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Bruce Rector is Interviewed about the Storm Hitting Clearwater; Andrew Morgan is Interviewed about the Storm Hitting Taylor County; North Carolina Experiencing Flash Flooding; Adams in Court Today. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:51]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome back. This is CNN's special live coverage of Helene.

You're looking at live pictures from Atlanta now, which is experiencing a flash flood emergency. You get a sense there from that picture of the water. Eight inches of rain fallen already in Atlanta. They're expecting several inches more.

We spoke to the mayor, Andre Dickens, from Atlanta just a few minutes ago. He wants people to stay home, stay inside, do not go out on the roads. It's just not safe at this moment.

They've also been conducting rescues in Atlanta over the last several hours. People trapped in that water.

Now, that's something that Florida has been dealing with since yesterday. The storm made landfall in the big bend area of Florida, but the storm surge all up and down the west coast of Florida peninsula, as far south as Clearwater.

Now, with me now is the mayor of Clearwater, Florida, Bruce Rector.

Mayor Rector, thank you so much for being with us.

We have seen some pictures from Clearwater and the Clearwater Beach area. I mean you had some real surge. Tell us what happened.

MAYOR BRUCE RECTOR, CLEARWATER, FLORIDA: Yes, it was records surge. You know, our previous record for storm surge was four feet. And last night we had about 7.5 feet I'm told this morning. So, double what had ever been recorded in Clearwater.

And that caught a lot of folks, old-timers who have lived on Clearwater Beach, by surprise. Really throughout our Tampa Bay regions, throughout our island. Our island's along Tampa Bay. And - and so it was historic. And being, you know, over 100 miles away from the center of the storm, that was kind of unbelievable that we would have the kind of impact we did hear last night. BERMAN: And isn't that what is so extraordinary about this storm, 100 miles away from the center. It made impact well up the coast from you, yet you still saw record storm surge. Seven feet. What reports are you getting this morning of maybe injuries or people who may need to be rescued?

RECTOR: Well, we had - we had a lot of people who decided to stay. I wouldn't say a lot. We - we had people who decided to stay last night. And they regretted that because I was getting calls from several of them saying, waters never threatened my home. It's at my doorstep. Mayor, what - what can I do? And it was too late at that point for our first responders to get to most of them.

We did rescue some people last night, but I know there were two or three dwellings on North Beach of Clearwater that we - we just had to let burn.

So, this morning, we're out there assessing those properties. We're making sure everyone is safe. But - but there were some folks in - in harm's way and in jeopardy last night for sure.

BERMAN: I don't know if you've had a chance to go outside yet. How much water is still around?

RECTOR: Well, I'm getting ready to go out there myself. Our police chief, our city manager, have been out there. They tell me that there's still quite a bit of flooding. There's some streets on the beach that are impassable. Our main bridge and causeway out to the beach has watercraft in the middle of it. So, we've got to remove all that.

So, we - we will likely, you know, a day or two before we can open up access to the beach for even residents or business owners to get back out there.

BERMAN: Yes. We're just showing some pictures now of that storm surge moving into Clearwater Beach overnight. Extraordinary pictures. And as you said, 100 miles from the center of the storm.

RECTOR: Yes.

BERMAN: Mayor Bruce Rector, thank you for being with as. I know you're headed out to take a look for yourself and hopefully next time, you know, people will heed those warnings that I know you were giving the best you could.

[08:35:03]

Appreciate your time and your work, sir.

RECTOR: Thank you.

BERMAN: All right, Taylor County, Florida, on the big bend, was in the direct path of the storm. There were people who did not evacuate despite urgent, urgent warnings. Taylor County, you may have heard it overnight, that is the place where officials were saying, if you did choose to stay, write your name and your birth date on your leg for identification.

With us now is the Taylor County emergency response public information officer, Andrew Morgan.

Andrew, thank you so much for being with us.

What are you seeing this morning?

ANDREW MORGAN, EMERGENCY RESPONSE PIO FOR TAYLOR COUNTY, FLORIDA: Thank you for having us.

What we're seeing is, there is major flooding going on in different areas of the Taylor County. We have almost 100 percent, if not 100 percent of power (INAUDIBLE) that we're dealing with. We have urban - we have USAR teams, it's urban search and rescue teams, out there searching and helping anybody that's called. We have a list of names and addresses that we're checking at this time.

And so, I mean, yes, we urged everybody to please leave the county at the time. However, some people didn't. And we are out there looking for them. We are out there. And we won't stop.

BERMAN: What numbers do you have at this point in terms of rescues, or people being asked to be rescued?

MORGAN: That number, we don't have an exact number. We do have a list, a data list that we created based off of information that we received throughout the last day or so. And that (INAUDIBLE) we're going to those addresses to confirm if that - those individuals are in that home. Do they need rescued? Do they need assistance? Were they there?

So, we just - we have a multi-agency process going on. Removing debris. Searching for any possible victims or anybody that needs assistance.

Again, like a lot of the roads and areas are still completely flooded. So, we have boats that take us to this area and then we (INAUDIBLE) then we (INAUDIBLE) vehicle to that area. It's a lot of moving pieces at this time. And it's going to be a lot of - a lot of different work to get everything all situated (ph) (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: And the wind is picking up. I'm having a little hard time hearing you. But reports of injuries or fatalities in Taylor County?

MORGAN: At this moment, we have no reports. We are, again, still trying to get data on all that stuff. And - but we're just - we're just searching and looking for any - any victims or any (INAUDIBLE) -

BERMAN: If you can still hear me, can you believe you're going through this again after having done this, what, at least twice in the last 14 months?

MORGAN: Yes, we've just got to, you know, come together and it's a - you know, it's very unfortunate that this happened three times so quickly. The soil was still soaked in water with this happening. The trees are all pretty much, you know, got destroyed over this because they were basically just growing back and now they got to start all over.

So, yes, it's unfortunate, but we're going to - we're going to come back stronger. And we'll be back whole. We've just got to band together.

BERMAN: All right, Andrew Morgan from Taylor County, thank you so much for being with us. Let us know how we can help. It's going to be a long few days once again for you in Taylor.

And, Sara, you can see behind him is blue sky, but the blue sky masks the reality now, which is that there's so many places cleaning up in Florida, even as they're dealing with these urgent, urgent warnings in Atlanta and North Carolina.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, there is just - there's so much going on with this storm. And for some people, they felt like it was unexpected because of the flash flooding that is happening in some of the cities.

John Berman, great work out there. We'll be back to you in just a few minutes.

Right now, you just heard John mention it, there are warnings about catastrophic flooding in western North Carolina as Helene moves further north. A live report is just ahead.

And power outages are going to be a huge problem throughout the weekend and beyond. Right now there are more than a million customers in Florida alone that have lost power.

And an update on power outages. Florida, Georgia, South Carolina will be reporting more than a million outages, as you heard. This time, those numbers have been increasing rapidly this morning. We will talk all about it and have the latest from the storm, coming up.

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[08:44:11]

BERMAN: All right, happening now, there is a flash flood emergency in western North Carolina.

You know what, let's get right to Isabel Rosales, who is in the middle of it in Asheville, North Carolina.

What is happening where you are with all that water?

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John.

As you can see, some of the drainage systems here in Asheville, we're having a tough time dealing with all of this storm surge from Helene. I mean this is just an incredible image. And the camera won't be able to capture this, but over that way I can see more and more roads as they get closer to the Swannanoa River, just flooded out. And, in fact, if we push the camera down, you can see even on higher ground right over here this storm drain just bubbling up. That's actually up on a little hill right here.

[08:45:01]

This infrastructure having a tough time dealing with all of this water.

John, evacuation orders keep expanding here for folks living around the river area. There has been river levels of ten feet since about Wednesday. And they're anticipating another ten feet for those levels to rise.

And then there's all of this rainfall, actually not related to Helene. As of Wednesday, they had over eight inches from a difference storm system just piling up, soaking into the ground. And they're expecting, by the end of Helene, to have over 20 inches of rain. So, you're dealing with a situation here that people in the Asheville area are going to see flooding in areas they have never seen before. They got two months' worth of rainfall in just 24 hours. And conditions here are just expected to get worse and worse.

I spoke with the Asheville fire chief about the particular concerns that he has that's keeping him up at night. Listen.

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CHIEF MICHAEL CAYSE, ASHEVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT: Firefighters 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 the actual buildings would collapse?

CAYSE: As a result of their foundations being undermined from the soil saturation and the other events that cause that and shifting of the - of the ground, yes. We're absolutely very concerned about building collapses and landslides.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Yes, so, clearly a dangerous situation. The chief there worried that as this rain continues to pile up, as this storm surge gets worse, that's going to impact the sediment beneath the homes. Those homes built into the side of the mountains on the cliffs. And he's worried that they might actually collapse. He told me that there's a FEMA team that they've got on standby there to assist the fire rescue team, those professionals, in any search and rescue that might be needed. We're hoping to get more information about that at a 10:00 a.m. presser.

He did also mentioned to me, John, just the nuances of the geography, the topography here of Asheville, that you've got the mountains. And Asheville is right at the bottom. So, it's at the bottom of essentially a bowl. He called it a catch basin.

So, as we continue to get this torrential rain pour, all of that rain just keeps piling on with nowhere to go, John.

BERMAN: Yes, it really is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but treacherous at a moment like this, in a weather situation like this.

Isabel, first of all, stay safe. I mean, if you need to move away from that, please do. But let me ask you while we have you because these are extraordinary images. This is happening with the drainage now. And there's more rain still to come. Do we expect the flooding, especially right where you are, to get even worse over the next several minutes and hours?

ROSALES: Correct. For it to just pile on and pile on. They had so much rain, John, Wednesday overnight into Thursday, that we were seeing the Biltmore Village, that amazing area here in Asheville that so many tourists love and come to visit, underwater. Roads were alrighty closed. That's before they felt any impacts at all from Helene.

So, as these bands get closer, as this storm surge continues to push into the city here, this flooding is just going to get way worse. And they're warning about that. They're warning and saying that catastrophic flooding is imminent. That's from officials.

BERMAN: All right. Listen, Isabel, you and your team stay safe. Remarkable images there. Maybe a little gross with all that drainage. So, do what you need to do to stay safe. Get to a higher ground if you need to. We'll get back to you as soon as we can.

Again, just extraordinary. Asheville, North Carolina, hundreds of miles north of where I am. We were speaking to the mayor of Clearwater, Florida. Hundreds of miles south from where I am, dealing with flooding. Even this morning, Sara, just historic, historic impact from Helene.

SIDNER: Yes, in so many places it is so widespread. And you're doing a great job out there, John, you and Ana (ph) there reporting from Tallahassee, Florida.

All right, we are - at any moment we are expecting to see New York City's mayor, Eric Adams, arriving in federal court. It looks like that may be his car there that - you see that black SUV there. You see all of the agents standing outside of it. He is facing, you know, several corruption charges. And so we're going to now - oh, there he is. He is coming out of his SUV, heading into federal court. He has said he is innocent of the charges and plans to fight.

Let's go to Gloria Pazmino, who is outside of the court as well.

What are you seeing?

[08:50:06]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A big thumbs up to the cameras that are standing here.

This is a little bit unexpected that he would be arriving here at this hour. He would - he was scheduled to be appearing at noon where he was going to be arraigned and presumably be entering his plea of not guilty, but he has just arrived, as you have seen in the video.

The mayor, on his public schedule, had said today that he would be meeting with several of his top officials. You know, part of his effort to make sure that he is letting New Yorkers know that he is hard at work running the city, even though he is facing these very serious federal charges.

But as you saw here, it is almost 9:00 in the morning. The mayor just walking into court. We're trying to get clarity on what exactly is going to happen because we're still hours away from that scheduled hearing. So, we're trying to get clarity on whether there's been a shifting on the schedule.

But showed up with his security detail, gave a thumbs-up and walked into the court. We're going to - we're going to be in there in just a few minutes and we'll get some details of what's happening inside.

But I just, you know, want to note, the charges are serious, corruption, bribery, soliciting of donations, and accepting illegal donations from foreign nationals. We've heard both from the mayor and his attorneys. They say that the mayor has done nothing wrong. Regarding the airline upgrades and some of the gifts that he received, his lawyers say that they were nothing more than that, just airline upgrades. And that a lot of what is alleged in this indictment happened before he became mayor.

But that's a critical part of this indictment because Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney, says that what the mayor did was sell his office, his authority, and his power. And that once he took office, he gave direction and pressured city agencies to make sure that they were granting favors and giving favorable treatment to some of those donors. That is what the U.S. attorney is alleging here. And that is what Adams is pledging to defend himself of. It is going to be a tough road ahead because the political implications of this are significant. More than 30 city and state lawmakers have called on him to resign. And we are now hearing from our sources that Governor Kathy Hochul is taking a serious look at the powers that are granted to her, the power to remove the mayor from the officer. They are looking at the legal language and making sure that they keep their options open.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Gloria Pazmino, for talking us through that as we watch the mayor -- and this is a huge thing right now in New York in particular. It had huge ramifications so far in New York. Thank you so much. We will come back to you as you get new information.

But joining me now to discuss this further as Manhattan Prosecutor Jeremy Saland.

Thank you so much for being around and in here and knowing all the details of what's going on.

We saw Mayor Adams walking into court earlier than people expected. He waved at the cameras. He went in. He sort of strode through that. And he also said earlier, you know, kind of with some chutzpah, like, I am innocent. I am going to fight this.

Can you give us some sense of what these charges are and how serious this is?

JEREMY SALAND, FORMER PROSECUTOR, MANHATTAN DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE: Serious is an understatement. I mean it's incredibly serious and it's - grave is appropriate. We can go pull out a thesaurus and think of a lot of words because if there is a conviction, this is not one of those cases where you say, you know, maybe I get probation, maybe there's some sort of supervision or condition of his release. This is Mayor Adams is inmate Adams. That's what ultimately will happen.

So, serious, absolutely. Far more though.

SIDNER: Wow, that's an interesting way that you put it, how serious it is.

SALAND: Yes.

SIDNER: He could go from being the mayor to -

SALAND: An inmate.

SIDNER: An inmate.

SALAND: Absolutely. I mean, you know, you had Donald Trump, who had class e felonies on the state level. Very different.

SIDNER: Right.

SALAND: This is federal crimes, and far more grave and far more extensive in this particular case.

SIDNER: I want to sort of give you a sense - you know, Mayor Adams has been coming out and making quite a few statements. And I just want to read one of the statements from the indictment about what Adams did after his phone with seized by the FBI for the first time. He said, quote, "Adams claimed that after he learned about the investigation into his conduct, he changed his password. Adams further claimed he had forgotten the password he had just set and thus was unable to provide the FBI with a password that would unlock his phone."

What do you make of that, and does it have anything to do with why federal agents went into the mansion and started searching there?

SALAND: My cheek is getting bigger and bigger. I'm grinning and smiling. I mean, that sounds preposterous and ridiculous. You're changing - I think the story was, I'm changing my password so that nothing can accidentally happen on my phone. And my staffers couldn't mess with it or something could go wrong.

[08:55:04]

That's hogwash. That's ridiculous. It's absurd. It's preposterous. I didn't forget my password either. It's being an obstructionist. It's trying to avoid responsibility. And understand it. And to be very clear, you don't have to just say, OK, here you go.

SIDNER: Right.

SALAND: Just open it up and do your thing. You can be defensive. But you have to be careful and smart because what you say is with you and stuck with you forever. And you don't want that record to be bad.

And in terms of why they went back, you know, they were concerned about something being damaged. Or alternatively, this may have been leaked because if you recall the southern district didn't just announce it.

SIDNER: Right.

SALAND: I mean there's reaction.

SIDNER: Right.

SALAND: So this is - this mean - this means going back to get it may have been planned in advance and just the timing looked awkward by the FBI because Mayor Adams came out and said, you know, they're coming for me.

SIDNER: Can I, just for a minute, just stop and sort of lay out what has happened since the possibility - just the possibility of these charges. And now they are here against the mayor.

You've had David Banks, the chancellor of NYPD's public school system, resigned. Dr. Vasan, the health commissioner, resigned. Lisa Zornberg, chief counsel, resigned. Edward Caban, the NYPD commissioner, resigned. This is a huge problem for the city of New York. You almost wonder, who is running the city at this point with all of these people resigning. And now you've got the mayor having to go to federal court.

SALAND: It's catastrophic for the people of New York City. It's really horrific. And this all reeks from, if true, greed and arrogance, if true. And be very, very clear, and I've said this to you many, many times, everyone is entitled to due process.

SIDNER: Innocent.

SALAND: Innocent until proven guilty. But all this together looks really bad. And you do have to wonder who's running. Is Mayor Adams running the city? Yes. Is it effective? Is he doing a good job? Likely anything but.

But it is what it is. If Governor Hochul wants to remove him, that's - that's her decision. But we'll see what happens.

SIDNER: It's - it's a bad look just all the way around -

SALAND: Indeed. Indeed.

SIDNER: With all that has happened, all the people that have resigned -

SALAND: Indeed.

SIDNER: Including, obviously these charges, innocent until proven guilty. We will see how this plays out in court.

It's so good to see you.

SALAND: You as well.

SIDNER: I'm glad - I'm glad to see you again, man. Appreciate it.

SALAND: Yes, absolutely.

SIDNER: Good to be here.

All right, joining me - oh, nope, not joining me now. I think we are going to tell you much more breaking news is to come, not only from what's happened in New York with the mayor, but also, of course, the big story today, Hurricane Helene now downgraded to a tropical storm, but it is still causing major problems, flash flooding and difficulties across several southern states.

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