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Severe Snowfall in New York; Sheriff John Garcia is Interviewed about the Blizzard in New York; Thousands of Flights Canceled; Gradual Warm-up Coming in Days; Buses Drop Off Migrants Outside of Harris' Home; Migrants Search for Shelter; China Launches Military Drills; Kira Rudik is Interviewed about the War on Ukraine. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:01:10]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in Washington. Jim Sciutto is off today.

And we're going to begin this morning with parts of the country trying to dig out from what's been both a dangerous and historic snowstorm. Two hundred additional National Guard soldiers deploying to western New York today as the blizzard has now led to the deaths of at least 17 people there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): We now have what will be talked about not just today but for generations, the blizzard of '22.

We're still in the throes of this very dangerous life-threatening situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Nationwide, more than 1,500 flights already canceled this morning, about the same amount delayed. That's only adding to the backlog from the holiday weekend. But we do have progress in terms of power, and that's a big one. About 60,000 homes remain in the dark this morning. That is down from more than a million on Friday.

And more than 12,000 of those homes without power are in western New York. And many of them also without heat after the storm dumped nearly four feet of snow there. We know a driving ban is in effect for Buffalo as blizzard conditions have made roads impassable with zero visibility. Buffalo could still see another 14 inches of snow with alerts still in effect until tomorrow morning.

And we are monitoring a briefing from officials later this hour. But, right now, CNN correspondent Polo Sandoval is reporting from there. We're also joined by Erie County New York Sheriff John Garcia.

Great to see both of you.

Polo, let's go to you first. Walk us through what the conditions are that you're seeing. You have

been there throughout the weekend. You've really seen it all at this point.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the fresh coat of snow that we received in the early morning hours certainly is not going to help. But, nonetheless, we have seen those plows out in full force, not only here in Buffalo, but in communities around the city here. So, the suburbs that got particularly hit hard. You're talking people have basically been stuck in their homes all weekend, so officials are sending out those crews as soon as they could to make sure they could provide some kind of help.

This is what it looks like right now, actually. We saw a plow truck just go through here a short while ago. But you mentioned those guard members, Jessica. They are going to be such a tremendous help for first responders, many of whom have been working for at least two days straight, if not more. You see this has been an all-hands-on-deck situation as they work to respond to calls for help over the weekend. As we heard -- over the weekend from Erie County officials that this was the first time in the fire department's history that they were unable to guarantee a response to any kind of medical emergency. And, sadly, we did see -- or we did hear from authorities who confirmed that among the people who died as a result of this storm are individuals that could not receive help from EMS during the height of that storm when these roads were just impossible to drive. I mean, you're talking - you couldn't even look beyond your hood, that's how bad the situation got here today.

So, today, there is hope that as those weather conditions do continue to improve, even if it's just a little bit, they're going to be out there to provide any kind of help for folks who need it.

Jessica, back to you.

DEAN: So many people probably do need it.

Polo, thanks so much for that update.

Let's go back now to Sheriff John Garcia.

Sheriff, great to see you.

How serious are things this morning? We know, as Polo was just talking about, the death count is sadly standing right now at 17. Is that still accurate, and are deputies still conducting rescues?

SHERIFF JOHN GARCIA, ERIE COUNTY, NEW YORK: Good morning, Jessica.

Unfortunately, the numbers are going to surpass the blizzard of '77. And as a first responder and sheriff here of Erie County, (INAUDIBLE) so you have a situation where you're unable -- unable to respond to emergency calls, medical calls.

[09:05:00]

And I know the fire departments and EMS and everyone felt the same.

What we're doing today is we're assisting people to, you know, doctors, nurses, hospitals, and we're assisting patients to dialysis. So, the roads are finally starting to open because the winds died down. But with the 70 mile per hour winds, we had zero visibility, which was compounded by the amount of snow. It was the worst I've ever seen.

DEAN: It just sounds horrific and it sounds like, based on what you're saying, unfortunately, that death toll may go up when this is all said and done.

And you mentioned that emergency crews just simply couldn't get to where they needed to go, that they were having such a difficult time navigating the roads. I know that one Erie County official told my colleagues earlier this morning that the Buffalo Fire Department historian said that this storm was the first time ever that they couldn't respond to emergency calls because of how severe those conditions were.

I know you said that now you can kind of get through the roads and they're a little more passable. What kind of issues do you think you're going to continue to run into, and do you expect, even with that additional snow, that you'll be able to get to where you want to go?

GARCIA: Yes, so about half the county has lifted the driving bans. But I urge people to stay home because our plan is to assist the department of public works and, you know, getting through the streets and they need to clear the roads. But that's -- that's so emergency crews can get through.

Now, there's going to be a lot of welfare checks, Jessica. And, unfortunately, I have a bad feeling about that. I think the toll -- that toll is going to go up. And, again, you know, when you have 420 EMS calls that are unanswered, it's just gut-wrenching. And, you know, Buffalo, we deal with snow all the time. Back in November, during Thanksgiving, we got bombarded with snow. But the conditions were different because with the gusts of wind, I could tell you firsthand, zero visibility. I couldn't see two feet in front of my vehicle. And we had to rescue deputies. We had to - so, we brought in snowmobiles, UTVs, ATVs.

When fire rigs are getting stuck, that heavy equipment, you can imagine what happened to the public. And people went out. And what we had this time around is so many people got stuck. So now you're answering calls to rescue motorists and it takes assets away from assisting people and being proactive.

DEAN: Yes. And our hearts just go out to all of you. It's such a really tough and terrible weekend for so many people. I know for the first responders as well who were just trying to get to as many people as they possibly could.

I know there's been an update to the power situation over the weekend. The substations, it sounded like, were just freezing. They were literally having to go in and thaw those out.

What's the update on power because so many people didn't have heat.

GARCIA: Yes, so, I -- you know, I can't believe the great work that the men and women of NYSC (ph) did. But they couldn't go up on the posts, Jessica, with 70 mile per hour winds. So, they were dealing with the power lines that were on the ground. Now with the winds having died down, the amount of people without power has decreased. And again, that's a -- it was gut wrenching when you're getting calls where families are with their kids and they're saying they're freezing. And maybe the dad and someone went to get gas for the generator so now we're assisting them to get back to the house. It was just -- you know the wind was the biggest issue. The wind was the biggest issue for downed trees and power lines and zero visibility.

DEAN: Yes, that wind is truly something.

All right, Sheriff John Garcia, thank you so much. We're thinking about you guys. And, of course, we're going to continue to monitor that update that we're expecting within the hour. Thanks so much, Sheriff.

GARCIA: Thank you, Jessica.

DEAN: All right, we want to go now to CNN's Carlos Suarez, who's live at Atlanta's international airport.

And, Carlos, so many people, of course, trying to travel during these crazy weather conditions, not to mention the holiday weekend. What are you hearing from people this morning?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, good morning from an incredibly busy airport here in Atlanta. Over 150 flights have been canceled today, leaving hundreds of passengers really with no place to go.

This is kind of how things have looked like the entire morning we've been here. It's been the busiest that I've seen this airport. And we've been here since Saturday. You're taking a look at just what some of the poor airline folks are having to deal with at this hour.

We're just at the Delta terminal. So, this is really only about a quarter of the airport and you can see just the sheer number of folks that have showed up to this airport. A lot of these folks are on flights that have been canceled. Now, when you take a look at this overall number of flights that have been canceled across the U.S., going into the new week, well, we are looking at well over 1,500 flights that have been told they are not going to be taking off anytime soon.

[09:10:10]

That number was at about 3,000 just yesterday. Of course, this problem isn't impacting travelers. Only in the southeast here, it's affecting a good number of folks across the country because of all of this cold weather. There's one passenger in Detroit who made it in from Europe. She's stuck at an airport. And here's what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We came from Paris. We were supposed to go straight to Minnesota. But for some reason we end up being here and we stayed --

SUAREZ: This is not Minnesota.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know. This - no. No, totally not Minnesota. And we stayed here for two days. Finally we are trying to get out today.

SUAREZ: Are you feeling good about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm dying to get to my house and to my bed, yes. This is terrible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And so if you're not stuck in line trying to get rebooked, well, you've got to make a line to drop off your luggage, you've got to make a line to see if you can get to your gate. And then, of course, you've still got to clear security. That's just a few feet from where I am right now. Again, it's also the busiest we've seen at the entire morning. It seems like that crush of holiday travel is making its way across a good part of the country. Folks just trying to get home, if they even were able to make it out in time for the holidays.

Jessica.

DEAN: Quite amazed there, and already a busy travel time, before you even add in these weather conditions.

Carlos Suarez for us in Atlanta, thanks so much.

Let's go now to meteorologist Chad Myers, he's standing by in the CNN Weather Center.

Good morning, Chad.

I think a lot of people are now wondering what comes next.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A warm up.

DEAN: Oh, hey, great.

MYERS: A significant warm up. I mean, Buffalo will get to 50 by the weekend. That's some help, but obviously some of that snow is going to melt. Some of it's going to melt too fast. You have to make sure that those drains are ready to take the water or else your roads are just going to freeze.

Something else that's going on in the airports, too, I've been noticing this morning. Some of the planes and the crews are not where they're supposed to be. There's a plane in Atlantic City but the crew is stuck in Chicago. So, you can't get that crew on that plane because it's not going to get there. There's nothing going -- so this is going to take a long time to filter through.

Buffalo had 43 inches of snow on the ground as of yesterday morning. We're still waiting for the update from this morning. That number is likely over 50. Why does that matter? Because if you add a few numbers to this, 93 or so inches of snowfall this season, the normal is 95 for the entire winter. And it's still snowing. They probably had between six and 10 inches of snow overnight to add to that 43.

Here comes the snow still. It's the cold air coming over the warm water. Big snow is just on the (INAUDIBLE) side of the lakes. Big snows in parts of Ontario as well. You don't want to kind of focus on that. We don't have any crews up there, but there's a lot of snow around Barry and places north of there, coming off of Lake Huron and also Lake Superior.

But there's the warmup. There it is right there. It's on its way. It's going to move to the east. Even Denver gets over 50 today. Look at Buffalo, all the way, 49 and 50. Chicago even a little bit warmer.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right, the warmup on its way.

MYERS: Yes.

DEAN: Chad Myers for us, thanks so much.

The Supreme Court could rule as soon as tomorrow on whether the Trump- era border restrictions, known as Title 42, can stay in effect. In the meantime, El Paso, Texas, is under a state of emergency as thousands of migrants arrive ahead of that ruling. Over the holiday weekend, some were forced to sleep outside in the freezing temperatures. At least 300 people spent Christmas Eve at the El Paso convention center. And in Washington, three busloads of migrants were dropped off at the front door of Vice President Kamala Harris' home on Christmas Eve when it was 18 degrees outside. The White House now blaming Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

CNN's Camila Bernal is joining us now from El Paso. Priscilla Alvarez is here with us in Washington.

Camila, let's start first with you. What is El Paso doing to accommodate this influx?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they opened up the convention center. They're doing everything they can to house people in city-run shelters. But the problem is that a lot of these migrants don't want to go through the proper process, are not going to the border patrol processing centers, and instead they have to come to this shelter.

The shelter is over capacity. They have had as many mothers and children inside of that shelter, but the rest of the people that don't fit inside of the shelter have to be out on the street. That's why you see so many of them trying to stay warm with as many blankets as possible.

The city did put a bus here and so as many people as possible go into the bus as well just to try to warm up for a couple of minutes because it really has been a difficult last few days here. I talked to these migrants and they tell me, I'm cold. You know, this is not what I expected. But they also say they want to be in this country. That they will do everything they can to stay here, even if it means sleeping out on the street.

[09:15:03]

A lot of them are scared to go through that process because they know they can quickly be sent back to Mexico or to the country where they came from, and that's what they're trying to avoid here. So they say they will sleep out in the streets if that's what it takes.

Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Camila Bernal in El Paso, Texas.

Priscilla Alvarez is here in Washington with us.

And, Priscilla, we have this -- these busloads of migrants that were dropped off at the front door of Vice President Harris' home. What has been the Biden administration's reaction to all of this and also to Title 42 and what comes next for that?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, the White House put it quite bluntly in a statement over the weekend where they called it a, quote, cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt. As you mentioned, dozens of migrants were dropped off in D.C. over the weekend. And there were groups who have been assisting them who were on the ground, giving them blankets again to shield them from that cold snap, 18 degree weather.

Now, those groups who have been providing that assistance for some time now pointed toward Texas. They said the buses came from Texas. They were supposed to go to New York City but were diverted because of the weather there. And they said this is just part of the stunt that Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been pulling for months now as buses have arrived on almost a weekly basis, including to Harris' home.

Now, the administration, in the meantime, has to keep preparing for what may happen at the border when Title 42 lifts, if and when it lifts. And that includes helping cities like El Paso and also keeping an eye, especially at the White House, at the Supreme Court and what they decide. Ultimately, it will be up to them whether the Title 42, those restrictions we talked about, whether they'll end within a matter of days or whether this is going to take months.

DEAN: Right. And you'll be watching that. Priscilla Alvarez for us, thanks so much.

And still to come this hour, China sends dozens of aircraft into Taiwan's air defense zone, the largest in months. We're going to be live at the Pentagon with details on the implications. Plus, Christmas on the front lines. Ukrainian troops share a meal,

some by candlelight, as Russia continues to bombard the country. I'll speak live with a member of Ukraine's parliament amid new reports this morning that a Ukrainian drone was shot down deep inside Russian territory.

And later, brazen smash and grab robberies caught on video and law enforcement says these incidents are on the rise all across the country. What it means for the prices you end up paying at the store.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:25]

DEAN: New this morning, South Korea scrambling fighter jets and attack helicopters after North Korean drones entered the country's air space. The South Korean defense minister says its military fired at the five drones, but it cannot confirm whether any were shot down.

And China's latest large scale military drill is escalating already high tensions with Taiwan. Taiwan saying as many as 47 Chinese jets and drones crossed over into their air defense zone on Sunday. The incursion comes just days after President Biden signed a law to help Taiwan modernize its military.

CNN's Oren Liebermann is at the Pentagon in morning.

Oren, how significant this action by China, and what's the U.S. doing in response?

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon sees these actions by China as a way of essentially raising the bar of what's normal, trying to establish a new normal for the actions China takes around Taiwan such that that higher level of military activity sort of becomes the baseline. And that is what's worrying. That is what the Pentagon has watched, not only, of course, over the weekend, but over recent weeks. China launched 47 aircraft into Taiwan's self-declared air defense identification zone. And that means that 47 of those aircraft crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan says there were 71 total aircraft that China launched in -- rather around Taiwan, but a number of those didn't cross that crucial centerline of the Taiwan Strait.

China said these exercises, as they called them on Sunday, were in response to provocations from the United States, though not specifying what specific provocations there were. Crucially, though, these come just days after President Joe Biden signed the NDAA, the National Defense Authorization Act, that had a number of measures for Taiwan, specifically to help Taiwan. Take a look at this. Crucially a defense modernization program for Taiwan's military, as well as a contingency weapons stockpile for weapons on Taiwan in case there were a conflict, a military engagement or an all-out effort by China to try to take Taiwan by force. It also authorizes the president to give Taiwan up to $1 billion in weapons and munitions. China always looks at those as provocative and generally responds when there is an announcement of a foreign military sale of U.S. weapons to Taiwan. So, you see - you can see this in that broader light of trying to

carry out exercises, trying to show the force of its own military whenever you see, or shortly thereafter seeing efforts from the U.S. to aid Taiwan's military and strengthen Taiwan's military.

Jessica.

DEAN: Oren Liebermann, at the Pentagon, thanks so much for that reporting.

This morning, Ukrainian military officials are warning of possible retaliatory strikes after an attempted drone attack led to a deadly blast at a strategic Russian air base. In security footage you can hear and see the flash from that explosion early this morning.

Russia saying it shot down a Ukrainian drone in the city of Ingles (ph), which is about 500 miles southeast of Moscow. The explosion killed three Russian service members.

And joining me now from Kyiv, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, Kira Rudik.

Kira, great to have you this morning. Thanks so much for being with us.

We know this is the second time this month that we've seen Ukrainian drones cause damage at the Ingles Air Base that's well inside Russia's borders.

[09:25:03]

How would you say the use of drones have changed the landscape of this war?

KIRA RUDIK, MEMBER OF UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

Well, it's safe to say that this war is an artillery war and also a drone war because drones are being used for attacks on different kinds of infrastructure. Drones are being used to figure out what's happening and drones are being used for different kinds of investigation missions. So, this is one of the really life-changing things and historic things that is changing the landscape of all the wars that is going to happen since right now. It will be drone wars.

DEAN: And President Zelenskyy, in his Christmas message, urged Ukrainians to have patience and faith, but he also warned that Putin is going to try to make the coming winter months what he called dark and difficult. This has been, you know, the fear and anticipation for so many. How is your country preparing for that?

RUDIK: Well, it's -- we are absolutely sure that we are maybe one or two steps away from complete blackout. More than 50 percent of energy infrastructure have been destroyed during the last two months of Russian constant attacks on the infrastructure. What this means for people is that we have lights and electricity a couple of hours a day. We have running water sporadically and heating is also something that you get as a luxury. And this happens throughout the country. And it gets worse and worse after every attack.

We know that we will survive this war, that we will go through that, but we also know that it can get harder, especially when the weather becomes much worse every single day. We are getting into the real winter.

And what president is warning us about is that we have to be ready for all kinds of situations than - that the electricity will be absent for weeks, that we have to be prepared with water, with food. But, honestly, we are already ready to do that. We knew that it was coming. We knew that Putin's attempt is to break us and break our spirits. And, honestly, it is hard. It is hard for people not being able to go through like basic comfort of the life. But we also know that once we will go through that, we will become even stronger and we will push Russia back and our goal for the next year, our mission and our wish for the next year is the victory and restoring of our sovereignty.

DEAN: I hear the determination in your voice, and I think it's shared by so many Ukrainians who have held off Russia for nearly a year now against so many odds and you're talking about what you're about to endure, which is a very extreme -- extreme winter conditions without heat or with very little heat, with very little, if any, electricity, that sort of thing. Do you still sense -- it seems to us, hearing you, President Zelenskyy in Washington, D.C. last week, that the resiliency continues, that there is grit and determination that Ukraine can continue on. Is that the sense that you hear from the people that you're talking to, your neighbors, your family, others there in Ukraine?

RUDIK: Absolutely. We know that no matter how hard it is, we are not going to be bent by this and we are not going to be broken by this. We (INAUDIBLE). We prepare for the worst and we extend our areas of responsibility. So not only you have to take care of yourself and your family and your neighbors, but also think about other people who will need heat, who will need charges, running water. This is why we are setting up the points of unbreakability where people can get warm food, warm clothing, charging their devices and just spend some time in the warmth.

And this is what happening not only from the governmental side, but people are doing it just by themselves, sharing with whoever needs it. And people are annoyed because it is hard, but they are annoyed at Russia and they understand that this is an attempt to break us and an attempt to us - an attempt to make us doubt that we are fighting for the right force (ph). And we have no doubt. We know that we are fighting for our own survival, for our country, and we will make sure that we will go through this winter together. This is our goal.

DEAN: All right, Kira Rudik for us, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

RUDIK: Thank you. Glory to Ukraine.

DEAN: Thank you. Still ahead this morning, Republican Congressman-Elect George Santos

in the spotlight for inconsistencies in his resume and family history, including his now contradicted claim that his grandparents survived the Holocaust. He's expected to address those questions this week. More when we come back.

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