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Hurricane Isaias Makes Landfall in Florida. President Trump Lashes Out at President Zelenskyy. Announcement of Public Execution Catches Army Off Guard. Explosion at Riyadh International Airport Injures Multiple People. President Trump to Speak in Tennessee Amid Midterms. Trump Strikes Deal With Russia as Oil Prices Rise. Aired 2- 3p ET

Aired October 10, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, HOST, CNN NEWSROOM: -- storm related incidents, two in Florida and another two fatalities in Alabama. And you can see the storm's intensity as fierce winds ripping the roof off that hotel in Pensacola, right there. Isaias is now a post tropical cyclone but officials are urging residents to be cautious in the days ahead. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to give an update later on this hour. We'll take that live as it happens.

Meantime, CNN's Rafael Romo rode out the worst of Isaias in Pensacola when the storm made landfall. And he walks us through what he saw once the sun came up.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing outside the Rest and Relax Inn here in Pensacola Florida. And as you can see behind me, this is what remains of the roof of this structure during the peak hours of Hurricane Isaias when the winds were at their strongest. The hurricane ripped off that part of the roof of this structure. And as you can see now the debris are littering all this area in the parking lot. The good news is that as far as we know there were no injuries reported. And that's not something that we can say here in Escambia County because officials say that at least one person died when a tree fell.

Now if you can see on this side of the parking lot, there's a lot of debris all over the place including heavy stuff. And as you can imagine it's going to take weeks before all of this can be cleaned up. At one point officials say that as many as 860 household in the Gulf Coast region were without power on Saturday morning. The situation has been improving over the hours but definitely it's going to take a while before people here, residents in Florida and other states affected by Hurricane Isaias, go back to normal. Rafael Romo, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.

WHITFIELD: Alright, thanks so much Rafael. Our meteorologist, Melissa Nord, is tracking the latest path. Melissa, Isaias no longer a hurricane but its impact will be wide reaching. Tell us where it's headed next. MELISSA NORD, METEOROLOGIST: And a lot of different facets, Fredricka, with the impacts today. We've got the rain, the wind and also the tornado threat. And brand new in the last 10 minutes a new tornado watch issue. This is for eastern Georgia, just south of Augusta, all the way down to the low country of South Carolina. This will run until 8 o'clock Eastern Time today. And essentially this is the area east of the center of the remnants of Isaias that's warm enough, humid enough and has enough spin that some isolated tornadoes are possible throughout the day today.

We see this tornado threat materialize in a lot of landfall in tropical systems. We haven't seen a lot so far with Isaias, we didn't see a whole lot of activity that was tornadic yesterday evening. But today is a new day with a new setup. So we're watching it. See, it's going to be these little bands here, these little bands here that get going, and as they come on shore from the coast of the Atlantic, sometimes that can add a bit of spin in the air. So we're watching that, the center of what's left of Isaias, it's actually up in here.

So we're watching these cells right here. Look at the rain spreading all the way up into the mid Atlantic, the Appalachian Mountains, Blue Ridge as well. And big picture, we're watching that severe weather aspect along with wind and rain through the rest of the day today, lifting north up into the Carolinas. Then by tomorrow morning, we're not done with the remnants of Isaias, that's going to be traveling into the mid Atlantic and the Northeast. So, a wet, rainy, bit of a breezy Sunday expected as well there along the 95 corridor.

Right now just check the power outages. 740,000 customers still without power and wind advisories. That threat of wind continues even though we are more than 12 hours post landfall yesterday evening. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Melissa Nord, thank you so much. In fact, let's go to Fort Walton Beach, Florida right now. That's where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is speaking. Let's listen in.

RON DESANTIS, REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR, FLORIDA: -- We have completed 180 missions from the Division of Emergency Management and we continue to fulfill those as they come in. There have been almost 10,000 of the power outages. Accounts have been restored. But you have over 430,000 that are without power. 325,000 of those are FPL and the balance of the rest are the co-ops. The folks have been out since daylight. Some of it is you got to get the debris out of the way before the linemen can connect it.

So, I know they're working on doing that. I think you're going to start -- We're going to get more of an update as the day goes on. And they've been able to survey to see, usually if they're down, they get them up pretty quick. I think just what I've seen so far is just there's just a lot of trees that interfered. So, you just have to get those trees out. Our guys are obviously helping and working for that, with our -- with our different crews.

[16:05:00] FDOT was here, really at the beginning, not even -- it was before daylight, in the middle -- middle of the morning, and when it was still pitch black, they were out there clearing roads and making sure the bridges were open and they've been able to do that. RFHP, they've done 67 missions with clearing debris with downed trees and other items and they're going to continue to do that until the job is done.

We've been able to get 85 traffic signals back up because of generator power. Obviously as everything gets back connected you're going to see that be able to be done without generator. We do have Northwest Florida International Airport reopen to commercial service, Destin- Fort Walton and Pensacola as of now, you know, still remain closed to commercial service. But I know that that is going to be -- going to be changing likely pretty soon. I mentioned early this morning when we did our briefing, there wasn't a lot of demand for search and rescue, and I talked to the sheriff here in Okaloosa.

You know, they didn't have a lot of 911 calls, and that's a good sign. We are keeping our people on standby because I think if you look some of these rivers are -- are going to crest in the next couple of days with all the inundation. So, I don't think that you can say, well, there was flooding, it's receded, we're fine. There's going to be new flooding that's going to arise in different parts of the region. So our folks are here. We still have our FWC watercraft. We've got all of our state agencies, and I know the locals are doing stuff as well.

Again, post storm precautions, just be careful out there, downed power lines, standing water, any of that can be very, very hazardous. Don't run any generators inside your home or inside your garage. That has to go outside the structure. Otherwise it can be very, very hazardous. Florida Commerce and the State Emergency Response Team has activated the Business Damage Assessment Survey in response to the hurricane. Business owners can self report physical and economic damage caused by the hurricane.

The responses will allow the state to expedite recovery efforts by gathering data and assessing the needs of impacted businesses. Businesses can complete the survey online at floridadisaster.biz. floridadisaster.biz. Florida Commerce has assembled strike teams to begin business to business canvassing in impacted areas as soon as it is safe to do so. Businesses across the impacted areas are already reopening, providing Floridians with access to things like grocery, fuel and other essential supplies.

All Home Depot, Lowe's, Publix and Ready Ice locations have been reported as being open along with Aldi locations in Pensacola. Winn- Dixie has reopened all locations except three stores in Pace, Miramar and Lynn Haven. Wawa are open and providing fuel and convenience items. Except for the Niceville location. Walmart has 10 locations that are open across the panhandle, including Panama City Beach, Fort Walton Beach, Crestview, Lynn Haven, Calloway, Destin, Panama City, Navarre and Niceville. The status of Walmart locations in Pensacola and Santa Rosa Beach remains pending. And I personally checked when we were walking around, I can say right here, the Waffle House is back open. And normally if these other ones are open, Waffle House is probably open as well. So we're going to continue working. I know that this was a storm that

had a broad impact. It's not just Okaloosa County where it made landfall. And we understand that there was damage that stretches really from the Alabama-Florida line all the way into the far eastern parts of the Florida panhandle. So we'll be working with the locals to be able to provide the support that they need. But I want to thank everybody for Jarrod Perdue: a lot of hard work.

DESANTIS: We've had a lot of people stayed for this storm. You know, right now, I think clearing those trees, clearing the debris, that mission continues. Our utilities are working hard to get everyone reconnected, back on the grid. And I know that will be a breath of fresh air for everyone when that happens. Okay, we're going to hear from some of our folks here. And so we'll start with Jared Perdue.

JARED PERDUE, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY: Alright, thank you, Governor. Thank you for your leadership. Hurricane Isaias made landfall last night in the panhandle as a Category 2 storm. It brought storm surge, damaging winds, a lot of rain. There have been a lot of power outages. Your statewide emergency response team has been working around the clock for several days now, worked all night last night, and is continuing to resource and address issues that pop up from the impacts of the storm.

Our role at FDM is to continue to provide the resources that are necessary for your local emergency management officials to be successful. The team has been working really hard at FDM and all of our partner state agencies in the state of Florida to make that happen.

[16:10:00]

Our priorities today, one is clearing roads. This is a big priority. You heard from the governor. The Florida Department of Transportation was able to clear I-10 and 98 before the sun came up this morning. We're still working on several arterial facilities, north, south facilities. A lot of the debris on some of those roads is wrapped in power lines, which again, is causing some of the power outage issues.

FDOT and utility companies are going to be working very closely together throughout today and tomorrow to clean that up and get the power back up. Power restoration is a huge priority. You heard from the governor on that. We mobilized over 16,000 linemen, and they are hard at work right now getting power restored. Search and rescue, again, you know, the bulk of the impacts of the storm are already through the panhandle region. However, it did drop a lot of rain.

We're already hearing that several rivers are still rising, like the Shoal River here in Okaloosa County that still is not planned to crest for another couple of days. And so we want to make sure we keep enough resources on hand in case search and rescue is needed. Still looking at resource distribution. There's still some needs out there, no matter how big or small they are, we want to make sure we get the necessary resources distributed, whether it's water, food, fuel, et cetera. So we're going to keep working on that. We're also going to be conducting damage assessments in partnership

with FEMA and our local emergency management professionals to start figuring out how much damage was actually caused and what that reimbursement looks like at the federal level. Remember, there can still be flooding from rising rivers. I'm just going to remind all of you, please, if there's standing water or flowing water on top of a road, please do not drive through it. Does not have to be that deep. And it can -- it can wash away your car. It can wash away a human. It can become very dangerous very quickly.

Again, really happy to be here in Okaloosa County today, helping our local community recover and respond to all the issues from the storm. We're going to continue to do that in the days ahead. It's going to be some long days, but we're going to get through this and we're going to get recovered. Thank you, Governor.

(UNKNOWN): Okay, James, do you want to say anything?

(UNKNOWN): Sure. We're working hard to protect our --

WHITFIELD: Alright, you're listening to officials there out of Florida talking about the spotty closures and damage after Isaias. Still about 10,000 power outages that have been restored, and the dangers persist. However, you heard from officials there, including the governor, who says that rivers will be cresting over the next couple of days. So they still want people to proceed with caution. We'll have more on the storm a bit later.

Also straight ahead, why did the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth plan to livestream a firing squad execution catch the Army off guard?

More on that, plus President Trump's new comments on the controversial plan and the bipartisan backlash. And later, we have a look at how the soaring prices of diesel is taking a toll on small business owners.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:15:00]

WHITFIELD: Alright, more on this breaking news. Moments ago, President Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming him for soaring diesel fuel prices and pointing to Ukraine's past attacks on Russian refineries. CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is with us now. You were there when Trump spoke, and you asked the question. Tell us more about what the president said.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and I wanted to get the president's reaction to this criticism that we've been hearing, including from of Volodymyr Zelenskyy to this deal that he announced after a phone call with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, yesterday, that will allow Russia to sell its diesel on the global marketplace.

The President saying that this could bring down global diesel prices. But in order to do it, the U.S. had to lift sanctions on Russia. And the critics suggest that this could extend an economic lifeline to Putin, extending the Ukraine conflict, while also not necessarily being enough diesel to meaningfully bring down prices. But the president really lashing out at Zelenskyy when I asked him about this. Here's what the president said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, US PRESIDENT: Zelenskyy could have settled this war many times. Many, many times. And he chose -- he chooses not to. Very difficult. It's a war that should have never been started. If I were president, if the election weren't rigged, I would have been president, and that war would have never started. But he could have settled it many times, and he chose not to. We said, you can do whatever you want to Russia. Don't hit the refineries, because that's a world problem that's caused.

And he wants to make problems for the world. He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers, with diesel fuel, because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world. And we told him, do whatever you want, but don't hit the diesel fuel because there's a big problem, big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel. He can do whatever he wants, but you can't do that, because we have a world problem, and the problem is caused by the lack of refineries for diesel fuel.

So what does he do?

[14:20:00]

He goes and hits refineries. And I said to him, do what you want. Don't hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries. And he went out and he hit. And he's not going to affect our farmers and he's not going to affect our ranchers, and he's not going to affect the rest of the world. So, we -- He better damn well stop.

QUESTION: Mr. President, Mr. President.

QUESTION: (inaudible) message (inaudible) Ukraine has, Mr. President, for daily suffering from the attacks, from the rocket attacks? They're (ph) suffering (ph) --

TRUMP: Well, I agree with you. And you know what I suggest? I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal, because he could have made many deals that for some reason, he never does. And let me go a step further. If I were president, you wouldn't have ever had that war. That war would have never started. There was no reason that that war with Ukraine and Russia started. It started due to incompetence. Should have never started. You wouldn't have lost 30% of your country already. You've lost 30% of your country and you've had over a million people killed. Between the two of them, over 2 million people killed. That's a war that should have never started. And I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LIPTAK: Well, comments there from the president. Clearly the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy now at a crisis point that we haven't seen since the two were shouting at each other in the Oval Office about a month into the president's term back in 2025. You know, behind the scenes, I'm told that the president has been fuming about these Ukrainian attacks on Russian diesel refineries. The U.S. has asked Ukraine to hold off multiple times on those attacks, but the strikes have continued.

That's part of what led the president to strike this agreement with Russia that he announced yesterday. The timing, I think, here is also really critical. It was just yesterday that the President's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner were down in Miami meeting with Ukrainian officials to try and hash out a new plan that could potentially bring this conflict to an end. But clearly President Trump here not enamored at all with how Zelenskyy has been handling all of this, calling on the Ukrainians to elect a new president. It doesn't seem as if he has any new ideas necessarily for how to bring this conflict to an end.

WHITFIELD: Alright. Pretty stunning comments. Alright, Kevin Liptak at the White House. Thank you so much.

Alright, and then there's this news. CNN reporting today on the planned execution of the Fort Hood mass shooter. According to sources, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth caught the U.S. Army off guard when he said Nidal Hasan's execution by firing squad would be shown in public. But this afternoon, President Trump says he hasn't decided if the execution will be live streamed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: There are two thoughts. Don't show it and show it. Because, you know, by showing it, maybe other people won't be doing what he did. So I'll make a decision ultimately. I know what the military would like to do, but we'll make a decision.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: CNN senior national security reporter Haley Britzky is joining us now. So, Pete Hegseth's order to make this execution public, you know, took a lot of people by surprise. Tell us more about what's happening now.

HALEY BRITZKY, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Fredricka. Sources have told me that many people in the Army hearing it for the first time this would be public when Secretary Hegseth made that comment in his interview aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln this week. So sources saying that officials were kind of scrambling behind the scenes to figure out, well, what does public mean?

You know, there are regulations that lay out who can witness a military execution. But then sources saying that it came down that Secretary Hegseth, Acting Army Secretary Adam Telle and Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell had determined that public would mean it would be livestreamed. And that's, of course, what we're seeing all this backlash from. It's not necessarily that the death sentence is being applied to Nidal Hasan, and Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people in the mass shooting in 2009 on Fort Hood. He was convicted of 32 counts of attempted murder.

So we're not hearing from sources that they think the death sentence should not be applied here, but that the publicizing of this, the unprecedented act of live streaming a firing squad execution, is what is causing so much concern. And not just from, you know, Democrats who are criticizing this, but also Republicans. We saw from Senator Thom Tillis yesterday, who has, of course, become an outspoken critic of Secretary Hegseth, calling it beyond disgusting, likening it to what happens in Iran and under the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Trump administration, who resigned a few months ago, saying that it's beneath the dignity and decency of our nation yesterday and that it would give terrorists free propaganda that they will use to radicalize and recruit more terrorists.

[14:25:00]

So, that is the primary concern that we're hearing from people, that this could be used by enemies of the U.S. Particularly as Hasan is in a wheelchair now. He was paralyzed from the waist down in an exchange of fire during that mass shooting in 2009. And as one source put it to me, it's not the same as, you know, for soldiers who are killing enemies in combat.

This source said, you know, it's a very different situation, that Hasan is going to be immobile and put up like a target. So, a lot of concerns here for the soldiers who will be involved, how this will be handled, and a lot of questions that haven't yet to be answered, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Alright, well, bring us those answers when you get them. Haley Britzky, thank you so much. Alright, still to come, the remnants of Isaias moving inland, bringing the threat of flooding, damaging winds and more power outages across the southeast.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:30:00]

WHITFIELD: Alright, we've got some breaking news out of Saudi Arabia, where officials say an attack on the airport in Riyadh, the capital, wounded multiple people. The explosion forced a suspension of airport operations. CNN's Chief Global Affairs Correspondent Matthew Chance is following this for us. Matthew, what more do you know?

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I mean, details are a bit sketchy at the moment, Fredricka, about what exactly has happened, but eyewitnesses at the scene are talking about an explosion taking place at Riyadh International Airport. They're talking about about a dozen ambulances have appeared at the scene and, again, eyewitnesses reporting that there are injured people, you know, not an exact figure being given, injured people lying down, waiting for treatment as a result of that explosion.

So we're going to keep a close eye on exactly what comes out in terms of details, but I can tell you that this is only the latest in a series of incidents that has affected the international airport in Riyadh. I was there just a couple of weeks ago, and just before we arrived, there was an attack by Houthi rebels in Yemen, on fuel tanks close to the airport, sending a big plume of black smoke billowing into the skies, over the Saudi capital near that airport. And then when we left a short time afterwards, the airport was shut down.

We couldn't take off. The planes were grounded for several hours because of another threat of an incoming attack. It's -- It's put the Saudis in a very difficult position. Obviously, they've had their oil exports curbed to the east of the country through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz because of the Iran war. But now the Houthi rebels, who are backed by Iran, are doing the same thing in the west of the country and the Red Sea, striking oil pipelines, striking Saudi shipping, and also striking Saudi infrastructure like its airport.

And over the past week or so, those strikes have been escalating. Six people killed at the airport in Saudi Arabia in the past week. That's not counting any potential deaths or injuries that may have occurred today. And again, we don't have details on that yet. There's been, of course, a Saudi response. They've called on their allies to help them out. They've had a response from the French who provided air support, or rather air defense support. The British have provided support, the Pakistanis have put troops on the ground. The Turks have said they're going to help. The United States as well have been requested directly from the Crown Prince in Saudi Arabia for military assistance.

And they're offering data on -- targeting data, intelligence and things like that, but they're stopping short. The United States are at this point providing sort of the full throated kind of military support that Saudi Arabia is looking for in order to combat this Houthi rebel threat. President Trump was asked about this recently. He said he's -- about -- about support. He said he's looking at it, but no decision has been made yet. And obviously he's stopping very short of a commitment to get involved in this conflict. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Lots of volatility there, but some support already being committed by allies there of Saudi Arabia. Alright, Matthew Chance, thank you so much. Still to come, President Trump's campaign blitz ahead of the midterms returns to more states that have promised solid support for his MAGA message. We'll look at why the administration feels it needs to court these voters in traditionally red states.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:35:00]

WHITFIELD: At any moment now, President Trump is expected to arrive in Tennessee. He canceled his planned trip to Alabama today due to the hurricane and instead is continuing his red state campaign blitz for candidates in the Volunteer state. He's expected to hold a rally in the next hour as he tries to boost Republican candidates ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, which are now just over three weeks away.

CNN's Steve Contorno is in Clarksville, Tennessee, for us where the rally is being held. So, Steve, help us understand Trump's strategy of campaigning in states that he won big in 2024.

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Fred, some of those states are surprisingly competitive this go around. You have places he's visited, like Texas, Ohio, and Iowa, where there are some very competitive races for senator and governor. But then there are states that he has visited, like Oklahoma, Alabama and now Tennessee, that have left people kind of scratching their heads. Why is the president spending time in these deeply red states when there are so many other competitive spots on the map?

[14:40:00]

And I asked that question to a GOP official today, and they told me, look, some of this is the president wants to spend time with parts of the country that have supported him for the last decade, and that this is, in many respects, his last hurrah, and he wanted to spend some time with voters in those areas and giving candidates who are running for office in those states a chance to speak to his base.

But this is also an effort and part of a nationwide effort to energize that GOP base, because there are some signs and Republicans are concerned that they might not show up in the midterms like they have for President Trump in his election. And President Trump himself has spoken to some of these anxieties, including last night in Syracuse. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: In this election, I'm asking you to do me a favor. Just pretend I'm on the ballot. Here's the story. When I'm on the ballot, we win everything. When I'm not on the ballot, 48% of you don't vote. Please pretend I'm on the freaking ballot, will you? Pretend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CONTORNO: Now, many of the speakers here, Fred, I have to say, it's been interesting to listen to them so far, have been acknowledging some of that voter apathy. We haven't -- There's been some concern that there's malaise within the GOP, within the base, and the speakers, one after the other, have been encouraging them to make sure that they show up in this election. I'm not suggesting that that voter apathy is the reason for this, but the arena I'm looking at right now is only about a third full at this point. You know, there's weather issues. It's a college football Saturday. One of the reasons why Trump isn't coming down to Alabama is because of the hurricane. So perhaps all that is a factor. But I did talk to a GOP lawmaker from this area who is here today who told me, look, this is a part of Tennessee that traditionally does not have the best voter turnout. And so they are really trying to juice this crowd and juice the Republicans in this part of Tennessee.

WHITFIELD: Alright, Steve, so a third-full there, and then how long before the president's expected arrival?

CONTORNO: He's supposed to take the stage sometime in the next hour is what we're told, and he'll speak for however long the president speaks. Sometimes 60 minutes, sometimes 90. Sometimes we're here a little bit later, but that's the plan for this afternoon.

WHITFIELD: Alright, a little spontaneity, shall we say? Alright, Steve Contorno, thank you so much. Alright, straight ahead, the high fuel prices have pushed some business owners to the brink. Ahead, we'll talk with the food truck operator about how he's struggling to keep up with skyrocketing costs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:45:00]

WHITFIELD: President Trump says he has secured an agreement with Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin, to supply Russian diesel fuel to the United States. The announcement drew swift criticism from Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who called it a gift to the Russian leader. And then, just last hour, President Trump lashed out at Zelenskyy for recent attacks on Russian refineries.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TRUMP: I said to him, do what you want. Don't hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries. And he went out and he hit. And he's not going to affect our farmers, and he's not going to affect our ranchers, and he's not going to affect the rest of the world. So he better damn well stop.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: There's also been bipartisan American criticism on that, too. And right now, the national average price for a gallon of diesel is $6.28 per gallon according to Triple A. That's nearly $3 more per gallon than it was a year ago. Alright, the high fuel prices have left some businesses with a dilemma. Do they raise prices or absorb the increased costs and hope it doesn't put them out of business? One owner facing that choice is Marcus Allen. He runs the Smokin' Cajuns BBQ food truck, and he's joining me right now from his truck in Pineville, Louisiana. Marcus, glad you could be with us. I mean, tell me how tough it has been for your business to keep up with these rising gas prices?

MARCUS ALLEN, OWNER, SMOKIN' CAJUNS BBQ: Thank you for having me, Fredricka. It's hard. You know, you try to absorb some. You try to not absorb some. It's survival of the fittest. You know, at $6 a gallon for the truck, for the diesel truck, and then you have a gasoline generator that's up to four to five dollars a gallon. It's -- It's kind of a trial and error.

WHITFIELD: So how do you, when you say, you know, some cost you absorb, some you don't. How do you make that choice?

ALLEN: Very hard choice. You look at meat prices, product prices, dry good prices, and you factor all that in, you look at your prices, and you see your demographic situation, and you move it up a little bit here, there. I mean, you don't do everything, you know, you -- you kind of do a roller coaster type of pricing, I guess you can say. But it's a hard decision. You just have to pick a few and see where it goes.

WHITFIELD: Right.

[14:50:00]

So, when you mentioned, you know, it takes diesel to move the truck, so I wonder. And that has been really high, between six and eight dollars, depending on where you are and what you're seeing, you know, per gallon. So, I wonder is -- does that mean that you are making, you know, tough decisions about where you're going to take the truck? Perhaps you're not going to go as far as you ordinarily might for one location, and maybe you're staying closer to home. I mean, is that part of your calculus, too?

ALLEN: Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Fredricka, you -- you know, we travel a lot of places. Some places are longer than others, but with diesel being that high, you just kind of -- you kind of have to find places that normally is a very good spot to go and that the demand for the product, which is my product is barbecue, you go to certain places that maybe where there is no barbecue as such. And then, you know, instead of going every day, you maybe go two days and then try to stay local the other rest of the week.

WHITFIELD: And then you described, it's a double whammy for you. You need diesel and you need regular gas. So, you need the gas for the generator, and you're needing that generator in order to do the cooking in the truck. Right? So, then tell me how you're kind of doing the math on how much you're preparing in advance or, you know, what takes longer to cook versus something else that's quicker to cook. And that too, you know, is part of your decision making on, you know, the use of your generator. Tell me how that goes.

ALLEN: In my line of work, brisket would be the longest. Brisket is around about 14 hours to cook, from time to start to finish is about 14 hours. So, you -- you do brisket, instead of doing brisket every day, you pick a few days to where you can do other items such as pulled pork, barbecue smoked sausages (ph), oven-smoked (ph) chicken (ph), which doesn't (inaudible) the pit, and you do it that way. But you just, you have to kind of be very careful about overcooking (ph) pork (ph) (inaudible) come up with the best (inaudible) you can.

WHITFIELD: So we're losing a good part of your signal, Marcus. But I think we get it, you know, that customers who may want your brisket every day are not getting it every day. And you've got to, you know, make a decision about whether you've got the fuel to -- to make certain items. And your a la carte menu becomes a little changed on a day to day basis. But this is part of the, you know, survival and the survival of the fittest that you're having to endure right now.

Marcus Allen, thank you so much. I mean, we got so much important information from our interview with you, and it really helps people understand, you know, how reliant on diesel and gasoline that you are and how it's impacting your business. And we're wishing you all the best and hopefully you can, you know, keep going, even though you're making all kinds of modifications along the way.

ALLEN: Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you for having me, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Joining us from Louisiana. Appreciate it. All the best. Alright, we're continuing to track the impacts from what is left of Hurricane Isaias. Ahead, I'll look at the dangers posed by the heavy rains and strong winds in the lower Appalachian Mountains. And chef David Chang, he goes on the road with actress Gillian Jacobs to showcase Pennsylvania's best eats. Our own Sara Sidner sat down with David to get all the delicious details about some of Pittsburgh's best known sandwiches. Here's a sneak peek of the newest episode of The Detour With David Chang.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The thing I want to ask you is about Pittsburgh. There is a guy, like, literally telling you, hey, you got to go to this place. Get this specific sandwich. And you did, but you ordered a different sandwich.

DAVID CHANG, HOST, THE DETOUR WITH DAVID CHANG: Yeah. Well, I didn't think he was going to be there. I want people to realize that this show is not scripted. We didn't plant this. We, with Gillian Jacobs, who's from Pittsburgh, I didn't know Pittsburgh, but if you're from Pittsburgh or you've been to Pittsburgh, you're going to hear Primanti Bros. You're going to be like, that's -- that's well traveled. Well, guess what? Sometimes well traveled is undiscovered for people. So, we met these Penguins fans. They said, hey, you're going to Primanti's. Then the guy was like, hey, you gotta get the hot sausage and peppers or something like that. And I was like, yeah, yeah, whatever. I'm not going to see this guy again.

SIDNER: And then he shows up.

CHANG: He showed up, and I was like --

SIDNER: And you have the wrong sandwich. He would not let you off the hook.

CHANG: And I loved it because you're talking to people. You know, what's great about Pittsburgh, you have football, baseball, hockey right in the city, and a Penguins game just got out. And what I realized in Pittsburgh is even when there's not a game, everyone's wearing Pittsburgh Steelers, Penguins, Pirates jerseys. It's an amazing thing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. I thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Our communities are cleaning up after a deadly and destructive hurricane smashed into the Gulf Coast last night, leaving nearly 700,000 people without power across the region. Last hour, Florida --

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