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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Deadly Snow Storm Breaks Records, Measles Outbreak: New Cases; Cuba Releases New Pictures of Castro; U.S. May Send Lethal Aid to Ukraine

Aired February 03, 2015 - 04:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The Northeast pounded by a new deadly record-breaking snowstorm. This morning, roads covered with ice. Thousands of flights canceled. Schools closed as a new arctic chill moves in. We will break down what you need to know for this day.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Measles outbreak spreading this morning. New cases creating concern and controversy this morning as some politicians weigh in whether parents should vaccinate their children.

ROMANS: Breaking overnight, new pictures of Fidel Castro. The release follows months of growing rumors that the former Cuban dictator could actually be dead. We are live in Havana with what these new pictures mean.

Good morning. Great to see you today. Welcome to EARLY START. I'm John Berman.

ROMANS: I'm Christine Romans. It is Tuesday, February 3rd. It is 4:00 a.m. in the East.

Once again, the Northeast and the Midwest digging out from the record- breaking deadly snowstorm. Across the region, snowplows struggling to keep up with heavy, heavy wet snowfall. This on top of those deep accumulations from last week. Boston smashing a record for the snowiest seven days in the city's history at 34.2 inches. The giant winter storm is blamed for now at least 10 deaths in seven states. The snow is causing havoc in the air as well -- 4,300 flights, more than 4,300 flights canceled. That's on top of thousands more scratched on Sunday.

I want to bring in meteorologist Pedram Javaheri for the word on whether we turned the corner here.

Are there more big storms ahead, Pedram?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Let's not get carried, right? Good morning, guys. Nice seeing you.

Unfortunately, there are a couple more storms left through, the remainder of this week, the latter portion of the week, I don't think they're going to be blockbuster storms. It doesn't look like it just yet. But look at the temperatures. Down to 9 in Boston, down to 13, the snow showers at about 10:00, 11:00 last night, really began pushing offshore in Boston. That's what (INAUDIBLE) for that storm system.

The wind-chills, when you factor the wind at this hour, it feels like 11 in Boston, 13 degrees, but it feels like in and around New York City, and, you know, Christine touched on this, the amount of snow that has come down, an average near in Boston, 43 inches. That's what you expect on the ground, 40 inches has come down in the past seven days, 47 inches has come down in the past 10 days. Both numbers are record for the span of dates.

But take a look, high temperatures today in the mid-20s across the northern tier states there, certainly cold enough to support the snow sticking around. High pressure building the next couple of days, generally clear skies until we get to Wednesday night and Thursday. The white indicates another round, another clipper system coming in. Some snow showers possible. Models right now disagree on exactly how much again.

It does not look like a major snowmaker, but what I can guarantee will happen later in the week, another blast of arctic air here really begin to reinforce itself toward that region of the Northeast. So, the concern is that only do we have snow on the ground and temps not going to get up about freezing anytime soon, but it gets colder.

So, anything on the ground going to stick around. In fact, about 18 degrees is the low temperature on Wednesday around New York, who look to drops to seven after a warm up, if you want to call it that. It makes up to 31 in the overnight hours of Thursday morning for a low. Even Boston gets down to around 2 degrees later in the week.

So, yes, a few more flurries possible Wednesday and Thursday, but temperatures potentially colder than what we are seeing right now, John and Christine. Not a good set up.

BERMAN: No melting. That's the key.

All right. Pedram, thanks so much.

The storm obviously just a brutal for Boston, creating chaos, even more people out trying to have some fun. Look at that. Those guys just losing control of their four-wheeler, their ATV there. They whack into that car. Yikes! What do you do?

ROMANS: Get right back on.

BERMAN: That's right. You get back on and you speed off. Hmm, bad idea.

The storm slammed waves over the sea wall in Marshfield, Massachusetts. That's the same seawall that failed last week that caused serious flooding there. The storm has forced the delay until Wednesday of jury selection in the trial of accused Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Also postponed until Wednesday, the parade celebrating the Patriots Super Bowl victory. They did make it home to New England overnight. You can see them right there arriving by bus in Foxboro where they play their games.

CNN's Brian Todd has been out on the streets, in interstates in Boston area. He has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The greater Boston area is glad to be coming out of its second major snow system in less than a week. From our camera vantage point here inside our roving vehicle, we'll switch to show you our dashboard camera.

Look at the conditions here along I-93. One of the busiest interstates in all of Massachusetts. Still, very treacherous conditions. The road is now with temperatures below freezing.

So, very slippery conditions even after the snowstorm has moved out and finished in this area. There is also the effect we heard for the first time, the phrase called flash freezing in a lot of areas especially southeast of Boston. There had been flooding and because of that, those areas are experiencing what they call flash freezing because the temperatures, of course, especially in the overnight hours have dipped to below freezing on the roadways, creating even more treacherous conditions for motorists.

As we pull off I-93 here to this one exit, we're going to try to find a place where we can get out of the vehicle and kind of show you our capability here in this roving vehicle.

But what we can tell you is the state police have told us what they are most worried about are people leaving their vehicles by the sides of the roads. We have seen people leaving cars in exits, by the sides of major highways. Police are warning people don't do that. It's creating more treacherous conditions, making it more dangerous for the plow trucks and spreaders and salt trucks to do their jobs and also more dangerous for first responders to try to help these people and remove vehicles from the roads from the road.

A total of at least 10 people throughout the Midwestern United States and the Eastern United States have died as a result of this storm. We were at the place in Weymouth, Massachusetts, south of Boston, earlier where a woman was struck and killed by a snow plow in a parking lot. So, as we pull into a parking lot of a gas station here, we can tell you that even the parking lots are not necessarily safe, pulling in here.

I'm going to get out of the vehicle and talk to our dash camera while our photo journalist Khalil Abdullah gets his camera out.

You know, this has been a historic snowstorm for the Boston area, getting record totals as I speak to you in the dash cam, getting record totals of snow for a seven-day period, for a ten-day period. And now, they are coming out of it. But again, between the freezing roads and other conditions here, they're not out of the woods yet.

Again, you know, authorities are saying, this was really unprecedented in the nature of just kind of the double hit of this storm, from the 2 1/2 foot blizzard last week that hit last week and the blizzard this week that hit up to 16 inches in some areas of Boston. You know, the roads were very tough to navigate all day long. The visibility was terrible on the roads. Now, they are just starting to come out, just starting to dig out of this record setting event.

Brian Todd, CNN, Andover, Massachusetts.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Brian, for that.

Two deaths of the storms happened on I-95, north of New York City. State police say a car and a shuttle bus collided. The drivers got out to examine the damage and struck and killed by a minivan when that driver lost control on the icy roadway.

One man injured in Brooklyn by a manhole explosion, likely caused by melting snow mixing with salt.

Whoa! New York firefighters say the victim was walking by when the first of two underground explosions launched the manhole cover 50 feet in the air, striking him as it fell. Officials says he was taken to the hospital, minor injuries we're told.

Melting snow causing trouble on Long Island. Roadways flooded there and now, it is all frozen into black ice in many spots, as the temperatures plunged overnight.

And in western New York, snowfall totals of a foot or more snarling the commute and closing many schools and businesses.

BERMAN: Yes, this is a problem all over the Northeast. I want to show you some pictures from Maine. Southern parts of Maine received more snow than they normally they do in an average year. Icy conditions prompted accidents on the roads, really just awful scene in Vermont. Cars lost control and slammed into at least four plows. Fortunately not serious injuries reported there.

Pennsylvania, the roads forced Pittsburgh schools to shutdown on Monday. A majority of schools instituted a delayed opening. That's the case up here as well. What they want to do is they want to wait for the road conditions to improve, so that all students can make it to school safely.

ROMANS: The dome of a soccer stadium collapsed in Michigan.

BERMAN: Oh, wow.

ROMANS: The weight of the snow was too much for the dome in Pontiac. The roof simply collapsed. Fortunately, no one was inside at the time, and no injuries reported thankfully.

More flight cancellations this morning in New York, Boston and Chicago, as these cities dig out from the storm. Today, more than 500 flights are already canceled with New York LaGuardia and Boston Logan hit the hardest. That number is growing, folks. And add that to almost 8,000 flights canceled on Sunday and Monday. That makes this storm almost as bad as last week's blizzard for airlines, which caused about 9,000 flight cancellations.

A little perspective here: despite back-to-back storms, this winter has been relatively mild. I know you are throwing your shoes at the TV. But it's true. Airlines canceled 50,000 flights in January, twice what we saw last year.

BERMAN: The shoes can't hit the TV, though, because a pile of snow four feet high is blocking it.

ROMANS: Sorry, your snow boots throwing at the TV.

BERMAN: All right. Developing this morning, more cases of the measles and the concern is spreading faster than disease justifiably so. Fourteen infants have been quarantined at a child care center at Santa Monica high school campus. After one infant came down with the disease.

No word yet on whether health authorities have linked that case to Disneyland as dozens of earlier measles cases have been linked to the outbreak at Disneyland. But, of course, this has now spread all over the country, and there are serious questions about who is choosing not to vaccinate their children and the risk it is putting on everyone else.

Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is tracking this and has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: John and Christine, the Centers for Disease Control has come out with new measles numbers. They say that in the month of January, 102 people had the measles and that spread out over 14 states. Now, 92 percent of those cases were related to Disneyland.

However, obviously, some weren't. One of them is New York college student. This college student got on an Amtrak train from New York City's Penn Station, and there's some concern that that student might have spread that -- spread measles to other people on the train.

So many people are asking, what do I do if I was on that train? What you really have to talk to your doctor. Some people have full immunity from the measles because if they were born after 1990, they got two doses of the vaccine. So, they almost certainly have full immunity.

Other people who were born before 1990 might not have full immunity. And that's because back then, they would only give people one shot. That worked fine for some people, but didn't work fine for everybody. So, you have to talk to your doctor to figure out your particular situation.

Now, it's important to remember, measles is an incredibly contagious disease. It spreads through the air. If someone walked into the room and had measles and then walked out, and you walk in an hour later and you had not been vaccinated, you could get measles. It's very ,very contagious.

So, it's a disease that really needs to be taken seriously. Before vaccines, 400 to 500 Americans every year died from measles, and about 4,000 would get encephalitis or brain swelling.

So, certainly, the CDC is keeping an eye on this, expecting this to grow even bigger. So, we'll stay on it for you -- John, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Thanks, Elizabeth.

And a lot of people asking me if we could say the risks of measles, because there are parents who don't think the risks are significant enough to justify vaccinating. The CDC says children under 5 are the biggest risk. Pregnant women can have low birth weight children and early -- you know, premature birth -- the swelling of the brain, encephalitis that she's talking about is a serious concern, but pneumonia is how children die from measles. They get pneumonia that they don't recover.

And there is a deafness. Deafness is a real risk for some of these children who come down. They can get ear infections and it causes deafness.

Again, children under five, your baby under five, who has had one round of vaccination, but not a whole series, that's who's really at risk here.

BERMAN: Not just your own children, but if you don't get them vaccinated, other children are at risk as well.

ROMANS: Absolutely, absolutely.

Now, as the measles outbreak spreads, the debate over vaccinations has left the medical arena, where there really is no debate in the medical arena. It has entered the political arena, with two potential GOP presidential candidates, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie weighing in. Both Republicans, both favor parents getting their kids vaccinated, but --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)

GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R), NEW JERSEY: It is much more important I think when you think as a parent and what you think as a public official. And that's what we do. But I also understand that parents need to have some measure of choice in things as well. So, that's the balance that the government has to decide.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R), KENTUCKY: For most of us history, they have been voluntary. So, I don't think I'm arguing out of the ordinary. We're arguing for what most of our history has had.

(END VIDEO CLIPS) ROMANS: Meantime, there is no doubt where Hillary Clinton stands. The would-be Democratic front runner tweeted, quote, "The science is clear. The earth is round, the sky is blue. And vaccines work. Let's protect all our kids. #grandmothers know best."

All right. Breaking overnight, the first glimpse of Fidel Castro in five months. Cuba releasing new photos of the former dictator. So, why now and what could this mean for new U.S. and Cuba relations? We are live in Havana, next.

(COMMERCAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Breaking overnight, new images is surfacing of longtime Cuban leader Fidel Castro. Cuba state-run media claims the pictures were taken late last month. They appear as the rumors swirl about the health of the former president. So, how is Cuba reacting to these new images as that country is now in the process of delicately restoring ties with the United States?

Patrick Oppmann live in Havana this morning.

Good morning, Patrick.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, John.

And probably most interesting line in the article and it accompanies these 21 photos is that it acknowledges for the first time that Cubans have been anxious. They heard no news from former leader Fidel Castro. Just put this into context, this is a former world leader who used to talk for hours, speeches of five or ten hours. And then, there's been silence. It's the most significant news to come from Cuba in years, the restoration of diplomatic relations with the United States.

So, Cubans just couldn't believe that Fidel Castro were alive and well, he would not have an opinion or share it. Last month, we did get a column from Castro, but no photos. This is the government's effort to quell these persistent rumors that something had happened to Fidel Castro.

You see Fidel Castro that is obviously very engaged in this discussion with its university student. We can get some clues of the timing of the photo. We tell from the newspaper taken after three Cuban spies will return from the United States to Cuba in December.

But some things never change, John, according to the article, Fidel Castro spoke to the university student for over three hours -- John.

BERMAN: No sense if this means greater engagement with the public, Patrick, or any sense if he's going to offer new opinions on the current situation between Cuba and the United States?

OPPMANN: You just really never know. It's a mistake to try to predict what Fidel Castro do. You have not seen any images since last August, appeared briefly, in one message with one image with Venezuela president. We see 21 photos with his wife, who is never mentioned really in Cuban state media and she's acknowledged as being his wife. That's almost unprecedented.

So, you can try to predict what he will do next, but you would be wrong. Wait and see, John.

BERMAN: All right. Interesting to see these images, nonetheless. Patrick Oppmann for us in Havana -- thanks so much.

ROMANS: Testimony resumes this morning in the Aaron Hernandez trial. Court was postponed Monday because of the snowstorm. The girlfriend of Odin Lloyd, the man Hernandez is accused of killing, she's expected back on the witness stand. Last week, Shayanna Jenkins testified that the two men were in the early stages of a friendship when Lloyd. The former NFL star has pleaded not guilty to murder and weapons charges.

BERMAN: This morning, the family of Bobbi Kristina Brown says she is fighting for her life in a Georgia hospital. The 21-year-old daughter of Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown is on a ventilator in intensive care. She was found unresponsive in a bathtub in her home over the weekend, almost three years after her mother was found dead in a hotel bathtub. The family has asked for privacy while thanking everyone for their prayers and support.

ROMANS: All right. The U.S. considering new help this morning for Ukraine. War with pro-Russian separatists is tearing that country apart. We are live breaking down what this could mean for the U.S., Ukraine and relations with Russia. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROMANS: The Obama administration now considering sending anti-tank systems and other lethal aid to help Ukraine defend against attack from pro-Russian rebels in the eastern part of that country. The U.S. officials tells CNN the Pentagon favors sending what's called defensive lethal aid, but the White House is still trying to assess what reaction that would have in Moscow.

Secretary of State John Kerry is headed to Ukraine on Thursday to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and other officials.

I want to bring in senior international correspondent Matthew Chance this morning. He is live in Moscow.

Good morning, Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Christine, thanks very much.

That's right. This consideration in the United States that it could supply lethal aid to Ukraine will have unforeseen consequences here in Moscow. The Kremlin hasn't commented on it so far. But from the evidence we've seen so far, the pressure of sanctions, all the other kind of pressure that's been put on the Kremlin to claw back its support for the pro-Russian rebels in Eastern Ukraine. It doesn't seem to have had any effect.

The big gamble is that if the U.S. government decides to provide military aid or weaponry rather to the Ukrainian government forces in that civil war in Ukraine, the Russians could redouble their support for the pro-Russian rebels. That could widen conflict in Ukraine, putting millions of lives at risk. So, that's the balance that President Obama has to weigh as he makes this important decision, Christine.

ROMANS: All right. Matthew Chance, thanks for that this morning, live in Moscow. Very tense situation gets more tense by the day between the pro-Russian rebels and Ukraine government.

BERMAN: You know, our Nick Paton Walsh has been to the airport. We've got some remarkable images from that area lately. The situation just descending in a pure chaos.

Twenty-five minutes after the hour. A deadly record-breaking snowstorm, it pounds the Northeast. This morning, the snow has stopped, but there are new problems because the temperatures are falling and they are going to stay low. The ice is thick, it is treacherous. We will tell you what you need to know, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)