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CNN Sunday Morning

Update on Winter Storm

Aired December 07, 2003 - 08:01   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.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with the monster snowstorm that's howling across parts of New England. This is a live picture now coming to us from Hartford, Connecticut, where several more inches of snow are expected today. This storm is making a lasting impression, too, with a foot of snow in many places, and nearly two feet in other locations.
It's also bitter cold out there today. CNN's Adaora Udoji joins us now from Winthrop, Massachusetts, which is across the Boston Harbor from snowed-in Logan Airport.

Good morning to you once again.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. For so many people in Massachusetts today, they're all going to be feeling like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." It is still snowing.

The crews are trying to get a handle on it. They've been out all night. You can probably hear some of the bells in the background. And here is the proof; the snow is piling up.

But there's a pretty side of this. Actually, we're here at Boston Commons at the beginning of the Freedom Trail. And it is lovely. It's completely, as they say, a winter wonderland.

The bad news is this: we just spoke with a Massachusetts emergency management official who says more than 15 inches has fallen in Boston in the suburban areas, in some places up to two feet. And again, a little bit more bad news. They're expecting anywhere from two to 10 more inches today.

And they're also very, very concerned about coastal flooding. The winds are extremely high. And there has been some serious flooding along the north shore and south shore. They've set up a shelter for residents just in case.

And again, at Logan Airport, they're trying to dig themselves out. It was closed down late last night. In fact, it was opened on and off all day yesterday, but last night they did finally close it. They're hoping maybe to get it up and going by noon today, but as you can see, the snow is coming down.

Again, as I said, it is windy. And as you pointed out, it is quite cold. So the Massachusetts folks are in for some more sticky and a little brutal weather today -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we wish them the very best. Thanks so much, Adaora Udoji. Appreciate it.

JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: Travel to and from the airports in the snow zone will take a while to return to normal. CNN's Jane King is at New York's LaGuardia with the assessment from there.

Good morning, Jane.

JANE KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Jim. Well, the situation here is improving, but it is still far from normal. In fact, on my way in this morning, I saw several people on cots. But we do have some flights getting out on time and arriving on time at LaGuardia.

In fact, here is the current situation. The runways are fairly clear here at the airport, but we are still getting wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour. So several flights, as you can see here, at least at American Airlines, are on time today.

Some are still delayed, and, in fact, we do still have some cancellation. But that is a big improvement over yesterday. Ninety percent of the flights were canceled from LaGuardia yesterday, 80 percent from John F. Kennedy Airport, and Newark canceled 120 of its flights at the hub at Newark Airport.

Now, with me for the current situation today is Warren Kroeppel. He's the general manager of LaGuardia Airport.

What is the situation today for travelers?

WARREN KROEPPEL, LAGUARDIA FACILITY MANAGER: Jane, your summary was pretty good. The runways are in great condition. Our port authority crews have been here working continuously since 10:00 a.m. on Friday. So the runways are not the issue today.

Really, what we've got is cancellations. That's going to be the story for today. The airline has pre-canceled flights to make sure that they would be in a good sequence today to recover. And that's what they're doing now in a recovery mode.

On Friday, we normally have about 1,200 flights. We only had about 600. Yesterday, we normally on a Saturday do 800. We had a little less than 200.

So today you'll see the airlines recover. So the real story is, passengers should call first, even though the conditions are good, because there's still going to be a lot of cancellations.

KING: Thank you very much, Warren. That's the situation here at LaGuardia Airport. I'll send it back to you -- Jim.

MORET: Thank you, Jane. At least things are slowly returning back to normal.

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 December 7, 2003 - 08:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: We begin this hour with the monster snowstorm that's howling across parts of New England. This is a live picture now coming to us from Hartford, Connecticut, where several more inches of snow are expected today. This storm is making a lasting impression, too, with a foot of snow in many places, and nearly two feet in other locations.
It's also bitter cold out there today. CNN's Adaora Udoji joins us now from Winthrop, Massachusetts, which is across the Boston Harbor from snowed-in Logan Airport.

Good morning to you once again.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Heidi. For so many people in Massachusetts today, they're all going to be feeling like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." It is still snowing.

The crews are trying to get a handle on it. They've been out all night. You can probably hear some of the bells in the background. And here is the proof; the snow is piling up.

But there's a pretty side of this. Actually, we're here at Boston Commons at the beginning of the Freedom Trail. And it is lovely. It's completely, as they say, a winter wonderland.

The bad news is this: we just spoke with a Massachusetts emergency management official who says more than 15 inches has fallen in Boston in the suburban areas, in some places up to two feet. And again, a little bit more bad news. They're expecting anywhere from two to 10 more inches today.

And they're also very, very concerned about coastal flooding. The winds are extremely high. And there has been some serious flooding along the north shore and south shore. They've set up a shelter for residents just in case.

And again, at Logan Airport, they're trying to dig themselves out. It was closed down late last night. In fact, it was opened on and off all day yesterday, but last night they did finally close it. They're hoping maybe to get it up and going by noon today, but as you can see, the snow is coming down.

Again, as I said, it is windy. And as you pointed out, it is quite cold. So the Massachusetts folks are in for some more sticky and a little brutal weather today -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we wish them the very best. Thanks so much, Adaora Udoji. Appreciate it.

JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: Travel to and from the airports in the snow zone will take a while to return to normal. CNN's Jane King is at New York's LaGuardia with the assessment from there.

Good morning, Jane.

JANE KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Jim. Well, the situation here is improving, but it is still far from normal. In fact, on my way in this morning, I saw several people on cots. But we do have some flights getting out on time and arriving on time at LaGuardia.

In fact, here is the current situation. The runways are fairly clear here at the airport, but we are still getting wind gusts of up to 30 miles per hour. So several flights, as you can see here, at least at American Airlines, are on time today.

Some are still delayed, and, in fact, we do still have some cancellation. But that is a big improvement over yesterday. Ninety percent of the flights were canceled from LaGuardia yesterday, 80 percent from John F. Kennedy Airport, and Newark canceled 120 of its flights at the hub at Newark Airport.

Now, with me for the current situation today is Warren Kroeppel. He's the general manager of LaGuardia Airport.

What is the situation today for travelers?

WARREN KROEPPEL, LAGUARDIA FACILITY MANAGER: Jane, your summary was pretty good. The runways are in great condition. Our port authority crews have been here working continuously since 10:00 a.m. on Friday. So the runways are not the issue today.

Really, what we've got is cancellations. That's going to be the story for today. The airline has pre-canceled flights to make sure that they would be in a good sequence today to recover. And that's what they're doing now in a recovery mode.

On Friday, we normally have about 1,200 flights. We only had about 600. Yesterday, we normally on a Saturday do 800. We had a little less than 200.

So today you'll see the airlines recover. So the real story is, passengers should call first, even though the conditions are good, because there's still going to be a lot of cancellations.

KING: Thank you very much, Warren. That's the situation here at LaGuardia Airport. I'll send it back to you -- Jim.

MORET: Thank you, Jane. At least things are slowly returning back to normal.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com