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Live From...
New York Powering Back Up
Aired August 15, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Right now let's get a live update from the situation in New York from my colleague Wolf Blitzer. Oh, Debbie Feyerick, I'm sorry -- Debbie.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Deb here. I'm standing with a family who came in from London, Mary, James and Emma Crocker (ph). How has this interrupted your plans?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well we managed to miss a Broadway show last night. We were all booked in. And the guys were due to go to the game here tonight, but they've actually just been told that that has been postponed until Sunday. Our flight's due to go back to the U.K. tomorrow evening, so we're not going to be around for that.
But the hotel were brilliant. We actually ended up having a buffet meal laid on by the hotel and the staff who were fantastic. I mean they patrolled the floors all night to make sure everyone was OK. And they tried to make sure everyone got to their rooms. And we just had (UNINTELLIGIBLE) an hour and a half to eat. But apart from that, it was OK.
FEYERICK: Now aside from the fact that you're sort of wandering around figuring out what to do, you have already been to Central Park, you may take the Staten Island ferry. How has this whole experience impressed you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I was impressed yesterday with the way everybody was just pulling together on it really. I mean it was a great atmosphere on the streets. Because we were actually in the store; Emma (ph) was trying to buy some rubber ducks, which we didn't manage to buy, and we came out onto the streets and everybody was trying to get as much information. But the whole atmosphere was really good.
So New Yorkers were very calm about the whole thing.
FEYERICK: Mary Crocker, thank you very much.
I want to show you a picture up here. This is usually a clock, and you can always tell what time it is. Yesterday, it went black at about 4:10 in the afternoon. Everything stopped.
And, as a matter of fact, right now what we're seeing is people are still trying to figure out how to get home. A number of people outside of Penn Station have been waiting for hours and hours and hours. No Amtrak trains have been running north to Boston, but they are running south to Washington.
So if you are headed in your direction, John, they may get there. You will be able to greet them when they arrive. Anyway, live from New York, back to you.
KING: Debbie, it's been almost 24 hours now. Your guests just talked about being everyone being calm. Everyone seems to be in relatively good spirits. Is it your sense that that will persist?
Any sense at this point, OK, it's been 24 hours, I want hot water, I want to shower. I want to get where I am going. Are we beginning to get into the grumpy zone, if you will?
FEYERICK: I think so, yes. People that we're speaking to are very concerned actually about food. A lot of the food that was in their refrigerator perished. So none of stores here are opened. All of grocery stores are closed. The little corner bodegas; all those are shut down.
People are trying to get rid of whatever they could. That's why restaurants stayed opened last night, so they could feed people, move out their produce. But right now, that's one of the big concerns. There's no milk, things like that. So that's a big concern on people's minds here in the city.
KING: Debbie Feyerick live from New York. Thank you very much.
We want to move now up the street. One of the telltale signs yesterday of the scope of this power outage, those TV screens right there in Times Square, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), were black. Wolf Blitzer joins us there now and you can see from the lights, the power is back on -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The power's definitely on, John, here at Times Square. It almost seems like normal; it's packed.
I want to show our viewers what's going on. There's a long line. The camera can show this long line. These are people waiting to buy discount tickets for the Broadway plays tonight.
Look at how many people are already rushing. It's going to be a normal night at the theaters here in Times Square around Broadway. People waiting in line patiently. Long, huge lines. Tourists, as well as New Yorkers, they can get huge discounters if they wait of these day-of performances here in Times Square.
The stores around Times Squares, as opposed to Penn Station -- that's where Deborah Feyerick was -- the stores around here are basically reopening very, very quickly, the restaurants, the bars, all of the shops. The hotels are doing a brisk business, obviously. They've got a lot of stranded people who can't get out of New York because of the planes and the trains and the buses, or whatever.
But there is traffic. There is life. It's clearly becoming almost normal. But I have to remind our viewers, in parts of Manhattan, huge parts of Manhattan, there are still power shortages. We had heard earlier today from Governor George Pataki, the governor of New York State, saying about 88 percent of the power in this important big state, the Empire State, has been restored. But that 12 percent that they're still working on is significant. And, of course, is hugely significant here in New York City.
We keep hearing from Mayor Bloomberg, warning everybody, drink a lot of water, but also be slow in using some of that power once its restored, so it doesn't blow out again -- John.
KING: CNN's Wolf Blitzer live in Times Square. We'll check in with you a bit later today. Thank you very much, Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired August 15, 2003 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Right now let's get a live update from the situation in New York from my colleague Wolf Blitzer. Oh, Debbie Feyerick, I'm sorry -- Debbie.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, John. Deb here. I'm standing with a family who came in from London, Mary, James and Emma Crocker (ph). How has this interrupted your plans?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well we managed to miss a Broadway show last night. We were all booked in. And the guys were due to go to the game here tonight, but they've actually just been told that that has been postponed until Sunday. Our flight's due to go back to the U.K. tomorrow evening, so we're not going to be around for that.
But the hotel were brilliant. We actually ended up having a buffet meal laid on by the hotel and the staff who were fantastic. I mean they patrolled the floors all night to make sure everyone was OK. And they tried to make sure everyone got to their rooms. And we just had (UNINTELLIGIBLE) an hour and a half to eat. But apart from that, it was OK.
FEYERICK: Now aside from the fact that you're sort of wandering around figuring out what to do, you have already been to Central Park, you may take the Staten Island ferry. How has this whole experience impressed you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Actually, I was impressed yesterday with the way everybody was just pulling together on it really. I mean it was a great atmosphere on the streets. Because we were actually in the store; Emma (ph) was trying to buy some rubber ducks, which we didn't manage to buy, and we came out onto the streets and everybody was trying to get as much information. But the whole atmosphere was really good.
So New Yorkers were very calm about the whole thing.
FEYERICK: Mary Crocker, thank you very much.
I want to show you a picture up here. This is usually a clock, and you can always tell what time it is. Yesterday, it went black at about 4:10 in the afternoon. Everything stopped.
And, as a matter of fact, right now what we're seeing is people are still trying to figure out how to get home. A number of people outside of Penn Station have been waiting for hours and hours and hours. No Amtrak trains have been running north to Boston, but they are running south to Washington.
So if you are headed in your direction, John, they may get there. You will be able to greet them when they arrive. Anyway, live from New York, back to you.
KING: Debbie, it's been almost 24 hours now. Your guests just talked about being everyone being calm. Everyone seems to be in relatively good spirits. Is it your sense that that will persist?
Any sense at this point, OK, it's been 24 hours, I want hot water, I want to shower. I want to get where I am going. Are we beginning to get into the grumpy zone, if you will?
FEYERICK: I think so, yes. People that we're speaking to are very concerned actually about food. A lot of the food that was in their refrigerator perished. So none of stores here are opened. All of grocery stores are closed. The little corner bodegas; all those are shut down.
People are trying to get rid of whatever they could. That's why restaurants stayed opened last night, so they could feed people, move out their produce. But right now, that's one of the big concerns. There's no milk, things like that. So that's a big concern on people's minds here in the city.
KING: Debbie Feyerick live from New York. Thank you very much.
We want to move now up the street. One of the telltale signs yesterday of the scope of this power outage, those TV screens right there in Times Square, (UNINTELLIGIBLE), were black. Wolf Blitzer joins us there now and you can see from the lights, the power is back on -- Wolf.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The power's definitely on, John, here at Times Square. It almost seems like normal; it's packed.
I want to show our viewers what's going on. There's a long line. The camera can show this long line. These are people waiting to buy discount tickets for the Broadway plays tonight.
Look at how many people are already rushing. It's going to be a normal night at the theaters here in Times Square around Broadway. People waiting in line patiently. Long, huge lines. Tourists, as well as New Yorkers, they can get huge discounters if they wait of these day-of performances here in Times Square.
The stores around Times Squares, as opposed to Penn Station -- that's where Deborah Feyerick was -- the stores around here are basically reopening very, very quickly, the restaurants, the bars, all of the shops. The hotels are doing a brisk business, obviously. They've got a lot of stranded people who can't get out of New York because of the planes and the trains and the buses, or whatever.
But there is traffic. There is life. It's clearly becoming almost normal. But I have to remind our viewers, in parts of Manhattan, huge parts of Manhattan, there are still power shortages. We had heard earlier today from Governor George Pataki, the governor of New York State, saying about 88 percent of the power in this important big state, the Empire State, has been restored. But that 12 percent that they're still working on is significant. And, of course, is hugely significant here in New York City.
We keep hearing from Mayor Bloomberg, warning everybody, drink a lot of water, but also be slow in using some of that power once its restored, so it doesn't blow out again -- John.
KING: CNN's Wolf Blitzer live in Times Square. We'll check in with you a bit later today. Thank you very much, Wolf.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
