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Flash Flood Emergency Declared for Some Parts of the U.S. As Helene Barrels Towards the U.S.; Israel Says it Hit More Hezbollah Targets in Lebanon; New York City Mayor Eric Adams Charged with Fraud and Bribery. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right and for a couple of hours, good morning to you. Yes, what we're experiencing right now is moments of torrential rain, rain coming at you sideways, just slapping you in the face, and then this heavy wind-gusts -- now, I'm just a couple of blocks away from the Swannanoa River here in Asheville, and here in the past hour, the county has just issued a mandatory evacuation order for people living around the river.

And in fact, if we push in our camera right down that way, you can see even despite the fact that we're a couple of blocks away from the river. Already, all of this flooding is coming up, we can see police officers shutting down several roads especially around Biltmore Village, an area that, you know, so many tourists know and love, that is known to be a flood zone area.

Now, the National Weather Service has been warning people for at least a day or two. Now, to expect one of the most significant weather events in modern times for this region. This is a very serious situation -- well, and there's a major wind-gusts right there, for folks living here in Asheville, the flooding from two major rivers reaching 10 feet already, they're expecting another 10 feet since Wednesday.

They've had rainfall not from Helene, from a different weather system reaching 8 inches. They're expecting by the end of Helene not to go to over 20 inches. So, the worst is yet to come really for residents here in Buncombe County and Asheville. I spoke with the fire chief yesterday about what's really keeping him up at night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL CAYSE, ASHEVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Our fighters here are some of the best firefighters in the country when it comes to water rescue and their skill set, because we live in an area where they're on the water a lot. So, I'm not worried about that, but I am worried about potential building falling and collapses and landslides and stuff like that.

ROSALES: You're concerned actual buildings would collapse? CAYSE: As a result of their foundations being undermined from the soil saturation and the other events that caused that and the shifting of the ground. Yes, we're absolutely very concerned --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Wipe away -- right, so, you heard from the fire chief there, worries about buildings collapsing, people in their homes if they -- as they have been sleeping, that is what has kept him up at night. Clearly, a very dangerous situation. He told me that there's a FEMA team here of experts in search and rescue that are on standby in case they need some extra help with that, hopefully that is not what happens here.

He also gave me a better understanding of Asheville, the geography, John, how with the blue ridge mountains. That's 4,000 feet of elevation where all of this rainfall just goes down to the very bottom. That's Asheville. He says that that's a catch basin in all of this rainfall, it has nowhere to go. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: It is such a beautiful city, but also a dangerous location for a weather system like this. Isabel Rosales, please, you and your team, stay safe. I know what it feels like to be doing what you're doing. We were getting that wind-in whimpering in last night, not comfortable at all.

All right, Sara, again, we're seeing -- here we go again, you know, we're seeing these crews driving by here. This has been going on for several hours now, Tallahassee working quickly to get back up to speed, Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CO-ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: As they must. Thank you so much, John, to you and your crew out there. Right now, Hurricane Helene hitting Georgia, we will speak with a mom riding out the storm with her small children. And our next guests saw Hurricane Helene like no one else. The view from inside this storm, that's ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:35:00]

BERMAN: All right, we're getting some breaking news just in, this is the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, this news coming from Atlanta, which is 270 miles north of where I am in Tallahassee, a flash flood emergency just issued for Atlanta, including neighborhoods that are going to be recognizable to you, midtown, College Park, the airport, Forest Park, Riverdale, Jonesborough, a flash flood emergency until 1:00 p.m., the weather service says, "this is a particularly dangerous situation, seek higher ground now."

Between 6 and 10 inches of rain have fallen already, they're expecting several more inches over the next few hours. Again, a very dangerous situation in Atlanta far north of where I am. It gives you a sense of the scope of this storm far south of where I am in Steinhatchee, Florida, right along the coast, the big bend of Florida. They had enormous storm surge, and with us now is Jules Carl, who rode

out the storm with her husband, her new baby, two other kids, pets, that's about 90 miles south of where I am. And she rode out Hurricane Idalia last year while she was pregnant, Jules Carl is with me now. Jules, can you hear me?

JULES CARL, RIDING OUT HURRICANE HELENE IN STEINHATCHEE, FLORIDA (via telephone): Yes, right, good morning.

BERMAN: OK, Jules, I'm having --

CARL: Are you there?

BERMAN: A little hard time hearing you. I know the connection is tough. I'm here if you can hear me, if you can, just tell me what's happening in Steinhatchee and how the night went.

[07:40:00]

CARL: It was bad. The water came up higher than anybody in this town has seen, there's trees and power lines everywhere. We know of people that have already had to be rescued from Chestnut(ph), (INAUDIBLE) underwater, we were faced here in this location that it got within about a foot -- rescue coming into our house, and this water has been out here. So, this town is pretty off -- the stage(p).

BERMAN: We're seeing some pictures that did come in overnight from Steinhatchee. It looks very wet there. You say the water went higher than anyone expected. Do you have a sense of just how much?

CARL: You know, I really don't. I can tell you that I've got a vote- footing in the road in front of me right now, and fish in our yard. We've never had water even come up to this house like this. And it was -- it was coming up our patio and stuff, it got very close to coming in.

BERMAN: A boat floating in the road outside your house and fish in the yard. I think that does tell quite a story. How many people stayed behind in Steinhatchee, do you have a sense if people are OK or if they're facing emergencies even now?

CARL: No, I believe that there definitely are some people still facing emergencies even now. I was reading overnight that there were people saying they were stuck in their house and water -- so, it's -- there's definitely still people out there in need of rescuing. I'm not sure how many of us actually stayed, but it was more than with Idalia, so, it's going to be a big risk --

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: How do kids --

CARL: Here --

BERMAN: Do? How do the kids do overnight in this situation? CARL: The kids did great. This is like the sixth hurricane for my

fueled ones, the third now for my baby who is a year-old, so, they're up, you know, hanging out with us. We all got a couple of hours of sleep, but aren't too scared.

BERMAN: I can hear in your voice, Jules, the exhaustion. And I know you've been through several storms before. Where does this rank in terms of the ones you've been through?

CARL: Oh, this is by far the worst, this is the worst I've ever seen.

BERMAN: Given what had happened, would you do it again? I know you had your reasons for staying behind, but would you do it again?

CARL: Yes, I would, I would do it again, knowing this -- especially not knowing this house made it through this, I don't know aside from the cat five, I don't think it could get much worse than this. Yes, I would do it again. I want to be around here for rescue efforts and, you know, like I said, this town is like family. So, it's kind of hard to leave a whole town full of people who feel like family.

BERMAN: Well, we heard you last night talking to Kaitlan. I am so glad you and your family made it through the night. It is nice to hear your voice this morning, although a tired voice, it's going to be a long day for you ahead --

CARL: Yes --

BERMAN: I think as some of that water recedes, and maybe you clean up the fish on the lawn. Jules Carl, best to you, thank you so much for being with us.

CARL: Thank you, right.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Nick Underwood; an engineer in Hurricane Hunter with Noah. You actually filmed this storm from the inside, just a huge storm. Tell us what you saw and what you saw that indicates sort of what we're seeing on the ground now.

NICK UNDERWOOD, PROGRAMS & INTEGRATION ENGINEER, NOAA AIRCRAFT OPERATIONS CENTER: Yes, our crews were flying into the storm all week collecting data that set the forecast models. Our crews specifically was flying into the storm yesterday as it was rapidly intensifying, collecting all of that data, seeing that massive eye, really seeing the wind start grow up at altitude, really just an impressive storm.

BERMAN: Yes, the things that you were able to tell us in the 24 hours in advance was how much this was strengthening, to go from a one to a four and the time that it did. The rapid intensification, and then just the sheer size of it, which we now can see the impact of that when we've got flash flooding all the way down, you know, south of Tampa, all the way north to Asheville, North Carolina right now

UNDERWOOD: Yes, really just an impressively side storm. The eye of the storm is very large yesterday, it was about 36 nautical miles across when our crew was flying through, and this is why our work is so important because there are a lot of impacts even outside of that center core of the storm.

And so, the better data that we can collect up in the air, the better this forecast models are going to be, and the earlier we can warn people to see the effects are going to come their way.

[07:45:00]

BERMAN: And how long, when you're in this storm, Nick, how long are you inside it?

UNDERWOOD: A typical mission flight for us is about eight hours in length, and about six of that is usually in the storm environment down, usually between 8,000 to 10,000 feet, right in the storm, hitting all of the turbulence flying through the eye-wall, collecting as much data as we can.

BERMAN: All right, Nick Underwood, thank you so much for being with us. The work that you did was essential in getting the warning out to people, the storm has been deadly, at least four deaths recorded so far, but without your work, it's possible it could have been even worse. So, thank you very much for being with us.

UNDERWOOD: We're proud and happy to do it. Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, again, you're looking at pictures right now from Atlanta, 270 miles or you were a second ago, 270 miles from where I am, you could just see water covering the streets there, a local reporter out there in it now. This is a dangerous developing situation, Sara, obviously we'll stay on it all morning.

SIDNER: Yes, you mentioned some of the places midtown, I mean, this is a really -- people need to be paying attention to all the warnings out there and get out of the way if they can. John Berman, thank you so much. This morning, we are moving now to what is happening in the world. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was going to address United Nations General Assembly as fears of a regional war grow, Israel says it intercepted -- there they are, about ten projectiles that Hezbollah had fired towards the city of Haifa earlier today.

You could hear those deafening sounds. It says it later destroyed the long short that had been used to do that. This follows what the U.S. and other allies thought was a major breakthrough and a possible ceasefire plan. But now, there's a lot of confusion surrounding that. CNN chief national security correspondent Alex Marquardt joining us now outside the U.N. What are your sources telling you about where this potential ceasefire that everyone has been waiting for stands?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, it certainly doesn't appear imminent, and there is some disappointment and frustration among U.S. officials about what we've been hearing from Netanyahu since this war announced. But frankly, they shouldn't be very much surprised.

We have seen time and time again over the past 11 months that Netanyahu has been willing to publicly and repeatedly defy the Biden administration. But it was just about 36 hours ago when White House officials almost triumphantly announced this 21-day plan for a ceasefire, a truce to get to a peace, a temporary peace so that a more permanent ceasefire could be negotiated.

And this was put out by the U.S. and ten other allies, and it appeared that Israel, Hezbollah and the Lebanese, were all on board. And then Netanyahu very quickly dashed those hopes, saying that they would continue to hit Hezbollah with all of their might. So, how to reconcile this, it's particularly confusing because Israeli officials were very much involved in those discussions, not just any Israeli officials, but Netanyahu's closest aide, Ron Dermer, he was speaking with the National Security adviser, Jake Sullivan and others.

And the White House actually conceded yesterday that they would not have put this plan out so publicly if they did not believe that the Israelis were not on board, but they do not appear to yet be on board. We have heard from the Prime Minister's office just last night, trying to smooth the waters, essentially saying that they do share the aims of this U.S.-led initiative, and that discussions do continue.

So, that's where we are, Sara, these diplomatic discussions are continuing. It's obviously a big day here at the United Nations, we are waiting to hear from Netanyahu not too long from now. It is possible, Sara, that, you know, the Israelis could continue to hit Hezbollah for a few more days. They may feel like they've got more to do militarily and then agree to this truce.

But at the same time, we've seen a real willingness they say to go in on the ground, they are preparing for a ground incursion into Lebanon, which would significantly escalate the situation and raise the possibility of a much broader conflict. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes, I mean, at that point, a ground invasion would be a full-on war with Hezbollah if they go into Lebanon. Alex Marquardt, thank you so much for your reporting and all your sources are giving us the very latest information there. All right, this morning, New York Mayor Eric Adams will make his first court appearance after being indicted on five federal public corruption charges.

The charges include bribery and wire fraud, with the indictment allegedly illegal actions stretching back nearly a decade. Adam said he was not surprised by the charges and that he would not be changing his day-to-day responsibilities in the light of his indictment.

[07:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC ADAMS, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK STATE: It's an unfortunate day and it's a painful day. But inside of all of that is a day when we will finally reveal why for ten months, I had gone through this. And I look forward to defending myself and defending the people of this city as I've done throughout my entire professional career.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: CNN's Gloria Pazmino is outside federal court where the mayor

is expected to appear today. What are you hearing about these charges, and certainly, what are you hearing from people about the possibility of him resigning or stepping down?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, that is certainly part of the conversation that's unfolding here in New York political circles this morning. But just in a few hours, the mayor is going to show up here to federal court to be formally arraigned and to enter a plea presumably not guilty, as you said.

He's been charged with private bribery, corruption-related charges as well as soliciting and accepting illegal campaign donations. Prosecutors say that Adams did this long before he became mayor, and that when he became mayor, he used his power and his authority to influence city agencies who would then grant favors to these donors.

Now, Adams and his lawyers have said that he's done nothing wrong, some of the gifts he received, they said were just that, they were just gifts. Some of the airline and free trips that he received were just free airline upgrades. He says that he wants New Yorkers to hear his defense. Take a listen to the U.S. Attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: The mayor had a duty to disclose these gifts on his annual public disclosure forms so that the public could see who was giving him what. But as we allege, year-after-year-after-year, he kept the public in the dark.

He told the public he received no gifts even though he was secretly being showered with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, what? So far, more than 30 city and state officials have called on the mayor to resign. Governor Kathy Hochul does have the power to remove him, that is a power that has never been used in the city's modern history. She issued a statement last night after reading the details, saying that it was a pattern of disturbing details that has caused unease for New Yorkers.

She said that she hopes the mayor takes a few days to review the situation. So, the fallout of all of this is continuing, and oppression is, how will he fight these charges while effectively running the city? Sara.

SIDNER: A lot of questions there. Gloria Pazmino, I know you'll be all over it, thank you so much for your reporting outside of federal court there in New York. Any moment now, we'll get the next update on Helene's movements, and we're going to some live pictures for you now in Atlanta where there is flash flood warnings in effect. We're following the latest impacts in Florida, the south as the sun rises.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:55:00]

SIDNER: All right, right now, we are looking at -- look at that, a car submerged, that is northwest Atlanta where there are flash flood warnings in effect right now. They are warning folks to get to higher ground. This is no joke. The water from this hurricane which is now a tropical storm is causing problems for millions of people.

And that is where the danger is at this hour. You saw that cars submerged there that is normally a street that we are looking at. So, Hurricane Helene slammed the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 storm, that storm surge was so bad, you can see there, it picked up houses and carry them away.

People are picking up the pieces this morning and groups like World Central Kitchen are there to help. They will be providing food as soon as it is safe to travel into some of these hard-hit areas. We have World Central Kitchen Activation Manager, John Torpey, he is with us this morning in Tallahassee, and it is nice to see a sunny day there now finally in Tallahassee.

Give me some sense of the difficulties that you all are facing. Just trying to figure out where to go and how to get there with people who really need your help.

JOHN TORPEY, ACTIVATION MANAGER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: Yes, so, we've been -- we've been on the ground now for two days. We've done -- we've had people out in four-wheel drives, we've been scouting different areas, making context so that people can let us know what's going on out there.

We've had -- we've had teams going out already this morning. We have food trucks going out this morning all over Florida, and this is a massive operation and we already deployed trucks, we've deployed people, we're deploying water, we'll have air assets shortly up in the air to assess -- to assess the areas more and where we can be of help.

SIDNER: I'm seeing some video of you from your cellphone just showing us like all of the trucks and some of what you have to bring to an area to try and be of service to people there. What are some of the things that you generally bring with you, because it is a whole operation in case anyone hasn't seen how you all lay out the availability of food for people.

TORPEY: Yes, you can see behind me we have a rapid response struck, it's a four-wheel drive. It's a -- it's a kitchen that we can send into remote areas, we'll have food trucks going out. Right along side of me, I have four refrigerated trucks already packed with about 50,000 meals ready to go. We'll have -- we'll have many food trucks going out today, we'll be cooking -- we'll be distributing food. We have Sprinter vans going out with the food, trying to get to some of these hard-hit areas, trying to get.