Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

5 Dead After Amazon Cargo Plane Overruns Miami Runway; Witkoff Confident of 'Good Resolution' after Meetings with Russia, Ukraine; Anti-AFD Protests Held as AFD Party Takes Wins Big; Hawaii Braces as Category 3 Storm Heads Towards Islands; CNN on the Ground in Tibet after Last Week's Flash Flood; WHO: Ebola Outbreak is Outpacing Efforts to Contain It. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired September 07, 2026 - 00:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.

[00:00:44]

Coming up on the show, five people are killed when a plane overshoots the runway and crashes into vehicles at Miami International Airport. We'll hear from a plane crash expert.

U.S. envoys sound optimistic following talks with both the leaders of Russia and Ukraine to bring an end to the four-year-long war. We'll get to a live report from Kyiv.

Plus, a far-right party in Germany wins big in a state election. What this means for Germany and for the rise of the far right in Europe.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome. At least five people are dead and five others are injured after an Amazon cargo plane overran the runway during a landing at Miami International Airport on Sunday.

Responders say the pilots were removed from the plane and were being treated. Three of the wounded are in critical condition.

Have a look at this footage of the crash, and we must warn you, the video is disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) God! Oh! (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Oh, my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) God!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The 32-year-old Boeing 767 was landing on Runway 30 after flying from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Video shows the aircraft departed off the end of the runway, crossed the perimeter road, and crossed Northwest 67th Avenue before coming to a stop.

The 21 Air flight caught fire after striking multiple vehicles, sending a thick black plume of smoke high into the air.

An official says some victims were trapped in their vehicles and had to be extricated.

The scene is still active as fire rescue crews respond to an ongoing fuel leak. The U.S. Federal Aviation Authority says there is a ground delay at the airport due to the disabled aircraft. Officials say it's not yet clear why the plane could not stop before the end of the runway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF RAY JADALA, MIAMI-DADE FIRE RESCUE: The airplane did strike a couple of vehicles that required a couple of victims that were actually trapped in the vehicles. So, a complex extrication with our technical rescue teams started to occur.

In addition to that, we had a very complex fire: engine compartments that were on fire, including a search and rescue of the pilot and copilot that were trapped in this aircraft.

This incident will continue for the next several days as we play, now, a supporting role with the sheriff's office as they determine the cause of the -- the deaths.

Total, ten that were involved: five fatalities; three that are in critical condition, that were transported to the trauma center, and another two that were transported to a local hospital.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: Joining us now is CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo. She's a former inspector general for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Thank you for being with me.

At least five people have been killed and five others injured. What are the biggest questions that investigators need to answer now about what actually happened here?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, the investigators are going to be looking at at least four different areas.

They're going to be looking at the piloting of the aircraft. And it's -- it's very helpful that they have that video showing how the plane was coming in.

They're going to be looking at the airfield. This airfield did not have what they call arrester beds. In other words, safety overrun areas at the end of the runway that stop the plane from moving forward. They're going to be looking at the weather. A storm had moved through,

a pretty big one, and there were some warnings that there could be crosswinds or tailwinds, including up to about 26 knots, 30 miles an hour. Granted, that was gusts, but if it -- if it was a tailwind rather than a cross wind, wind would push the plane further down the runway.

And finally, they look at the plane itself. It was 32 years old. It had been in foreign ownership, including Russian ownership in its past. And they will want to know if all the equipment was working on it.

In that video, you don't see -- and it's difficult to see because it's a shot far away of the landing -- but you don't see the -- the -- the thrust reversers, the spoilers. And you see a landing where they land on one wheel in the back, and then the front wheel.

[00:05:02]

But you're supposed to land on the two back wheels and let the speed, the airspeed, and the airflow over the wings dissipate, and then the nose drops. So, it does not look like a controlled landing.

HUNTE: As you mentioned, we have seen a video of the landing. And as you say, there are questions about how the aircraft approached and touched down. Is there anything that we can't conclude yet from that video?

SCHIAVO: Well, we can't conclude if they had problems that we don't know about yet.

Now, we do know that there were no mayday calls before the landing. They didn't report to air traffic control that they had any problems with the aircraft.

But then some of those problems wouldn't be known until the moment you touched down. There are a lot of different kinds of sensors and switches on the plane.

For example, some of the equipment is deployed when it senses all the wheels are on the ground. For example, the spoilers. We don't see that on the video.

As I say, first one wheel, then the other, and the front wheel before all -- both back wheels. And so, if there were equipment problems, we don't know that yet. The first mayday call came after that crash off the end of the runway.

And, you know, of course, they'll be taking the black boxes, both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, and they'll have the exact communications as to what was going on.

And so that isn't known, certainly not for the public now, but it will soon be known to the NTSB that will have that, all in -- all that information. And they'll be looking at the maintenance records of this aircraft,

since it is a very old plane, by -- by most standards, worldwide standards.

HUNTE: We also know that there were thunderstorms and bad weather around the time of the crash. How much of a factor could those conditions have been in what happened here?

SCHIAVO: Well, it could be a -- it could be a significant factor for a couple of reasons. Given this -- this landing from the video -- and we could be entirely wrong. The video, it depends on how the angles the video was shot, et cetera.

But it looks like they were hurrying in, didn't have a -- you know, a good landing set up. They didn't have everything ready to go when they landed. And it -- it -- what we call floated a bit. They -- they used up a lot of the runway without getting all three wheels on the ground.

Ordinarily you might say they should have done a go-round. You know, powered up and tried to do it again, but it appears that they had either beaten or made it through a storm. And there was this wind issue.

So, weather could certainly have played a factor in this, even if it was just they were trying to get out of the storm and get on the ground. Sometimes we call it "get-there-itis."

HUNTE: There has also been discussion online about the safety area beyond the runway and whether a stopping system could have, in some way, prevented this outcome. What are your thoughts on that?

SCHIAVO: Well, it's a little surprising to me, to tell you the truth. We have these arrester beds: EMAS, they're called; emergency arresting equipment. And it's kind of -- the best way to think of it is, like, a big, empty cement box, like a pad, a flooring of cement boxes that are empty.

And when you're -- the plane's wheels get to them, they crunch through, and it stops the plane. We have those all over the United States, and they're all over the world.

And for an airport as congested as Miami is, with population all around it -- buildings, freeways, et cetera -- not to have any of this, of this safety overrun EMAS system is a little surprising. And I think the National Transportation Safety Board will be highly critical of that fact.

We have them in New York, Chicago, you name it.

HUNTE: OK. CNN transportation analyst Mary Schiavo, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

HUNTE: And now to the high-stakes meetings in Kyiv, amid a renewed effort to end the war in Ukraine. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump's son-in-law,

Jared Kushner, said they had substantive discussions with President Zelenskyy and Kyiv officials on Sunday.

This comes after the U.S. delegation also met with Russia's Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Saturday.

While there was no major breakthrough, Witkoff appeared optimistic following talks with both sides.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY: We came to see President Putin first. We needed to hear where he stood. We had a good concrete conversation with him, which we advised President Zelenskyy and his team about.

Both sides have to come to a resolution here. And my job and Jared's job together is to bring the parties together, to narrow the issues between them, to create good communication channels. And hopefully, we began that process constructively in the last 48 hours. And we're confident that there'll be a good resolution here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: As the latest round of peace talks draws to a close, officials are eyeing the end of a temporary truce struck between Kyiv and Moscow. A 72-hour pause in strikes protected only the two capital cities for the duration of the U.S. diplomatic visit.

[00:10:11]

Elsewhere, officials say Russian airstrikes have killed at least ten Ukrainians and injured 65 others in just 24 hours.

While this weekend's talks were taking place, CNN's Julia Benbrook has been traveling with President Trump in New Jersey. Here, she has more on where the talks currently stand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's been a busy weekend of diplomacy for special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

BENBROOK (voice-over): The two said they had substantive discussions and that there is hope for trilateral talks in the future involving the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.

Now, the envoys, they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday. They thanked the Ukrainian leader for his hospitality.

And Witkoff said that he believes that there could be a good resolution coming out of all of this. Their visit to the Ukrainian capital comes as the city has faced a barrage of Russian missiles in recent weeks. JARED KUSHNER, TRUMP'S SON-IN-LAW: One thing Steve and I really

thought would be productive is to go back to the trilateral format, which were able to do about six months ago. And we've spoken with both parties. And so hopefully, we'll have progress on that very soon.

I think that's important to talk about. The big issues, obviously, but also some of the -- some of the de-escalatory issues that could be done, as well.

BENBROOK: The day before, the U.S. delegation met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow. That meeting lasted for roughly three hours.

Prior to this trip, President Donald Trump, who's spending his weekend here in New Jersey at one of his properties nearby, he said that he was sending over great negotiators to essentially see what they can get done.

Previous attempts at coming to an agreement for lasting peace stalled last winter, and some of the key areas of focus, the key sticking points, were big issues like territory, as well as security guarantees.

Now, the White House did say that next steps were discussed and that there should be an update in the coming weeks.

Traveling with the president in New Jersey, Julia Benbrook, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: Joining us now to discuss, live from Kyiv, is Terrell Jermaine Starr. He's an independent journalist currently focused on Ukraine. He has been covering the war on social media and Substack, @TerrellJStarr.

It is so good to see you, sir.

So, Terrell, there is still no breakthrough yet, even after these dedicated and very much hyped talks. How surprised are you that the war is continuing? And what did you expect from the talks?

TERRELL JERMAINE STARR, INDEPENDENT JOURNALIST: All this could have been an email.

The envoys went to Moscow, said, Hey, Putin, what do you want? Putin said, We want Ukraine to capitulate everything.

And they went. They came here to Kyiv and said, Hey, Putin wants you to capitulate everything. And Zelenskyy, and Ukraine, as they've said over the past year and a half, No, we're not going to do that. And the war is going to continue.

It could have been an email. This is nothing more than a show for cameras. The 24-hour deadline that Donald Trump had called for to end this war, in February, will be 24 months. So, let's just put that in context. Twenty-four hours has turned into 24 months. And eventually, 24 months is going to turn into 48 months, because this war is going to continue once Trump leaves office.

No one here is particularly surprised that nothing took place, because Donald Trump doesn't have a plan. And so, the envoys were not going to bring anything new, because Trump's position has not changed.

Because he's just -- pretty much wants to -- he was really waiting for Zelenskyy and the Ukrainians to feel like they've given up and that they're tired. Like, that's the biggest irony of this.

Not only Trump -- not only is Putin bombing Ukraine into submission, Trump is expecting that to happen. And it hasn't. And it won't.

HUNTE: Zelenskyy says he expects this war to continue into the winter. How concerned are you and other people in Ukraine, as well, about what the next few months could look like for you?

STARR: Well, we have experience with last year's winter, critical infrastructure. The main thing that -- I think one of the things that they did talk about during this meeting was security for winter, which is -- which the primary ask is for Patriot missiles, Patriot interceptors.

And many people know that there's a short supply because of the ongoing war in Iran, and that has depleted the Patriot system -- Patriot systems. And Europe is very stingy with its -- with its own, and rightfully so. So, there is a deficit of those.

[00:15:02]

And so, Ukraine has been wanting to get the license in order to produce them themselves. But as many people know, the reason why that license hasn't taken place, hasn't come to Ukraine is because the defense industry fears that Ukraine will come up with cheaper alternatives for those interceptors.

So, as far as how people are dealing with it here, I just got my comforter on my bed. I think people have become smarter about using solar-powered heaters now, because we know that the heaters, the infrastructure will be hit; and that means that we can go ten hours, 12 hours, 16 hours or more without heat.

And so, people are depending on power -- power -- solar power sources and just adjusting, because we know that the cold is coming.

And -- and -- but the difference now is that people know how to suffer with a little more comfort than they did before, because we have the experience.

HUNTE: We are, of course, hearing more and more about Ukrainian deaths every single day, even as there was a pause in strikes during these talks.

What sort of impact is being surrounded by so much death and destruction having on everyday life over there? STARR: With my friend group, you have people who are turning to

medication. People are self-medicating in many respects.

The day-to-day that people don't see online or in news clips is the conversation that we have at bars, the conversation that we have at cafes.

People -- there is a strong resilience taking place here. People are adjusting. For example, I was in Odessa for two weeks and, you know, towards the end of the summer. And people are just -- are just entrenched.

So, for example, you see people on the beach sunbathing and swimming, but on the edge of the beach, you see soldiers on the back of a -- of a -- of a Jeep with a 50, on the back looking for drones.

And -- and actually, you see these drones being shot down from the sky over the sea as people are vacationing. And so, people have just come to accept it. So, that's one part of it.

But then, as I said earlier, people are -- there's a lot of anxiety taking place here in the country. And so, it's taking its toll.

But what people realize is that, if we capitulate everything, that that means that we have occupation. And so, people are taking -- choosing between two bad choices, which is suffer through this war or suffer through Russian hegemony and Russian control. And they don't want Russian control.

So, until the next election happens in the United States, in 2028, then people don't see a change here. But they know if they continue to fight, then they know that there will be somebody in Washington that hopefully will give them a change in course of action because they don't see it with Trump.

So, everyone has given up here, but they're not saying it. They have to play the part.

And so that's why you saw the -- it's pageantry, right? So, you saw Kushner come here. And they can -- and so, what was interesting about Kushner was that he said, you know, Biden didn't do anything. He never came.

And it's similar to Trump meeting with Kim Jong-un --

HUNTE: Yes.

STARR: -- just so he could say, Hey, I showed up, and I did it for the cameras.

And, people have come to accept this, the pageantry of it all. But the toll --

HUNTE: Yes.

STARR: -- of it is that yes, people -- the anxiety is ongoing. People are suffering through this tremendously. Because you see people -- the coffins going through the city of Kyiv and elsewhere of -- of -- of soldiers dying.

And -- and, but however, they know that, if they don't -- if they stop fighting, that means that there'll be more dead bodies. And so, people are choosing the difference between those options.

HUNTE: Because you tell me like it is, after everything that you have seen on the ground in Ukraine so far, how much confidence do you have that at the end of this war could be coming soon?

STARR: It won't happen. I feel like the two of us have communicated roughly a year ago when I first appeared on your show, and I told you the same thing. It's rinse, wash, repeat.

Because Trump is not really interested in ending the war. He is interested in showing the appearances of being a statesman.

And that requires tough decisions to -- to take place. That means that Trump will have to do what Biden did, which was to arm Ukraine. And that was supposed to be a continuation of that during his administration. That hasn't happened, because he sees Putin as a friend. He sees him as an ally.

Then you have Witkoff, who was glazing Putin pretty, much. I mean, it was just a -- it was a -- Witkoff and Kushner, it was just a -- it was a big glaze session with the -- at the Kremlin. He was pretty much kissing up to him.

So, I -- it's not going to happen. And when -- when -- when Trump leaves office, he's going to say that I tried, even though he did not set up the foundation to pressure Putin into ending the war.

[00:20:09]

HUNTE: Yes.

STARR: The pressure is all -- is being put on Kyiv. And so, it's not going to happen.

When we talk 24 months from now or, or let's say, 2029, this war will not have ended. And we're going to be talking about how the new administration is going to take these steps.

Because here in Ukraine, the people not only want to continue if Zelenskyy said, we're going to end it and we're going to -- we're going to take Russia's terms, there's going to be a revolt. So that's -- that's what's happening here on the ground.

HUNTE: Terrell Jermaine Starr, live from Kyiv. Sir, thank you so much for joining us. Speak to you again soon.

STARR: Thank you.

HUNTE: Let's talk Iran. Iran plans to announce a new restricted zone outside the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days, according to the country's top national security official and adviser to the supreme leader.

The zone would also include areas in the Gulf and any ship entering that zone would be added to a sanctions list. All of this as Tehran warns of retaliation in the wake of recent hostilities in the area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOHAMMAD BAHAR GHALIBAF, IRANIAN PARLIAMENT'S SPEAKER (through translator): From now on, every violation of Iran's security and assets will be met with a faster, heavier and more painful response.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: The U.S. pressure campaign on Iran's economy can no longer be brushed aside by Iranian officials. Iran's Economy Ministry told state media on Sunday that it planned to respond with reforms, but rejected the idea that sanctions would influence Iran to change course.

The cost of the war with Iran is also being felt in the U.S.. Americans are wrapping up this summer holiday with a hefty price tag as they face record-high gasoline prices for Labor Day weekend.

The U.S. national average for price per gallon is at $4.15, according to AAA's latest figures.

The U.S. energy secretary told CNN earlier that gas prices are more likely to go down ahead of an effort to ramp up gasoline production.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS WRIGHT, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: The Trump administration is working with our refiners to expand their capacity. In fact, our efforts in Venezuela will also bring on not just oil production, but ultimately, a rise in refinery capacity in Venezuela to supply the world.

So, the world's had a lot of things rowing against the diesel market and democratic policies for the last 15 years to crimp the production of hydrocarbons in the United States is certainly taking a toll.

But we're rolling in the other direction, and we'll see that expanded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNTE: All right. There's much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. A stunning election result in Germany, where the far-right AFD Party surged to a first-place finish in a state-wide election. Still to come, we'll look at how this affects German politics. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:27:20]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

Preliminary results show the Alternative for Germany or AFD Party has won state-level elections.

Early vote counting shows AFD won 44 percent of the vote in the state of Saxony-Anhalt. That means they'd hold 39 of 83 seats in the state, just short of the 42 seats needed for an absolute majority.

AFD's surge in this election reflects the deep unpopularity of Germany's current ruling coalition, run by Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Protests against the far-right AFD Party sprang up across several German cities, including in Frankfurt and Berlin. Slogans on some protesters' signs recalled Germanys darkest days, such as "Never Again '33," referring to the year that the Nazi Party came to power.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen has more for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The far- right Alternative for Germany seems to have won a landslide victory here --

PLEITGEN (voice-over): -- in the East German state of Saxony-Anhalt. And that could put them in a position to, for the very first time in post-World War II Germany, put in place a governor from a far-right political party here in this country.

That person would be Ulrich Sigmund. I spoke to him earlier, and he told me that he believes that he should become governor of this state and that, if he does become governor, that he is going to put in place what they essentially call a "Germany first" policy --

PLEITGEN: -- but that they also want better relations with Russia, as well. Here's what he had to say.

ULRICH SIEGMUND, GERMAN POLITICIAN (through translator): The development now is that we want our national sovereignty back. That countries have politics in the interest of their people, their own nations, and not try to save the world.

And so, I want to emphasize, both in the direction of Russia and the United States of America, we need both of them if Germany is going to be successful, if we want to have politics in the interest of our country. And that is the only benchmark that drives us.

PLEITGEN: Now, coalition building is extremely complicated here in Germany, and most of the other political parties have said that they are not going to cooperate with the Alternative for Germany, with the AFD.

And therefore, it's not clear whether or not Ulrich Siegmund is actually going to manage to become governor.

Now, one of the most controversial policies of the AFD is something that they call re-migration, which is essentially the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants and also those who have committed crimes. I was also able to speak to the chairwoman of the AFD, and she flat-

out told me she believes that this is a slap in the face of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, that his days in office are numbered, and that there are going to be mass deportations from Germany.

ALICE WEIDEL, MEMBER OF GERMAN BUNDESTAG (through translator): We stood for election very clearly to represent the interests of our country; not Ukraine's, not any other countries. And I can tell you what happens once we get the mandate to govern at the federal level and take on governing responsibility.

[00:30:15]

We will cut all unnecessary spending. We will control our borders. We will deport everyone obligated to leave the country.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Now, while that is pretty tough talk coming from the Alternative for Germany, it's very much unclear whether or not they are going to be able to get the governorship here in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

But certainly, one of the things that we can already see is that this is causing shock waves in political Berlin, where many of them are asking what sort of changes are needed --

PLEITGEN: -- in the policies of this country.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Magdeburg, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including developments from Hawaii, where we are tracking Hurricane Lowell as it turns towards the islands. We'll have the latest ahead. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:35:38]

HUNTE: Welcome back. I'm Ben Hunte. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

The U.S. is pushing to resume trilateral talks to end Russia's war in Ukraine. The announcement comes after special envoys visited Kyiv and Moscow this weekend.

Steve Witkoff says he and Jared Kushner are confident that there will be a good resolution following talks with both President Zelenskyy and President Putin, too.

Five people are dead and five others are injured after an Amazon cargo plane overshot the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday.

The Boeing 767 struck multiple vehicles before catching fire.

Investigators are on their way to the scene of the crash and will work to determine the cause.

At least three people have been killed after a five-story building collapsed in New Delhi. Nine people have been rescued as crews continue to search the rubble for anyone still trapped.

Police say the building was 40 to 50 years old and was undergoing basement repairs at the time of the collapse.

Hawaii is now bracing for powerful Hurricane Lowell. A state of emergency is in effect as the storm, currently a Category 3, takes aim at Hawaii's West Western islands.

Lowell is expected to fall to a Category 2 storm when it makes its closest approach to the islands. It will stay offshore but is forecast to slam the islands with heavy rains and possible flash flooding.

This is the third storm in just over three weeks to target Hawaii, as El Nino supercharges their hurricane season.

Joining me now is Tom Skilling, a part-time Hawaii resident who's back in Chicago now, where he served as chief meteorologist at WNG-TV for more than four decades.

Tom, good to see you. You have just returned from Hawaii.

TOM SKILLING, FORMER CHIEF METEOROLOGIST, WNG-TV: Yes. Thank you.

HUNTE: So, with all of your years of experience, what are you most concerned about right now?

SKILLING: Well, you know, it's interesting. You would think, at the latitude that Hawaii has had, a tropical latitude, which is the same as the Caribbean islands or South Florida, that hurricanes would be a regular feature.

The fact is, Hawaii's only had two landfalling hurricanes since 1950, and one of them occurred about 34 years ago, Iniki. And what's kind of frightening about Lowell to many folks is this storm was traveling West, as Iniki did, South of the islands, and did a 90-degree turn. It's now heading slightly East of due North, about 500 miles South of Kauai, which is one of the westernmost of the eight primary Hawaiian islands, expected to roar in there with tropical-storm, if not hurricane-strength winds later in the day, Monday and Monday night.

And that -- along with that, 16- to 18-foot seas on Kauai with seas building to 18 to 22 feet. Those are the waves that come into the island.

Iniki, when it hit, had 145 mile-per-hour winds with gusts over 200. So, this storm is not an Iniki, but it is a damaging storm. And it's something that folks have to watch.

Late today, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the tropical storm warning for Kauai to a hurricane watch. And they're expecting winds in the upper -- tropical storm range, which is between 39 and 73 miles an hour. But if you go above 74 miles per hour, you have what qualify as

hurricane-force winds.

So, that plus driving rains with flooding possibilities and large seas and a one-to-three-foot storm surge, and you have the makings for some real problems.

And then when you get to the West -- rest of the Hawaiian islands, moisture is coming up. And, you know, the Hawaiian islands feature varied terrain. And this terrain can take that moisture that floods in, lift it, and produce areas of extremely heavy and flooding rains.

So, there are flood watches out over the rest of the Hawaiian islands, Ben, with this particular weather set-up. It's -- as you pointed out, it has been one heck of an active year in Hawaii and throughout the Pacific.

While we've not had a single hurricane in the Atlantic basin, which includes the Gulf, the Caribbean and the Atlantic, there have been 15 named storms in the Pacific, and six of them have been hurricanes.

HUNTE: Wow.

SKILLING: And as you point out, only three weeks ago we had Hurricane Lala that went into the Big Island, did terrible damage in parts of the Big Island, and it was followed by Moke, a tropical storm that went a little South of the island, but brought up some rain even so.

[00:40:02]

So, Hawaiians are -- they started the spring with a couple of Kona lows, which drop heavy rains and wind, that did $1 billion of damage in Oahu alone. That's around Honolulu.

And so here we are now in hurricane season, and we have these tropical systems coming in. And it makes for some very busy, very preparation- conscious folks out in Hawaii.

HUNTE: Yes.

SKILLING: And they take these storms very, very seriously.

HUNTE: Well, this forecast has shifted quite a bit over the last few days. So, with all that expertise, tell me, how much confidence do you have in the current track and what could still change?

SKILLING: You know, it's a great question. You look at Iniki. Iniki was as bad as it was, because the turn North wasn't as accurately forecast as has been the track, the Northward turn in this storm.

We've had incredible progress made in both our ability to track these storms remotely by satellite. Of course, our hurricane hunters fly into these storms. There was a hurricane hunter aircraft in sampling the storm today and sending back readings that are used to help our computer models. And these computer models are amazing. So, the fact is, Ben, the forecasts have been pretty good for a number

of days now. Hawaiians and the folks who plan for these storms have had a pretty good read on what was coming their way.

And now, as we get closer to it, what you look for, we have scores of models that hurricane forecasters can look at and compare. And when the models kind of converge on a -- on a track, which is what's happened now as we get close to the storm coming into the islands itself, the confidence in the forecast increases.

So, we've -- this is a pretty high confidence forecast, but one that folks should be watching very, very carefully and keeping up with the advice from the National Hurricane Center and also from the National Weather Service office in Honolulu, which does a bang-up job in getting the word out on these.

HUNTE: Sounds good to me. Tom Skilling in Chicago, thank you so much for joining us and for your insight too. Thank you, sir.

SKILLING: Thank you, Ben. Good to talk to you.

HUNT: You, too.

A volcanic eruption in Indonesia is sending a massive plume of ash into the sky, reaching as high as 50,000 feet, or 1,500 meters in some parts.

No evacuation orders have been put in place yet, but officials are urging people to keep their distance.

This latest eruption has caused massive travel disruptions in the region. Eight airports were closed down by Sunday evening, and more than 170,000 passengers have been impacted by more than thousand 1,500 flight cancellations.

There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, CNN is on the ground at a crossing at the China-Nepal border that was completely washed away by the recent floods. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:47:38]

HUNTE: Welcome back. It's nearly two weeks since catastrophic flash floods swept through the Nepal-China border region, killing more than 1,300 people.

According to officials in Nepal, nearly 5,000 others are still missing.

CNN's Simone McCarthy saw first-hand some of the devastation in that region as part of a rare trip organized by the Chinese government.

And we do want to clarify that CNN still has full editorial control of our coverage. Here is her report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, we're -- we're walking into the main hard-hit port area now. I mean, even just some of the ground here is incredibly unstable. It's like -- it feels like it's almost hollow underneath.

You can see there's quite large rocks here. There's also excavation going on behind us. A number of workers are actively in the midst of some of the -- the response and repairs here.

We've been told, as well, as we were walking over, that there are the risk of loose rocks.

I'm standing in the location that was once a five-story border checkpoint. This used to be a bustling hub of transit between Nepal and China, with travelers, travel agents, people involved in trade coming over that border, moving through what was once a huge building here.

This is the spot where a huge wall of water washed over a five-story building in video that was captured on surveillance footage on august 26th, when devastating floods and landslides hit the China-Nepal border.

I'm standing now in the area where that building was. This is Gyirong Port in Tibet, where CNN is part of a small group of foreign reporters who've been given access to this site, the first time that foreign media have been allowed entry.

And now to see what the impact of that was here, where there's just I mean, you would never know that there had been anything here at all. There's actually a sign which is indicating that this was a foundation. You can still see some rebar.

But that's really the only thing that remains. There have been no survivors found in this location.

And right now, the rescue teams are just contending with this heavy, heavy mud. The road that we took to get in here was actually layered in some places with five feet of mud. It took the better part of a week for -- for emergency workers to be able to enter via road.

[00:50:06]

One of the other things that we can notice is that the flood waters actually reached so high up onto the mountain, you can see some of the greenery has actually been scraped away there as a result of just how high those those flood waters came as

high up onto the mountain, you can see some of the greenery has actually been scraped away there as a result of just how high those -- those flood waters came as they barreled through this area.

We asked one of the responders how long he thought the operations would continue, and he wasn't able to give an answer. They've put up a Chinese flag to -- to memorialize what was here, but there's just absolutely nothing left.

This area has also been a focal point for families who are desperate for information about what happened to loved ones that they believe were at this border crossing at the time when that landslide and flooding hit this area.

They're still waiting for answers. The government has yet to publish publicly a list of who was at the border crossing at the time. Families are really desperate for more information about what happened here and looking around, it's -- you can see that there's no answers immediately visible.

Simone McCarthy, CNN, Gyirong Port.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: The World Health Organization is warning the ongoing Ebola outbreak is outpacing efforts to contain it. Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo are now turning to new tools to help them track the spread of that deadly virus.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): More than 3,000 people have now died from the fast-spreading Ebola outbreak, according to health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and they've confirmed over 6,000 cases.

The World Health Organization warns the outbreak is outpacing the response.

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The Ebola epidemic in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is already the second largest on record, and the fastest moving that we have ever seen.

HOWARD (voice-over): WHO also says the majority of deaths are happening in small communities rather than in official treatment centers, leading to unsafe burials and unknown chains of transmission that continue to spread.

Health officials in the region are turning to a never before used method in Ebola response, tracking mobile phone data to map population movements and predict where cases may emerge.

In an interview with Reuters, Swedish nonprofit Flow Minder said it is using anonymized cellular records provided by the DRC's largest operator to identify virus hotspots and track travel from those regions.

GHEBREYESUS: Until every chain is found and broken, the epidemic will continue and will continue to pose a threat to DRC. Its neighbors and the region as a whole. This outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo Ebola strain, which has no

approved vaccine or treatment. But the government is testing Ervebo, an approved vaccine for a different strain of Ebola, in the hopes that it could provide some protection.

SALATIEL WAYLEE, HEAD OF VACCINATION IN KISANGANI: We believe the Ervebo vaccine can also help protect against other variants because it provides cross immunity.

HOWARD (voice-over): School has resumed and some of the affected provinces, and teachers say they are teaching students about how to stay healthy and encouraging anyone to get a vaccine, if one becomes available.

DESIRE BUYANA, RISK COMMUNICATION & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: If there's a vaccine today, the teachers, the children, all will be engaged to mobilize the parents, mobilize the health system, so that everyone is vaccinated in order to slow down the spread of this disease.

Jacqueline Howard, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: There is much more to come here on CNN NEWSROOM, including President Trump's push towards the November midterms. In our next hour, we'll tell you about his big moves to rally Republican support ahead of the crucial elections. See you in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:55:12]

HUNTE: Welcome back.

In Bolivia, cars were banned for ten hours as the country celebrated its annual Pedestrian Day. It's held on the first Sunday of September, and the event turns roads, traditionally jammed with cars, into an open space for people to enjoy, whether they're on foot or on skates or on bikes.

Bolivia's air quality monitors say air pollution typically drops up to 48 percent. That's compared to a regular Sunday.

In the Netherlands, the birthplace of Vincent van Gogh celebrated a colorful tradition on Sunday, with flowers taking center stage.

Zundert hosted the 80th edition of its famed Flower Parade, the largest of its kind. 20 hamlets competed, showcasing creations that were inspired by everything from pirates and nature to medieval and Asian themes. Each float was covered with about half a million dahlias, all attached by hand by volunteers.

Wow. All right, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. I'll be right back with so much more in just a moment. Look at my --

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)