Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Hurricane Ian Strengthens to 155 MPH, Just Shy of Category 5; Alzheimer's Experimental Drug Slows Cognitive Decline in Trial; NATO Says, Leaks in Russia Gas Pipeline to Europe Sabotage. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired September 28, 2022 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:01]

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: They believe blood testing will be much better than urinalysis in trying to catch this problem.

All of this really erupting earlier this year when a young man, Seaman Mullen, Kyle Mullen, was found dead after a number of respiratory symptoms, he was not using drugs but paraphernalia was found. That led to this wide range of testing. A number of investigations are now underway to try and get a better handle on this and get better medical screening for these candidates when they go through SEAL training. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Clearly, there is a need. Barbara Starr, thank you for that report.

And New Day special coverage continues right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN GUTHRIE, DIRECTOR, FLORIDA DIVISION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: This storm will only continue to intensify. If you want to leave, as the governor has said, now is your last chance. We cannot send first responders into harm's way because you decided not to leave.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: 155 mile per hour winds. That is what Hurricane Ian is now producing as it bears down on Florida's coast.

I'm John Berman live in Tampa this morning. Brianna Keilar is in Washington. This is CNN's special live coverage of a storm that is getting more powerful by the minute. The National Hurricane Center just reported it had a plane flying through the center of this storm measuring sustained winds, sustained of 155 miles per hour. That is just 2 miles per hour short of a category 5 storm and it could still strengthen before it makes impact over the next few hours, expected to make landfall, direct landfall southwest of where I am -- south of where I am near the Fort Myers area.

The wind speed just one of the major concerns here. The storm surge, which the wind speed only exacerbates, could be devastating. Here in Tampa could be anywhere four to six feet. Further south where the storm is expected to make landfall could be up to 12 feet. And so many thousands of structures are in low lying areas along the coast. So, the wind, the surge and then there's the rain.

It's not raining that hard here now but it's been pouring for most of the night here and it is expected to pour for the next 24 to 36 hours. They could see one to two feet of rain in this area. Just think of what that might mean. It might mean a storm surge up the Hillsborough River, upward of six feet, and then a foot or two of fresh water flooding coming down that very same river.

So, this could be days of agony up and down the coast here, more than 2.5 million people under some kind of evacuation warning. And we are beginning to hear from officials in cities up and down the coast that their emergency services will no longer be able to respond to problems or calls. So, hopefully, if you're on the coast here, you've already made your preparations, you've already gone where you need to go. At this point you probably need to stay where you are, hunker down for the remainder of this storm. Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's head further afield there in to Florida, the Florida Keys, for instance, getting battered now by Ian's outer bands. Major flooding already reported there. At least two possible tornadoes reported in South Florida ripping trees right out of the ground. You can see one right here. Another damaging several planes and hangars at the North Perry Airport in Broward County, as you see in these pictures that have come to us, small planes flipped.

Take a look at these images from on board a U.S. government plane. This is that plane that flies through the eye wall of these monster storms and here it is in the middle of this one, stunning visuals that show as well this hurricane and all of the lightning that it is bringing with it as it sweeps over the gulf on its path to Florida. John?

BERMAN: All right. We have live team coverage up and down the Florida Coast, wherever we can get a signal, as this storm bears down. Let's go first across the bay here to Brian Todd who is standing by in St. Petersburg. Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, John. You mentioned first responders not being able to come out when the winds to get to 40 miles an hour. Winds here about 30 miles an hour, the top gusts 30 miles an hour. So, we're not far from that point in the coming hours where officials are telling residents, if you're going to stay here, you've got to be ready for the fact that first responders are not going to be able to get to you once the winds get to about 40 miles an hour. We're close to that point here.

We're standing here at an inlet right off Tampa Bay here in St. Petersburg, where, again, storm surge is going to be an issue. They could get four to seven feet of storm surge here, which could push this water that you're seeing here right up over here to I'm standing and moving.

[07:05:04] To your right, this is Beach Drive over here in St. Petersburg. This whole area susceptible to flooding. This area, this county in Florida, Pinellas County, has some of the highest numbers of people who are under mandatory evacuation orders. Some 442,000 people in this county were under mandatory evacuation orders. Officials saying many people are heeding those warnings.

John, a big test here is going to be of the sewage system here in St. Petersburg. That has been a huge issue in recent years because the sewage system for years was antiquated, got backed up when a major storm hit. In 2015-2016, they had about 200 million gallons of sewage spill into the aquifers and other waterways when there was a major storm. Just this past December, they started to revamp and renovate that sewer system. So, this is going to be a huge test of whether that sewer system in St. Petersburg is going to work.

We did get word yesterday, the public works administrator here in St. Petersburg is telling people, conserve water. Don't run your dishwashers. Don't run your washing machines. Limit your flushing and limit your showering when this storm is at its peak. That's going to be in the next ten hours or so. So, again, St. Petersburg not only going to face maybe severe flooding in these areas here behind me and downtown St. Petersburg, but also it's going to be a big test of whether that sewage system here, John, can hold up. So, some anxious moments ahead in the next, I'd say, 10, 12 hours. John?

BERMAN: Yes, I'll bet. Brian Todd, 12 inches, maybe 24 inches of rain. It taxes the system so much across the state.

I want to go right to Punta Gorda. Our Randi Kaye is standing by here. The conditions there are deteriorating. That is where the storm might make landfall. And, Randi, we just got word that the storm is getting even stronger, 155 mile per hour sustained winds.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, that is certainly not good news for the folks here considering that it could be heading straight for us right here. I am just on the edge of downtown Punta Gorda. I'm standing on the dock holding onto this post because the winds are getting a little bit stronger certainly. Certainly, we can feel that. They are definitely increasing in intensity. The rain much heavier than it was when I spoke to you last hour.

We are just on the edge here of the Peace River. Let me just show you right here. This is a boat launch on the edge of downtown and the Peace River feeds into Charlotte Harbor. So, they are expecting, as you know, this 8 to 12 foot storm surge and this could very well overflow because the ocean water is going to -- the storm is going to push that ocean water into the harbor. It doesn't have anywhere else for it to go. So, it's going to flood into downtown Punta Gorda, which is right just -- we could walk there from here. It's very, very close.

So, there's a lot of concerns about the storm surge. People here have been certainly heeding the warnings. The county has about 2/3 of its people under an evacuation order, about 126,000 people or so. But, certainly, lots of concern because emergency services are now going to shut down at 45-mile-an-hour winds, so, fire, police help, there won't be any help for anyone in this community, as you know, once things get even worse than they are right now.

And they've been through this before but nothing like a rain event and a storm surge event like they are expecting here. They did live through Hurricane Charley back in 2004. It was a cat 4, came racing through here, John. As you recall, it was moving very, very fast, 25 miles an hour a compared to this, which is about five miles an hour, Hurricane Ian. So, they didn't have much of a storm surge. It was very much a wind event.

So, they're very, very concerned about the level of water that is going to be rushing into these communities, including downtown and several other areas. There are barrier islands that had to evacuate, coastal communities evacuated. They were the first to go. But we've met people who were hunkering down on a boat nearby. There are boats out here in the harbor here behind me. We will see what happens as this increases in strength, John.

BERMAN: Randi, stand by for one minute. I want to bring in Chief Meteorologist Chad Myers standing by in the weather center to join this discussion. Chad?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: John, and to Randi, where you are, I was almost in the exact same spot for Charley years ago. Along this what we call the canal zone, where all of these little homes are placed only three feet above sea level, and they have a little nice dock in their back and they can take their boat out into the gulf, the surge now is between 12 and 16. That number has gone up. They're only three feet above sea level. If you surge that much, it's going to be up against their gutters or higher. Are all of those people gone?

KAYE: That's a good question.

[07:10:00]

We don't know. We understand from the officials that they evacuated zone A, which is those -- the coastal communities and the barrier islands, they did say that they were heeding those warnings. So, we were not able to get into those communities because of the evacuation orders, but from what we understand, they did -- they did evacuate.

Of course, there are people who believe, you know, that it's not going to be as bad as they thought. People move to Florida, as you know, Chad and John, to live on the water and they know what comes with it.

MYERS: John, this isn't maybe as bad as it gets. That would be a ten, but this is a nine. It is right there. It is the power and wind of what we had down here in 2004 with Charley and the surge now of Katrina, two storms.

So, we know they're always all different, you know? And you're going to get a lot less than Randi. But, Randi, do you have a place to go? Can you get out of there?

MYERS: Yes. We have identified a parking garage for us because we're also concerned about our cars flooding and floating away, but also for our own safety, we do have a parking garage to hunker down in and some other safe areas, certainly, some buildings for our satellite truck that we can sort of hug up against and make sure that we do remain safe because we are bracing for the worst of it.

I mean, you talk to people around here, you can tell they're on edge. I mean, certainly, Charley -- when Charley came through, they didn't have a lot of notice because it made a quick right turn, right, Chad? So, they've been preparing for this. But there's quite a concern here.

BERMAN: Chad, if you can, you mentioned a 16-foot storm surge in some areas. The news we got just over the last 15 minutes from the National Hurricane Center is that sustained speeds of 155 miles per hour in this hurricane, just two miles per hour short of a category 5 storm, just tell me how that changes the dynamic.

MYERS: It changes the dynamic because if anyone did not evacuate, they are in trouble. They are. Their life is now being threatened. And if you know someone who has just been, your dad or your grandpa or your uncle who doesn't want to go, zone A, zone B, they need to go now. And even some places around zone C may be wanting to get away, especially if you're in one of those river channels where the water is going to get shoved up into those rivers, into those creeks, into those streams.

Now, that's not for Tamp. This is for Lee, this is for down Port Charlotte. I'm talking about Fort Myers. We noticed earlier that there may not be one spot of dry land in Naples at all. The entire town may be covered in at least something of water and with a 9 to 12-foot surge, many of these spots are going to be up to their gutters and maybe over the roof. There is going to be no place left for you in your home. You need to leave now if you haven't. I can't stress that more.

BERMAN: Chad, if you can, give us the sense of the latest forecast and what we can expect to develop over the next several hours and, really, day in Florida.

MYERS: So many variables but so many factors. Yes, there will be wind damage. Houses aren't going to keep their roof at 140 to 145, or, heaven forbid, you get a 155 gust. We're going to see that that 20 to 25-inch rainfall. You're going to see that surge. Many homes in these canals that are only three feet above sea level will be completely submerged. And so those are the factors.

There is the plane that just flew through that eye and into the eye wall and found those new wind speeds at 155. There is the eye itself. Naples, you just had a gust of 52 but it's still off shore, still well off shore. Those numbers may triple. And it's not just a small little pin eye like Charley was, this is 60 or 70 miles wide of hurricane force, 30 or 45 miles wide of category 4 to possible 5 force. And then it gets up even to Orlando where everybody kind of seemed to go. And you're going to get winds up there of 80 to 85.

Something else we're watching is this increased number of surge. Now, 12 to 16 feet in this purple area, but that does not include Tampa. There will still be some surge out there. But it's where you're going to shove all of this water into this bay. There's Punta Gorda right there. There's Randi Kaye right there by the water. And then up here, Port Charlotte obviously going to see -- this is nine-foot above or more because there is not a 12-foot number. This is as high as they go. I figured, hey, if it's nine feet over where you are, that's bad enough. Down in Fort Myers and all the way down Fort Myers Beach, all of those areas are seeing the same thing. If you're right at sea level, got to go.

There is the heavy rainfall for Orlando. We expect that.

[07:15:00]

Here is the radar I'm seeing right now. And here are storms coming on shore, Fort Pierce, West Palm, you're 150 miles from the storm. But these storms are rotating, they are coming on shore and they can produce tornadoes. All of those coming together because this is the largest storm we've seen in almost 20 years. I mean, sure, Michael was wind and -- but it just -- it happened so fast. This is the storm that was in the water, John, so long, it built this surge bubble and these areas, these canals, these estuaries, Charlotte Harbor, Fort Myers, in trouble.

BERMAN: All right. That is an ominous forecast. Chad Myers, please stand by and keep us posted.

MYERS: I will.

BERMAN: I'm here in Tampa. And as you just heard from Chad, may not get the worse of it now, although they are expecting rains anywhere from 12 inches to 24 inches and some kind of storm surge. And we could see some hurricane force winds over the next 24 hours.

With me now, I want to bring in the Hillsborough County sheriff, Chad Chronister. And I can tell you you're an important person because you are smart enough to bring an umbrella to a storm like this.

Look, I do understand that further south is the immediate area of concern right now, but there is a lot that could happen here. How have you prepared?

SHERIFF CHAD CHRONISTER, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Well, you see that this storm is 90 miles away and we're already starting to feel the effects. It's going to get nasty here. And we're still in the zone of uncertainty. From Hurricane Irma, the eye was supposed to come to Tampa and it hit north towards a lake near Orland, around 75 miles away.

So, our residents still have to be prepared, make sure if you are going to evacuate (INAUDIBLE) I believe it's almost approaching to where you have to hunker down.

BERMAN: Yes. Talk to me more about that because you want people to stay where they are at this point?

CHRONISTER: Yes. Correct. I think at this point, you know, stores are closed. I think the time to get any type of supplies, food, basic essentials is over. It's time to hunker down and stay safe.

BERMAN: It does seem that the biggest threat here, here, unless the storm moves, and it could, might be rainfall, 12 inches, 24 inches freshwater flooding that could come from up river. What kind of specific challenges does that pose for you?

CHRONISTER: This is already our rainy season. (INAUDIBLE). It's not going to take much rain. And you hear from the forecasters we're going to get much more for us to experience flooding.

Flooding is the number one killer in storms like this, so I'm extremely concerned. There's going to be downed trees because of the saturated ground, which means downed power lines, which means we're going to be without power. Things are going to get extremely uncomfortable and that's best case scenario even with the forecast near the Tampa Bay area being more favorable today than it was yesterday.

BERMAN: Chad Chronister, sheriff of Hillsborough County, stay safe, thanks for being with us. I'll let you get out of the rain before you get that shirt wet.

CHRONISTER: Thank you. Take care. Be safe.

BERMAN: Thank you, sir.

All right, Brianna, as you can see, we're getting these bands coming in and out of here, the rain, the concern. But what we're hearing now from the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian getting stronger as it approaches landfall south of here.

KEILAR: Yes. This is a huge storm. And, ahead, we're going to speak to the mayor of Clearwater, Florida, here on New Day, as he warns his community that it is actually too late to leave at this point. Our special live coverage continues ahead.

Plus, two Russian gas pipelines very close to each other are mysteriously leaking in the Baltic Sea, and officials say it may have been deliberately damaged.

And new data this morning on a treatment that appears to slow down cognitive decline in Alzheimer's. Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us next on this potential breakthrough.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

KEILAR: We're back to Hurricane Ian in Florida here in a moment, but, first, a potential breakthrough this morning for millions of Americans affected by Alzheimer's. A new antibody treatment for the disease could slow the progression of cognitive decline by 27 percent.

Here to explain this major development is CNN Chief Medical Correspondent and author of Keep Sharp, Build a Better Brain at Any Age, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. Sanjay, this is so important to talk about because past -- you know, past medications have improved cognition perhaps but not that much. This is a big number.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: If this holds up, if this data holds up, and so far we've just heard from the manufacturer of the pharmaceutical companies themselves, but if it holds up, it could be a very big deal in the world of Alzheimer's, because, as you say, there's not been a significant treatment that has had this degree of improvement in these patients really in a long time, if ever.

So, let me sort of talk you through this. It's a new drug. It's something that people have been watching for some time. Lecanemab is the name of the drug. They basically had 1,800 people, they had early stage Alzheimer's. Part of the group got this drug, the other group got placebo. And what they found after about 18 months, Brianna, was that there was a significant decline in overall cognitive worsening in the group that got the drug.

So, this is the thing. This is what people have been looking for for some time now. We know people with Alzheimer's, they continue to progress in terms of cognitive decline. If this could slow that down, that's significant.

Now, a couple things. The way that they measure this, this cognitive decline, they asked questions about memory, about orientation, about problem solving. When you see 27 percent, you may say, well, that doesn't seem like that big a number, but in terms of your overall ability to function, your ability to function in your everyday life, it can make a big difference for somebody who has early stage Alzheimer's in terms of how well they can function, perhaps even independently or in a home setting. So, that would be a big deal.

The other thing, and this is going to be a big topic of discussion as well, was that when you look at this drug, it did seem to have an effect on the plaques in the brain.

[07:25:01]

A lot of people have heard this, the amyloid plagues and their association with the disease, Alzheimer's. What they found was that there was a decrease in those plaques you see on the right side of your screen there. Now, whether those two things are directly connected or not is still unclear because, as you correctly point out, Brianna, there have been drugs in the past which were very good at getting rid of the plagues but didn't do much in terms of stalling or slowing cognitive decline. This drug seems to do both.

So, again, it's early in terms of actually collecting this data. It hasn't been put in a journal yet. The FDA has got to weigh in on this. It's now been put forward for accelerated approval. But it could be a very big deal if it all holds, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes. I know we need data but let's hope that this is something to be very excited about. Sanjay, thank you for walking us through it.

We have some more on our breaking news. NATO this morning calling those mysterious leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines sabotaged. The gas pipe lines, there's two of them, they run from Russia to Europe. And this comes at a tipping point time for Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.

Overnight, the Russians touting sham voting results in occupied territories of Ukraine. These bogus results showing a majority there in favor of joining Russia, that's no surprise. This, by the way, violates international law. The State Department says it signals a very desperate Putin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NED PRICE, SPOKESPERSON, STATE DEPARTMENT: These actions from President Putin signal very clearly that he knows he is losing. He's on his backheels and he's making every attempt to intimidate those who would stand up to him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I want to bring in former CIA Director John Brennan and the author of Undaunted, My Fight Against America's Enemies at Home and Abroad, which is now on sale in Paperback.

I do want to ask you about what this may mean, these sham voting results at a time where you have former President Medvedev, who's a current Russian government official, saying yesterday that Russia -- and, look, we've heard this before, but he's making this point that Russia could use nuclear weapons if sort of its existence is threatened. Well, now you have these votes of people saying that this should basically Russian territory. Do you see any concerns between his comments and these sham votes?

JOHN BRENNAN, FORMER DIRECTOR, CIA: Well, I think Putin and Medvedev are searching for things to do and to say that will indicate to their people, as well as others, that they are not losing this war as badly as they are. As pointed out, this is a sham election. It is illegitimate, illegal to hold such an election in a foreign country. And Medvedev has no idea in terms of what NATO might do and respond in terms of what Russia might opt to do on the nuclear front.

But it's clear that Russia is in a downward spiral, battlefield setbacks are coming one after the other. There is domestic opposition to this partial mobilization. So, I think they are going to see some additional saber-rattling and also trying to consolidate their hold on the portion Ukraine that they do occupy.

KEILAR: You're seeing this mass exodus of fighting age men from Russia as Putin is drafting them. You've seen some attacks at recruiting areas. We're even hearing about intercepts of these grumblings between top military officials. At what point is this going from grumblings to destabilization of Putin's regime in Russia, in your opinion? BRENNAN: Well, I think we're seeing early signs of what is, I think, serious political opposition to Putin's war in Ukraine as these young Russian men are trying to flee the country. It's clear that a large part of the Russian population is not supportive of this military conflict and, secondly, these young Russians know that that they will just be sent to slaughter in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian forces have done exceedingly well as far as being able to withstand the Russian onslaught. And the number of Russian soldiers killed in the tens of thousands, I think, is clearly sending a chill inside of Russia right now. So, I think we're going to see more of this. The question is what will be the breaking point and what can Putin do to try to reverse what clearly is a very bad trajectory for him.

KEILAR: Do you think he's stable? Do you think he's well?

BRENNAN: I think he is an autocrat, authoritarian, who is feeling increasingly beset by problems and by the miscalculations that he has made as far as going into Ukraine. He's isolated. He is also trying to hold on to power. So, I think we're seeing increasingly desperate steps that are being taken. And if these explosions in the gas -- undersea gas pipelines off the Danish coast are acts of sabotage.

[07:30:00]