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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Blizzard of 2015 Fully Underway; Obama Wraps Up India Visit

Aired January 27, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning: the Northeast crippled by historic monster blizzard. Fifty-eight million people buried by feet of snow and hit with hurricane-force winds. Flights canceled. Schools closed. Driing banned. People told stay at home or else.

We are breaking down the latest oernight from all oer the Northeast. Lie team coerage starts right now.

Good morning. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm just outside the Time Warner Center in New York City. It is Tuesday, January 7th. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

And it is snowing and snowing hard. This huge, dangerous historic blizzard of 2015 is fully underway across the Northeast. Freezing temperatures, snowfall amounts oer two feet in some areas, winds gusting up to 70 miles per hour.

Here where I'm standing about 7 inches of snow so far. The wind gusts bad. Not yet treacherous, but ery uncomfortable. And

the roads, no one is out. The roads are essentially empty. The plows are doing their jobs. A few lonely people trying to get around on the sidewalks, which is a bad idea.

As many as 58 million people in a dozen states are being affected by this storm. Widespread trael bans with public transportation shutdown. Only emergency ehicles allowed on streets in places. I hae seen most people obeying those rules.

Airlines hae canceled close to 8,000 flights today and yesterday. Hundreds more canceled for tomorrow. Huge number of students across the blizzard idea. They will hae a snow day.

Many if not most public schools shutdown today, in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, and many other cities.

Mayors and goernors across the area are warning people to stay off the roads, stay at home no matter what.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D), NEW YORK: Safety first. Your life matters the most and your health and safety matters the most. So the smart thing is to stay back. Any employer who is treating their employees the wrong way will certainly hae something to say about that. This is not a time for employers to be cheapskates.

GOV. CHARLIE BAKER (R), MASSACHUSETTS: Whiteout conditions and treacherous roads will make driing extremely dangerous. I can't stress this part enough. Please stay off the roads.

(END VIDEO CLIPS)

BERMAN: All right. We hae a few hours of the blizzard already behind us. But you know what? It's not oer yet. There is more to come.

Standing with me in our red uniforms here, meteorologist Derek Van Dam.

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Trying to stay warm.

BERMAN: You know, where is it hitting worse? How much more do we hae? At the end of the day, what's this going to be?

VAN DAM: In terms of New York City, we're actually seeing the snow bands are dissipating before they reach the city proper. But just outside of New York, Long Island, that's where the heaiest snow is currently located. Hartsfield, Connecticut, and up towards Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

BERMAN: And the winds. Hae the wind gusts hae been as bad as we fear?

VAN DAM: Nantucket reported 62 miles per hour. Keep in mind, hurricane-force is 74 miles per hour. So, we are just under gusts of hurricane-force winds. So, you can imagine what that does to the snow, whips it up and causes drifts of two to three feet still possible from the storm.

BERMAN: And it's interesting. I saw snow totals out on Long Island, east of here, parts of -- you know, 15 inches already, which is way more than we hae right now. It shows, you know, how little distance can create a big discrepancy.

VAN DAM: It is similar to the lake-effect snow eent that took place in Buffalo, New York, a couple of months ago. We are getting ocean- enhanced snow. So, we're getting band, that put that ery heay band in ery specific areas. New York happens to be on the outer periphery of that heaiest of snow.

BERMAN: And how much longer will this last?

VAN DAM: We'e got another six hours of the worse of it. Then, we're going to start to see it tapering from the west to the east, before the storm starts to pull up the New England coastline and eentually exit by Wednesday. BERMAN: If you are on the coast in New York, though, you hae a long

seeral hours ahead of you.

VAN DAM: You do, and I think the kids will probably enjoy it considering they hae school off today.

BERMAN: And snow days, you know, eerywhere in the major cities. Boston, Proidence, New York City, which is a good thing. And you'e been out here, I just got out here. I had a little bit of sleep.

But in my little walking around here, I mean, there are no cars out. Granted it is 4:00 a.m. and no one is driing except for the emergency ehicles.

VAN DAM: The ban started at 11:00 p.m., and I beliee this is the first time that the subway has actually been close, because of weather in New York City. I stand to be corrected on that. But I was walking down Broadway earlier today. No one in sight. No ehicles. Obiously for a city of this size, that is ery to see rare.

BERMAN: And that will make it so much easier, already is I'm sure for the emergency ehicles, but going forward, look whateer it wants to know is when will we get back out? Probably a lot sooner than otherwise would hae because ehicles will be able to clear the roads.

VAN DAM: Yes, absolutely. But I think it's important that people listen to emergency personnel, because we don't want to get out there too early. We want to make sure we pay attention to the weather forecast, wait until we get the all clear, because the plows need to get on the roads and they need them cleared to take care of the snow.

BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks so much. I appreciate you being here with me.

VAN DAM: Absolutely.

BERMAN: All right. New York state may hae dodged most of the worst of the storm, still remains to be seen. Long Island being hit pretty hard.

But it is -- you know, it is haing an impact. Goernor Andrew Cuomo has declared a state of emergency for the state's southern counties. Thousands of flights hae been canceled in New York airports, including irtually all of the flights at LaGuardia. Non-emergency trael as we'e been saying is ban on New York City streets, with subway, rail serice, bus serice all suspended. New York City schools are closed today, as many other school systems in the state.

Let's get more on the conditions on the ground here. I want to bring in Brian Stelter.

Brian, where are you and how are things?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CORREPONDENT: They're cold, John. I'm on Eighth Aenue. I'll step out on the street. Normally at 4:00 a.m. would be pretty busy. I coered a couple of hurricanes and they often times put in the bans

on trael like we hae in New York right now. I haen't seen them be taken as seriously in hurricanes as I hae in this snowstorm.

The only people I see outside are the ones plowing and a few people, of course, coming out with selfies and taking pictures in the snow.

I'll walk oer, John, and show you the most interesting thing about what the state has done for the storm. (INAUDIBLE) I'll show you the subway.

This is -- as Derek was saying, the first time in the snowstorm, the subway system closed off. Some tape up here. There hae been hard workers out actually plowing and shoeling these sidewalks, shoeling these staircases so if the subway does reopen, they will be able to resume serices pretty quickly.

There you go. They closed off New York City subway --

BERMAN: We lost Brian Stelter right there. You can hear the wind blowing and it may not be the storm people thought it might be here in New York City, the damage it can do to communications equipment. That's the story in New York.

Massachusetts is bearing the brunt of this nor'easter. The new goernor there, Charlie Baker has declared a state of emergency. Boston's Logan airport is shutdown. It is not open until Wednesday.

There's a statewide ban on all motor ehicle trael, a statewide ban of getting on the roads with a $500 fine for iolators. Hundreds of school systems canceled classes today.

A snow plow droe behind me there. They're trying to keep the sidewalk clear.

No mail today in Boston. The postal serice, I don't think they did this, has canceled deliery and closed offices.

I want to go to national reporter Nick Valencia on the streets of the greatest city in country, in Boston, with the blizzard conditions up there.

Hey, Nick.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN NATIONAL REPORTER: Yes, greatest city in the country. You are not bias at all, Berman. I know that this is your home town and it's miserable outside right now.

The conditions are really bad on the roads. Thankfully the majority of the residents here, the Bostonians were told to stay off the road. The majority of the ehicles we hae seen on the roads are emergency ehicles, people doing jobs trying to clear the roads here, trying to make it more naigable.

It's been a little bit troubling for us to go to these streets, our engineer has been carefully driing inching his way through these roads here. I would say in the past 30 minutes, you're talking about the wind an issue in New York. In the past 30 minutes, the wind has picked up in Boston as well. We see that has created issues for us as well.

Outside, it's miserable. It's about 18 or 19 degrees. It feels more like 2 degrees. Very cold and chilly outside. We hae also seen some people who decided to come out in the streets anyway although the trael ban was in place.

When you talk to those people, John, they say they want to be part of something historic. They felt this is the quietest time to come out to see the city of Boston. That encouraged them to come out here.

But as I mentioned though earlier, for the most part, these roads are clear. The ehicles we see on the roads are emergency ehicles. Some media ehicles as well hae been granted exceptions to cruise the streets to check out conditions -- John.

BERMAN: All right. Nick Valencia on the streets of Boston. I suspect on the North Shore and down in the Cape, things are a little more serious there. I'm getting tweets and reports from people up there talking about high winds, high waes and a lot of snow. It is not oer yet.

So, what about Rhode Island? Rhode Island in some ways catching the worst part of the storm. They hae a state of emergency declared by the goernor, all flights canceled in Proidence.

Goernor Raimondo also ordering a strictly enforced trael ban. Classes are canceled of public schools in Proidence, also the Uniersity of Rhode Island, Brown will not hae school today.

Joining us now with the latest from Proidence, CNN's Sara Ganim.

Hey, Sara.

SARA GANIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Yes, you know, you definitely see the snow is accumulating here. That's ery noticeable. But when you are standing out here like I am, and a few others are, it's really the wind that becomes the story. That's the thing you notice when you're standing here.

We're seeing consistent gusts up wind around 35 miles an hour. Some oernight, up to 45 miles an hour. And here in Rhode Island, they expect the worst is expected to come in two hours. That is when the wind will really pick up.

So far, we hae been protected here because the winds are coming from the north oer land oer Proidence instead of the south or coastal winds that come up from the water.

Now, another important thing that the people in Rhode Island need to know this morning is high tide this morning for many of the coastal -- really the whole state. This is a coastal state, Rhode Island. Eery single one of the coastal community is under a flood watch, because high tide coincides with the worse of the storm this morning. So, there's a flood watch this morning from many of those coastal communities. That's something people need to be aware.

Like I said, the snow is falling. It is the light fluffy stuff. Not the heay, wet freezing rain that we normally see. The wind here is what you notice, John.

BERMAN: You are noticing it for seeral more hours.

All right. Sara Ganim for us in Rhode Island.

Again, if you are in one of these states, if you're in New York, if you're in Connecticut, you're in Rhode Island, if you're in Massachusetts, stay inside for now folks. This is going on for some time. Wait until it's all oer. It is ery dangerous, a big impact all oer the Northeast.

Christine Romans, you are coering the entire region.

ROMANS: Yes, that's right, John. Six hours to go here. I mean, we are in the middle of this thing. This is not oer.

New Jersey, let's talk about what is happening there. It is getting walloped, John, by this blizzard. Goernor Christie declaring a state of emergency, a statewide trael ban. It's in effect in New Jersey. Mass transit shutdown as that storm intensified oernight.

Now, Newark airport is open. Newark airport is open, but cancellations outnumbering departures and arrials. Many schools closed around the state.

Goernor Chris Christie says they hae been here before.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: We had Hurricane Irene, we had Hurricane Sandy. For better or worse, we know how to deal with these situations. I feel completely confident that the folks behind me and all the people that work for them are prepared, but you neer know how bad the conditions are going to be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: Pennsylania operating under state of emergency this morning. Hundreds of flights to Philadelphia's international airport hae been canceled. There is limited public transportation in the city. Pennsylania's goernor says stay off the roads if you can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TOM WOLF (D), PENNSYLVANIA: There will be snow on the roads. Big heay equipment out there. So be careful, if you hae to drie. If you don't hae to drie, don't drie.

ROMANS: No flights are moing right now at major airports in the Northeast, Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Boston and Philadelphia at a standstill this morning. More than 4,500 flights canceled today. Another 3,200 were canceled yesterday. The two biggest carriers, American and United, they'e decided to

ground all flights today. Airlines are hoping to resume normal serice tomorrow. Weather permitting, they are letting passengers rebook flights for free. Flight cancellations affecting more than 250,000 traelers that's rippling throughout the country and the backlog is expected to make trael a nightmare through the end of the week.

All right. Thirteen minutes past the hour. We were following breaking news all morning long. This historic blizzard still pounding the Northeast. We'e got new ideo and deelopments oernight right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This is the blizzard of 2015. We're in the middle of it right now, all across the northeast. Some 58 million people in 12 states affected by this heay snowfall. Some areas getting more than two feet, the wind gusts are up oer 70 miles an hour in places. Widespread trael bans.

You know, non-emergency traffic has been ordered off the roads. Do not go driing. Public transit also shutdown in New York City and other cities.

Thousands of flights hae been cancelled. Airports, many of them shutdown completely and if they are open at all, ery limited actiity. Many schools, colleges, uniersities closed for the day across the region.

Most of you will be home. And, hopefully, all of you are safe and warm. The question is: how long is this all going to last?

Meteorologist Derek Van Dam -- you hae been out here all night. Gie us a sense of where we are and how much more to come.

VAN DAM: So, New York City and Central Park, we see about seen to eight inches so far. We'e got another seen to go. Let's call it 14, perhaps just oer a foot, but not enough to break that 2006 snowfall record here, which is 26.9 inches. So, we're well shy of that.

We are on the outer periphery of the heaiest of snow bands here in New York. It's really Boston and into Connecticut and parts of Rhode Island, where we see the ery intense heay snow bands set up, two to four inches per hour.

Those guys will likely see the 2 to 3 feet that we hae been talking about before the storm pulls out across the northeast by midday Tuesday.

BERMAN: Midday Tuesday, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, that's the bull's-eye. That will be seeral more hours.

VAN DAM: Absolutely. Through Tuesday afternoon.

BERMAN: All right. Derek Van Dam, thanks.

VAN DAM: Absolutely.

BERMAN: Christine, back to you.

ROMANS: You can see those plows out in full force, John. They are trying to stay ahead of that falling snow. Thanks for that, John. We're going to follow the latest on the blizzard all morning long.

But, first, breaking oernight: President Obama on his way to Saudi Arabia -- a isit that could be incredibly important to the U.S. war on terror. We are lie after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: All right. Welcome back. Breaking oernight: President Obama ending a isit to India this morning, pledging $4 billion in loans and inestments to release what he calls the untapped potential, the partnership between the world's two largest democracies. The president is in the air right now. He's on his way to Saudi Arabia, where he will pay respects to the late King Abdullah and to reinforce America's crucial alliance to Saudi Arabia and its newly appointed king.

Michelle Kosinski joining us lie from New Delhi this morning.

Michelle, what do the president and the new kind of Saudi Arabia expected to discuss?

MICHELLE KOSINSKI, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is another key partnership and there's a lot on the agenda. And I think you can tell just how significant this is when you look at the delegation that the president is bringing with him to Saudi Arabia. It's enormous. I mean, Secretary of State John Kerry, arious adisers, een Bush-era administration, including former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and James Baker, all of whom are significant in the building and forging the relationship with Saudi Arabia.

So, we know they will hae a meal together and a bilateral meeting. We know the important topics will come up. ISIS, fighting terrorism, Yemen, Iran, and it was also asked at the White House yesterday, you know, are you going to be bringing up human rights. What about the blogger who was sentenced to lashings and is persecuted of what he wrote online.

And the White House was a bit hesitant about that. They said that, well, human rights is something they bring up frequently with Saudi Arabia, but it didn't sound like that was going to come up on this trip, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Michelle Kosinski, traeling along with the president, thank you so much, nice to see you again. He's already left New Delhi. He's on his way now to Saudi Arabia.

Japan now looking to Jordan to help gain a freelance journalist freedom from ISIS. The Japanese enoy in Jordan says he is determined to coordinate with Amman to bring Japanese hostage Kenji Goto and a Jordanian pilot held by those militants home. Talks in Jordan Monday showed no sign of progress. The pilot has been held by ISIS since crashing in December. It wasn't clear when the pilot's possible release entered the picture, but a lot of moing parts there.

Kurdish forces hae regained control of the key Syrian border town of Kobani. Late last year with the world's eyes on them, ISIS fighters controlled much of that city. They een posted ideos with their flag flying in the region. Kobani has been the focus now of U.S. air strikes for the past four months. Defeat depries ISIS of a border crossing into Turkey.

A story right out of a spy moie here in New York where the FBI arrested one Russian national and indicting two others in absentia for allegedly working as deep undercoer agents for Moscow. All three allegedly tried to recruit New York City residents, as intelligent sources, and tried to gather details on sanctions against Russia and deelopment of alternatie energy sources. Now, one of the suspects appeared in court before the blizzard. The other two hae fled to Russia.

Breaking news this morning: a historic blizzard, it's shutting down some of the country's biggest cities this morning. The Northeast blanketed with snow. Dangerous winds are here and more coming. Trael bans are in effect.

We are breaking down eerything you need to know, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)