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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Families Cling To Hope For Survivors Of Florida Condo Collapse; Pacific Northwest In Grips Of Record Heatwave; Sydney Under Two-Week Lockdown To Contain Delta Variant Outbreak. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired June 28, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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

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[05:30:48]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Whitney Wild in for Christine Romans. Thirty minutes past the hour this morning.

JARRETT: This morning, the Surfside community is trying to keep hope alive for the families of at least 152 people still missing after that catastrophic condo collapse last week. Nine people now confirmed dead.

The search itself extremely dangerous for these first responders. And the reality of time slipping away is setting in as a decision needs to be made soon about transitioning from a rescue effort to a recovery mission, but the fire chief says he's not there yet.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ALAN COMINSKY, MIAMI-DADE FIRE-RESCUE: Hope -- that's what I'm focused on. So I'm going to continue that as much as possible. That's the driving message. That's what we're looking for.

So we're going to continue moving and moving and searching as hard as we can and for as long as we can until we have to make that decision.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Overnight, some new troubling information as we're now learning a Surfside town official assured residents of the Champlain Towers 2 1/2 years ago that their building was in, quote, "very good shape." NPR reports that e-mails released by the town show it happened at a November 2018 meeting just two days after the officials received a report warning of major structural damage to the tower.

This, as grieving families are starting to grow impatient. The mother of a 26-year-old woman desperately urging officials on Saturday to do more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a mother. I don't know the best way to go about this. But it's impossible that in four days nobody has emerged dead or alive. Please don't tell me about the two people. I know about it.

It's not enough. Imagine if your children were in there. You're going to leave here and you're going to take a nice picture. And I know you're doing everything you can but it's not enough. You gave us a promise and you're not fulfilling it, and you can fulfill it. Red tape is not important when my daughter is dying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: It's awful.

The "Miami Herald" reports the heartbreak of another family member. Mike Stratton woke up to his phone ringing early Thursday. His wife, Cassie, frantically told him the building was shaking and there was a sinkhole where the pool deck used to be. Then the line went silent.

CNN's Nick Valencia is live in Surfside, Florida with the very latest. Nick, I know you've been talking to families all weekend and the stories are just so tragic.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are -- and, in fact, Abigail Ferrara (ph) who sent us that social media video -- that clip that you just played -- she was too emotional to talk about what she saw in that briefing. But it gives you just an insight into just how painful this is for the family members to not have any information now as we enter day five.

And the big question today as so much information has emerged about the structural integrity of this building, specifically, is that whether or not those in power -- those who had something -- the ability to do something about this -- whether or not they deliberately misled residents as to whether or not it was safe to be in that building.

NPR reporting this morning a Surfside town official, in a November 2018 meeting with residents, assured them that their building was safe to live in. Though we've learned that it was just two days before that same official saw a report saying that there was major structural damage to the building.

Look, guys, there is a lot of fear here in the Surfside community and surrounding areas -- people that live in high-rises. In fact, there is a nearly identical sister building to the Champlain Towers that was looked at by an independent firm and determined to be safe to live in. But even the mayor here in Surfside said that he would have second guesses and second thoughts about putting his family there.

The big focus though today -- on day five, though, is the family. Those families that some of which have turned -- you know, hit an emotional turning point here in the acceptance that their family member may not have survived. There are others, though, as you are about to hear, that are still maintaining hope. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETTINA OBIAS, AUNT AND UNCLE WERE INSIDE SURFSIDE CONDO WHEN IT COLLAPSED: When I heard it I was really hoping -- I started bargaining. I said, Lord, please let them -- let her be alive because I want to spend more time with her. I promise -- I promise to spend more time with her and take care of her.

[05:35:00]

You know, she was my mother here. She took care of all of us. She had -- was the most renaissance woman. She played piano professionally, she painted, she drew. She was a member of the Feed the Hungry. She was the matriarch that many families should really have.

I think it will only take a miracle for somebody to really survive that but I still believe in miracles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: And that is a lot of what people are clinging to -- not just the families but also the first responders. Teams from Mexico and teams from Israel have arrived here to help that search and rescue effort. It is still very much so a search and rescue effort.

Family members of those still unaccounted for also taken to the site yesterday in what was a deeply emotional experience for many of them. And also, as I mentioned, an emotional turning point.

In the days ahead, though, a lot will be focused on the structural integrity of these buildings. And communities already are being reactive to what we've seen happen here, looking at investigating or bringing in independent engineering firms to look at their buildings.

We have the city of Miami urging any building over six stories tall and 40-plus years old to have engineering firms come in and look at their buildings -- to examine their buildings and bring back a report to the city within 45 days.

Sunny Isles, where we're at just up the road here -- Sunny Isles doing the same thing with their buildings. Boca Raton is also going about it, looking at their buildings as well to try to keep from something tragic like this happening again, not just in Florida but across the nation. And I'm sure we'll see that develop in the days ahead.

But today, the focus very much so on the families, trying to give them any glimmer of hope as rescue crews look for any sign of life here under that piles and piles of debris -- Laura.

JARRETT: I can only imagine what it is like for those families watching this rescue mission continue on but feeling like they're not getting enough answers and they're not seeing enough results.

But, Nick, thank you for being there --

VALENCIA: That's right. JARRETT: -- for covering this for us.

WILD: A record-breaking heatwave is smothering the Pacific Northwest. The city of Portland setting an all-time record high of 112 degrees. Seattle tying its all-time mark at 103 degrees. Even in Canada, a record 116 degrees was set for all of British Columbia on Sunday.

Power is out for tens of thousands in Oregon and Washington State. This is adding to experts' concerns the region is just not prepared for this kind of heat. And this is far from over.

Camila Bernal has the latest from Portland, Oregon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA BERNAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Laura, Whitney, all-time high-temperature records shattered here in Portland over the weekend. We're talking triple digits during the day -- and even at night, no relief, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s. So that does not give the body enough time to cool down.

The county even saying that more than a dozen people had to be taken to the emergency room or a clinic with heat-related illnesses. They say that most of these cases are people under the age of 65. So no matter how old you are the heat can be dangerous and it can even be deadly.

The problem here is that many people in this region do not have air conditioning. And so, to solve for that there are a number of cooling shelters that are open and available. They say they want to help at least the most vulnerable populations, which could be the elderly, the homeless, and even pets.

We spoke to one of the coordinators at these cooling shelters and here's what he told us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our goal here is to really just protect health and safety by offering people a cool place to be, and that's -- that's really like the baseline of what we're trying to offer here -- just food, water -- the basics -- and to just keep this space calm, safe, and accessible for everybody.

BERNAL (on camera): And this unprecedented and dangerous heat will continue to affect people in this region for the next couple of days. Along the west coast, more than 20 million people are under some sort of heat warning or advisory -- Whitney, Laura.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JARRETT: Camila, thank you.

From dangerous heat in the west to hot and humid conditions in the northeast, meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is live for us this morning. Pedram, when are things going to let up?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, AMS METEOROLOGIST: My goodness -- you know, it's going to take at least a few days here before we see conditions, at least for the east coast, cool back down for the west. It's going to be a long week ahead of us here. Upwards of 300 record temperatures possible -- not just in the northwest but even down across the southwest.

And as you noted here, we're talking about the one-teens in some of these areas. And the record going back to just a day earlier where it was 108 degrees in Salem, same score in Portland -- those are the all- time temperatures. Sunday comes in with 112 and 113, respectively.

Seattle's 104-degree. About 40 degrees displaced -- 30 to 40 degrees displaced where it should be for this time of year. I'll tell you what, it gets another, say, five to seven degrees warmer over the next few hours here. Seattle could climb up to 108 degrees.

Again, 73 is what is normal for this time of year. And notice over the next week, nowhere near that. Temperatures still running 10 to 15 above average.

[05:40:03]

And in Portland as well -- 116 degrees dropping off into the 90s where typically, that is unusual for any time of year in Portland. And to just kind of give a comparison -- in Portland, temperatures comparable to what's happening in Baghdad, Iraq. So it gives you a comparison of the severity of the heat.

Now, around the northeast, heat indices -- or what it will feel like -- up to 105 degrees. Much more short-lived here, fortunately, for the folks around the northeast.

So, New York -- you're in the middle 90s here. It will feel closer to 100 the next couple of days. But you notice as we approach the holiday weekend, temperatures cool off and get to a more bearable range there. In Boston, almost 70 degrees. In Philly, from nearly 100 to nearly 80s. At least for the northeast, it is going to cool down -- guys

JARRETT: All right. Hopefully, a cooler Fourth of July. Thanks, Pedram.

WILD: Opening ceremonies for the Tokyo Olympics are just 3 1/2 weeks away and now there's a sober reality check coming from the president of the Japanese Olympic Committee.

CNN's Selina Wang is live in Tokyo with more. Selina, what's he saying?

SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Whitney and Laura, the Japanese Olympic committee president is saying that it is impossible -- there is no chance that there will be zero COVID cases from Olympic participants. He also admitted that the conditions are not ideal. The pandemic is still far from over and that we're already seeing just how hard it is to keep these games in a safe bubble.

Earlier this month, the Ugandan Olympic team arrived in Japan fully vaccinated, as well as all testing negative before departure. Despite that, one member, upon arrival in the airport in Japan, testing positive for COVID. That person was then isolated.

But then, in a highly criticized move, the rest of the Ugandan team was allowed to leave the airport and travel to their pre-training camp in Osaka Prefecture. Days later, an official said another member tested positive. Now the whole team, as well as their close contacts, are in quarantine.

And as a result of this, the president of Tokyo 2020 said that they are refining operations. Unclear what that means but local media says it could include stepped-up border and quarantine measures.

Meanwhile, you have public health experts in Japan continuing to say that these games could lead to a rebound of COVID-19 cases in Japan. And clearly, the public here in Japan is not convinced these games can be held safely.

I was just at an anti-Olympics protest last week where people were scared and angry that so many resources were being put toward the games in the middle of a pandemic. Several telling me they still couldn't get vaccinated and were frustrated Olympic participants were getting prioritized. Less than 10 percent of the population here has been fully vaccinated -- Whitney, Laura.

JARRETT: All right, Selina. Thank you so much for all of your reporting on this as usual. Just crazy. Only 10 percent of the population --

WILD: Yes.

JARRETT: -- vaccinated. Such a different situation than here.

WILD: Absolutely. You can see how people in Tokyo would be very anxious about this flood of people coming into their city --

JARRETT: Yes.

WILD: -- and all the unknowns.

JARRETT: Yes.

WILD: It's just hard.

JARRETT: All right, we'll be right back.

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[05:46:36]

WILD: Sydney, Australia is under another strict lockdown. In a city of five million people, a cluster of infections from the Delta variant is up to 110 cases. And with just four percent of Australia's population fully vaccinated, borders are still closed. Residents are wondering how much longer these restrictions are going to last.

Angus Watson is live in Sydney. Angus, by global standards, this outbreak is actually really small. So what's the reaction there to this newest wave of lockdown?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: Well, as you mentioned there Whitney, Australia's done particularly well in the fight against the coronavirus since the pandemic began. Just 910 people have died of COVID-19 in this country. Just one of those deaths came in 2021.

So now, however, COVID-19 has come back into the community. It's the Delta variant that has everybody nervous about that. Transmission is happening rapidly (audio gap) having fleeting contact between one another.

And as you mentioned, Australia is dangerously under-vaccinated with under five percent of the population having had two shots of any vaccine.

Down here at Bondi Beach in Sydney today, under lockdown for the next two weeks, people were frustration -- frustrated. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RYAN SEETO, SYDNEY RESIDENT: I think this has been an entire failure if I'm honest. Most of this could have been prevented if we rolled it out a lot faster and with a lot more haste.

JESSIE HOLLAND, SYDNEY RESIDENT: The news that this might be a different strain and might be a little bit more transmissible between people. So hopefully, yes -- but it's not all getting complacent. We're keeping on to live (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: So you just heard there people saying that they don't believe this lockdown would have had to happen if Australia had done its vaccine rollout together and pushed it out faster. The problem, Whitney, is both the supply issue and a hesitancy one.

Back to you.

WILD: Angus Watson live in Sydney. Thank you.

JARRETT: All right.

Strengthening your defense. That's the message from the head of the nation's top cybersecurity agency who believes more focus is needed on guarding our critical infrastructure against cyberattacks. Brandon Wales telling CNN the attacks on Colonial Pipeline, meat supplier JBS, and others are just a preview of what could be in store.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRANDON WALES, ACTING DIRECTOR, CYBERSECURITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE SECURITY AGENCY: We have seen ransomware target large companies and small, multinational corporations and mom and pop shops, nonprofit organizations. Almost anyone who is operating an Internet-enabled business in the United States is potentially vulnerable. So this is not a problem that's someone else's problem. This is everyone's problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Now, attacks like these are not new but they have spiked in recent years and they are bolder than ever, leading criminals to look for bigger targets for more ransom money.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WALES: We continue to believe that paying ransoms is a bad idea. A recent study found that 80 percent of companies that have paid ransom have been hit again. And so the adversaries know that they are a target who is willing to pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Wales says Americans' daily lives are dependent on cyber functioning and vulnerable to attack.

WILD: A 21-year-old man is expected to survive after being shot in the back in Times Square last night. Police say he was the unintended target of a dispute -- an unintended victim, rather, of a dispute between a group of men that he didn't even know.

According to the NYPD, there has been a 53 percent increase in shooting incidents in the city compared to this time last year.

[05:50:00]

This weekend in the U.S., at least two people were killed in six mass shootings. That's actually down compared to recent weekends. Three of those attacks happened in Chicago where there were at least 47 separate shooting incidents.

JARRETT: There has been a wild amount of speculation about UFOs lately -- maybe even more than normal -- since an intelligence report was released Friday on unidentified flying objects. Now, it examined more than 140 sightings by U.S. Navy pilots and others.

The objects pose a national security concern but there's no real verification one way or another on alien life. Yes, I just said that on television.

Bill Nelson, former senator, astronaut, and now NASA administration, has seen the classified version of this report.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL NELSON, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Ever Since "Star Trek," people are yearning to find out what's out there in the cosmos. Are we alone? Personally, I don't think we are. The universe is so big. People are hungry for this kind of information and we're going to keep searching.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: I personally am happy to just let this linger. I'm not sure I actually want to know if there is, in fact, alien life -- although the idea that Russia and China are actually sending up unidentified objects isn't a great idea either.

WILD: That's also terrifying.

JARRETT: Yes.

WILD: However, I feel like the range from that's insane --

JARRETT: Yes.

WILD: -- to this is totally possible --

JARRETT: Right.

WILD: -- was a like a very quick turn.

JARRETT: Well, I think the report left it ambiguous, which is what a lot of people pointed out, right?

WILD: Yes.

JARRETT: It's just the fact that they've left it like well, we don't -- we can't confirm it.

WILD: Yes, I guess we'll have to see how that one all shakes out.

All right, pro sports teams in the Miami area pitching in to help the rescue effort at the deadly condo collapse. Andy Scholes has this morning's Bleacher Report.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hey -- good morning, Whitney.

So the past few days have obviously been incredibly difficult for those families of those missing. Teams, including the Dolphins -- they've shown up to Surfside to pitch in to help. And members of the team among those providing food and supplies to the family reunification center.

And runny back Jordan Scarlett, a South Florida native -- he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that it's their responsibility to help those in need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JORDAN SCARLETT, MIAMI DOLPHINS RUNNING BACK: I hope this opens eyes to the younger community to see that tragedies like this need help and need attention. Even if you can't give it to them financially, just give the love, like I said. So hopefully, this opens eyes to the youth that you should be able to reach out to your community whenever they need your help and just try to give back in whatever way you can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: The Heat, Marlins, and Panthers have also provided food and supplies at the site of the collapse. All right. In the NBA last night, we had a pivotal game three of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Hawks and the Bucks.

Atlanta jumping out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter but had some bad news in the third. Trae Young stepping on an official's foot, injuring his right ankle. Trae stayed in the game but just wasn't himself. He finished with 35 points.

And Khris Middleton, meanwhile, taking this game over in the fourth. Middleton had 20 in the quarter, outscoring the Hawks by himself. He finished with a playoff career-high-tying 38 points.

Bucks win game three 113-102 to take a two-one lead in the series.

Suns can close out the Western Conference Finals tonight in Phoenix.

All right. It was only a matter of time until a pitcher failed an inspection in baseball's crackdown on foreign substances. Mariners' pitch Hector Santiago is now the first to be ejected. Umpires determined there was something questionable inside his glove during yesterday's game against the White Sox. They confiscated the glove for further inspection.

Santiago denies using anything illegal, claiming the sticky stuff was just resin mixed with sweat. He now, though, faces a potential 10-game suspension.

All right, we have a new number-one women's golfer in the world. Twenty-two-year-old Nelly Korda winning her first major title at the Women's PGA Championship near Atlanta yesterday. Korda is now the first American woman to hold the number-one world ranking in seven years.

All right, four-time Olympic gold medalist Serena Williams will not be adding to her total this year. She says he's opting out of the Tokyo Games.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERENA WILLIAMS, 4-TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: There's a lot of reasons that I made my Olympic decision and I don't really want to -- I don't feel like going into them today, but maybe another day. Sorry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The 39-year-old joins Naomi Osaka and Rafael Nadal in skipping the games. Serena's going to look to win her record- tying 24th major and eighth Wimbledon title starting tomorrow.

All right, Simon Biles, meanwhile, will be representing Team USA. She locked up her spot at the U.S. Gymnastics Olympic trials in St. Louis yesterday. Biles is going to look to add to her five Olympic medals from Rio next month.

And in the meantime, Sydney McLaughlin breaking the world record in the 400-meter hurdles last night to qualify for her second Olympic Games. She's the first woman ever to break the 52-second barrier in the race. Dalilah Muhammad is second place.

But, McLaughlin there, guys, you can see, could not believe it. Here's hoping that she can repeat that next month in Tokyo.

[05:55:06]

JARRETT: Always great to see the reactions from the family members.

Thanks so much, Andy -- appreciate it.

SCHOLES: All right.

WILD: She makes it look so easy.

JARRETT: I know -- it's not.

WILD: I want to run when someone's chasing me. That's about it.

All right, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Whitney Wild.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. John Berman anchors "NEW DAY" from Surfside, Florida next.

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