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A gold Medal for Breakdancing?; A Year`s Worth of Rain Plunges Normally Dry Dubai Underwater. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired April 18, 2024 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN 10 from Times Square in New York. This place is buzzing.
I`m Coy Wire. Happy Friday Eve. It`s Thursday, April 18th. We`ve got an action-packed show to fuel your mind with knowledge and information.
We start on the Arabian Peninsula where two countries were hit by severe weather. In Oman, flooding ravaged the country. The government says it is
conducting rescue operations to save people throughout Oman and that they have closed schools and sent public and private sector employees home in
most parts of the country.
Sadly, at least 18 people have died because of the severe weather. That same weather system also hit the neighboring nation of the United Arab
Emirates or UAE where four inches of rain fell in some areas of the country in just 12 hours. For a desert country like the UAE, that`s a year`s worth
of rain in just a very short period of time. This is a place that isn`t used to dealing with that kind of weather. The heavy rainfall led to
massive flooding impacting homes and businesses.
And in the nation`s capital, it caused massive delays and disruptions at Dubai International Airport which was recently dubbed the second busiest
airport in the world. Aircraft had to make their way through water and several flights were delayed or canceled.
Our Chad Myers has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It was just round after round of thunderstorms here in Dubai, four separate rounds, it would come in it
would go in and come back again. And then it would go again. And look at the wind here not just heavy rainfall, but 99 millimeters in 12 hours
created this.
Not only here on the roadways, but also at the airport, the world`s second busiest airport with 87 million passengers every year. So there`s the cloud
cover thunderstorm, another thunderstorm rolling on by. And now this weather is actually into parts of southern Iran and even into Pakistan.
But here`s -- here are the numbers as we go, 99 millimeters in 12 hours, the annual average is less than that, which means for the entire year, they
should have picked only up about 94 millimeters. And we got this in 12 hours.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Next up, let`s talk inflation. The way we measure how prices go up over time and lately inflation has been rising. For example if you bought
groceries in 2020 for $100, today those same groceries will cost you around $125 due to inflation and that`s happening with rent prices, clothing, you
name it. And as CNN`s Veronica Miracle shows us in California which is one of the most expensive places to live in the country it can be especially
tough right now to make ends meet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For math teacher Burt Dixon it`s the start of a very long day. Dixon lives three miles from his
school in California`s Bay Area, one of the most expensive places to live in the world. To live so close to where he teaches he works three jobs.
(On camera): Right now did you think at this point in your career you would be working three jobs?
BURT DIXON, TEACHER: Not really, I thought, you know, by this point in my career I`d be a little bit more financially stable. We had the highest
teacher salaries in the area and then slowly over time the salaries didn`t really keep up with -- with the cost of living.
MIRACLE: Do your students know how much you work?
DIXON: They know that I work at the Community College. I think most of them do but I don`t know if they realize that I`m also tutoring in the evenings.
MIRACLE (voice-over): Dixon bought his home over 20 years ago. With his current teacher salary he says he could never afford the area today where
Redfin says the average home sold for about 1.4 million dollars last month.
CLAIRE MCMANMON, TEACHER: This is all parish offices like on the entrance area.
MIRACLE: Finding affordable housing is even tougher for those new to the profession. Six teachers live in this former parish that`s been converted
to a communal living space complete with a chapel.
Claire McManmon pays just a thousand dollars a month for her room. For a studio apartment in the area she`d be paying more than double that.
MCMANMON: All of our rooms come with a bed and then most of them come with chairs.
MIRACLE (on camera): This, I`m getting the sense of like a dorm room.
MCMANMON: Mm-hmm, but like a little bit bigger and more privacy.
MIRACLE: For you guys to be able to afford a place around here, is that a struggle?
BRITTA MARTIN, RESIDENT: Absolutely.
MIRACLE (voice-over): One potential solution to this housing crisis? Affordable housing financed with government assistance specifically for
teachers and school staff. Cities like Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles are also building developments like these.
DANIEL ADAMS, MAYOR`S OFFICE OF HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: So we`re taking a look at a brand-new unit, under construction. Insulation, the
light, the quiet. So this is the foyer. This is a two-bedroom, one-bath unit. So this will be dining and living, big windows. It`ll be
transformative.
MIRACLE: Nearly 80% of public schools struggle to fill teaching positions for the current school year with low salaries being a key issue.
MATT WAYNE, SUPERINTENDENT, S.F. UNITED SCHOOL DISTRICT: We`re in the middle of a national and state teacher shortage. We started this year with
21% of our vacancies unfilled.
MIRACLE (on camera): What do teachers tell you?
WAYNE: You know teachers talk about either the struggle to find housing or then the long commutes that they have to be able to get to their -- their
job. So this is a key strategy for us to be able to recruit and retain teachers and other staff in San Francisco.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Pop quiz, hot shot. Where was the first recorded Olympics held? Britain, Egypt, Germany, or Greece?
If you said Greece, you get the gold medal. The first recorded Olympic Games were held in Olympia, Greece in 776 B.C. The Games were also a
religious festival held every four years to honor the Greek god Zeus.
All right, when you think of the summer Olympics, maybe you think of a gymnast leaping through the air landing a fantastic flip or a speed demon
on the track or in the pool.
Well, this summer in Paris for the first time ever we`re going to see breakdancing as an Olympic sport. I caught up with Sunny Choi who will be
popping and locking representing the red white and blue at the Paris Games. The 35-year-old stepped away from a job earning six figures a year to
pursue her passion and she`s proven it`s never too late to chase your dreams.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Did you ever imagine that one day you`d be an Olympian breaking?
GRACE "SUNNY" CHOI: I always wanted to be an Olympian, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I`d be Olympian breaking.
WIRE: Would you say that breaking has helped you evolve and help you find more of yourself?
CHOI: Honestly, like I was going through life just like a robot doing everything I was supposed to be doing for so long and it was breaking that
really turned that all upside down and made me figure out who I am, what makes me tick, why am I doing what I do, made me face like my fear of
failure, my lack of self-belief, so I attribute a lot of my personal growth and like who I am today to breaking.
WIRE: Tell me about the job and career that you left to pursue this dream.
CHOI: Yeah, so I was previously a director of global creative operations at Estee Lauder. I was comfortable. I mean, I was working long hours so I
don`t know how comfortable that is, but like financially stable and I thought, you know, I`m setting myself up to have a home and a family and
all these things. And then breaking in the Olympics got announced and I had to make a choice because I was working such long hours in my job. And it
just -- I wouldn`t be able to pursue this path the way that I wanted keeping that job.
I just like wasn`t allowing myself to dream so I was like, you know what, I`m going to allow myself to like have this childhood dream and see it to
fruition. I`m just going to give it a shot and whatever happens, happens. And I qualified.
WIRE: All right real quick, just teach me a quick pop and lock or something. Give me something.
CHOI: You know I feel like one of the things that we always do is like hand on the head and hand here and then like you cross the leg.
WIRE: Oh, tight pants.
CHOI: OK, never mind, then maybe just like this. Can you do that?
WIRE: Yeah, I can do that.
CHOI: There you go.
WIRE: Yeah, OK. And if I do that people will recognize game? Work on it.
CHOI: You might need a little practice, but you`re getting close. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give it like another five minutes, you`re be fine.
WIRE: Yeah, I`m going to stretch out.
CHOI: It`s just pants.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: For today`s story getting a 10 out of 10, the Memphis Zoo`s new baby giraffe named Fitz, who has an affinity for napping. Who can relate? There
he goes. Look at that neck bend, that head making that long, slow drop into dreamland.
Now baby giraffes can stand and walk within 30 minutes of being born. But Fitz, he`s often spotted just dozing off and keeping his eyes open is a
tall order, must be stretching his bedtime.
Next time you see someone dozing off like this, just wake him up and tell them, you Fitzing.
All right, powerful people. I want to give a shout out today to all our homeschoolers out there because we don`t do that often enough. We want you
to know we see you and we appreciate you.
And how about Coach Hood`s class at Southaven High School. Thank you for joining us from Mississippi. Go Chargers and Coach, we hope you have an
awesome season.
And we`re sending some love to the Panthers at John Adams Middle School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Rise up, everyone. Thank you for joining us today.
Let`s make this an awesome day. We`ll see you right back here tomorrow.
END
