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Update on Hurricane Milton; An Invasion of Parrots; Colombia Found an Innovative Insect Solution to Its Trash Problem. Aired 4-4:10a ET
Aired October 09, 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: Hello, everyone. I`m Coy Wire. This is CNN 10. It is Wednesday. We`re halfway through the week, so smell the flowers and cool
the soup. We`re going to make it through.
It is also #YourWordWednesday, so we`re going to pick one of your word submissions to help broaden our vocabularies, so let`s see whose word
helped us write today`s show.
Let`s get into the news with an update on Hurricane Milton. The storm reached a massive Category 5 strength earlier this week as it passed north
of the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. That`s the highest level of strength we currently have to record hurricanes, with winds maxing out at 180 miles per
hour. It`s the biggest and most powerful storm on record this year in the entire world.
Milton is thankfully expected to weaken as it heads east over the Gulf on its way to Florida`s west coast, but it`s also expected to double in size.
That means disastrous impacts will more likely be felt over a much larger area. Milton`s storm surge is also expected to be much larger than
Hurricane Helene`s, estimated to reach between 10 and 15 feet above ground level.
Residents in the state, well, they`ve been racing to prepare. We`ve seen lines at sandbag filling sites, supplies like plywood to board up buildings
are running low, and interstate highways have been in gridlock traffic going north as many are evacuating from the storm`s path.
And many who are trying to evacuate, they`re facing a fuel shortage, with an estimated 1,000 Florida gas stations completely out of gas as of Monday
night. Another issue, some people are having trouble finding hotels, with many already being fully booked, while others aren`t able to afford a
hotel, even if they could find one available with rooms. Officials have opened shelters that can hold thousands of people who are in need of a
safer place.
It`s been less than two weeks since Hurricane Helene walloped Florida`s Big Bend as a category four storm, and residents are scrambling to clean up as
much of that destruction before Milton enters the state. The debris left behind could become dangerous projectiles when Milton`s high winds hit
soon.
Exactly where Milton will make landfall, well, that`s a key factor to how much it will impact the Gulf Coast. CNN`s Elisa Raffa explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISA RAFFA, CNN WEATHER ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Milton has already proven to be a powerful hurricane, rapidly intensifying and exploding in
strength. While the entire Florida peninsula will see impacts of damaging winds and heavy rain from Milton, the exact location of landfall will be
crucial for where the life-threatening storm surge will occur.
Storm surge is the push of ocean water inland from the strong hurricane winds. The highest storm surge is at the location of the strongest winds in
the eye wall. Tampa Bay is one of the most vulnerable spots on our coast to storm surge because of the huge population and the shape of the bay. The
track of Milton could be one Tampa Bay hasn`t seen in 100 years, meaning unprecedented storm surge.
If Milton`s eye goes just to the north of the bay, that would mean a worst- case scenario for the storm surge in Tampa Bay. The onshore wind direction will send the ocean waters funneling into the bay with nowhere to go,
creating devastating impacts.
If Milton`s eye lands just south of the bay, winds will be offshore out of the bay, possibly even receding waters like seen during Hurricane Ian. In
this scenario, the worst of the storm surge would go just south of Tampa.
Even just a few miles wobble in Milton`s track could greatly impact the storm surge forecast for better or for worse. So all warnings should be
taken seriously.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Ten-second trivia. To prepare for long seasonal migrations, many bird species enter what state of being to bulk up for their journey?
Brumation, predation, hypophagia, or hyperphagia?
Your answer here is hyperphagia. Just like bears who eat large amounts of food before hibernation, migrating birds overeat to gain weight and store
fat for their long journeys.
Man versus nature. It`s a tale almost as old as time. Humans and animals sometimes compete for land and resources. Well, that`s the case in one town
in Argentina where thousands of parrots have moved in.
Normally these feathery friends would pass right through the town as they migrated, but as the birds` natural habitats have been destroyed through
deforestation, they`ve been staying longer and longer.
CNN`s Elisa Raffa has the perspicacity to further explain how residents are putting up with their pesky parrot problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFFA (voice-over): The town of Hilario Ascasubi is facing a parrot invasion. Thousands of the multicolored birds have increasingly occupied
this Argentinian city in a site similar to that of Alfred Hitchcock`s 1963 thriller, "The Birds."
In recent years, the parrots have arrived in pursuit of shelter through the fall and winter months, but now, it`s spring in Argentina, a biologist at
the National University of the South says the parrots have come due to disappearing trees along the hillsides.
DAIANA LERA, BIOLOGIST (through translator): Estimates say that 4 percent of the forest is lost annually in the south of the province of Buenos
Aires. It is causing the parrots to have no food available, and they are increasingly moving closer to the cities where they find food, shelter, and
water.
RAFFA (voice-over): The parrots, however, have become pests, residents citing a whole range of annoyances, with the birds continuous shrieking,
harming electric cables, and leaving deposits of bird droppings everywhere. Despite the various tactics residents have used to scare them away, nothing
has worked.
RAMON ALVAREZ, RADIO TAXI FM JOURNALIST (through translator): They bite and damage the cables. Water can then get into the wires when it rains and
transmission is cut off. These parrots create daily costs and problems for us. It goes without saying that when the power goes out, there is no radio.
RAFFA (voice-over): Argentina`s forest land has been gradually lost over the years, but Biologist Lera believes there are proactive steps the
residents can take to both restore the environment and allow them to live in peace with the pesky parrots.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: While humans and animals might sometimes find themselves at odds, there are ways we can benefit from working together. In Colombia, an
innovative project to combat the growing problem of trash buildup is enlisting the help of the enormous rhinoceros beetle. Their larvae eat
through piles of organic garbage, diverting it from landfills.
CNN`s Rafael Romo shows us how it`s done.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the Colombian highlands, a new solution has been found to tackle an escalating trash problem.
These are the unlikely heroes of the story: the larvae of rhinoceros beetles, which feed on organic waste.
This isn`t the only thing these beetles have to offer. Larvae poop is also sold as fertilizer, and once the beetles reach adulthood, they can be sold
as pets to buyers as far away as Japan.
GERMAN VIASUS TIBAMOSO, ENVIRONMENTAL AND HEALTH ENGINEER (through translator): The beetles have the answer, but we haven`t seen the full
potential of the function they have.
ROMO (voice-over): Every week 15 tons of waste are collected at this facility in Tunja, a city about 130 kilometers Northeast of Bogota. Once
it`s piled up, the larvae, which can grow as long as a human hand, begin.
Other larvae are placed in tanks where they consume liquid organic waste that, that can be harmful to the environment.
With the landfill close to capacity, the larvae provide an ingenious solution.
The U.N. estimates that around 11.2 billion tons of trash are generated globally each year. Colombia produces around 32,000 tons of waste daily,
about half of which is organic.
TIBAMOSO (through translator): We should aim to preserve beetles because they are responsible for breaking down all the organic waste produced by
humanity today.
ROMO (voice-over): The larvae start to become beetles after about four months when they develop hard shells. Rhinoceros beetles can live up to
three years. Some are exported to other countries while others stay in Columbia, where they are seen as good luck charms.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: Today`s story, getting a 10 out of 10, looks a lot like human Jenga in northeastern Spain, the Catalonia region. It`s home to the revered
tradition of forming castells, or human towers, and they`ve been doing this for hundreds of years, passing the knowledge down from generation to
generation. Take a look at these daredevils in action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This wasn`t the only tumble at the largest human tower contest in Catalonia, Spain. Known as castells, human towers play a big
part in Catalan culture and are known for an expression of national optimism. The tradition dates back to the 1800s, and this biannual
competition began in 1970.
According to Reuters, this year about 11,000 spectators filled the stadium. They watched 42 teams fight for the prize of just over $15,000.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: All right, thank you to everyone who submitted some prodigious words for Your Word Wednesday. Today`s winner is Mr. Taylor`s class at Autism
Solutions Academy in West Jordan, Utah for perspicacity, a noun meaning the quality of having a ready insight into things or shrewdness. Thank you for
making us smarter today. We love seeing all of you flex those vocab skills.
And our shout out today goes to Bertha-Hewitt School in Bertha, Minnesota. Let them hear you roar, Bears.
Here`s to all of you for subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10 YouTube channel for your shout out requests. Can`t thank you enough.
I`m Coy Wire. We`ll see you right back here tomorrow on CNN 10.
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