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Nicole Brings Storm Surge Of Nearly 6 Feet, Water Levels Remain High; Tropical Storm To Slam South & Northeast With Rain, Wind; Russian Navy Seen Preparing Test Of Nuclear-Powered Torpedo; Biden To Meet With Chinese Leader On Monday; Kansas City Police Officers Saved Baby Who Stopped Breathing. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired November 10, 2022 - 14:30   ET

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

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[14:33:32]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We have some news just in to CNN. Moments ago, a Connecticut judge ordered Alex Jones to pay an additional $473 million in punitive damages to the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims.

Those damages include fines for Jones' violations of the state's Unfair Trade Practices Act and to cover the plaintiffs' attorney fees and costs.

That, of course, comes on top of the $1 billion of compensatory damages that a jury awarded the families last month. How much of that money those families are actually going to see remains an open question.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Turning to Florida now where Tropical Storm Nicole made landfall early this morning along the state's east coast. Ocean surge and high winds partially collapsed this fishing pier.

SANCHEZ: A lot of coastal homes were also impacted. Officials say, at one point, the storm surge measured nearly six feet.

You should keep in mind, as we're watching some of the dramatic footage, some of the areas had already been impacted by coastal erosion left by Hurricane Ian, making matters even worse.

We want to take you to south Daytona now because that's where CNN's Leyla Santiago is reporting.

Leyla, what are you seeing there?

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I think you make a good point. Not only the storm surge, but also the high tide earlier. That really was an issue when you talk to emergency management officials.

So I'm on Daytona beach right now. I want to show you, down the road, what you're seeing across the area, which is roads filled with water, cars flooded out. [14:35:07]

I spoke to one business owner who said he left this morning and came back to two feet of water inside the building.

And I want to swing the camera around and bring you over here. That down there is the International Speedway Bridge. It takes you to the other side where you have that barrier island that was really saying a lot of what you were talking about, Boris, that coastal erosion.

In particular, one community down there, Wilbur-by-the-Sea, has had a partial collapse in terms of the homes. They've deemed dozens of homes down there unsafe, correlating that to coastal erosion.

Note the timing you mention off the top. Six weeks ago, Hurricane Ian left that area very, very vulnerable. So much of what we're seeing right now is what was expected.

The rain, the wind, the flooding, and the coastal erosion that is going to be a problem here for quite some time.

GOLODRYGA: What wasn't expected was the timing of this storm. Unusual to be so late in the year.

Leyla Santiago, thank you.

SANCHEZ: The storm is tracking a colossal path not only across Florida's peninsula, but it's forecast to hit over parts of the country as well.

GOLODRYGA: CNN Meteorologist Tom Sater joins us now for more.

So, Tom, where is the storm headed west?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's going to head right up through Georgia and go up the entire east coast. This is not over with. We're going to see disastrous flooding.

Because all of the leaves are down. When you get up to the north, the winds are going to blow down more. Storm drains are going to get clogged in many communities.

Just 43 days ago, we had Ian move in, category 4. At 3:00 in the morning, at Vero Beach, we had, of course, Nicole. Last night, the wind field from Nicole was over 500 miles out from the center. Ian's was only 320.

The stage was set for a terrible situation with dozens and dozens of condominiums condemned. You can't live in them anymore. Evacuations. We've had two fatalities, mainly due to electrocution of power lines down.

Tornado watch until 7:00. That will be expended northward through the Carolinas. Some of these storms are moving at 60,65 miles an hour.

Here's the severe weather threat. But the winds are wide and the damage from the surf, incredible.

We've got tractor trailers blown over in Jacksonville. Water rescues there. Tampa, we've got major bridges closed down. We've got downed traffic lights.

The winds are doable right now. But as they list northward, the winds, of course, the advisories will down more powerlines. And 300 without power.

Here's Ian's path, which did the damage on the coastline. Again, St. John's River, one of the slowest receding rivers in North America, is now back above flood stage. That's terrible.

But as this moves northward, we'll get a lot of rainfall with this. And Of course, back behind it, there's a foot of snow in Bismarck right now. How many times do you have a blizzard warning and a hurricane warning in one 24-hour period?

It's not over with. It's going to be bad for the next couple of days.

SANCHEZ: We'll know you'll be tracking both of those for us.

Tom Sater, from the CNN Weather Center, thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: President Biden will soon have his first face-to-face meeting with China's leader, Xi Jinping, as tensions rise between the two nations. We'll tell you what's at stake up ahead.

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[14:42:53]

GOLODRYGA: We turn now to a CNN exclusive. The U.S. observed Russian naval vessels preparing for a possible test of a new nuclear-powered torpedo.

As senior official tells CNN the underwater vessel, known as a Poseidon torpedo, is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions and has virtually limitless range.

SANCHEZ: Let's bring in CNN's Natasha Bertrand who joins us live.

Natasha, this is really concerning given the reporting indicating what Vladimir Putin might do given the recent losses in Ukraine for Russia.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. The U.S. is watching this really closely.

My colleague, Jim Sciutto, is reporting that the U.S. in recent weeks did observe these Russian naval missiles, including a cruise missile submarine, in the Arctic Sea preparing for a possible test of a new calory powered torpedo.

Now importantly, this torpedo, Poseidon, is capable of carrying both conventional and nuclear munitions. And the U.S. does not believe that many tests would have actually involve detonating a nuclear device. Instead, any potential danger from this would likely have come from a

malfunction of the nuclear propulsion system, which could propose risks from radioactivity.

Still, the U.S. has been monitoring any potential tests of the Poseidon closely, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The torpedo is primarily a retaliatory weapon designed to hit back at an enemy after a nuclear strike on Russia. And it's nuclear propulsion system does give it a virtually limitless range. So that has caused some concern among U.S. officials that we speak to.

But the Russians also do not appear to have carried out the test because of what the U.S. believes were technical difficulties.

This is a key point, with one Western diplomat telling us the failure to successfully conduct this test was indicative of how Western sanctions on high-tech goods inside Russia are having a real impact on Russia's military industry.

But the big picture here is that any test carried by the Russians at this point would likely have inflamed tensions with the U.S. even further at a time when they've been carefully monitoring for any signs they might be preparing to use nuclear weapons.

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GOLODRYGA: Yes, the timing -- the timing of this reporting is fascinating given that Russia just concluded its annual nuclear exercises as well.

Natasha Bertrand, thank you.

[14:45:02]

SANCHEZ: So President Biden is soon headed overseas. And he's going to have an important meeting on the docket. He's sitting face-to-face with China's leader, Xi Jinping, for the first time since he took office on Monday. The meeting is going to be held on the sidelines of the G-20 summit.

GOLODRYGA: CNN's Jeremy Diamond is at the White House.

Jeremy, what is the White House hoping to accomplish with this meeting?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Bianna, President Biden and President Xi have spoken on the phone or via videoconference five times since President Biden came into office.

But this will be their first face-to-face meeting, something that U.S. officials say is key to developing this relationship between these two leaders.

And there are some major issues for these two men to discuss. Taiwan is perhaps at the top of the list of discussions, as you've seen China increasingly ramp up its military exercises in the Taiwan Strait.

They are also said to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine. China has been a major economic haven for Russia amid U.S. and other sanctions.

There's also, of course, discussions expected about the U.S./China trade relationship.

And also North Korea, where we've seen North Korea ramp up its missile tests. And of course, China has significant leverage and influence over North Korea.

But officials are lowering expectations for any kind of concrete results to come from this meeting.

The national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, just told us he's not expecting any deliverables but rather some tasking to officials on both sides to continue to engage on discussions.

But what Jake Sullivan did say is that President Biden is really hoping to get a feel for Xi Jinping in this current moment as he has just reached a historic third term as China's party leader, perhaps the strongest leader in China's history at this point.

And President Biden wants to get a sense of where this relationship is headed. And to also to establish a baseline between the two sides to try and avoid misunderstandings and miscommunications going forward.

It will be interesting to see whether or not they'll be able to get to that level of understanding between the two sides as a result of this first meeting coming up next week.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you as always.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, two Kansas City police officers are being hailed as heroes, springing into action to save a baby girl who stopped breathing. We're going to hear directly from those officers after a quick break.

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[14:51:31]

SANCHEZ: Now this is really, really special. A 1-month-old baby girl, who's fighting RSV, is lucky to be alive thanks to the quick thinking of two Kansas City police officers.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Body cam video that you see right here shows Officers Richard DuChaine and Charles Owen responding to the newborn's home and rushing inside before EMS arrived.

They found Baby Kamiyah in her father's arms, not breathing. One officer put her in the palm of his hands and then began compressions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER RICHARD DUCHAINE, KANSAS CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: I can -- I can --

OFFICER CHARLES OWEN, KANSAS CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT: She's breathing now.

DUCHAINE: She is breathing.

OWEN: Just roll her over and see if there's an obstruction in her mouth.

DUCHAINE: Come on.

(CROSSTALK)

DUCHAINE: Let me see. Come on.

OWEN: Open that mouth.

DUCHAINE: Come on. Come on.

OWEN: Turn her over on her side a little bit.

DUCHAINE: Come on.

OWEN: There you go.

DUCHAINE: There we go.

OWEN: There you go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Nothing short of heroic.

Those officers, Charles Owen and Richard Duchaine, are with us now.

Officers, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for everything that you did to save Baby Kamiyah.

Officer DuChaine, if I can just begin with you.

Take us back to the moment when you walked into the House and saw this 1-month-old lifeless at that point.

DUCHAINE: So once we got -- once we initially got the call, we responded in a matter of about 30 seconds. Once we arrived on scene, I immediately took the baby from the father. Once I put her on the palm of my hand, I didn't feel a heartbeat.

But at that point in time, I reverted back to my training and instincts received from the department. I started infant chest compressions. I did that for about 10 to 15 seconds.

And then my partner started talking me through it and doing back thrusts. Then I did it a little bit harder. And, shortly after a few harder back thrusts, we started to see life bring back to her. And after about one last good back thrust, we finally got her on her

side, and that's when she started coming back to life and we started seeing her breathing again.

GOLODRYGA: Wow.

SANCHEZ: Officer Owen, we just heard Officer DuChaine talk about reverting to training and being focused in a moment of extreme tension. Just watching that video give me anxiety.

I'm wondering what's going through your mind when you walk into that home, and these parents are obviously, understandably, panicking. What are you saying to them? How are you processing that?

OWEN: Yes. We knew that they were going to be pretty scared and worried. We made sure we took our car pretty much up to the front of the house. So they heard us coming in.

When we got there, you know, we had to show competence, let the parents know that we were in charge and we were going to do our best for that child.

GOLODRYGA: Officer DuChaine --

OWEN: And it paid off.

GOLODRYGA: It sure did pay off.

We're looking at video and a picture right now of Officer DuChaine in the hospital with Baby Kamiyah. And I was just telling our producers how tiny this baby was. She looks like a doll. And for perspective, you can ever see her in Officer Owen's hand there.

How worried were you at the time that she may not make it?

DUCHAINE: Well, we're always worried that -- if what we're doing is enough. Once she started breathing, it was a huge sigh of relief.

[14:54:57]

After being able to talk to the family, we found out she was a preemie. She at the time was only about 1 month and 6 days old. She only weighed about four pounds.

But being in this -- I'm a parent myself. I also had a preemie child, so I was able to be in their shoes, essentially, in knowing that fear of what could -- you know, what could happen.

But the biggest thing is just being able to reassure them that everything's going to be OK, she's breathing, and that's the biggest thing.

SANCHEZ: And Officer Owen, we heard from the baby's mom calling both of you heroes and saying that they would do anything for you.

How rewarding is that for you, given the challenges that you faced confronting situations like this all the time?

OWEN: It's extremely rewarding. I mean, it's definitely the highlight of our careers. So very rewarding.

GOLODRYGA: You are heroes.

DUCHAINE: As police officers, we -- as police officers, we don't get to see this, the end result because we go on so many calls and we don't necessarily get to see that end result.

And being able to go check on the child, the baby and finding out she's going to be OK is the biggest rewarding part for us.

OWEN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: This family will never forget you, and Kamiyah sure won't either. What a resilient baby, too, as a preemie.

Thank you both so much for everything you do every day, and especially for saving this 1-month-old baby's life. We appreciate your time.

SANCHEZ: Thank you, Officers.

DUCHAINE: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, we are awaiting more vote counts in several states, including Nevada. State election officials there are giving an update right now. And we'll take you there live up next.

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