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Nantucket Island Without Power; NYC Travel Ban Lifted; Blizzard Batters Northeast; Interview with Gov. Dan Malloy

Aired January 27, 2015 - 08:30   ET

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

CHIEF WILLIAM PITTMAN, NANTUCKET POLICE DEPARTMENT: To people that, for instance, that may be on oxygen supply or they may have some medical issues that we're aware of, maybe they have difficulty mobility issues, we're reaching out to them and offering them transportation to an appropriate facility.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Chief, that is a tough situation. We are pulling for you. We sure hope that you can get the electricity restored and heat restored. Obviously, Nantucket cannot go long without heat. So we will be checking back with you. We appreciate you taking time for NEW DAY and please keep us posted on when all of that comes back on the grid.

PITTMAN: Will do.

CAMEROTA: Thanks so much.

PITTMAN: Uh-huh. Bye now.

CAMEROTA: Our coverage of this historic blizzard continues for you in just one moment. Stick around.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to NEW DAY.

Just after 8:30 a.m. in the east. And the story of blizzard 2015. The theme has been from the sublime to the severe. Here, obviously, the sublime in New York City, about six to eight inches. It's beautiful here. The city is reopening. Obviously the blizzard warning is gone.

But just outside New York City, into Long Island, Massachusetts, all the coastal areas, in Connecticut, Rhode Island, Maine, the severe situation. Over a foot of snow. Another foot expected. And the conditions will be bad for 12, 14 hours. A big snowplow coming by. That's the sign of progress for New York City.

Chad Myers, it will be easy for people to sleep on this if they're seeing the picture here. That would be a mistake.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, yes, because if you go east of here 50 miles, you're 18 and a half to 22 inch is still coming. You know, so, all of a sudden this is -- this was great. This was eight to 10 maybe for New York City. The farther you go to the west, six inches. The farther you go to the east, you know, maybe Hempstead, you get 12 inches. Somewhere in there.

This is considered a miss compared to what was expected, what was talked about on one of the computer models yesterday which said 24 inches of snow. Now, the new model that the Weather Service just put about $3 million into upgrading the computer, upgrading the process, said about eight inches for New York City and it got it right.

There is the snow right now, though, from Maine all the way down to Massachusetts, into Rhode Island, all the way down into Long Island. We will still get some snow here in New York. Maybe another inch, but nothing that's going to paralyze the city like this all could have happened.

So the models worked, at least one of them did. Now we know which one to use. The brand-new model looks like it worked. It even did better. We got a lot of criticism. It even did better than the European model this time. And we're happy about that. The new North American model doing very, very well.

CUOMO: Well, you were saying yesterday that the high estimates seemed exaggerated to you for New York City. You always have to wait and see. I mean the worst case would be if you told us we were going to get six and I got 16.

MYERS: Correct.

CUOMO: You know what I mean? And then we'd have concerns. People lose their lives. They lose their livelihoods. So this is the right way to go in terms of estimating.

Now, the other side of this is Michaela.

MYERS: Yes. That's right.

CUOMO: Michaela, you're up in Connecticut. That's a place that's going to be -

MYERS: Didn't get missed.

CUOMO: Right? It's going to be getting hit.

MICHAELA PEREIRA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.

CUOMO: Millions of people in harm's way for hours and hours to come. What's the latest?

PEREIRA: Yes. Well, look, you know, as you were talking about, I'm going to run with the description you had, sublime to severe. We've got a little mix of both. It's really beautiful if you can just sit, relax, have a hot -- cup of hot cocoa and watch it. If you're going to be one of those stubborn people that's going to try and get out as evidenced by this fellow over here, I don't know if you can check that out, there's a guy in a car that's not equipped for snow and he's got a dust pan that he's trying to dig himself out with. Look, I give him props for trying, but he should probably just slow his roll and park the car and go back where it's warm. We've got swirling, dry snow around here. The winds are kicking up.

It's not - it's sort of sustained gustiness, if that makes sense. We were hearing reports of up to 45 mile per hour gusts. But some new information that we've just gotten. The governor of Connecticut -- I don't know if you can even still see me as the snow's swirling around me -- has partially lifted the travel ban for western Connecticut. That includes Fairfield County.

We're trying to get a sense of what exactly that means because in terms of clearance of roads where we are here in New London, we're right in the heart of New London, and it's very difficult to get around. There's no -- really a plow goes by every once in a while, but it's hard for them to know even where to star. I know they're working on the main arteries. Some of these streets and roads through the middle of town, you're not going to see any clearance. We've seen emergency vehicles go by. Nothing pressing. No lights or sirens. I've seen an ambulance on the road. I've seen several police officers -

CUOMO: Something. John (ph), come to me for one second. I'll come back to Mich. Take a look at this. Look at these plows coming by, garbage trucks. There's like nine of them in a row. They're trying to get Columbus Circle open. Take a look at this, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine -- 10 of them. They're not even salting, they're coordinating how to get around this circle. We watched the guys talking to each other.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: And watch as they keep moving now. Mich, you can't see it where you are, but they're doing Columbus Circle here.

PEREIRA: Oh.

CUOMO: There's like a whole army of these massive plows, garbage trucks with a plow are coming through.

PEREIRA: It's like a synchronicity, right?

CUOMO: And now they're coming around.

PEREIRA: Yes.

CUOMO: If you're watching this at home, it's a real bizarre sight. You don't really see this very often. They're taking it from the top camera on Time Warner now. You see them all moving around? And that's how they got the circle cleared in just two passes. There must have been six, seven inches of snow there and they just came around, 10 strong, and cleared it off. That's amazing. That's part of the city getting opened back up. This is the good story.

Mich, I'll be back to you in a little second. Let's go up to Jennifer Gray in Boston because you're nowhere near this year where they're just going to get the road back down to clear so that people can drive. What's the latest?

JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, they're just trying to get the roads clear, but people should not be on the roads here in Boston, Chris. You were talking about how fast they cleared out Columbus Circle. Let me show you what we're doing here in Boston. This is just one of the plows that's out here and he's clearing off this sidewalk. And definitely a lot slower process.

He has -- if you can swing over there, Skip (ph), he has a little tiny bobcat right there and he's pushing the snow back and he's been going at it for about 30 passes and hasn't had quite the same response that you guys had in Columbus Circle. But they do have the huge plows out there on the streets and that's what they've been using to clear here in Boston.

But they're having to take passes frequently because the snow, as you can see, is coming down heavily. Two to three inches per hour at least and the winds are really blowing. The winds have picked up over the last hour or two.

This is where we plowed just about 20 minutes ago and it's already starting to pile up once again. But it's not only the rate of the snowfall. You have these winds that are blowing at 30 and 40 miles per hour. And it's picking up this snow that's so light and fluffy on the ground and it is just blowing it all around and it's making visibility down to about a quarter of a mile and even less at times. And so that's what we're talking about here in Boston. That's why we're keeping people off of the road.

It's keeping the snow off of the power lines, that's the good news, because it's blowing it off. But when you get wind gust the like they've had in Nantucket that are at 60 and 70 miles per hour, that's when you lose power. So there is that delicate balance there of keeping the snow off the power lines but keeping the winds down low enough to where you don't lose power, Chris. So we're going to be in this for the next 12 to 18 hours. Hopefully we won't lose power here in Boston, other places definitely have, like Nantucket. They're also seeing that coastal flooding as well in other parts of Massachusetts.

CUOMO: All right, Jen, we'll check back with you. Thank you very much. Stay warm.

Alisyn, I mean, you know, we're -- we've been seeing the numbers so much. It's starting to get a little casual. But can you imagine being in those kinds of conditions and you have another 12 to 18 hours to go of snow and wind? I mean the exposure to this situation should not be underestimated.

CAMEROTA: No, you're so right. I mean we just talked to the police chief in Nantucket and they are all without heat and power as we speak and they have another 12 hours to go. So we, obviously, are keeping a close eye on all of that and the people who are in the thick of it right now.

So we'll get back to our live blizzard coverage in one second. But first, time for five things to know for your new day.

Number one, more blizzard stuff. Roads are reopening in New York and New Jersey now that a travel ban has been lifted in those states. President Obama is meeting with Saudi Arabia's new king, Salaman. The

president is paying respects after last week's death of King Abdullah. In an exclusive sit-down, the president told our Fareed Zakaria that the Saudis have to change how they do business to insure cooperation from the U.S.

Ceremonies today in Auschwitz to mark 70 years since the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp in Poland. More than a million people died at Auschwitz. Survivors from 19 countries will take part.

And two rockets have struck the Golan Heights reportedly from Syria. Israeli defense forces have instructed the evacuation of a ski resort there and reportedly responded with artillery fire.

And even though he says he still does not trust America, former Cuban lead Fidel Castro is in favor of diplomatic talks with the U.S. In a letter he reported wrote for Cuba's communist newspaper he mentioned that.

We're always updating the five things that you need to know, so go to newday@cnn.com for the latest.

And our coverage of this monster blizzard will continue throughout the morning. And, remember, you can send us your best pictures of the storm and video if you have it. Tweet us at NEW DAY using the #cnnsnow or go to facebook.com/newday. We will show those. Please, stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAMEROTA: We've been asking you to send in any photos and video of this historic blizzard, and you are responding. Christine Romans is in our storm center keeping an eye of what you're posting online and saying on social media. What are you seeing, Christine?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Everybody is talking about this #CNNsnow, and you can see all the kinds of photos that people have been tweeting and talking about. A lot of pictures of just empty streets. This is from Jonathan Lugo (ph), Naval submarine base New London in Groton, Connecticut. Whoa, you can see some broken trees there, you can see people starting to shovel. Corrinne Melissa (ph) posted this photo of empty streets in Manhattan, empty Manhattan streets is a really viral image, I'll tell you, because you don't usually see such a quiet, quiet night. She says a normal day you could see cars here. Look at this, though, a lot of businesses are tweeting pictures saying, hey, we are open, come and visit us if you want something to do. The Griswold Inn tweeted they are open no matter what. They are in Essex, Connecticut.

And then Jensy Rodriguez (ph) responded to a NEW DAY tweet. We asked if the blizzard is at your house. He said, yes, I can see it and feel it. It's actually in his car. He shot this from inside his vehicle while he was plowing the snow. And (INAUDIBLE) posted this photo of a couple holding hands in Queens, #snowmageddon, blue spider (ph) says. But again, #CNNsnow. We're sharing all of these photos. Some of them are really beautiful and we're showing yours on the air, too. Alisyn?

CAMEROTA: That's great. Absolutely terrific. Nice to see those hearty New Englanders, they're staying open. We will be talking to the governor of Connecticut coming up momentarily. Our coverage of the historic blizzard will continue. Stand by for that. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CUOMO: Welcome back to NEW DAY. we have an update for you. There are areas that are still very much in harm's way because of the blizzard we're dealing with here. We have the governor of Connecticut, Dan Malloy, on with us right now. Governor, thank you very much. We know you that have a lot of urgent matters in front of you, but can you give us an update?

GOV. DAN MALLOY, CONNECTICUT (via telephone): Well, Chris, you know, parts of our state are doing very well and parts of our state are just getting pounded right now. The eastern portion, or the 395 corridor, or the southeastern portion, however you want to refer to it, is seeing 24 inches of snow, and blinding winds, and it's a very difficult situation. Closer to New York City, things are not as bad as they might have been anticipated. So, you know, what I'm saying to my citizens is it's not so bad that everyone didn't get three feet of snow, but some people are getting pounded by this thing.

CUOMO: So, let's deal with that continuing threat. What are your concerns about power outages, dealing with this duration of another 12 or maybe 18 hours of exposure to this storm that seems to be sitting on top of you right now?

MALLOY: Yes, the system -- the electrical system is holding up pretty well. In fact, our largest outage was caused by a snowplow hitting a pole and taking out about 573 houses. That was one shot. The rest of it seems to be holding well. This is not a snowfall that's binding to anything which is helping prevent wind damage to what would otherwise be a larger cable in the air because it's not binding to it. So, so far, so good, and the utilities seem to be responding pretty well. The average repair was about an hour and a half, so I have no complaints there. Obviously duration is a problem, but I hope this system is going to move out. I hope at some point it starts to move up the coast and away from Connecticut and then out to sea.

CUOMO: Are you able to redeploy assets from the areas that weren't that hard hit to the coastal areas and those where you believe it's going to be worse?

MALLOY: We will be able to do that at an appropriate time. We had a travel ban statewide from 9:00 last night. We just lifted it in two counties, Fairfield County and Litchfield County, for local travel, not for highway travel, but for local travel in those two counties. As the system pulls away, we will move more assets to the portions of the state that are most adversely impacted once we've cleared the highway system. So, you know, I'm the governor. I have to get the state highways and byways cleared, we're going to concentrate on that. I do have a call at 10:30 with all local officials. I suppose we'll hear very significantly from the southeastern portion of the state, their chief executives, and then we'll figure out where we go from here.

CUOMO: And, look, it was definitely - - a lot of preparation went into this. We know you worked with Governor Christie, and I forget the name of the guy in New York.

(LAUGHTER)

CUOMO: But I know that that made a big difference in a positive way, preparing for this.

MALLOY: Let me tell you one lesson we learned. We closed our highway system down and travel ban went into effect at 9:00 p.m. and there was a lot of snowfall at that point. From 9:00 p.m. until about 7:30 this morning, we had a total of 11 accidents. That's a period of time in which we would have expected hundreds of accidents, and we only had one minor injury. It's a period of time that we would have expected many injuries, and perhaps fatalities, so the steps that we have taken have worked thus far and people in Connecticut have honored those steps, and I'm very appreciative.

As a result, I think, you know, by and large we'll be back to normal for most of our state tomorrow and I'm feeling good about that. But there was a lot of preparation, and there was a lot of hard work that's gone into this and, you know, I'm confident that the people of Connecticut understand that we're all working and pulling in the same direction.

CUOMO: Look, nobody wants to close down less than government, it costs you millions of dollars and you lose commerce, but you have to do it when the situation calls. Let us know if we can help throughout the rest of the day, Governor Malloy, and good luck to you and your citizens.

MALLOY: Thank you, take care. Bye.

CUOMO: And we've left one of our best up there in Connecticut to monitor the situation. Michaela will be there as she has been throughout the entire morning. Our thanks to her. You look beautiful in the snow. I wish I was there. You know I'd take you right down. Alisyn --

PEREIRA: No, you don't

CUOMO: - - up in the studio. Thanks for keeping us steady this morning. That's it for us on NEW DAY. There's so much to cover, though, here on the entire northeast. We're going to hand you off to the "NEWSROOM" and Carol Costello.

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