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Hermine Makes Landfall in Florida as Hurricane; Samsung Recalls All Galaxy Note 7 Phones; Desperate Loved Ones Call 911 During Pulse Massacre; Colin Kaepernick Continues National Anthem Protest. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired September 02, 2016 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:01] CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The storm surge there was nine feet deep, just as the Hurricane Center said and just as we expected.
The story to take away from this weekend is stay out of the water. I know it's Labor Day, but the waves are going to be five to ten feet. The sea level is going to be one to three feet above where it should be. Tropical storm watches and warnings are up and down the East Coast. There will be red flags on your beach and just believe them, because the rip currents this weekend will be deadly.
And then we have to deal with where Hermine goes after this it stops. It doesn't go anywhere off the East Coast. There it is now. There's the low.
This is a computer model. I'm going to take you through the end of the weekend. Here is the problem. See this high? This high extends all the way back to Atlanta, all the way down to Bermuda and back here. These lines of high pressure will stop this low from going anywhere. What we want for the lines to go away, then all the sudden Hermine moves away.
For now, that's going to park its over the D.C., the Delmarva, Rehoboth Beach, all the way up, even into the New York City beaches where you'll have waves at five to ten feet. They'll be amazing to look at, but please don't go in them.
It will be a dangerous weekend. I know everyone wants to get out the last weekend of the year, but the rainfall will be heavy. The winds will still be heavy.
A million people will be without power in some point in time because of how wet the ground is now because of this and how the waves and the winds are going to be still blowing around. The winds are going to blow 50. You get very wet roots on a tree. The trees are going to fall down. The power lines are going to come down.
This is not really a weekend to be playing out there, I'm afraid.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, Chad, to be clear, when you're saying the storm is going to stall off the coast, so many of us here in the Northeast have memories of Sandy four years ago. Are there any models that take it back out over or back to us in New Jersey and New York?
MYERS: Do you really want that answer? Because it is yes.
There are models, not ones that we always believe, but yes, there are models that take this storm and turn it back.
Watch this. Look at the cone. Don't look at the middle. The cone is all the way D.C. to Albany and Saratoga, back to Boston. This is where on Wednesday or even Tuesday afternoon, in that big circle, that's where the center of Hermine could still be.
That's how really indefinite because of that block, because of that high pressure, there's no way to know right now where it ends up.
BERMAN: All right. This is why we have to watch the storm closely over the next few days.
Chad Myers, thanks so much.
Let's talk about where it's been already. Joining us on the phone is Major Trey Morrison. He's with Wakulla County, Florida sheriff's office.
Major, give us a sense of what it looks like outside your door right now.
MAJOR TREY MORRISON, WAKULLA COUNTY, FLORIDA SHERIFF'S OFFICE (via telephone): Well, we're probably pushing easily about 200 trees down. Most, probably not all, but most of those have power lines in them. Currently right now, the power department and public works in this area are gearing up.
Hopefully, by daybreak, they'll be moving into the field to start trying to clear the different roadways, arteries throughout the county and start restoring power. It's going to be a pretty, from what I've seen -- I've been out throughout the night. From what I've seen, it's going to be a pretty arduous task.
BERMAN: From your sense, sheriff, Major, was it wind that did the most damage, or are you suffering from that storm surge and some of the flooding?
MORRISON: We still have some flooding. The city of St. Marks is pretty much under water. At least two, three feet. I think honestly, the amount of water that came, the rain, and you add the wind, probably around midnight -- between 10:00 and 11:00 all the power companies and the fire department, public works all pulled their people out.
By midnight, we had pulled the deputies into safe areas because of the wind.
So, we'd had all this rain leading to the months up to this, then this storm comes in and dumps however many inches. I'm sure it's a -- astronomical. But -- so, we're still like I guess what I'm saying is with the wind, we're still having trees fall right now. You know, y'all helped had us put the message out that we don't need the public out moving around for the next day or so.
I'm looking right now at our calls as they're going out. Just in the last few minutes had a traffic crash where somebody just drove into a tree that's ready been fallen. If it's not an emergency, we don't need these people out. I know the weather's got -- I guarantee by noon today, it's nice and sunny.
We live in Florida. However, we're having to deal with all of this, and people are putting themselves in jeopardy. That can also put the work crews in jeopardy as well with traffic stop.
BERMAN: Indeed.
MORRISON: There's no open in our county right now.
BERMAN: No, it's always shut down --
[06:35:01] MORRISON: Power probably out for about 60 percent of the county.
BERMAN: Sixty percent of the county has their power out, Major. The message you want to send is stay home.
In addition to that one call you were just telling us about, where someone maybe in trouble from hitting a tree that was already down, any more calls overnight, anyone in trouble, any injuries to tell us about?
MORRISON: We had a tree down on a house. Fire rescue and some of the deputies ended up getting a mother and three children out of the home. They were unharmed, thank goodness.
We've had one or two other elderly folks that have called and need to be evacuated. We had one lady we couldn't get to for a while. She ended -- neighbors ended up helping get her out later on when waters receded.
So, we're trying to keep track of all these things as they happen so we can go back and see if we missed anything. So far, other than this traffic crash, I don't have word on it yet, but we haven't had any injuries that we know of. Hopefully, we can keep it that way.
Like I said, it's probably going to be a day or two at least before they get most of the power up. So, we're just trying to limit what traffic we can.
BERMAN: Sure. Major Morrison, thanks so much for being with us. Again, you stay safe, keep your people safe. Not out of danger yet. Trees still falling in your county. We appreciate you being with us.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: All good reminders. Everybody needs to be very careful this morning.
We'll have much more coverage of tropical storm Hermine ahead. But first, authorities are releasing new 911 calls from the Pulse nightclub terror attack. The desperate calls for help next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:35] BERMAN: All right. The breaking news this morning, Hermine made landfall in Florida overnight as a hurricane. The storm has weakened slightly to a tropical storm, but the sustain winds are still at about 70 miles an hour. The storm a big, big rainmaker. More than 20 inches falling in one Florida county.
We have 23 million people under watches and warnings along the East Coast. That's a lot of people, a lot of uncertainty about the track of the storm. The center of Hermine is now over Georgia. We're going to keep you posted on this storm throughout the morning.
CAMEROTA: We're following more breaking news. Samsung announcing a massive global recall of millions of brand new smartphones after reports of the batteries catching fire.
CNN's chief business correspondent Christine Romans joins us with more.
Yes, that's a design flaw.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It's not a good thing. This is one of the most popular smartphones on the market and being recalled. Samsung halting sales of its new Galaxy Note 7 and issuing a global recall of all of the Note 7s it's already sold.
It was released just a month ago. This is a big, important new product.
The issue here, the device can catch fire while charging. Samsung says that's happened at least 35 times. It has been alerted to 35 cases around the world of these phones igniting. It has now identified a problem with the phone's battery.
It's been an embarrassing setback for the world's largest smartphone maker. Samsung owns 22 percent of the global sales. It's bigger than Apple. Apple is second with nearly 13 percent. China's Huawei is third with less than 9 percent. All the other smartphone makers count for the rest of the sales.
Now, Samsung phones run on Android operating systems, which control almost. This is a big, major, important product being recall for fires, guys.
BERMAN: Yes, you don't want your phone to catch on fire. That's one of the things when you're buying a phone you don't want.
CAMEROTA: Good point.
BERMAN: All right. We are for the first time hearing some more now from the calls from the Pulse nightclub, the night of that terror attack there. Police releasing some more of these 911 calls. Nine of the calls made by people trapped inside the club with the gunman, as well as family and friends were desperate for information.
CNN's Brynn Gingras joins us now with more.
Brynn, what are you hearing?
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've heard so much, and it doesn't get easier. We've heard from survivors and family members who lost loved ones in the aftermath of that shooting. Now the moments of panic and confusion as that lone gunman went on a rampage in the pulse nightclub. People desperately trying to get answers from the 911 dispatchers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CALLER: I told him just to be quiet and hide in the corner or something.
GINGRAS (voice-over): Heartbreaking 911 calls released to family and friend, distraught as the Pulse nightclub attack unfolded, knowing their loved ones were trapped inside.
DISPATCH: Do you know if she's been hurt?
CALLER: She's freaking out right now. She's like, yes, tell the cops, please, tell the cops.
GINGRAS: Siblings getting frantic calls and texts from their brothers and sisters as the first shots rang out.
CALLER: I'm calling -- my brother called me about ten minutes ago. He was at a nightclub called pulse. He said somebody came in there and shot up the place.
CALLER: I had an officer stop me. He told me to call 911 and text my sister. She's inside.
DISPATCH: Where is she in the club?
CALLER: From what she's told me briefly, she's in -- near some trash or garbage. I've never been there.
GINGRAS: Operators trying to get information and keep their loved ones safe.
CALLER: I don't even know if the phone is ringing. I don't want to give her a call.
DISPATCH: No, no, don't call her. Don't call her.
GINGRAS: For one desperate father whose daughter was shot twice --
CALLER: She's called she been shot in the leg. And she's been shot, I think, in the arm. All she told us was she was hiding in the bathroom.
GINGRAS: The operator could not provide what every frantic family member wanted to hear.
CALLER: I'd like to get a call to find out if she's OK.
DISPATCH: I'm so, I'm not, there's not a lot I can tell you right now. All I can say is to try to take a deep breath and hopefully she'll call you really soon, OK?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GINGRAS: And we're just hearing these now because they've been released by the Orlando police, because they're not part of the criminal investigation.
CAMEROTA: These are wrenching. Obviously we put all of our faith and hope in the police, but there's only so much they can do in a tragedy like this. Everybody is just waiting for answers.
GINGRAS: They turn to comforting those people.
[06:45:01] BERMAN: Now you can learn. The important thing, once you hear these, this so try to learn for the next time.
CAMEROTA: Brynn, thank you very much.
A series of spectacular explosions on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. Look at what happened here. This was a SpaceX rocket. It was carrying a Facebook satellite. It ignited before it was scheduled to launch. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted the explosion happened while the rocket was being refueled.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was deeply disappointed by this setback. The satellites were supposed to provide internet access to sub-Saharan Africa.
BERMAN: Yes, we were on yesterday just after this explosion. It was felt from miles and miles around. There's a lot of fear initially there could be heard or injured. That was the case, but now, we're seeing these pictures of what happen. Just stunning.
CAMEROTA: Yes.
Shocking there, but we continue to have more breaking news.
BERMAN: Yes, a lot going on this morning. We're going to track Hermine, now a tropical storm, 70-mile-an-hour winds, 23 million people under watches and warnings at this moment.
But, first, 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, continuing his national anthem protest. We have reaction in "Bleacher Report", next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:50:28] BERMAN: September 2nd. It smells like football. The University of Tennessee's football season almost ruin before Labor Day.
Coy Wire now with more in this morning's "Bleacher Report". Hey, Coy.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John.
A lot of hype for those Tennessee volunteers heading into this season. Ninth ranked team in the nation, picked to win the SEC East, but the small but mighty Appalachian state almost shock the world again. You may remember they already own one of the greatest subsets in college football history when they beat Michigan some years ago.
This game went into overtime. Tennessee quarterback Josh Dobbs reaching, trying to stretch over the goal line. Fumbles but somehow it's recovered. Volunteers survive 20-13. Oh, my.
Now, last night's 49ers/Chargers game in san Diego, Colin Kaepernick promises he would continue to protest what he's calling racial injustice in the U.S. by continuing to situring the national an them. He said it was never his intention to disrespect the military, but that didn't matter to a lot of people when he ran on to the field last night. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD BOOS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Mostly boos you hear coming from the crowd in San Diego on a night when they were honoring military members. Now, once the anthem played, though, instead of sitting off on a water cooler by himself as he has the past three games, Kaepernick kneels on a knee surrounded by teammates. One player, Eric Reed, joined him on a knee. And veteran Dante Boyer on the right in the black t-shirt stood next to Kaepernick to show support.
Kaepernick had invited Boyer to the game after reading an open letter Boyer had written. They had an hour and a half conversation before the game. They connected and bonded. After the game, Kaepernick stood by his reasoning for protesting in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN KAEPERNICK, 49ERS QUARTERBACK: The media painted this as I'm anti-American and anti-men and women of the military. That is not the case at all. This is really something about human rights. It is about the people. It is not about anything other than that. Some people aren't given the same rights or same opportunities as others.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: So, you had one of Kaepernick teammates join him on a knee. Also up north, Seahawks Jeremy Lane showing his support to Kaepernick, John, sitting during the national anthem before the Seahawks played the raiders in their final preseason game. Lane saying he wanted to show support for what Kaepernick was doing and stand behind.
BERMAN: All right. Coy wire, thanks so much.
We want your take. So, tweet us @NewDay, or post your comment on Facebook.com/NewDay.
CAMEROTA: Well, Tropical Storm Hermine slamming the southeast. More than 100,000 people without power. We'll bring you the latest when NEW DAY returns.
And as the election gets closer, CNN is bringing you an in-depth look at each candidate. We learn more about their personal lives and what led them up to this point. Here's a little preview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: I accept your nomination!
TRUMP: For the presidency of the United States.
ANNOUNCER: "The Essential Hillary Clinton".
CLINTON: We are stronger together, in charting a course toward the future.
ANNOUNCER: "The Essential Donald Trump".
TRUMP: I love you and we will make America great again.
ANNOUNCER: All on one blockbuster night.
Clinton has been called the most famous person no one knows.
CHELSEA CLINTON, DAUGHTER OF HILLARY CLINTON: I never understand that, it is so clear to me who my mother is. She never forgets who she is fighting for and she's fighting first and foremost for children and for families.
ANNOUNCER: Trump has a passion for business and the spotlight.
DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: No one is going to outwork him. No one has got more energy than him.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: He always said to us, find what it is that you're passionate about and pursue it with your full heart.
ANNOUNCER: They are stories from the people who know them best, CNN Special Report. Hillary Clinton at 8:00, Donald Trump at 10:00, CNN Labor Day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
CAMEROTA: Good morning, everyone. Welcome back to your NEW DAY. Chris Cuomo is off. John Berman joins us on a very soggy -- what promises to be soggy day and weekend because we begin with breaking news.
Hermine making landfall as a hurricane along Florida's Gulf Coast. This is, believe it or not, the first hurricane to hit the Sunshine State in nearly 11 years.
BERMAN: Now, the storm has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, but still extremely dangerous, 23 million people und, watches and warnings along the East Coast it is unpredictable. More than a thousand people without power already. We are covering every angle of this story.
I want to begin with CNN's Polo Sandoval, who's in St. Marks, Florida, where the storm made landfall overnight -- Polo.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And, John, some of the power outages actually intentional. Before the storm began to sweep through the region, officials actually cut off power to several communities, including one here in St. Marks, Florida, to try to prevent any injuries or possible further damage.
I should mention, John, it's impressive, when we first finally got into the community a few moments ago when they cleared the roadways, the water almost went up to where we're standing right now. You can see it has receded considerably in the last 30 minutes or so. Part of that is because we're so close to at least two rivers. This town itself, city itself, sits sort of on a peninsula. So, that is one of the reasons why we saw a significant amount of flooding during the overnight hours.
At the same time, that's also helping the water begin to recede. The main point that officials want people to know is these barricades are in place for a reason. Officials want people to stay home, and. They're on the road, to simply stay ay from areas that are actually blocked off.
The main priority for officials will be to get into these regions, assess the damage, especially once the sun comes up, and then most importantly try to restore power because, the storm in some of these communities, some of these coastal, low-lying communities. Some of them rode out a storm about 11 years ago. They said they weren't about it leave their home for this either, and from the looks of it, no injuries, from the reports, some of the early reports we've got some officials here in the ground.
