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CNN Sunday Morning

Early Winter Storm Grounds Flights

Aired December 07, 2003 - 09:01   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.


JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, you might say it is the worst kind of visitor, arriving way too early, leaving a mess and then refusing to leave. We are talking about that early winter snowstorm that is grounding many flights and many people's spirits.
Our Jane King is at New York's LaGuardia Airport with the latest. But we begin with CNN's Adaora Udoji, live in Boston -- Adaora.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning from Boston Common. And as you say, it is just still snowing here. We have some latest totals from the Massachusetts emergency management official who says, at this point, there are 15 inches in Boston, and the suburbs, up to two feet. And there are also great concerns about flooding along the north and south shores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI (voice-over): Forecasters warned snow would blast the Northeast, and it did with a vengeance. Barely anyone along the New England coast across the Mid Atlantic, even at the White House, escaped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a shock to me. Well, I wasn't expecting this, to be honest. It's kind of out of the blue. I'm not used to this type of weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The snow emergency ban (ph) went into effect at 2:00 today.

UDOJI: In Boston, the mayor declared a snow emergency with flakes falling steadily at two inches an hour. The city expects up to two feet of snow by Sunday.

On the roads it was dicey, digging out cars. Even dicier along the slick pavements. Fender benders and accidents common, sometimes fatal. But rain or shine or sticky snow, the mail trucks were still out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lot of mail to get out today. It's very important that we have it picked up today. And I see the truck, and I'm so overjoyed and grateful for the fact that we always see the U.S. post office at the corner.

UDOJI: With snow piling up at an alarming rate, workers could barely clear it at Logan Airport, triggering massive delays and hundreds of cancellations before it closed late Saturday. Despite all this, one man wondered what all the fuss is about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we were kids, it was -- I don't know, it just -- they never talked about snow, remember? Today they make a big thing out of everything.

UDOJI: For many, the storm is a big deal. And if it's big enough, it will land in the history books.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: And today the forecast is looking grim. They are predicting another two to 10 inches in the area. The only good news, they are also predicting that the snow will stop today.

Now we're going to go to CNN's Jane King at LaGuardia airport in New York City.

JANE KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Adaora. Well, as you know, there have been several people who have called LaGuardia home over the past couple of days, as the airport has dealt with this massive snowstorm that hit New York City.

And one of them that has been here the longest -- this is Phyllis (ph). You are flying to Tampa. What have you been doing for two days at the airport?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've meeting a lot of new friends. We have all gotten to know each other quite well sitting here all these hours, doing a lot of reading, and we just get up and walk to get some exercise.

KING: And also, Will (ph). Now, he has kind of a unique situation. You are flying back to Louisville, but you may be here tonight as well, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. My friend is a pilot, and I'm flying on a buddy pass. So I don't get to leave until everybody who has paid gets to leave. And I've been here since yesterday morning at noon, and I'll be here until tomorrow. So it's not much fun. But they gave us cots and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So it's all good.

KING: Great. And this is Bob (ph) and Judy (ph) from Atlanta. What is it like to spend the night in an airport?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of like a nightmare, to be truthful. You don't do a lot of sleeping in these chairs. Not too much at all. But my wife did meet someone who made things a lot better.

KING: And who was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were sitting next to a soldier who had just gotten back from Iraq. And he said the airport looked really well to him. So that put things in perspective for us.

KING: Yes, it certainly does. Thank you all very much and good luck to you. And, in fact, the situation at LaGuardia is improving. The runways are clear. There are still wind gusts of 30 miles per hour. So there are still some delays and even some cancellations here and there. But they do expect to have things back to normal sometime tomorrow.

That's how things look here at LaGuardia Airport. Jim and Heidi, back to you.

MORET: Thank you, Jane.

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 - 09:01   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JIM MORET, CNN ANCHOR: Up first this hour, you might say it is the worst kind of visitor, arriving way too early, leaving a mess and then refusing to leave. We are talking about that early winter snowstorm that is grounding many flights and many people's spirits.
Our Jane King is at New York's LaGuardia Airport with the latest. But we begin with CNN's Adaora Udoji, live in Boston -- Adaora.

ADAORA UDOJI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning from Boston Common. And as you say, it is just still snowing here. We have some latest totals from the Massachusetts emergency management official who says, at this point, there are 15 inches in Boston, and the suburbs, up to two feet. And there are also great concerns about flooding along the north and south shores.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI (voice-over): Forecasters warned snow would blast the Northeast, and it did with a vengeance. Barely anyone along the New England coast across the Mid Atlantic, even at the White House, escaped.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a shock to me. Well, I wasn't expecting this, to be honest. It's kind of out of the blue. I'm not used to this type of weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The snow emergency ban (ph) went into effect at 2:00 today.

UDOJI: In Boston, the mayor declared a snow emergency with flakes falling steadily at two inches an hour. The city expects up to two feet of snow by Sunday.

On the roads it was dicey, digging out cars. Even dicier along the slick pavements. Fender benders and accidents common, sometimes fatal. But rain or shine or sticky snow, the mail trucks were still out.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have a lot of mail to get out today. It's very important that we have it picked up today. And I see the truck, and I'm so overjoyed and grateful for the fact that we always see the U.S. post office at the corner.

UDOJI: With snow piling up at an alarming rate, workers could barely clear it at Logan Airport, triggering massive delays and hundreds of cancellations before it closed late Saturday. Despite all this, one man wondered what all the fuss is about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we were kids, it was -- I don't know, it just -- they never talked about snow, remember? Today they make a big thing out of everything.

UDOJI: For many, the storm is a big deal. And if it's big enough, it will land in the history books.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

UDOJI: And today the forecast is looking grim. They are predicting another two to 10 inches in the area. The only good news, they are also predicting that the snow will stop today.

Now we're going to go to CNN's Jane King at LaGuardia airport in New York City.

JANE KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you, Adaora. Well, as you know, there have been several people who have called LaGuardia home over the past couple of days, as the airport has dealt with this massive snowstorm that hit New York City.

And one of them that has been here the longest -- this is Phyllis (ph). You are flying to Tampa. What have you been doing for two days at the airport?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've meeting a lot of new friends. We have all gotten to know each other quite well sitting here all these hours, doing a lot of reading, and we just get up and walk to get some exercise.

KING: And also, Will (ph). Now, he has kind of a unique situation. You are flying back to Louisville, but you may be here tonight as well, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. My friend is a pilot, and I'm flying on a buddy pass. So I don't get to leave until everybody who has paid gets to leave. And I've been here since yesterday morning at noon, and I'll be here until tomorrow. So it's not much fun. But they gave us cots and (UNINTELLIGIBLE). So it's all good.

KING: Great. And this is Bob (ph) and Judy (ph) from Atlanta. What is it like to spend the night in an airport?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Kind of like a nightmare, to be truthful. You don't do a lot of sleeping in these chairs. Not too much at all. But my wife did meet someone who made things a lot better.

KING: And who was that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We were sitting next to a soldier who had just gotten back from Iraq. And he said the airport looked really well to him. So that put things in perspective for us.

KING: Yes, it certainly does. Thank you all very much and good luck to you. And, in fact, the situation at LaGuardia is improving. The runways are clear. There are still wind gusts of 30 miles per hour. So there are still some delays and even some cancellations here and there. But they do expect to have things back to normal sometime tomorrow.

That's how things look here at LaGuardia Airport. Jim and Heidi, back to you.

MORET: Thank you, Jane.

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