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Dozens Killed In Nine States As A Result Of "Historic" Storm; Hundreds Of People Rescued From Snow-Trapped Cars, According To Buffalo Mayor; More Than 1,700 Flights Canceled As Storm Swept Across The United States; Erie County, New York, Severe Snowfall And Cold Kill At Least 25 People; If Title 42 Is Lifted, DHS Is Preparing For Migrant Influx; Migrants Dropped Off Outside Vice President Kamala Harris' Home In Frigid Temperatures; Interview With Buffalo Common Council Member. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 13:00:00   ET

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

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ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, and thank you for joining us on this day after Christmas. I'm Abby Phillip in Washington.

More misery and the death toll is still climbing as the aftermath of a brutal winter storm is now sinking in. Historic cold ice and blizzard emergencies, killing at least 47 people across nine states this weekend. And that number is, sadly, expected to rise. Buffalo, New York, has been happens the hardest hit. This is an area that is used to storms, but not like this. This was like a hurricane whipping up heavy, blinding snow, and many roads are still impassable.

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MICHAEL SCHWARZ, REPORTER, WKBW-TV: People were trapped in their car. People are still being pulled out of their car. People are being found dead in their car. That's how crippling this storm was.

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PHILLIP: The storm has also made a mess of post-holiday travels. Long lines and thousands stranded. Flights home canceled or delayed. Plus, fountains as far south as New Orleans still frozen over, but warmer temperatures, they're coming. We have crews covering every aspect of this crippling weather. But first, let's get right to Miguel Marquez, who is on the phone trying to drive through this storm to Buffalo right now.

Miguel, tell us what you are seeing on the road there and what are you hearing from officials.

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, try as I might, I do not think we're going to get to Buffalo today. It is the complete -- Buffalo is snowed in. For a city that is so accustomed to this lake-effect snow, this one has really completely socked in the city. They just are dealing with feet and feet and feet of snow. They are still expecting another six to 12 inches in Buffalo overnight, just south of there.

The governor just said they had 30 to 40 inches just south of there. So, they are still dealing with snow in the hours ahead. They are dealing with trying to dig people out the major throughways, all the way from the Pennsylvania border to Rochester are essentially closed because there were so many cars on the road that were just left abandoned, buses, trucks, everything. So, snowplows can barely get through the snow, it is so thick. The mayor of Buffalo pleading, begging people just stay home.

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MAYOR BYRON BROWN, BUFFALO, NEW YORK: Asking people to stay off the roads. The Buffalo police have literally in a variety of different ways provided hundreds of rescues and have rescued many stranded motorists in the City of Buffalo. In some of these circumstances, some of these people might not have survived.

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MARQUEZ: So, now, some of these emergency services personnel have come across very, very disturbing scenes of people who have frozen to death in their cars. The snow was so blinding. You literally could not see in front of the car. Of people who walked outside and goat disoriented and then ended up expiring outside as well. They are still going through either homes and cars and other place that may not have power. They are concerned about more people who may have perished in this storm.

They're also concerned about looting. There are scattered reports of looting. The sheriff of Erie County earlier said that about 12 service stations, convenience stores have been looted. That knocks out the gas pumps which emergency crews will eventually need to gas up vehicles once they can get in.

The temperatures are meant to go up at the end of this week. So, hopefully today into tomorrow is the worst of it, and then the big thaw, and figuring out, you know, how Buffalo will recover from this devastating storm. Abby.

PHILLIP: So, Miguel, you said you may not get to Buffalo today. How far are you from the city right now?

MARQUEZ: We are about 40, 50 miles from Buffalo. The amazing thing about this lake effect is that cold air that hits the warm air coming off of the lake and it just dumps snow very locally around Buffalo. So, the city itself and a couple of counties or cities around it are basically completely blocked off and socked in. You know, 10, 12 feet of snow, where even if I could get in there, I probably wouldn't be able to go very far because even the main routes in many cases are not plowed through. Abby.

MARQUEZ: It's really extraordinary. Miguel, please drive safely as you travel. Thank you. And now, on to the travel chaos. Carlos Suarez is in Atlanta.

[13:05:00]

Carlos, so how's the deadly -- the delay board looking for you at this hour? I see a ton of people behind you at Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, always a busy airport.

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Abby. Things do not look pretty promising for hundreds of passengers here in Atlanta. As of this hour, we're talking about nearly 170 flights that have been canceled out of this airport alone because of all of this cold weather that has gripped a good part of the U.S.

In fact, in this line right behind me, well, a lot of those passengers whose flights were canceled, they're now in the process of trying to figure out exactly when they might get a flight back to where they were going. A lot of these folks have been in this line for hours now.

And just a few minutes ago, we counted about four agents or so that are trying to get all these folks onto a new flight. Now, when we're talking about the overall number of canceled flights across the U.S., as of this hour, we are approaching well over 2,200 flights that have been canceled and nearly 5,000 other flights that have been delayed. We have seen this type of numbers the entire weekend. I've been here since Saturday, and today really was one of the busiest days of this airport.

We caught up with one woman over on the southwest airline's terminal, just on the other side of where we are, she only traveled because she had to take some medical exams. She was hoping to get back home in time to be with her mother, because she's sick, and now she's stranded, unsure of what she's going to do next.

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MAY MENARD, TRYING TO GET BACK HOME: I had my flight for the 23rd, and it was canceled three times so far. I came Atlanta to actually drive to Augusta to take my step two exam for medical school, and I wanted to go back home because my mom is in the hospital. And I wanted to be there for her once she, like, got discharged. Unfortunately, because of the situation, they are saying that the closest flight is the 29th.

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SUAREZ: All right. So, the Delta Terminal here behind me has a mixture of some folks that are trying to get rebooked on another flight, and folks that are just trying to check in a bag. But over at the southwest airlines, the terminal where were at where we caught up with this woman, they've got an entire line dedicated just for passengers whose flights were canceled. And that line is actually a bit longer than the one here at Delta and even at the TSA checkout line. That's how many folks, Abby, are trying to figure out just how they're going to get back home after the holidays.

PHILLIP: Carlos, thank you so much. So, many families just trying to get home.

Let's bring in now meteorologist Tom Sater.

This storm, Tom, has been described and epic and historic. So, just how epic are we really talking. And as you're looking -- we had the weather across the country, where are the biggest concerns in this hour?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, I mean, they're going to be searching roadways for vehicles. Unfortunately, the death toll may go up, and finding people inside their homes had lost power. I mean, we've had deaths from people falling off their roof trying to clear the snow. It's just terrible.

This was equivalent to a category 2 hurricane when you look at the pressure. And when you have something like that, it's a broad wind field, the white-out conditions. Here we go, Buffalo, this is not their first lake-effect snow event. A couple a week ago -- a couple of weeks ago, we had 50, 60, 70, 80 inches. So, where do you put all that snow? Even in Michigan, you're seeing over 40 inches of snow.

Now, when it comes to Buffalo, they've had more snow now already this year than they typically see all year long. And this is because of the one they had a couple of weeks ago, 98.9 -- it's about three and a half inches more than average. Look at the windchills. The secret killer is shoveling snow. Your heart is beating faster just to keep the body warm. And if you have a one-car driveway with a foot of snow, that's equivalent to moving over four tons. So, be careful with that as well.

With windchill still like this, Chicago 12, minus six in Des Moines, 24 St. Louis. Here's the next story. There's another batch of cold air, mainly confined to the Dakotas up in the Upper Midwest. And it's trailing this little clipper system. For those, who haven't been paying attention their local news, you're going to be surprised, maybe in Atlanta, see some flurries. It's been snowing in Nashville, Cincinnati, Lexington. They'll squeeze out a little more in the Appalachians.

But when you look at Buffalo, as Miguel said, you know, this cold air is moving across these warmer waters and depositing in different neighborhoods. They could still see a good nine, 10 inches. However, as soon these Great Lakes, Abby, freeze over, that shuts down the lake-effect snow machine.

So, I know. We're just getting into winter, and it's terrible to have these warm waters, but look at even into Watertown up into Ontario, there will be a warm-up and they're starting to see the roads and the crews are working well. That was Watertown.

So, this next system, not to worry about, but the warm-up is coming. It doesn't look like it right now with the high of 11 in Minneapolis, but look at Chicago, they're going to be in the upper 30s for lows. And even Buffalo is going to be in the 40 for lows. So, mass of melting will take place in a big warm up for the country. The next story, an atmosphere of river with heavy rain and flooding for California. That's next on this week (ph).

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PHILLIP: All right. The warm-up is coming. I'll take your word for it, Tom.

SATER: OK.

PHILLIP: Thank you so much, everyone.

And with us now Buffalo Common Council Member, Joel Feroleto. Joel, Buffalo is, I'm sure, as you know, very used to this kind of snow. But you have said that this is the worst that you have ever seen. What makes this storm so different and so deadly?

JOEL FEROLETO, BUFFALO COMMON COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, first of all, thanks for having me. The -- what makes this different is the wind. We had hurricane winds here. We had gusts up to 79 miles per hour, and the wind was steady for 48 hours. So, you could not see 10 feet in front of you. The conditions were absolutely horrible. We've had fatalities here. My heart certainly goes out to everyone who has suffered a fatality or a family member or friend who has. It's just -- it's terrible. It's like nothing I have ever seen before.

PHILLIP: As you just mentioned, I mean, there have been a number of fatalities and deaths, and that number is expected to increase. What is the latest you are hearing from officials on that front?

FEROLETO: So, in the City of Buffalo, I've heard that there are 17 confirmed fatalities. I anticipate that to go higher, unfortunately. In Erie County, the number, I believe, is in the 20s. And again, unfortunately, I anticipate that to go higher.

PHILLIP: So, right now the priority is clearly still search and rescue. So, how difficult is that, given the conditions that these emergency crews are facing? I mean, the roads right now are terrible, but it seems even walking conditions can be very challenging.

FEROLETO: Yes, it's very difficult to walk. I did a walk around the neighborhood earlier this morning, and I saw over a dozen cars stranded in the street. And they're stranded, you have snow -- in some of the instances, the snow covers the car completely. So, right now, the focus is on life and safety. And I know a lot of the plow drivers are accompanying the power company to get to their substations, because we still have about 10,000 people without power. My power at my house has been off for over 72 hours at this point.

PHILLIP: Speaking of your own home, you have an eight-month-old baby, your wife is also expecting another child. You don't have power. How are you getting by? How is your wife and your child doing right now?

FEROLETO: Well, thank you very much for asking. So, the first night we were out power, we hunkered down in the living room. And as the temperatures kept going lower, the following day we knew we had to make a move. So, we walked to a friend's house, which was only four blocks away. But that walk was extremely difficult. Only four blocks with the wind gusts over 50 miles per hour. We saw some drifts where you see seven, eight, nine feet of snow.

And it was -- it's so challenging because you could be at one place where it's down to the pavement in five and six feet over from you, the snow is 10 feet high. And that's what makes this so dangerous. And this was so deadly. It's absolutely terrible.

PHILLIP: Joel Feroleto, thank you for joining us. And I hope that your family is able to get back home and warm very soon. Thank you.

FEROLETO: Thank you for having me.

PHILLIP: And the White House now is blasting Texas Governor, Greg Abbott, and accusing him of busing more migrants north, this time to the vice president Kamala Harris' residence in the freezing cold. But what is the administration doing about the growing crisis at the border?

Plus, a new chapter for the United States Military West Point, beginning the process of removing confederate symbols and more from campus, and they are not the only ones.

And, why teachers are raising the alarm over technology that's making it very easy to cheat and very hard to catch. That's next.

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PHILLIP: The White House is now slamming Texas Governor Abbott, after more than -- after more busloads of migrants arrived in Washington, D.C. over the weekend. They were dropped off outside of Vice President Kamala Harris' home at the U.S. Naval Observatory. Some were wearing only t-shirts in the freezing cold temperatures. CNN's White House Reporter Priscilla Alvarez is joining us with more.

So, Priscilla, the governor has sent migrants to this location before. Do we know if he is responsible for these latest arrivals?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, groups on the ground say that, yes, these buses came from Texas. We reached out to Abbott's office for confirmation and they have not yet responded. But to your point, since April, Abbott has been sending dozens of migrants on buses to Washington, D.C. and later expanded that effort to other cities like New York City as in a front to the Biden administration border policies.

Now, this happened again over the weekend, images you saw there. Migrants coming off buses from Texas on Christmas Eve in Freezing temperatures. Now, groups have now gone into the habit of being in touch with NGOs and being ready on scene when these buses arrive to give them blankets, to get them to rest pit (ph) centers. And then later, these migrants go to their final destinations again as they go through their immigration proceedings.

[13:20:00] All of those that you see there have been processed by border authorities already. But the White House is putting it quite bluntly, saying that this was, "A cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt." And they said while they're willing to work with Republicans on comprehensive immigration reform, this type of act is, "Political games that accomplish nothing". Abby.

PHILLIP: And Priscilla, the Department of Homeland Security has been preparing for a surge in migrants at the southern border, knowing that this policy called Title 42 could be lifted any day now. So, what does their multipart plan include and is it possible for parts of it to be implemented now to help ease the burden in cities like El Paso?

ALVAREZ: Well, to remind viewers, this is the Title 42 border restriction. So, in March of 2020, the Trump administration put this in place on the basis of coronavirus pandemic. And it allowed authorities to turn migrants away at the U.S.-Mexico border. It's been caught up in litigation since then. And we're now waiting to see from the Supreme Court whether or not the administration will be able to end this restriction.

But in the interim, the Department of Homeland Security has had to prepare to essentially go back to protocols that were used before the coronavirus pandemic. And that includes setting up temporary facilities, scaling up air and ground transportation, as well as working with NGOs. All of this, Abby, as they wait to hear from the court.

PHILLIP: Priscilla Alvarez, thank you for keeping on top of that.

And let's now take a closer look at this border crisis and the battle over immigration with CNN Political Analyst Margaret Talev who's the managing editor of Axios.

Margaret, great to see you. This is a crisis that could get a lot worse in the coming days. And it's been foreshadowed for quite some time as we've been discussing. So, how big of a problem is the looming potential expiration of Title 42 for the White House?

MARGARET TALEV, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, AXIOS: It's a big problem. Officials estimate that as many as 14,000 migrants could tempt to cross a day or could cross a day once Title 42 is ultimately lifted. And President Biden and his team have been trying to prepare for this for months, because of course, the predicate for Title 42 was a public health emergency, otherwise known as COVID.

And so, as COVID has come until control, unless this administration and the courts somehow determine that you could keep this rational in place beyond COVID, they're going to need to do something about it. The question is, can there be comprehensive or even remotely comprehensive immigration reform? Something where you could get buy-in from the right flank of the Republican Party and the left flank of the Democratic party and the middle.

And we all know what the contours of this would look like if it could happen. My colleague, Hans Nichols, has been writing about this a lot recently. Look, there's an inflationary problem. A lot of that is driven by the type labor market. If you could bring in additional workers, low skilled and high skilled, that could actually offset inflation. And you could get a handle on who's coming in and out of the country.

If you could put more money toward border security, that could theoretically bring more Republicans on board. And if you could have a fix for the dreamers, people who -- maybe who are made adults now but were brought here as babies or young children. If you could fix the, kind of, citizenship or residency situation there, that could be a big solution for members of Congress to vote for something like this across the board.

The problem is, is that going to happen? Is there any proposition, really, for a compromise? And because this has been such a potent issue for Republicans in, sort of, battering Democrats because, already, the incoming House Republican majority is talking about impeachment proceedings against the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas. Whether or not there's any predicate for that.

It's just very hard to see the political rational for keeping this conflict subsiding in order for everyone to come together for a deal. So, Biden is trying to figure out how to get a handle on it. But the politics are very, very complicated.

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, all of that seems like it's well within the possibility for Congress to deal with. And of course, there were some quiet talks over the last few weeks, but those talks have now died, and seems very unlikely that this will go forward.

But, you know, on these buses -- I mean, at least three Republican governors have now taken credit for flying and busing migrants north to make a point. The problem is, why won't they just do what localities are asking for which is give them a little bit of advance notice. And could this Christmas eve drop-off in 20 and 15-degree weather, could that backfire for Republicans?

TALEV: So, far it hasn't that's why you continue to see it because the political theater aspect of it actually gives them precisely the publicity they want around the issue.

[13:25:00]

What I think you see happening behind the scenes though is these churches and migrant advocacy groups really -- like, working as fast as they can to provide that safety net. So, when groups on the ground in Texas realize that people are being dropped off in front Kamala Harris' house instead of taking somewhere else, they're on the phone and text and e-mail to each other, trying to figure out how to patch together a solution.

What we may see happening is not see red state governors talking to blue state governors, that would make a lot of sense, but I don't -- that's not what we're going to see happening. We may see these volunteers groups, church groups and advocacy organizations patch that together and try to be that connective tissue because people are arriving with toddlers, in t-shirts and shorts. And while it's politically potent argument for a red state governor to say, this shouldn't just be our problem. It's also, like, a human safety problem.

PHILLIP: Absolutely.

TALEV: This is one of the coldest days in the year -- 15 degrees outside, and you got a toddler and people in shorts, so --

PHILLIP: Yes, I mean, I think it seems to make sense to ease the burden on the border, perhaps, to move people into places closer to where they're going. But to do so in the freezing cold, children with barely any clothing on at all, I think it really out raises some questions about the cruelty of it all. Margaret Talev, thank you so much for joining us for that conversation.

TALEV: Thank you, Abby.

PHILLIP: And coming up next, how a chance encounter and a gut feeling led police to a kidnapped five-month-old baby just days before Christmas. An incredible story, coming up.

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