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CNN This Morning

Buffalo, New York Suffers Worst Winter Storm in Memory; Erie County, New York, Executive Mark Poloncarz Interviewed on Measures Being Taken to Provide Services to Those Under Severe Weather Conditions; President Biden to sign $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill to Provide Government Funding; Blackouts in Ukraine Pose Dire Risk for Medically Vulnerable Patients. Aired 8-8:30 ET

Aired December 26, 2022 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: States get attention in elections, but there are many critics of that. They feel its outdated, and they feel we should move to a more direct system. That's a very hard reform to achieve. We've tried this before. But, again, it's an important conversation that we need to look at.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: It's about whether it represents the majority of the people in the country in part, I think, in part. Julian Zelizer, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

And CNN THIS MORNING continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KATHY HOCHUL, (D) NEW YORK: We are in a war. This is a war with Mother Nature, and she has been hitting us with everything she has. This will go down in history as the most devastating storm in Buffalo's long, storied history of having battled many battles, many, many major storms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everyone. In Buffalo, they're waking up to a lot of snow, deadly snow. We're glad you're with us on CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Poppy Harlow alongside Sara Sidner. It is Monday, the 26th of December. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. And you were just listening to New York Governor Kathy Hochul describing what has been unprecedented the terms of the pain suffered this weekend by the good people of Buffalo. She calls this winter storm the most devastating in the city's history. We'll take you there live.

SIDNER: This weather event is directly responsible for the deaths of at least 37 people overall across the entire country. Now, in Buffalo, search teams believe they are likely to find more victims who have been trapped in their cars for over two days in that.

HARLOW: Right now, there is a state of emergency in western New York. At least 17 weather-related deaths are being reported, most in that Buffalo region. New York's governor has requested more emergency disaster relief from the Biden administration. Close to four feet of snow in parts of the region there means that a state of emergency remains in effect. At this hour, more than 12,000 people without power in Erie County, most of the outages in Buffalo where the temperatures were, again, in the teens overnight. An additional 200 National Guard troops are now deployed in western New York to assist with the state's emergency resort.

Polo Sandoval joins us again for CNN THIS MORNING in Buffalo. Polo, good morning. As we have been saying all morning, it is still snowing there.

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Yes. It's letting up a little bit right now, Poppy, but we expect these snowy conditions to continue into tomorrow. So that's why we heard just a little while ago Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown warning residents if they violate a driving ban that is still in place for Buffalo this morning, they could face a summons. That's because that fresh coat of snow covering a lot of these streets and also some of the highways leading in and out of Buffalo.

So those public works folks, they are going to be out in full force again today to make sure that they can clear out as much as they can. They certainly don't want to take a step back when it means the cleanup process here, and to get to some of those folks who may potentially still be stranded. We do expect an update from Buffalo officials here, hopefully shortly, to see exactly where things stand regarding the rescues.

We did hear of yet another storm-related death, a 22-year-old woman that was found inside her car. We found out about that early this morning. So authorities right now, they are certainly going to be focusing on making sure that those roads can be clear, especially in and out of those suburban neighborhoods. You have people who spent all of Christmas weekend hunkered down in their homes, in many cases without power. So they want to make sure that anybody who can potentially need help will actually get it.

In terms of full relief, we are expecting finally that snow band that meandered up and down over Buffalo and then back south to finally dissipate in the next day or two according to forecasters here. By the end of the week 50 degrees, Poppy. You can only imagine what folks here on the ground are feeling. That day cannot come soon enough as they can finally feel free of this wicked winter storm here in Buffalo, ground zero for this massive storm system that affected millions throughout the country.

HARLOW: It's so sad to see the deaths as a result of it. Polo, thank you to you and your team for all the reporting.

Joining us now for an update, let's bring in Erie County, New York, Executive Mark Poloncarz. County Executive, thanks very much for your time. It's tragic what is happening. The latest death toll we have from the storm is 16. Is that still the count? MARK POLONCARZ, ERIE COUNTY EXECUTIVE: Good morning, Poppy and Sara.

The medical examiner's office as of late last night confirmed 13 deaths. We do no of additional bodies that have been received and our medical examiner's office is covering whether or not they were a storm related death or they died from natural causes. I do believe we're going to give an update at 9:00 that we will be increasing the death total of confirmed deaths.

HARLOW: That's very sad to hear. Thank you. We'll obviously carry that update for people to see here.

[08:05:02]

I was struck by the fact that even your first responders had to be rescued. I think that speaks to how severe this is.

POLONCARZ: Yes, the storm is the worst that I can remember. I remember the blizzard of 77. I was nine years old then, and this surpassed it with regard to voracity. Two-thirds of the equipment that went out during the height of the storm got stuck. We had to send specialized rescue crews to go get the rescuers, law enforcement, first responders, fire, EMTs. It was just horrendous. And it was horrendous for literally 24 hours in a row. We are used to snow here. We can handle snow. But with the wind, the blinding views, it was complete white outs, and the extreme cold, it was some of the worst conditions that any of us have ever seen.

HARLOW: You guys are some of the best at handling snow if not the best in the country. I say this as a native Minnesotan. You guys know we know how to deal with snow.

But we had a family on last hour, Mark. And they had four little kids, and their power went out. So they obviously needed to leave their home to try to find heat, try to find a hotel. They couldn't even get there. They get stuck in their car. They're rescued by these amazing firefighters. What do you do? It's still snowing there. What do people do if that happens to them and they've got to get their kids out of the home because there's no heat, but it's very dangerous on the road?

POLONCARZ: Well, we certainly say if it's a life-threatening situation, potential imminent death, you call 911. We do have a phone number that we set up, 716-858-SNOW, which allows an individual to call for non-life-threatening but serious issues. And we will try to assist. Thankfully, the local power companies did a pretty good job of restoring last night. They knocked off over 50 percent of the outages. But as we noted yesterday, some of the substations actually froze. It's not as if just a power line went down. Substations froze. So they had to go in there and dethaw the stations and actually see if they needed to replace equipment.

It was a horrible situation. The Buffalo fire department historian said this was the first time in Buffalo fire history that they could not respond to emergency calls because of how severe the conditions were. None of us have ever seen it. I don't ever want to see it again. As I said, we have 13 confirmed deaths, and we expect that to grow. And it's a horrible, horrible situation, at any time, nevertheless during the Christmas holiday.

HARLOW: I have never heard -- you said these substations froze, some of them. I think about de-icing them, the way they de-ice a plane wing. I don't even know how you do that to a substation. But what can you guys do if there are more storms like this to come?

POLONCARZ: Well, first off, I hope we never have more storms like this. It wasn't that long ago, about four-and-a-half weeks ago we had more than seven feet of snow fall in our south towns in Erie County, many of the southern towns as well as part of the city of Buffalo. And we were open two days after. We can handle heavy snow. The problem was the winds. We had hurricane force winds, over a category one hurricane. We had 79, 80-mile-an-hour wind gusts sustained for a long period of time. Even when they dropped down to 60 miles per hour, it was still whiteout conditions.

Today it's been snowing very hard in the city of Buffalo in some of our suburbs, like two to three inches per hour. It's not complete whiteouts, but it's still pretty bad. And that's why a driving ban is in effect for a good portion of Erie County. We were able to lift it for a few communities, but the main center of Erie County, the city of Buffalo and the entering suburbs are all still in a driving ban because of how bad the conditions are for trying to get around our community.

HARLOW: An important reminder for people. Stay home to stay safe if you can. Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz, thank you. Good luck. We're thinking of everyone there.

POLONCARZ: Thanks for everyone's thoughts. I appreciate it.

SIDNER: Of course. Sorry, Mr. Poloncarz.

Just how long will this dangerous weather stick around? Meteorologist Chad Myers is joining us now. You told us you were from Buffalo. You've been through it. But I don't know that it's ever been this bad in recent years.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It hasn't. Even the blizzard of 77 that he was talking about, the winds were about 40 miles per hour. But when you take this wind at 80 miles per hour, you've shoved the snow farther inland, farther across the Kensington Expressway, past Amherst, even into Kenmore which are the north towns which aren't used to so much. Normally we get the south towns. Temperatures still right now are in the teens and the 20s, 43 inches of snow as of last night. But as you heard the executive say, it's been snowing all morning.

So the 92 that we had for this season so far will likely far surpass the 95 which is the record for any year from one solid year from July to June, their snow year. We're already there, and we're not even to the new year yet. There was the snow he was talking about. The south town picking up earlier through Buffalo, but now shifting on up to North Tonawanda and the like.

[08:10:00] A lot of snow on the ground, two to three feet. I know there's been than that falling, but it starts to settle a little bit. That means it gets heavier when you try to shovel it as well.

There is the light at the end, though, that warmer air to the west, it does shift to the east today. In fact, even Buffalo all the way to 50 degrees by the weekend, that will help melt. What do you have to do with that? You have to shovel out the gutters and the greats and the drains so that when that melting snow just doesn't flood your streets. So there's a lot of work still for those people to do yet. Chicago warms up again, and all of that warmth spreads to the east, even New York City, the southeast. All a bad memory, but for a lot of people this was a very, very bad memory.

HARLOW: Sounds like they're going to have to update with a higher death toll in Buffalo, too, at the top of the hour.

MYERS: I'm afraid so.

HARLOW: We appreciate it.

SIDNER: All right, President Biden is expected to sign a major spending bill this week, ending one of the most successful legislative sessions in decades.

HARLOW: The House voted Friday to pass the $1.7 trillion spending bill just as government funding was set to expire. Let's go to our colleague Phil Mattingly. He is live at the White House. Good morning, Phil. Hope you had a good Christmas with all those little ones running around. What's your reporting on the president?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, me coming to work on this Monday is an opportunity to exhale.

HARLOW: That's exactly --

(LAUGHTER)

HARLOW: Can I just for a moment tell you that I told my husband last night, I'm like babe, I've got to go to bed. I've got work.

(LAUGHTER)

MATTINGLY: Sorry, really, really tough to get away from the house on this one.

I think while normal human beings were preparing for this weekend, you noted that the House passed this $1.7 trillion spending package. And the consequence of it is not just the package itself, while it is very notable. Obviously, a major spending package will fund the government through the end of September, includes several other things attached to it, $45 billion in aid for Ukraine, more than $40 in disaster assistance for the exact things you guys were just talking about, as well as changes to the Electoral Count Act, which are significant when you consider this Congress started with the January 6th attacks in 2021. But I think more broadly when you talk to White House officials, what

this hammers home is the progress they've made over the course of the last two years despite all of the politics, despite the partisan warfare. This president and his team have been able to get through more substantive legislation both on a partisan basis but also a bipartisan basis that I think anybody expected.

And why that matters beyond the ability to actually get things done to move forward their agenda is, I think, when you talk to White House officials, the longer term -- Poppy, you know this better than anybody -- some of these pieces of legislation have two, three, four, five- year time window horizons in terms of how they are implemented when it comes to manufacturing, when it comes to climate, when it comes to just general employment and how this country is structured.

And I think when White House officials look at what they accomplished, certainly they don't want to talk about it from a political basis, but when you talk about it from a pure policy basis, we are seeing a very real shift in how the U.S. economy operates, one that White House officials believe will pay dividends for years to come.

HARLOW: That's so interest, years to come. But you've got 2024 election coming up sooner than a lot of this will actually be felt because they are these long-term investments and long-term strategies and shifts here. What do you think -- I know we're waiting for an answer from the president on officially if he's going to run again, but the White House seems to be feeling good. He seems to be feeling really good. What does that mean for 2024?

MATTINGLY: I don't think there's any question about it. I was texting with a senior official last week who said I don't think this does anything to make the president less likely to run in 2024. There's no question about that. They believe he laid out a case and has ended up proving that theory of the case over the course of the last two years. This is a decision that's going to come over the course of the next six to eight weeks. Obviously, the president has made clear he will speak with his family over the holidays, both Thanksgiving and over the period of the next week before he makes that final decision. Expect a couple more weeks after that before anything is announced.

I'll tell you what I know from talking to senior officials across the White House, political team and policy team over the course of the last several weeks. Nobody is under the impression right now that the president is not going to run again. I have not heard any doubts, I have not heard any concern. Everybody is full speed ahead. The planning is full speed ahead behind the scenes. Obviously, the president has to say go. He'll make the final decision right now. But if there is anybody here, when you look at what happened in the midterms, but also what happened on that policy agenda and the progress that they've been able to make in their minds that thinks he's not going to go again. Whether or not that changes, we're obviously on very high alert at this moment in time. But right now, it seems like all systems are go for the president to run for reelection.

HARLOW: We'll see. Phil Mattingly at the White House with an easy morning. Thank you, friend. (LAUGHTER)

MATTINGLY: Thanks, guys.

SIDNER: Also, this morning, officials in El Paso, Texas, are scrambling to shelter hundreds of migrants in the dangerously cold temperatures. The city housed more than 300 migrants in its convention center Friday, and the community is working to accommodate more people as the numbers continue to grow.

CNN's Camila Bernal has been live in El Paso, Texas, for the last several days. Can you tell us what the situation is now? People were, as we saw yesterday, sleeping on the streets. It was freezing temperatures, literally at freezing. What are you seeing now?

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a similar scenario. And Sara, these are the critical hours when it is extremely cold during these early morning hours, and when I talk to people, they always tell me, these are the hardest.

As you can see here, they are still sleeping under as many covers as possible. There's a lot of Red Cross blankets now, and they're doing the best they can to keep the wind away, because I think that's what's hardest in these temperatures.

A lot of people that I talked to here have told me that it has been difficult physically, but it's also been difficult emotionally, especially during the Holidays. I talked to a couple of people that just got here a few minutes ago and told me, "I did not expect it to be this way, I thought we were going to be able to go into a shelter." And I told him, look, the shelters are at capacity.

The problem is that a lot of these migrants that are sleeping out here don't have the proper documentation to go into the Convention Center to use those city resources, and the city is even saying that they were able to receive more money from the Federal government, in total more than $10 million given to El Paso. But there is not a lot they can do for people who don't have the proper documentation.

One of the only things they can do is essentially just park a bus here. As you can see, this is the only way that a lot of these migrants can warm up. There is not one empty seats on this bus, and it is still not necessarily very warm in there, but it is a lot warmer than being outside. And so this is the only option a lot of them have other than sleeping outside.

A lot of the people here tell me, look, we don't want to stay here, we want to go where we have maybe a family or a friend who can help them. So they pass through here, but their goal is to buy a bus ticket or a plane ticket so that they can get to a place that's more permanent for them.

In the meantime, though, the city is left to deal with all of this and the nonprofit shelters are left to deal with all of this and they are overwhelmed.

It has been a very difficult last couple of days -- Sara.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Camila, before you go, and thank you for being there. I mean, just seeing that image is such a stark picture of the reality of what is happening on the border, seeing those people.

But you talked about them not having to correct documentation to be able to go to a shelter. These are asylum seekers, right? And that's a legal process to come to this country, for fear of your life, what is in your home country to seek asylum. What do they need? What is the documentation they need to be let in?

BERNAL: So they need to be processed by Border Patrol, and a lot of the people here are choosing not to go through that process, in part because of Title 42, because a lot of times they come in and they're being sent back to either Mexico or to their native country, say Venezuela or wherever they came from and they are terrified to be sent back in part because of Title 42.

So, they are choosing not to go through that process with Border Patrol, and that's why they have to come to these nonprofit shelters.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much Camila Bernal who has been out there for days with her crew. We appreciate it.

HARLOW: The first Christmas in Ukraine since the war began interrupted by air raid sirens and blackouts and those blackouts are threatening the lives of people relying on electric-powered medical devices.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What happens to people if the machine doesn't work?

IRYNA KOSHKINA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SVOI FOUNDATION: They die.

RIPLEY: They die.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:20:40]

SIDNER: This morning, Ukrainians are learning to live with less electricity as Russian attacks on the country's power grids could mean another blackout at any moment. But some are facing situations where the difference between having power could mean life or death.

CNN's Will Ripley is live for us in Kyiv with more on the situation that so many people have been living without power, but the temperatures are dropping significantly.

It gets terribly cold there -- Will.

RIPLEY: Exactly, Sara. Good morning to you. And those temperatures expected to nosedive in the coming days, which

is not good news, as Ukraine's President warns of potential Russian attack saying dark days could lie ahead, both literally and figuratively for Ukraine. Bad news for people who rely on extra electricity just to stay alive.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (voice over): Christmas in Ukraine, even the air raid sirens don't get a break.

RIPLEY (on camera): So when the lights go out? You use this. How does -- how do you turn on -- oh like that.

(SEBASTIAN speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): Twelve-year-old Sebastian (sp?) has an arsenal of battery powered lights for the blackouts so he can play with his small army of toy tanks.

Unfortunately, this doesn't run on batteries.

RIPLEY (on camera): Oh, you use it as a weight. So that's how you stay strong.

RIPLEY (voice over): Sebastian has cystic fibrosis, a rare lung disorder. He needs a nebulizer to inhale medicine. It keeps him alive.

(LYUDMYLA KAMINSKA speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): "He could die without inhalations. We can't miss them," his grandmother says. "The first time we had a blackout, we took the machine and ran around looking for a generator. We found a shop where people charge their phones. We did it there."

(LYUDMYLA KAMINSKA speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): His grandmother shows us their small portable nebulizer. When the lights go out, it gets the job done, barely.

KOSHKINA: That's machine number nine and --

RIPLEY (on camera): This is 1,319.

RIPLEY (voice over): Patients like him rely on help from SVOI Foundation, a nonprofit in Kyiv. They've helped more than 6,000 people with breathing problems. The situation for many, dire.

RIPLEY (on camera): What happens to people if the machine doesn't work?

KOSHKINA: They die.

RIPLEY: They die.

KOSHKINA: Yes. (IRYNA KOSHKINA speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): "When there is no light for 20 or 30 hours, you have to go to the hospital," she says. "We have patients who went from the apartment to the car for two days because they charged their device with a cigarette lighter."

The sound of a blackout even more terrifying than the sound of sirens for Olena Isayenko.

(OLENA ISAYENKO speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): "The sound is like a flatline," she says. She is living with respiratory failure on the 15th floor. Blackouts mean no elevator, no way to get to the bomb shelter downstairs.

(OLENA ISAYENKO speaking in foreign language.)

RIPLEY (voice over): "When you can't cook, when there is no heat, you can live with that. But when you can't breathe, it's your life." Her portable respirator barely lasts two hours. It takes more than an hour to charge. Each blackout puts her life at risk.

For so many, victims of Russia's constant cruel bombardment, this is life, if you can call it that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIPLEY (on camera): Just imagine how terrifying it must be to be a 12-year-old boy and you need this machine to breathe. You have the panic of air raid sirens and bombs coming down and your parents are trying to find a store that they can plug in the machine, so that you can get your medicine or that woman who can't even go to safety and her loved ones have to stay up there on a high floor with her because she can't make the trip down to that bomb shelter that doesn't have a plug for her machine.

It is just really unspeakably cruel, but this is the reality not just you know, not just these patients, but everyday folks, who are really struggling in Ukraine because of Russia's attack -- Sara.

SIDNER: Bless Sebastian and Olena as they go through this. I mean, that is really, really terrifying. On top of all the things that Ukrainians have been through, they and others like them are having to deal with worrying about life or death as the lights go on or don't.

Will, I do want to talk to you about other developments that have happened overnight. A Ukrainian drone targeted a Russian base deep inside of Russia and three people have been killed just as Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is ready to negotiate.

[08:25:10]

SIDNER: Now, Ukraine has been really, really clear. President Zelensky has been like no dice, because they've said Ukraine has -- they have to stop bombarding Ukraine, they have to stop shelling Ukraine, they have to stop the war and start backing up. Is there any movement there?

RIPLEY: Well, and not only do they insist that Russia stop and re- give the territory that they took, you know, pre-2014. I mean, the Ukrainians say this doesn't end until they get back Crimea, in addition to occupied Donetsk and other regions where the Russians are currently holding ground.

They also think that this is not a sincere offer on the part of Vladimir Putin. They think the Russians are trying to, you know, talk about negotiations as a way to bide time so that they can train these untrained conscripts and get them ready for potentially another full- on ground invasion on Kyiv from Belarus sometime early next year. That's what the Ukrainian -- head of Ukraine's Army has been saying.

When I interviewed Ukraine's Defense Minister a couple of weeks ago, he talked about the need for them to continue to bolster their defenses, not to waste time dealing with disingenuous talks with the Russians.

And not only that, Sara, but as far as these, you know, drone attacks, Ukraine has never actually officially claimed responsibility for them, but they have this expression here. They say, you know, be careful where you smoke because you don't want to start a fire, which essentially means, you know, what goes around comes around. That's their message even though they're not officially claiming responsibility for these drone attacks deep inside Russia.

SIDNER: The Ukrainians still have some dark humor that they'll share no matter what is happening in the country. Thank you so much, Will Ripley for your report.

HARLOW: The severe weather triggering thousands of flight delays, cancellations, millions of air travelers affected this weekend. What can you expect if you are planning to fly this week? We'll have that next.

SIDNER: And a New England Patriots fan getting the VIP treatment from the team's owner this weekend. There's a really good reason why/ You will see why yourself just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]