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CNN This Morning

'Historic' Winter Storm Kills at Least 17 in Western New York; 1,400+ Flights Canceled Today Because of Winter Storm; Over 10 Million Remain Under Freeze Alerts Across the South; Busloads of Migrants Dropped at VP Harris's Home in Frigid Temps; Zelenskyy: Russia Trying to Make Final Days of Year 'Dark, Difficult'; Experts Warn Flu Activity May Rise with Holiday Travel, Gatherings; King Charles Pays Tribute to Mother in First Christmas Message. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 06:00   ET

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

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Like this, Whitney, and then see your car completely buried in snow. So week 16, a winter wonderland, for sure. Yet, eight games kicking off with below-freezing temperatures on Saturday over the weekend. So the weather plaguing the NFL, as well.

[06:00:15]

WHITNEY WILD, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Yes, that was one of the biggest enemies on the field, for sure. Carolyn Manno, thank you.

And thank you for joining us. I'm Whitney Wild. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D-NY): We now have what we will be talked about not just today but for generations the Blizzard of '22. We're still in the throes of this very dangerous, life-threatening situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. It is Monday, December 26th. Don and Kaitlan are off. I am so happy to be joined by my friend, Sara Sidner. Good morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT/ANCHOR: Good morning.

HARLOW: Thanks for spending the morning with us. Let's talk about what is a crisis of epic proportion. That is a quote from the governor of New York about the death toll from this snow storm in the state. That death toll rising overnight. We'll take you live to Buffalo.

SIDNER: Severe weather triggering thousands of delays and cancellations, impacting millions of air travelers, many of them failing to make it home for the holidays.

HARLOW: And a, quote, "cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt." The White House blaming Texas Governor Greg Abbott for sending busloads of migrants to the residence of Vice President Kamala Harris on Christmas Eve in bitter-cold weather.

SIDNER: And a warning from Ukraine's president to his people. Vladimir Putin will try to make the last few days of the year dark and difficult.

HARLOW: First, though, a storm for the ages in Western New York state. At least 17 weather-related deaths are now being reported this morning, most of them in the Buffalo area.

Governor Kathy Hochul has requested emergency disaster relief from the Biden administration. A state of emergency remains in effect. This has paralyzed so many parts of this state and this country, bringing this region to its knees.

More than 12,000 customers are still without power this morning in Erie County. Most of those outages are in Buffalo.

An additional 200 National Guard members are now deployed in Western New York to assist with this emergency response.

Polo Sandoval joins us live for CNN THIS MORNING in Buffalo. It is still coming down, Polo, and it has been so deadly.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was a break in the clouds yesterday, Poppy. We even saw the sun. And then this morning, waking up to that snow band shifting North.

And just to show you, in the last couple hours already, this fresh coating of snow, well, it's definitely adding up. The National Weather Service here in Buffalo expecting the snow effect -- at least this lake effect snow on and off to continue until tomorrow and expecting of about a foot of additional snow here in Buffalo.

That is certainly not going to help the cleanup efforts as they try to clear out these streets.

You mentioned this already being a deadly storm. Overnight, officials here in Erie County confirming yet another death. The body of a 22- year-old woman found inside a vehicle here in Erie County.

Now, just a little over a dozen deaths confirmed, a mix of folks who suffered medical emergencies while shoveling snow, but also, as we mentioned, some individuals found in their vehicles; three folks who lost their lives after EMS services could not make it to them over the weekend. Because these roads were just impossible to drive.

The driving ban, the travel restriction, that is currently in place here in Buffalo still. Clearly, officials are going to wake up this morning and reassess the situation.

But you know, when I say wake up this morning, they have been really, honestly, working almost for three, some four days straight constantly. Not only monitoring the streets, helping people that were stranded in their vehicles for days, but also working to restore power.

About 25,000 people without power in and around Buffalo. Believe or not, that's actually an improvement.

HARLOW: Wow.

SANDOVAL: There's hope that, because the winds are not as bad as they were over the weekend, crews will continue to pick up those efforts, Poppy, to get people's power restored.

They spent -- many of them spent Christmas weekend in dark homes, temperatures inside at or below freezing.

HARLOW: Yes.

SANDOVAL: Just imagine that.

HARLOW: Polo, thank you very much. Sara and I have spent many a blizzard out there covering it, so thanks to you and your team. It is difficult work to do. We appreciate it very much.

I even read about first responders --

SIDNER: Yes.

HARLOW: -- needing to be rescued.

SIDNER: Yes. That's how bad it was. Like, a huge number of firefighters were out there, trying to rescue people, and they got stuck.

HARLOW: Wow.

SIDNER: So it's pretty bad.

Also something else that's not so great this morning. The storm leaving thousands of holiday travelers stranded and frustrated as more than 1,300 flights are cancelled all across the country.

The world's biggest airport and busiest airport is in Atlanta, topping the list of the most canceled flights today. CNN's Carlos Suarez live there at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International with more on the story.

I know that you have been there throughout the weekend watching this. What are things like now compared to the snafu this weekend?

[06:05:02]

CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, good morning.

Things at this airport are pretty much what they've been like for the last two days because of all of these cancelled flights out of the airport this morning.

We're now looking at another 145 flights that have been canceled because of all of this cold weather that has moved across a good part of the U.S. One thing that has changed, though, as we head into the new work week,

is that some of these flights -- some of them -- are starting to take off again. A good number of the folks here behind me, they're in pretty good shape.

We talked to them just a few minutes ago, and a lot of them told us that their flights are on time, and they're hoping to get out.

That said, you've still got to make a line to check that bag in, and boy, is it quite long. If you could show them what I'm talking about here. The folks have been lining up for a good part of the morning here. Everyone is just hoping to get out, considering what we've been seeing the last couple of days.

We caught up with one woman who was quite frustrated. She's still pretty upset at Delta, because she's just trying to get to New York after the holiday rush. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Here's what she told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAIL DROUILLARD, FLIGHT CANCELED: My situation is we do live here. We were trying to get to New York for our holiday. We've been trying to do this for four years.

And we booked on Delta. They canceled our flight. Then they moved it to two days later, to the -- to the 26th, today, at night, put us through Pennsylvania for a six-hour layover, then cancelled that.

We went on Frontier, made a flight, doubled the cost of money, got here this morning. It's canceled. Now we're standing in line to see if we can get another ticket somehow to New York, because we have tickets to friends and everything up there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUAREZ: And so that woman, she's now standing in that line, trying to see exactly what she's going to be able to do, considering her flight has been canceled. She was rebooked, put on another flight. And now that flight's also been canceled.

So when you take a look at the numbers across the U.S., as you guys said coming out to me, well over 1,300 flights have been canceled across the U.S.

Yesterday, that number was North of 3,000. And Atlanta, while it's been leading the effort in terms of the overall number of canceled flights. However, this morning, it appears that Denver International Airport is now taking the top spot -- guys.

SIDNER: Carlos, I remember it was 6,000, about. Then it's down to 3,000. Now we're at 14 -- I mean, it's getting a little bit better, but it can't feel like it for that poor woman.

HARLOW: I feel for her. New York is here to give you a hug, whenever she makes it. SIDNER: And it's going to get warmer. It's going to get a little --

HARLOW: Yes, it's going to be better. It's going to get mildly better.

SIDNER: Thank you, Carlos.

HARLOW: All right. Just how long will this dangerous weather stay with us? Meteorologist Chad Myers is with us.

Good morning.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Good morning.

HARLOW: Merry Christmas. You've been working overtime. What are we looking at?

MYERS: It's OK. We are finally seeing now the cold air begin to move away. Chicago, you're beginning to warm up. I know that 17 doesn't feel like a warm-up, but it is compared to what your wind chill was just a couple of days ago.

Lots of snow in Buffalo. The South towns usually get it. We're talking Cattaraugus, Chautauqua County.

But this time, Buffalo proper really got another round. Another -- I grew up in Buffalo. So 95 inches of snow for the entire season is normal. They've had 92.7 already, and we're not even to January yet, and it's still snowing, as you saw in Polo's live shot.

We are still going to see a foot or two more snow in that area. More across, about Watertown, to the East of Lake Ontario. But there's the warm air. It is in the West, and it is on its way, and it's coming.

Look at Saturday and Sunday in New York City. Melting everything across parts of the Adirondacks, the Cascades, all the way across -- even parts of the Niagara frontier will get some warmup. And maybe you won't have to shovel all of it -- Poppy.

HARLOW: I'm just looking at all the pictures of the snow banks in Minnesota. There are cars. There are cars --

SIDNER: Probably your hometown.

HARLOW: -- on top. On top. Somehow. they got on top of the snow banks. I know. I'll show you in the break.

Chad, thank you very, very much.

SIDNER: Thank you, Chad.

A "cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt." That's what the White House is saying about several busloads of migrants who were dropped off in front of the home of Vice President Harris in 18-degree weather on Christmas Eve.

Some of them, you can see there. They're only wearing T-shirts in those frigid temperatures.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now from Washington, D.C.

Is there any idea of exactly who did this? It had to be somebody high up that made this decision.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, groups here in D.C. pointed the finger at Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who since April has been sending busloads of migrants to D.C., many of them to -- to the vice president's residence.

Now, we had reached out to Abbott for confirmation, and they haven't responded. But the reality is, as you painted there, migrants were dropped off on Christmas Eve at the Naval Observatory in freezing temperatures.

Now, groups tell us that they included people from Ecuador, Cuba, Venezuela, Peru. These are all migrants that had already been processed by border authorities and then released.

The bus, they said, was supposed to go to New York City, but because of the free -- of the weather in that city, they were diverted to D.C. They've all been taken care of.

[06:10:06]

But the White House calling this, quote, "a cruel, dangerous and shameful stunt." They went on to say that, quote, "political games accomplish nothing."

SIDNER: And it was on Christmas Eve, as well.

Let's turn to the border, because they are being inundated. El Paso, in particular, has declared a state of emergency. What can we expect to see this week?

ALVAREZ: Well, border crossings in that region of the border have dropped a little bit, compared to where they were. But it's a similar situation in that there are really cold temperatures there, and shelters are having to work overtime to try to accommodate those migrants, many of them with very little and, especially, not very many jackets or blankets.

And so they are trying and working on overdrive to try to give them all those resources.

Now what the administration is watching is, of course, the situation that is unfolding along the border but also the Supreme Court. We are waiting to hear from the Supreme Court on whether the administration can move forward with plans to end Title 42. That is that border restriction that has allowed authorities to push back migrants into Mexico.

And so we are waiting for a ruling there to see whether the administration can move forward. That, of course, will have ramifications as to what happens at the border this week and the days to come.

SIDNER: So I have spoken to one of the council members there who says that she is begging the federal government to release the moneys, because they are truly inundated and in a crisis.

Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

HARLOW: The lighting of a Christmas tree in the middle of Kyiv bringing joy to Ukrainians there after 10 months of their country being ravaged by war.

This comes as the Eastern city of Bakhmut faces some of the fiercest fighting of the Russian invasion yet. President Zelenskyy warning Russia will try to make the last few days of the year, quote, "dark and difficult."

Let's go to our Will Ripley. He is live in Kyiv this morning. It must have been quite a sight, Will, to see the Christmas tree lit amid everything they have been through.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Christmas tree was beautiful, Poppy, but can I tell you how I woke up on Christmas morning?

We didn't wake up to "Jingle Bells." We woke up to air-raid sirens. They sounded twice on Christmas across the country, and it's one of those moments where you think, even on Christmas. You know, can these people in Ukraine catch a break?

In the end, the air-raid sirens turned out to be likely because of potential Russian fighter jet or bomber activity in the airspace of Belarus. There were no bombing attacks.

There was, however, over the weekend, heavy shelling down in the South, in Kherson, that killed 16 people, injured dozens more.

And there are these worries from President Zelenskyy, Poppy, that the coming days before the new year could be very difficult for Ukraine. There's fears of a major Russian attack coming, and once again targeting the civilian infrastructure.

One bright spot, though, in addition to that tree. The lights here in Kyiv were actually on continuously all day on Christmas. It's only the second time since Russia launching these attacks that they've had consistent power for an entire day.

HARLOW: Isn't that just remarkable? I mean, you think of what they're going through in the bitter cold. Air-raid sirens on Christmas, and many, many days without power.

Let me just ask you, though, about the reaction in Kyiv to what Vladimir Putin said over the weekend, which is, you know, essentially, we're ready to negotiate with anyone who wants to come to the table. That has been a nonstarter for the Ukrainian president.

RIPLEY: Well, they don't buy it, Poppy. HARLOW: Yes.

RIPLEY: They believe that this is Russia's attempt to buy more time. You know, Russia has training ongoing with its troops. They've mobilized hundreds of thousands of conscripts. They're a mess on the battlefield, and the Ukrainians think that Vladimir Putin knows he needs some breathing room. He needs a break from the fighting on the front lines to get his forces assembled and try to make another run at Kyiv, the Ukrainians believe early next year.

So they think that this is just Russia trying to absolve itself of responsibility for starting this war, making this false call for an invasion, while secretly, you know, they're just getting themselves ready for the next phase of battle, hoping that they'll be better prepared this time around.

HARLOW: Will Ripley, thank you very much, reporting for us from Kyiv.

Well, this morning, nearly every state is dealing with high respiratory virus activity. Doctors say this is likely going to get worse.

SIDNER: And it's officially the end of the road for Kari Lake's dream of becoming governor of Arizona, a judge shutting down her efforts to overturn her defeat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:17:05]

HARLOW: It has been a rough flu season. Anyone who has kids certainly knows that, and any -- anyone else who may have gotten the flu this season.

The flu activity is so high right now. It is showing signs of slowing. Is it, according to the CDC? However, experts warn that things may tick up again because of holiday travel, all these gatherings.

Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is with us right now. I keep thinking everyone who gets sick in our orbit, I'm like, did you test for COVID? But it's like -- it's about the flu right now, as well.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Not just as well, even more so. I mean, there is so much flu out there.

I'm going to show you a map of the United States, Poppy. Take a look at this. There are very few states that are not red, purple, orange. That means very few states are not having high or very high flu levels. If it's red, orange, or purple that means high or very high flu levels.

So I'll show you these numbers, too. But I want everyone to take them with a grain of salt. You can see that the number of hospitalizations are going down when you look backwards, right? So the week of November 27th there were, you know, more than 26,000

hospitalizations, and then the numbers go down. But still, that is really, really high.

And also these little drops that we've seen recently, as you mentioned, that could all reverse when it comes out the next time, because it will reflect people getting together for holiday gatherings -- Poppy, Sara.

SIDNER: Just a quick question. You know, people are out in the cold, walking around, checking out the snow at this point in some places, but what should people be doing to really safeguard themselves and young children and the elderly when it comes to these extreme temperatures?

COHEN: Right, Sara. You need to be so careful. And you named the two important groups, the two vulnerable -- vulnerable groups.

Infants need to be dressed warmly, more warmly than you would dress yourself. And the elderly. Check on elderly people, if you know them, who might be home alone. The very young and the very old, they don't maintain their body temperature as well as other folks do.

Also, avoid alcohol and caffeine. I know that's so disappointing, because like, a nice hot drink or a nice hot coffee sounds good, right? But alcohol and caffeine can inhibit your body's ability to deal with the extreme cold.

Also, remember that cold puts stress on the heart, and it aggravates asthma and the other lung diseases. So if you or anyone you know suffers from any of those ailments, be really, really careful. You're just -- they might have trouble in this extreme cold -- Poppy, Sara.

SIDNER: I just got to be bottom of my coffee as she said avoid coffee and alcohol.

HARLOW: I think I'm going to give her another cup of coffee.

Sorry, Elizabeth. She woke up in the middle of the night.

SIDNER: We needed it.

All right. In China, frontline workers say hospitals are overwhelmed. So why is the government no longer publishing daily COVID numbers?

HARLOW: Also, King Charles has released his first Christmas message. The touching tribute to his mother, the late queen, is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING.

Coming up, Tesla's stock is on pace to have its worst year ever. What exactly is causing shares of Elon Musk's car company to plunge?

And the Taliban announcing a new ban to limit women's rights. How the U.S. and NGOs are responding.

Plus, a family of six spent Christmas in a firehouse after being rescued from Buffalo's dangerous blizzard. The family and their heroes will join us live just ahead.

HARLOW: Can't wait to hear from them.

Meantime, in his first Christmas address to the nation as king, King Charles made a heartfelt tribute to his mother, the late Queen Elizabeth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season. And remember them in each cherished tradition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: Let's go straight to our friend Richard Quest. He joins us live from London. Richard, not only as a reporter, journalist, you took this in, but as -- as a Brit. And you've watched 50 of these, so how was it different this time?

[06:25:09]

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, you always time your Christmas lunch so it finishes at 3 p.m., which is just about the time -- which is the time that the king, in this case, speaks.

And then everybody gets round the television, old-fashioned style, for this moment, if you will.

And -- and it was different. We all were very much aware that this was the first time we had seen the king give a -- give a speech. And it was a personal message from him.

Right at the start, he talked about how he was in the same chapel where his mother and his father were laid to rest. And that was very different, in a sense, to what we've seen before with the queen.

The big difference I found as a journalist was, it was a more complicated message. He talked about the light of this, and he referred to that.

The queen kept it pretty simple. It was always a bit about what she'd done, a bit about her Christian faith, and always ended with an "I wish you all a very happy Christmas."

In this one, Charles was much more complicated in his messaging, the way he said it, what he said. And of course, there were no pictures or photographs around for us to wonder who was in and who was out; who was up, who was down; or what about the jewelry that was being worn? SIDNER: Yes. It was more about the sentiment, because this is first

time that the queen, for most people, the majority of Britons and people in the world, have seen the king, the new king, take -- take his rightful place.

I have a question for you about the family. The royal family was out, outside of church, I understand, greeting people. We haven't seen this in a couple of years because of COVID. What was it like?

QUEST: Well, this is a classic. This is where the family leave the church on the Sandringham Estate, and they greet local people who have been there waiting.

And we get -- there you have the king and the queen consort. Immediately behind, you have William and Kate, obviously, as the senior royals.

Then you've got Beatrice and Eugenie. What is fascinating, you know, in his Christmas message and here, there were no mention of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, nor Prince Andrew.

Now, that's not because they were shunned out, although Andrew was there, but simply, they're no longer working royals.

So in the Christmas message, we didn't see Meghan and Harry, because they're no longer working royals.

And what this weekend has shown is that the king is going to be laser- focused on those members of the family upon which the institution rests, which is himself, the queen consort, William and Kate, and arguably some of the other royals like Beatrice, Eugenie, prince -- the duke of Wessex and those members of the royal family. The rest won't be shunted out, but they'll just gently be ignored.

SIDNER: Spoken --

HARLOW: Yes.

SIDNER: The true Brit. "Gently ignored," I've never heard that before. Sounds like a T-shirt.

HARLOW: Richard, thank you. Always a joy to have you on with us around Christmas. Thank you, my friend.

SIDNER: This morning, another major defeat for election deniers nationwide. An Arizona judge ruling against Kari Lake's election challenge after losing her bid for governor.

Lake falsely claimed that some ballot printer problems in Maricopa County were part of a deliberate effort to rig the vote against her. But the judge said Lake's witnesses did not have any personal knowledge of intentional misconduct.

After the ruling, Lake tweeted that she would appeal the decision. She has until 5 p.m. today to respond.

Lake lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by about 17,000 votes in November.

HARLOW: Well, 10 people who were feared missing from that avalanche in Austria have been found alive. The avalanche happened Sunday near two mountainous villages in Western Austria.

Rescue workers feared that all ten who were missing may be dead, based on video showing the group of skiers in the avalanche -- avalanche's path. The video cut off, though, before showing what happened to them.

Officials say this morning everyone is accounted for. Four people were hurt. One was seriously injured. A final sweep of the area will be done today.

And the latest drop in Tesla stock may prove Elon Musk's problems go beyond Twitter. We'll talk about that.

SIDNER: And how soon could former President Trump's tax returns be released to the public? The new reporting just ahead.

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