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Storm Called "Blizzard Of The Century" Kills 25 In Buffalo Area; Thousands Of Flights Canceled Or Delayed Again Today; Buses Drop Off Migrants Outside VP Harris' Home Amid Freezing Temps. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Pamela Brown, welcome to CNN NEWSROOM.

The historic storm New York's governor called the blizzard of the century has now killed 25 people in the Buffalo area. And a top Erie County official says that number is likely to rise.

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BROWN: He said the conditions have been so severe their own rescuers needed rescuing. Intense winds created whiteout conditions as 43 inches of snow dropped in just 24 hours. Listen to what one family with four young kids faced after they lost power and then went in search of a heated hotel room.

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DANIELLE TISDALE, SPENT CHRISTMAS AT BUFFALO FIREHOUSE: It was very intense. We tried to keep it together for as long as possible because we didn't want to frighten the kids. It was like looking at a white piece of construction paper. You couldn't see anything at all like absolutely nothing until you were probably about a foot away from it.

Even cars with their bright lights on, you just couldn't see anything. Not yellow traffic signs, not orange traffic cones. You couldn't see anything. You couldn't see a stoplight. So, it was like, you kind of just had to drive through the intersection praying.

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BROWN: Imagine just how frightening that must be with four young kids. State police say they've been involved in more than 500 rescues by Sunday helping a man with 4 percent left on his mechanical heart. And local officials are expecting at least another six inches of snow today.

The governor has declared a state of emergency for Erie County, and driving bans are in place in the areas marked in red, as you see right here on your screen, to help first responders navigate still impassable roads. CNN's Polo Sandoval is in Buffalo. So, Polo, New York's governor just gave an update. How many are still without power at this hour?

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Pamela, yesterday, they were roughly 2300 -- I should say last night, about 23,500 households that were in the dark in the Buffalo area. Officials saying that about half of them are back online, so that is progress. And it is badly needed progress here in Buffalo because the streets in and around the city, they're still covered with snow.

Now, you can tell some of these intersections have clearly been plowed. That is because the plowing operations right now are really focused on making sure that they can carve a path throughout the area for first responders to get to calls. But still, you will see civilian vehicles out and about, you might be able to see one right about now.

And so, what we're hearing from officials right now is basically pleading to -- for folks to abide by these travel restrictions, this driving ban that's been in place since Friday night because they want to make sure that the plows can continue to carve those paths and also to access them in the neighborhoods where people have been stuck in their homes since Friday.

And as you're about to hear from New York Governor Kathy Hochul, it seems that the worst of it may be over when it comes to the storm. But that snow still going to fall.

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GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D-NY): The storm is coming back. We're expecting another six to -- six to 12 inches. And in the south towns, the southern part of Erie County, a little bit south of here, they had 30 to 40 inches of snow overnight. So, anyone who declares victory and says it's over, it is way too early to say this is at its completion of -- maybe the severity is downplaying now. And right now, it's not as bad as it had been over the last couple of days, but it is still a dangerous situation to be out.

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SANDOVAL: And as we wrap things up here from Buffalo, Pamela, we do have to mention that just the heartbreak of all of this. At least 25 storm-related deaths confirmed. These are people who are found dead in homes, in cars, even on sidewalks.

Law enforcement personnel basically going door to door and finding some of these individuals in their homes. That is just absolutely heartbreaking, particularly for the first responders that have been working for three days now and are tasked with this duty.

BROWN: And as we reported earlier, that death toll is expected to rise. Polo Sandoval, live for us in Buffalo, thank you so much.

Joining me now is Darius Pridgen, the President of the Buffalo Common Council, and Steven Nigrelli, the acting superintendent of the New York State Police.

[14:05:05]

Thank you both for coming on. So, Council President Pridgen -- Pridgen, I should say, what are you hearing from your constituents? How are they doing?

DARIUS PRIDGEN, COMMON COUNCIL PRESIDENT, BUFFALO: You know, people are very frustrated. We have not seen -- many people have not seen a storm of this size since the blizzard of 77, so you have a lot of younger people who have never seen this amount of snow or devastation.

So, I'll be very, very honest, they're not doing well. Tempers are starting to flare. People are upset at their streets -- we haven't been able to get to the streets yet. But it's just an overwhelming amount of snow right now.

BROWN: Yes. And understandable that their frustrations are boiling over. Superintendent, Erie County officials say that they are seeing many abandoned cars, tractor-trailers, buses, what are your Troopers saying about the road conditions? Are roads even passable?

STEVEN NIGRELLI, ACTING SUPERINTENDENT, NEW YORK STATE POLICE: I've been out in about all day, Pamela, in the last three days. And I can tell you that there's literally hundreds of vehicles abandoned and stranded. And I'm not talking on what occurs on the shoulder roads. These are on the driving lanes right here in city streets which aren't really that wide, to begin with.

Those abandoned vehicles will have to be towed in so the streets can be cleaned. And it's a laborious process. But we focused initially on life safety. And that was a focus on getting to the power generator stations and making sure that our friends from utilities can get the power back on in the city.

While we've been doing that, we've been going door to door and car to car, just checking on our fellow Western New Yorkers. And unfortunately, as you mentioned, that there have been 25 storm-related deaths so far. And unfortunately, and realistically, that number is probably going to climb.

BROWN: Yes, that is just so tragic. Superintendent, also, I mean, what do you say to those who defy the driving ban now in effect in multiple locations in Erie County?

NIGRELLI: It's a very selfish act, to be honest with you. We -- in the beginning, we asked people to stay on the road -- stay off the road. Now I'm telling you, I'm directing you to stay off the road. Because just by that selfish act of going out there, if you're not an essential employee, if you go out there, you're repeating the removal of those vehicles and plows first responders. If you do get stuck, some resources are going to have to go to you that can be used to devise safety missions of searching for our fellow Western New Yorkers are helping people without heat.

Just by staying home, you join our team. And that's how West New York ways. City good neighbors, join our team. Be a part of the cause. If I despise staying home and helping us, that's what you can do to help. Stay home.

BROWN: I want to ask you and bring you back in, Council President, in terms of government support, do you feel like your town is getting what it needs in terms of support through this?

PRIDGEN: Well, you know, it's very difficult. I do think and I have seen all levels of government from state, of course, our governor has a residence here. She's from Buffalo. We've seen the county out. We've seen the city tirelessly out.

The problem now is it's not just clearing the streets of snow. It's not as simple as just pushing the snow down the street. In some areas, it's now having to truck that snow to another site. And whether the bigger trucks can get down side roads in order to track that snow out.

So, we are seeing and I'm very grateful, all levels of government that are participating, you know, you just had on what we have on our state and, of course, the state troopers and everybody from the county to the city.

But it is just overwhelming. I have been out. You know, there were certain emergencies that we had to go out for. It is still devastating. Thank God the wind is not as high so you can see better, but it's still a very dangerous situation because of black ice and people sliding still into snow banks.

And so, the call is, if possible, if it unless it is an emergency or you are essential, to stay home. And if you can't, there should be somebody with the proper type of vehicle to get you to the hospitals because we know that the hospitals are overwhelmed right now and understaffed and need those essential workers.

So, by working together, the people who need to get to wherever they are, this city and state, and the county is working very hard together. It's the only way we're going to make it through this.

BROWN: Absolutely. Well, best of luck to both of you as you lead your communities through this difficult time. Darius Pridgen and Steven Nigrelli, thank you.

And the storm is making air travel a nightmare. Thousands of flights have been canceled or delayed across the country again today. The hardest hit appears to be Southwest Airlines which has canceled more than half of its flights.

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In a statement to CNN, Southwest Airlines said it is "experiencing disruptions across our network as a result of the winter storm's lingering effects on the totality of our operation." CNN's Carlos Suarez is at Atlanta airport. And -- all right, so, Carlos, I want to bring you in here. How are things stuck in up today?

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, it has been a terrible day of air travel across the U.S. As you mentioned, Southwest Airlines has confirmed in a statement to us that they are experiencing some pretty significant delays. According to FlightAware, they have canceled over 50 percent of their flights across the U.S. because of all of this cold weather.

Here in Atlanta, the airport has seen well over 200 flights that have been canceled. And things will they're not a whole lot better at the Delta terminal here behind me. This line has been growing the entire day. The folks that are currently standing in this line have been here for several hours. One woman just told me a few minutes ago that she got here around nine this morning, and she's yet to see a gate agent -- a ticket agent to see if she can get on a new flight.

Now, when we're talking about the overall number of canceled flights across the U.S. going into today, well, that number now stands at about 2900 flights that have been canceled, and well over 4000 other flights that have been delayed.

That number was about 3000 just yesterday. Things are a bit hectic on this side of the airport terminal. But just on the other side, the Southwest Airlines' side, they've got an entire line dedicated to passengers whose flights have been canceled.

We caught up with one woman. She finally sat down on the plane she said, she was hoping to take off. And then they told everyone on that plane they had to get out. And that's because there wasn't a pilot. Here's what she told us.

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AZIZA MUSTEFA, FRUSTRATED TRAVELER: We got on our flight yesterday, in our seats, seatbelts on, and then we were getting ready to depart. And then they -- we're like, never mind, everybody got off the plane. We've never been told to get on the plane like that. So, we got off the plane and they said to wait an hour, the pilot will be here and then they just canceled our flight.

There's a lack of communication. There's no transparency. There's no honesty. I don't know what's going on. There's no staff.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's no staff either, yes.

MUSTEFA: It's OK if there's no staff, we just want them to be honest with us. And I could just go home. But we can't go home because we don't know where our luggage is. Is it here in Atlanta, or is it in Chicago? We have no idea.

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SUAREZ: And, Pamela, making things a little bit more frustrating for a lot of these passengers is that if their connecting flight was in Atlanta, they're having trouble getting access to their luggage. We've talked to a number of customers -- fliers -- travelers who told us that they're still waiting on the airline to give them back their baggage. One man who's been here since Saturday told me his family, they're at a hotel right now but they're still waiting on Delta to give the entire family their bags back.

BROWN: What a mess, and what a way to spend the holiday weekend. My goodness. Carlos Suarez, thank you for bringing us the latest there.

And now to Mississippi where the entire city of Jackson is now under a boil water advisory. The city issued the notice after its water system lost pressure due to line breaks that were likely caused by the weather. CNN's Martin Savidge is following the developments. So, Martin, Jackson water system -- Jackson's water system, it has been plagued by troubles for years now. We've been reporting on that here on CNN. What's the latest?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's still a very fragile system, Pamela, and that's what is the problem we're seeing here. As you mentioned, that extreme cold that everyone's been experiencing manifested itself in the south, and Mississippi what it does, as it's done in other southern states, bust water lines.

In the city of Jackson, Mississippi, it appears to be water mains, they've been pumping water into the system but people at their homes are not seeing it come out or barely trickling out of the tap. So, what Christmas Day would people have to do? Go out and stand in line or go in search of water or go to the water distribution points to get it -- just to have water to drink and use for their meals.

This is a problem, as you point out, that Jackson has been dealing with. Back in August, you may remember, the system suffered almost a partial collapse. That was after floodwaters got into the water filtration system. Boil orders were in place in that city from July until September. They're in a place right now and no one knows for how much longer.

The money is starting to come in to fix the problem. For instance, the latest budget bill that was just passed in Washington has about $600 billion that will go to the Jackson water system. But it's going to take time. And in the meantime, that system still teeters on the brink. And it doesn't take much in this case cold weather that is, once again, forced the residents to suffer, Pamela.

BROWN: It's just -- it's so unfortunate for them. And as you said until there's a more permanent fix, this will likely keep happening. Martin Savidge, thank you.

SAVIDGE: You're welcome.

BROWN: Well, busloads of migrants were dropped off at the front door of Vice President Kamala Harris's home on Christmas Eve when it was just 18 degrees outside. And now, the White House is slamming Texas Governor for the stun. We're going to discuss that.

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Plus, President Zelenskyy says Russia will make the last few days of 2022 "dark and difficult." Much more on that situation in Ukraine just ahead.

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BROWN: Well, the Supreme Court could roll as soon as tomorrow on whether the Trump-era border restrictions known as Title 42 can stay in effect. On Christmas Eve, three busloads of migrants were dropped off at the front door of Vice President Kamala Harris's DC home. It was just 18 degrees outside. It is unclear who is responsible, but the White House is blaming Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

So, let's bring in CNN's Priscilla Alvarez in Washington. Priscilla, what more do we know about this?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's not just the White House that's pointing the finger at Texas Governor Greg Abbott, but groups on the ground who have been assisting migrants arriving from Texas for months. Now, Abbott began this ever back in April when he sent buses of migrants to DC later expanding to New York City and Chicago, and over 8700 migrants have come to DC or come through DC since then. Now, again, we reached out to Abbott's office for confirmation and have not received it. But groups were in a position on Saturday, late -- on Christmas Eve to receive dozens of migrants who came from Texas.

[14:20:04]

They included people from Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela, and Peru. And they said that they were supposed to go to New York City, but it got diverted because of the weather. Now, these are migrants who have been processed by border authorities and are going through immigration proceedings. During that time, they can be released in the United States and move about.

But this is something that the White House has long called a stunt saying "it is a cruel, dangerous, and shameful stunt." They said they're willing to work with Republicans on comprehensive immigration reform, but "these political games accomplished nothing. And as you mentioned there, Pam, the White House is keeping a close eye on the Supreme Court this week to see what they say about what is the future of those border restrictions known as Title 42, Pam.

BROWN: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

I'm going to bring in Claudia Tristan, an organizer at the migrant solidarity mutual aid network. She is also the immigration director of the group MomsRising. So, Claudia, you've been very busy. Your group was notified that the migrants would be headed to DC. Tell us more about learning about this was happening over a holiday weekend and what services you provided once they arrived.

CLAUDIA TRISTAN, ORGANIZER, MIGRANT SOLIDARITY MUTUAL AID NETWORK: Sure. So, like you mentioned earlier, we were expecting them to go to New York. And once we got a very short notification that they'd be making their way to DC instead, we assembled the volunteers that were still here in town because many of them have left for the holiday season. So, we were able to get our group of volunteers ready. We provided food, warm coffee, and brief shelter for these migrants after they got off the bus and were brought to our respite centers. Now, many of them showed up with very thin blankets, or T-shirts or barely even long sleeves, so we also provided them with jackets and shoes. You'd be surprised some people showed up without shoes on and then getting dumped in 18-degree weather on the side of the road.

BROWN: Interesting about the kids as well. I'm curious, from what I understand, an NGO that was at the border notified your group and other groups that the buses were headed up your way. Since there is no coordination with the -- whoever is behind this, and of course, the White House is pointing its finger at the Texas governor, what would have happened had you not been given that heads up by the group at the border?

TRISTAN: You know, and there's been times where we haven't gotten any heads-up on a change of drop off. Only recently did the governor of Texas start dropping off migrants in front of the vice president's residence. And I can tell you back then, that people were left freezing for over an hour. And back then, temperatures were only in the 50s, so imagine this weekend when temperatures were 18 degrees, and no one would have been there to welcome them and receive them and move them to a safe and warm shelter.

Like I mentioned, many of these people had only T-shirts on. They were lucky if they had coats or long sleeves on. The blankets that you saw some of them using and the images were also very, very thin. So, once they got to our respite center, they donated those blankets then back to us as we gave them coats because the coats were better than those blankets that they had -- that few of them had.

BROWN: So, I'm just curious in terms of the long term because it's great that you were able to provide them with clothes and blankets and food and a respite center. But what do you do in the long term?

TRISTAN: Right. Well, we are always hoping that the governor of Texas will work with us. We want to support the border communities and the work that they're facing right now. But we ask that the governor of Texas shoulder more humanity and compassion because what happened this weekend was completely cruel, and could have been avoided had they dropped off the migrants at our respite center directly instead of exposing them to the 18-degree weather outside of the vice president's house on the side of a frankly, busy road.

BROWN: How was your organization preparing for the possible end to that border roll Title 42? We know we're just waiting for the Supreme Court to make a decision.

TRISTAN: Right. So, while we wait for that decision, we are still fundraising and we're trying to prepare to make sure that we have enough winter clothes to clothe everyone that ends up making their way to Washington, DC. And we want to make sure that they receive a warm welcome and that we have places ready to receive them.

BROWN: All right, Claudia Tristan, thank you so much for coming on and sharing the experience you've had with your group in helping take these migrants that were bused up to DC. Thank you so much. Well, we are following two developing stories overseas. First, China sends dozens of aircraft into Taiwan's air defense zone escalating the already high tensions. And South Korea scrambles together fighter jets and attack helicopters after North Korean drones enter the country's airspace. We're going to have details on that just ahead. Stay with us.

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[14:29:21]

BROWN: Well, several areas across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv are experiencing an emergency power outage due to Russian attacks. The government-owned electricity company says the devastating damage has led to limited usage of the main power grid. And furthermore, Ukrainian military officials are warning of possible retaliatory strikes after three Russian soldiers were killed during a drone counterattack.

CNN's Melissa Bell is following these developments from Paris. What more are you learning about this incident, Melissa?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is something that happened overnight, Pamela. This was a drone that was intercepted by Russia over this airbase. Now, just to be clear, this is an airbase that is well within Russian territory.