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New Day

Blizzard Warning Lifted For NYC And New Jersey

Aired January 27, 2015 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY. We're giving you full coverage of what is shaping up to be an historic blizzard. The question is, where. Here in New York, a tale of two cities, to be sure. Here in New York, beautiful sublime, people starting to move around, about 22 degrees. We got ten inches of snow and that's called a miss.

So 10 inches of snow in New York City, and that is about as good as you're going to see. Now out at the end of Long Island on Montauk, such a different situation, you get to see the different face of the blizzard, we have Christina Alesci there. It was tough, it's going to get tougher out there how is it now?

CHRISTINA ALESCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the sun is up. So that's making visibility conditions quite good. As I mentioned before, Chris, I'm standing by the water. You've only been able to tell now at this point that we're at the ocean. You can see right here, the ocean and how bad and how rough it is.

That said, you know, one major area of concern in this community is beach erosion. That has to do with both the tide and how far it comes up and where the waves are breaking. The waves are breaking quite far out and they're really not that high.

We were expecting somewhere between 10 and 15-foot waves. And we're a little bit below that right now. So it's actually looking quite good. But we're not in the heart of where the ocean actually pounds the beach here in Montauk.

That area is a little bit further east in town and that area was hit really, really hard by Superstorm Sandy. In fact the army corps of engineers is in the middle of rebuilding that area.

They're doing it with these things called geotubes, that are filled with sand and other compounds and covered with sand and grass, hopefully in the an effort to preserve that part of Montauk. Chris, it's going to get a lot worse out here. We'll be out here all day and I'm sure I'll talk to you more about how the weather conditions are developing.

CUOMO: Stay warm, Christina. The high tide is at about 3:00 in the afternoon, local time. It's 10 to 15-foot waves because of the wind conditions. That area is not used to seeing that type of battering, even though that is the surf area out there here in New York City, the stock market is going to open.

The city is coming back to life. We're going to start hearing from the mayor soon about what will be turned back on in the city in terms of services, the governor is going to give a press conference soon and I know you have him on the phone.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We do. Thanks so much, Chris. We just saw how difficult the conditions are in some parts of New York. Joining us on the phone is the governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo. Good morning, Governor.

GOVERNOR ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK (via telephone): Nice to speak with you.

CAMEROTA: Nice to speak with you as well. We understand you called a press conference for 8:00 a.m. What will you be announcing?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: We'll be announcing that at 8:00 a.m., the roads in New York City downstate area that we closed last night, which is the Hudson Valley, New York City, Long Island, will be reopening.

I spoke to Governor Christie in New Jersey. I spoke to Governor Malloy in Connecticut. And obviously when you reopen the roads, we need to be coordinated. You don't want people on the New York City roads, driving to Jersey unless jersey's open and vice- versa.

So Jersey and New York will be opening on coordinated schedule at 8:00. All the bans will be lifted. Connecticut is making the temperatures. Connecticut got hit harder than the downstate region in New York and there will be making the determination as to what areas to open or not.

We do want to make sure we're coordinated in the tri-state area. As your broadcast says correctly so, Long Island is a different story than New York City, and Long Island did get hit harder.

The good news is since we didn't have cars on the road, we were very successful at clearing the roads and we'll be in a position at 8:00 to open the Nassau and Suffolk County roads.

CAMEROTA: That will come as a huge relief to New Yorkers. They like to get where they want to go. What about the public transportation system? The trains, subways, the buses, will those be in use?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: We're doing that assessment now and we'll have that announcement at 8:00, Alisyn. What we did last night was, the advantage of closing down the system was we could put the trains and the railroad cars in a safe place.

So they're not damaged during the storm. We're now in the process of bringing the cars out and reassembling the system. And we'll have an announcement at 8:00, what lines are up and when. The storm in New York City was not as bad as the forecasters had predicted.

Long Island, it was bad. But you know, this is, this is the business we are in, right? A few weeks ago, the forecasters actually under predicted, I'm sorry over predicted. And this time it was a little less than predicted, but better safe than sorry, that's my rule.

CAMEROTA: That makes sense, Governor. Obviously predicting the weather and Mother Nature is an imprecise science as we've seen. Would you say that now, knowing what you know, hindsight being 20/20, that you wouldn't have imposed a travel ban, knowing the snow at most in New York was going to be six to ten inches?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: Hindsight is 20/20, you act on the information you have at the time. The last things that I want to do are close roads and close the transportation system. It's expensive. It slows business, et cetera. It's my last recourse.

But I'll tell what you, Alisyn, we've gotten risky the other way. And had forecasts and didn't you close roads, and it was actually worse than predicted. And we've been in situations where we've lost lives. So this is nothing to trifle with and I'd rather be a little safe than sorry.

We put a travel ban in place, 11:00 last night. Not a lot of people were traveling after 11:00. And again, the good news is since there was nobody on the roads, we could actually clear them. And since the trains and rails were in a safe place, they'll be coming online faster than usual.

So I don't know that we didn't save time net when you consider everything at the end of the day. But again at 8:00, we'll have an update on the public transportation system.

CAMEROTA: Governor, what's the status of power outages in the region?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: We've had scattered power outages. But again, we've been able to get to the problem area, which is normally the issue. Since the roads have been empty, we've been able to get to the problem area and we've been getting them up quickly. But they're scattered outages, nothing serious at this time.

CAMEROTA: Governor, our audience is obviously across the country and across the world. They're interested in the airports being open. Do you have a status update for us on whether or not the area airports will be functioning today?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: There are two factors there. How fast we can clear the airports and we're doing a good job on that, and how fast the airlines can get back up to speed. And again, we're putting that together as we speak, Alisyn.

And we'll have that updated at 11:00, 8:00, one point if I might, I just want to say that I think Chris Cuomo is not only doing a very good job today. But wearing a very attractive hat I may note, Alisyn, it really compliments his features well. CAMEROTA: I'm sure he'll appreciate your fashion advice, as he always appreciates your advice when you come on NEW DAY and make comments like this, Governor. But Governor, what are you telling New Yorkers at this hour to do? Can they go back to work?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: At 8:00, the travel ban will be lifted, we'll give them an update as to what public transportation will be up and running. And but all of this with a note of caution -- I've been all over the metropolitan area. The roads are passable.

But the roads are not, are still dangerous. There's a light snow with an ice underneath. The plows have been working, salt trucks have been working, but it is not to be taken lightly. We're not saying that you should go out unless you really need to go out.

And there will be delays on the roads, but we think we can lift the travel ban in coordination with our neighboring states. And we'll start to bring the public transportation system back online.

CAMEROTA: Last, governor, it sounds as though Long Island was the hardest hit on Montauk. There is some coastal flooding, are you going to pay a visit out there?

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: I will be out on Long Island today. I was there last night. Long Island did get hit, you know this is the trajectory for us, Alisyn, as the storm comes up the coast, hits New York City, but wraps around to the east and tends to hit Long Island harder, because it's a barrier island.

So the east side of Long Island gets hid, Suffolk County, the tip of long island gets especially hard hit. And they have again here. We have very high gusts, up to 70 miles per hour. Last night, we have two feet of snow in many areas. So the damage may not have been as bad in the New York City area.

And a little bit north, the Westchester area, but Long Island was very badly hit. Again because there was no one on the roads, we've done a good job with the roads. But there was a lot of damage and there's a lot of snow. And still, we'll need to exercise caution. Do not go out unless you need to go out. The roads are dangerous.

CAMEROTA: In fact we just got an updated report that Islip, the town of Islip has 18.2 inches of snow on the ground. So certain areas certainly did get hard hit. We appreciate you taking the time we know how busy you are this morning and thanks for the breaking news that the travel ban will be lifted at 8:00 in New York City, it will come as a big relief to New Yorkers and we'll be watching your press conference live at 8:00 a.m. Thanks so much, Governor.

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO: Always a pleasure to speak with you, Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: I heard your emphasis on the moah. I will pass along your fashion tips to Chris. Thanks so much, Governor.

As you just heard, the travel ban is being lifted in New York, let's bring in CNN's Deb Feyerick, she's live in a roving car, in central Islip that did get hit hard, what are you seeing, Deb?

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we seeing a couple of snowplows that have made their way, this road were just plowed. You can see the danger, they're getting off the top layer, but not the bottom layers, and you've got a dangerous layer of ice here.

When we left Manhattan, it was easy, as a matter of fact, light snow. Many main roads had been cleared. Even the highway coming out to long island, we're about 40 miles out from Manhattan heading towards the beaches, we stopped in ISLIP, just to show you what the smaller towns, they're actually quite large, are getting in terms of snowfall.

It's falling steadily. Weather reports say it's going to be another 12 to 18 inches, we've seen a couple of people out on the road b. This sort of steady sheet of snow coming down, we'll see a couple of people walking.

We've seen a couple of people who are trying to get the snow off their driveways, but it's very quiet. The travel ban has been lifted in New York City, but it's not been lifted out in these areas of Long Island so people being very careful.

We want to emphasize that the media has been given an exemption, that's why we are driving. We're driving very slowly and carefully and very carefully, but you know, just looking out the window. Not many people awake at this hour. The lights in their houses aren't on.

People are taking advantage of what amounts to a bonus day. Although they're going to have to pay at the end because digging out, not a lot of fun -- Alisyn.

CAMEROTA: The roads do not look clear. It's great to get your froth- row seat there. Thanks so much for that look and for mentioning that the media does get an exemption, that's helpful. Deb, be careful out there and we'll check back in with you.

Our coverage of the blizzard will continue throughout the morning. The storm is still very active and dumping snow, so we're tracking it as it moves up and stalls on the east coast. And remember, you can send us your best pictures or video of the blizzard, tweet us @newday #CNNsnow.

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CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. I'm standing right next to New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio. Mr. Mayor, thank you for joining us.

MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO, NEW YORK: My pleasure, Chris.

CUOMO: And happy to have some good news at least where we are. What's your take on what we've dealt with?

DE BLASIO: You know, we thought we were going to get something a lot bigger and to our east, it's much, much worse, but here in New York City, it came out much better than expected.

Good news, the state just lifted the travel ban, so people can start to get back to normal. Our subways will be up and running later on this morning. Staten Island ferry is up and running now.

CUOMO: So you mentioned the subway, you have the bigger bans, Metro North, Amtrak, those two are following a similar pattern.

BLASIO: They'll start to come back online during the course of the morning. I can't speak for Amtrak, but certainly out Metro North, et cetera.

CAMEROTA: We're dealing with range. Here we have six to eight inches and out on Long Island, Islip, very different.

BLASIO: Almost a foot and a half they're projected to that's not far from here and obviously we know Boston is getting hid hit hard. This is a situation where the storm moved. It saved New York City and a lot of other places from a very difficult few days. But in the end we had to be prepared for what our neighbors just a little bit to the east are now actually experiencing.

CUOMO: Of all the criticism you get as mayor of a big city like this. People today will be saying, you scared me for nothing. Like I could have gone to work, I could have done all these things, what's your message?

BLASIO: Better safe than sorry. We had a consensus from the meteorologists across the board that this thing was going to be easily two feet. That's what we were hearing late into yesterday, it was still projected to be close to two feet.

Two feet of snow would have paralyzed this city. We did what was necessary to keep people safe. By the way, by getting everybody off the road, the sanitation department could get out and clear the same with the state.

By closing the roads, by holding back the subways to be safe, now they'll get the lines up and quickly. This is a better safe than sorry scenario. If it had been what it was projected to be, you and I would not be standing here. It would be up to here.

CUOMO: They would probably see the mayor, they wouldn't see me. I would be covered in snow. One of the silver linings here and, again, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, parts of Connecticut, they're going to be hit hard for many hours. Don't sleep on the blizzard because of what's happening in New York City.

BLASIO: Correct.

CUOMO: The silver lining may be that this was a chance for the city to come together also, right? Everybody had to get in, get to work. Did you see that? Did you feel this was a unifying thing, certainly would be welcome?

BLASIO: Absolutely. I think people in the city. First of all, I know people think of New Yorkers as rough and tough people, but New Yorkers to their great credit, we all take care of each other. One of the things that we emphasized was the need for people to get out, check their neighbors, check on senior citizens and anyone who is disabled.

We said stay off the roads, they stayed off the roads. That allowed us to get ahead of this situation. So I think the response of the people of New York City was fantastic. People understood, we have to keep people safe.

By the way today, I want to emphasize, it's still pretty bad on the streets even though the plows are catching up. It's still you've got to drive carefully. You've got to take precautions. Walking around, it's very slippery. Unless you have to travel, it's smart to stay in until things are a little bit better.

CUOMO: Absolutely. I've been talking this morning. Alisyn is joining us right now.

CAMEROTA: I brought you hot chocolate.

CUOMO: The mayor comes and the hot cocoa comes.

BLASIO: You like that?

CUOMO: This is how we treat our guests.

BLASIO: Quality operation.

CAMEROTA: Appreciate you braving the elements to come over here. It's over? For New York City, we've dodged the worst of it?

BLASIO: We've dodged the bullet. A lot of cleanup to do, particularly as you go farther out into the outer boroughs, but this is nothing like we feared it would be. Again, everything was prepared.

What I'm so proud of the people who work for this city, they did their job. They got everything ready. If we had been hit by two feet of snow, they would have been ready to deal with it.

CAMEROTA: I don't know if you were talking about this yet because I was busy making hot chocolate, but how much is this going to cost the city?

BLASIO: We'll get the estimate in the next few days, but again, for public safety, you have to make that expenditure. If this had been two feet of snow, at one point we were hearing it could have been three feet. You have to keep people safe. You can't put a price on that. You got to keep people safe.

CAMEROTA: When I was commuting to work this morning, which involved 20 steps across from my hotel to walk to work, there were four massive garbage trucks with the snow plows on front in a convoy sort of heading out. So we were prepared.

BLASIO: Yes.

CAMEROTA: You know, some would say over prepared, but you can never know.

BLASIO: You can never know. By the way, again, you heard the meteorologists across the board predicting. I think the lowest prediction I saw was about a foot and a half. Again, we heard some as high as three feet. And that was across the board.

What we saw was a storm moved direction but where it hit it did sadly live up to expectation. I feel horrible for Boston, what they're going through. The good news here, if you get that kind of information, you can get ready.

Not always perfect information, we understand that, but at least it allows us to prepare. You'd much rather than be ready for the worse than be caught off guard.

CUOMO: Look, this is as good as you can expect in something that's legitimately a blizzard. Did you have enough capacity for all the people you had to take off the street last night? You know, as you know, what happens with the homeless, very close to us here, were you able to get people off and get them where they needed to be?

BLASIO: Yes. We got out early. We got the message that anyone need to come in, we have a shelter, no questions asked. We had outreach teams out. That went very well. Once you put in such a clear message, travel bans, et cetera, it allows you to focus your resources on where people are who need help. I think that went pretty smoothly.

NYPD was out there doing their job making sure people abided by the rules that were set. I think New Yorkers did a great job. You go around the streets of the city last night, there were no cars on the streets and it allowed sanitation to get out there and clear it. That's a beautiful thing. That means we'll be safe today.

CUOMO: The mayor was talking earlier, Alisyn, that this city could use a unifying moment. All the government sources, the NYPD out here, helping people get across the circle that little bit of a blessing in that regard.

CAMEROTA: Absolutely. Now at 8:00 a.m. is the travel ban lifted and people could go back to work?

BLASIO: At 7:30, in fact, travel ban lifted by the city and the state. Subways will be up and running in the next few hours. Staten Island ferry is back. We'll get back to normal pretty quickly. We'll have more announcements. It will be a fast return to normalcy.

CAMEROTA: I just talked to the governor. He said he's lifting the travel ban across the state at 8:00 a.m. and he also said that he wanted to compliment Chris' head wear that he's wearing right now, the hat that he's wearing. What do you think of Chris' hat, Mr. Mayor?

BLASIO: I think it's a controversial head wear choice. I want to comment you for the lovely NEW DAY cap. CAMEROTA: Thank you.

BLASIO: It looks great on you, but as for Chris, I don't know what he was thinking this morning.

CAMEROTA: Right. It's hard to say.

CUOMO: It's hard to say.

CAMEROTA: Clearly he was staying in a hotel so he didn't have access, I guess, to all of his normal wardrobe.

BLASIO: We could have had a more uplifting message.

BLASIO: I respect the mayor. You know why because he's very tall. I think all public officials should be like this because some of the public officials, not even my height. You, you're a big man. I think that always helps. New York City should have a big mayor. New York State, they should have a bigger person in public office. We'll take what we can get.

BLASIO: You have your own personal view on that.

CAMEROTA: Mr. Mayor, thank you for being with us. Alisyn, we have Rosa Flores out in Connecticut, a very different world in Connecticut. Rosa, please, tell us what you're dealing with there.

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi. Good morning. You know, the wind has been whistling through the buildings overnight and throughout the morning. The temperature, about 19 degrees with the wind chill about 2 degrees. I talked to the mayor.

I want you to take a look around me. He told me that they were expecting about 30 inches of snow with about 2 to 4 inches an hour, and just by looking around you can see there's a lot of white here.

Now I want to kind of show you what we're dealing with here, so I've got a little measurement device here, Chris, that I'm hoping to pluck into the snow and you'll be able to see for yourself exactly what we're dealing with.

This is on the side of the road so there is some plowing that has been going on and some snowdrifts, but you can see right now right here about 27 inches, about 27 inches.

Now I want to pluck over here in the middle of the road because you'll see that a lot of this has been accumulating throughout the evening. And it really gives us a sense of what this community is dealing with.

Over here you see about 19 inches. So it varies a little bit. Now, here's the thing, this community is about 30,000 people, so how does a community with about 30,000 people deal with this?

Chris, they told me they're prioritizing, they are plowing the main arteries to make sure that they don't get completely snowed in CUOMO: Rosa, they have to do that in these situations. They have to start with the major arteries. The major thoroughfares and go through there even though everybody is stocked up on assets, equipment, sand, salt depending on the region, they still have to ration it.

The duration of the blizzard as Chad Myers has been telling us will be particularly effective. You'll have 8, 10, 12 hours more of conditions where you are. The government has to react as prudently as they can. We'll check back in with you.

Thank you very much for joining us, Rosa. We'll take a quick break. When we come back we'll give you all the latest totals and conditions. Remember, so many different areas of the northeast being affected by this blizzard. It's not all nice like where we are in New York City. We got lucky here. Not everybody else did. Stay with us.

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