soldiers on the ground. ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): This is close and intense combat with limited

visibility. The Russian fighters here depend on the drone operator for a bird's-eye view and real-time intelligence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see him toss another grenade. This time he will be a little bit closer. He's done it properly this time. The fact that grenades did not kill him, I would be particularly surprised if he survived.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): Now watch this part carefully. The video cuts. We are still looking at the same location.

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ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): But now there are at least six captured men on the ground, reportedly Ukrainian defenders.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can see the Russian soldiers that are marked with the white armbands and white legbands. We have a series of soldiers that appear to be prisoners, on the ground. We don't know where the soldiers have come from.

ABDELAZIZ: What is the plan for these guys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have been told to take off their body armor. They have been stripped of their fighting capability immediately.

We have here a Russian soldier that looks like he is giving physical abuse to a prisoner of war that's on the ground just out of sight. They're looking for individuals of interest. They're looking for individuals of intelligence interest. And they will get taken away for questioning.

ABDELAZIZ: You can see him kicking that man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's quite normal. But it's interesting where they are going to next. It's a bit crowded in a prisoner of war pen. And within that pen, they will get searched in more detail, they will get questioned. And then they will go back to a centralized prison system.

ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): The Ukrainian military's effective use of Turkish made drones helped it beat back Russian troops around Kyiv and other areas. Now the Kremlin wants the world to believe that it is capable of the same success.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we are witnessing is that the Russians are being much slower to pick up the use of tactical drones than Ukrainians are.

ABDELAZIZ: Are you saying the message here is, look, we are really good at using drones too?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe it is. We also have propaganda material. This is effectively staged propaganda material. ABDELAZIZ (voice-over): It's unclear when the footage was shot. But

Russian troops are now largely in control of what is left of Popasna. And that's the other Kremlin tactic on display here: scorched Earth on the eastern flank.

Ukrainian troops have largely stood their ground, retreating if possible, surrendering when no options are left -- Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.

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HOLMES: Nearly 2 dozen people are dead after a massive explosion ripped through an iconic hotel in Cuba. Now rescue workers are combing through the rubble, searching for survivors. We will have the latest from Havana when we come back.

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HOLMES: At least 22 people are dead following an enormous explosion in the Cuban capital, Havana. Officials say that a gas leak is thought to be the cause of the blast, which happened at the historic Hotel Saratoga.

Dozens of people, including children, have been hospitalized. Police and firefighters combing through what is left of the destroyed building, trying to find survivors. Patrick Oppmann has the latest from Havana.

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PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rescue workers continued their grim task of sifting through massive amounts of rubble of what used to be the iconic five-star Hotel Saratoga, after an explosion ripped through the hotel early on Friday.

I'm told by Cuban officials is that a gas truck had arrived, gas for the hotel users for cooking. I am told that workers were ready to reopen the hotel to tourists next weekend. And somehow, as the gas was being delivered to the hotel, a leak apparently caused the hotel to fill up full of gas.

And that led to a massive explosion that has gutted the hotel. We arrived moments after the explosion, with some people being taken from the rubble and one woman barely able to walk. There was another woman covered in blood, obviously seriously injured, being taken away in a stretcher.

Rescue workers used their bare hands to try to claw away the rubble and see if there was anyone inside. Cuban president Miguel Diaz-Canel said that there was no sign of intentional terrorism that took place here but that a investigation would take place.

As the light goes out here, as the day ends, rescue workers say they will continue the difficult task of trying to look for any survivors, recover bodies. There is concern this building has been damaged so terribly that it could give way. So they are proceeding very cautiously.

But they say they will not stop until everyone is accounted for -- Patrick Oppmann, CNN, Havana.

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HOLMES: China is reporting more than 4,600 new cases of COVID. The majority of local cases were reported in the hardhit city of Shanghai. Once again, Beijing is also reporting over 50 new local cases.

Local officials say that more than 20 million of the capital's residents will also have to undergo three more rounds of mass PCR testing, to be held daily from Saturday through Monday.

In the United States, rising COVID cases aren't the only worry for health experts. The Centers for Disease Control is investigating more than 100 cases of severe, unexplained hepatitis in children.

Authorities say that the cases appear to be rare and that officials have not seen an increase in liver inflammation of children coming into emergency rooms. And they added that the cases appear to be linked to an adenovirus, that isn't known to cause hepatitis in otherwise healthy children.

CDC officials say they are considering a range of possible causes, including exposure to animals.

Emmanuel Macron is just hours away from being formally inaugurated as president of France for a second term. The ceremony will take place at the Elysee Palace in Paris. President Macron will sign official documents, be recognized as a grand master of the Legion of Honour and deliver a speech.

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HOLMES: In the runoff election last month, Macron defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen.

As the U.K. gears up to celebrate Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee on June the 2nd, we are learning that Prince Harry, Meghan and Prince Andrew will not join the royals on the famous Buckingham Palace balcony. That is because tradition dictates that only working royals will make an appearance.

But the Duke and Duchess of Sussex said they will attend the surrounding festivities. It is unclear if the queen herself will even be there. Some of her appearances were canceled in the last few months due to her health and mobility. Sources told CNN that that will be decided nearer the time. I am Michael Holmes, thanks for spending part of your day with me.

"CONNECTING AFRICA" is up next for our international viewers. For those in North America, I will be back with more news after the break.

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HOLMES: Welcome back. I'm Michael Holmes. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

Now more evacuations are planned in the coming day from the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, where the last Ukrainian defenders have been holed up for weeks now, along with civilians, too, of course. About 50 civilians were rescued on Friday.

The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he's working on diplomatic options in the hopes of getting soldiers out safely as well.

Meanwhile, Soviet-era statues and Russian flags have been popping up in that port city ahead of Russia's victory day holiday on Monday. The day marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II.

And Western officials think Vladimir Putin could use the occasion to make a major announcement that he would escalate the conflict.

All of this as satellite images show Russia excavating the Mariupol theater, which was bombed back in March. The Ukrainian officials are saying that 300 people who were taking shelter inside were killed.

Now this was hit by an apparent Russian strike, despite the words "children" written in large letters outside. Russia has denied responsibility.

Now for the first time since this war began, the U.N. Security Council has managed to get on the same page on Ukraine.

On Friday, the council releasing its first joint statement since the start of the conflict, saying it is deeply concerned about peace and security in Ukraine and that it supports efforts by the secretary general, Antonio Guterres, to find a peaceful solution.

The council has been unable to speak in one voice or do anything really to stop the war, partly because, of course, Russia has veto power in the chamber.

Meanwhile, the woman believed to be Vladimir Putin's girlfriend may soon be targeted by E.U. sanctions. European diplomatic sources tell CNN that Alina Kabaeva has been included in the latest proposed measures. Jim Bittermann with more on what we know about her and the push to punish those close to Putin. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Putin's punishment for the war hitting his most inner circle, the E.U.'s prime target, Alina Kabaeva, who is said to be Putin's girlfriend and believed to have been given control over much of Putin's wealth and property.

The two have been rumored to be in a romantic relationship ever since Putin appeared to take an unusual interest in Kabaeva, 30 years his junior, after she won a gold Olympic medal for Russia in rhythmic gymnastics in 2004.

A few years later, rumors began to circulate that Putin was separating from his wife, which the Kremlin vehemently denied but which were confirmed in 2014 when the couple officially divorced after 30 years of marriage.

Meanwhile, Kabaeva rose steadily in Russian political circles, becoming a deputy in parliament from Putin's party, in a post she held for six years before moving on to control a pro Putin media group.

For some time now, there have been calls from supporters of Ukraine to sanction Kabaeva. But Washington was reported to be reluctant to go after someone so close to the Russian president for fear of taking another step toward escalating the conflict. Late last month, though, the White House appeared to say no change in approach.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: No one is safe from our sanctions. We've already, of course, sanction President Putin but also his daughter, his closest cronies and will continue to review more.

BITTERMAN (voice-over): And among the more another close confidant of Putin, the Patriarch Kirill, the prelate of the Russian Orthodox Church, who is said to have wealth far beyond the average church leader.

He has strongly supported when he called in a sermon, Putin's special peacekeeping operation, which he added was a religious cleansing operation to liberate Russian speakers in Ukraine.

He's so close to Putin, that in a highly unusual comment from the Vatican, Pope Francis said of Kirill, the patriarch cannot become Putin's altar boy, something that threatened to put the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches further at odds.

There are a number of other targets in the E.U. sanctions, including a promise to wean Europeans off Russian gas and oil by the end of this year. But several countries are already demanding exceptions to that because of their heavy reliance on Russian energy -- Jim Bittermann, CNN, Paris.

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HOLMES: Italy, meanwhile, has seized a super yacht believed to be connected to Russia. [00:35:00]

HOLMES: Italian authorities say the owner of the Scheherazade is linked to, quote, "prominent elements" of the Russian government. The vessel has been under scrutiny since March for possible connections to Vladimir Putin. The super yacht is said to be worth about $700 million.

Still to come here on the program, the future of abortion rights in the U.S. appears to be up in the air.

So how did most Americans feel about possible plans to overturn Roe v. Wade?

The new CNN poll after the break.

Also, a major development in the manhunt for an Alabama inmate and corrections officer. What authorities are saying after finding their getaway car. We'll be right back.

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HOLMES: Shock and fury have erupted over the U.S. Supreme Court's likely plans to end federal abortion rights.

So how do Americans feel about overturning the landmark case Roe v. Wade?

Well, it turns out most are against the idea.

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HOLMES: According to a new CNN poll following the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion, 66 percent of Americans say Roe v. Wade should not be struck down.

The 1973 decision has provided constitutional protections for those seeking an abortion for nearly half a century. Many states across the U.S. are already preparing anti-abortion legislation to be ready if and perhaps when the Supreme Court decides to overturn Roe v. Wade. CNN's Jessica Schneider reports.

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GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): We want to outlaw abortion in the state of Oklahoma.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Nearly two dozen states are on the brink of banning abortion and it will happen almost immediately if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade.

Thirteen states have trigger laws, abortion bans that will go into effect once Roe is off the books. Nine states have so-called zombie laws, abortion bans that were never repealed once Roe took effect in 1973. These bans would go back into effect if the conservatives on the court eliminate that constitutional right to abortion.

DANA NESSEL (D-MI), ATTORNEY GENERAL: That very moment, prosecutors around the state, could begin prosecuting doctors and I would argue, potentially women as well.

SCHNEIDER: Michigan's law makes no exception for rape or incest but it would allow abortions to save the mother's life. But the Republican running for attorney general in Michigan says he would prosecute even if abortion was performed in an effort to save the mother.

MATT DEPERNO (R), CANDIDATE FOR MICHIGAN ATTORNEY GENERAL: And then said, well, what about the life of the mother, OK. Do you have an exception for that?

I said, I do not. Because there is literally no medical diagnosis that says that if the mother's life is in danger, abort the baby.

SCHNEIDER: That is just one example of how uncertain the actual enforcement of criminal abortion statutes could be. In Wisconsin, the attorney general is already saying he'll refuse to prosecute and will instead leave it to local district attorneys.

JOSH KAUL (D-WI), ATTORNEY GENERAL: It's my view that we have problems that we need our law enforcement to be dealing with, like violent crime, drug trafficking. And we don't need to shift their focus from -- from those important efforts to -- to going after people for allegedly violating a ban that nobody had understood to be enforceable for almost 50 years.

SCHNEIDER: The wide-ranging prosecutorial approach reflects just how uncertain and uneven the legal landscape would be in a post-Roe world.

MARY ZIEGLER, VISITING PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: I think the most important and difficult question is going to be the, whether states can reach out of their own borders to prosecute people or whether states are going to prosecute patients for having abortions as Louisiana seems to be doing.

SCHNEIDER: Louisiana lawmakers passed a bill out of committee this week that would classify abortions as homicides, leaving the door open for patients to be prosecuted. And then there's the question about how officials would even find out about illegal abortions.

Privacy advocates are now raising the alarm that people's Google searches could be used against them or even their own cell phones. Alan Butler leads the Electronic Privacy Information Center and points

out that third parties can buy data from Google and perform reverse searches that could enable law enforcement to track who was at an abortion clinic and when.

ALAN BUTLER, ELECTRONIC PRIVACY INFORMATION CENTER: If the prosecutor goes and gets a court order to get this type of data or they go and try to buy this data on the open market, for example, which is another thing that happens, then they would know the information about the devices that were there, the ID of your device.

SCHNEIDER: Legal experts are now scrambling to fully understand all the implications of a post-Roe America. And many say rather than the Supreme Court's likely decision being the final word, it could instead spur a flurry of state-by-state legal fights in the years ahead -- Jessica Schneider, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: A federal judge has dismissed Donald Trump's lawsuit against Twitter. The former president is trying to reinstate his banned account from the social media platform. That's according to a court filing.

The judge says that Twitter was not acting as an agent of the U.S. government when it shut down the account, as Trump alleged. Therefore it was not infringing on his First Amendment rights to free speech. The decision is a victory for Twitter, which had asked the judge to toss out the suit.

Now we're learning more information about the manhunt for an Alabama inmate and corrections officer, who went missing more than a week ago. The U.S. Marshal Service says this SUV was found in a tow lot in Tennessee just a couple of hours north of Florence, Alabama, where the investigation began.

Investigators believe it was the getaway car used by Vicky White. They also released these pictures of the suspect, showing what they might look like with altered appearances. Escaped inmate Casey White has easily identified tattoos that you can see there.

A quick break here on the program.

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HOLMES: When we come back, two legends, Tom Brady and Lewis Hamilton sit down in an interview with us. What they say drives them to succeed beyond most people's wildest dreams. Stay with us.

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HOLMES: At least 37 active fires are burning in parts of Florida. The state's forest service says the wildfires have scorched more than 22,000 acres. Most of them are at least contained but the three largest ones are in the Everglades. There are no reports of injuries or burning structures, though.

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HOLMES: Thanks for spending time with me, I am Michael Holmes. You can follow me on Twitter @HolmesCNN. Do stick around, I will be back with more news in just a moment.