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Hurricane Helene Slams Southeast With Life-Threatening Floods, Winds; Western North Carolina Under Flash Flood Emergency; No Word On Fate Of Hezbollah Chief After Israeli Strikes On Lebanon. Aired 2- 2:30p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:01:55]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Helene's impact, millions without power, towns along the Gulf coast devastated, and at least 23 people killed. The storm isn't even finished yet. It is rolling through the southeast still. And we have the latest update on its track, released just minutes ago.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Plus, a defiant stand at the United Nations. Israel's Prime Minister defends his country's fight against Hamas and Hezbollah. Lebanon's Foreign Minister, meantime, warns the conflict quote, "threatens the entire Middle East as massive explosions throughout Beirut.

Plus, a double win for Americans. Inflation is cooling and so are mortgage rates that could pave the way for lower expenses on everything from credit cards to home loans. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN News Central.

KEILAR: We are following breaking news. The National Weather Service is warning that a dam in North Carolina is at risk of imminent failure as Helene pummels the southeast with torrential rain. Evacuations in the area now underway, residents being urged to get to higher ground. Damaging winds and tornadoes are also a threat. One couple sharing their terrifying experience after narrowly escaping a landslide that was triggered by Helene.

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WOMAN #1: Well, as you can see by the mud on the door inside and the windows, and the shattered back window, we narrowly escaped a landslide. It was --and I can't imagine what the roof looks like because there were some big boulders coming down. It's terrifying.

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KEILAR: Terrifying. And authorities say at least 25 people have been killed across four states. The storm made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region last night, causing widespread damage and leaving millions of people without power. Let's go live now to CNN's Nick Valencia. He is there in Atlanta, which got hammered with rain overnight. Nick, tell us what you're seeing.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you're looking at some of the water that's left over after this area. Memorial Park got hammered overnight by that storm system. And some of that water is left over. But some of it, Brianna, is being pumped out of the basement of these local residences. I just spoke to one resident who said that she had nine feet of water in her basement. The more terrifying story though is what we heard happen here this morning in this subdivision.

Check out that white sedan. The owner of that white sedan, Angelina Madute (sp?), was working the overnight shift at a bakery in Norcross. And before you criticize her, she said she just couldn't afford to miss a day of work. Her employer didn't close down work. She found herself traveling in at 09:00 p.m. last night when the roads were really undrivable. And she left this morning, thinking that she could get through this subdivision, not realizing the grade here. And she ended up basically floating away.

And if it wasn't for our former colleague Bob Van Dylan, who many of you may remember as a meteorologist on HLN, he was parked on the other side of that road, saw her waving for help and was able actually to get in wading in waist deep water and pulled her out.

[14:05:04]

She has been reunited with her husband and is shocked. But we're hearing so many terrifying stories like that.

And in fact, just walking around this area, we met one of these -- one of our local elected politicians here, a state senator whose district, this is Senator Halpern. Thank you so much for taking the time with CNN. It's got to be so devastating to see the community that you represent like this. Talk to us about some of the damage.

SONYA HALPERN, GEORGIA STATE SENATOR: Well, you can already see that flooding. There's been down trees and lots of power out. We still don't have power at my home. And my district happens to be across five cities, Atlanta being one of them and moving south. Lots of down trees, lots of flooding, lots of power outages.

VALENCIA: You were talking to us about some of these roads and how they were impassable. You've been driving around here. We've got some great video to show you, just the extent of the flooding here. These roads, I mean, this man's home, he's one that lives here. His backyard is a river.

HALPERN: It is. It is actually a river. And I think this is going to be the biggest part of the cleanup issue, right? Is how do we get all the water out? How do we get homes dried, and livable, and habitable again.

VALENCIA: Drainage is a huge issue here. I mean, look, just pan off over here, you could see just how much water these residents are dealing with. What are some of the concerns that you're hearing from residents right now? Because it seems, yes, this is more of an affluent neighborhood. You think they have insurance here. But what are some of the other concerns?

HALPERN: Anytime --

VALENCIA: Mostly just clean up in the mess?

HALPERN: Yeah. And anytime anything like a big storm comes through, I mean, it is always brings a lot of fear and anxiety. And I don't think that that dissipates at all when you're looking at your home underwater, when you've got nine feet of water in your basement that you've got to pump out. So I think people are really just thinking about what is the next step?

And they can't quite think yet about, you know, what does the normalcy look like again, because they're still dealing with the aftereffects.

VALENCIA: Well, we know you're going to be going door to door knocking and seeing how your constituents are. Thank you so much for taking the time with CNN. We appreciate you running into us here.

So you can see here the drainage system is, of course, an issue here in the city, Brianna. So as much as it is, grateful to see the sun sort of peeking out and this water starting to recede. It's going to take days before the water levels get back to normal here. Brianna?

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly is. And a shout out to Bob. I mean, I've always been a fan of his forecasts. But I'm so glad to know that he was the key to that scene behind you ending happily instead of in a very sad way. This has been a very tough storm. Nick, thank you for bringing that to us.

Meteorologist Elisa Raffa is tracking this storm from the CNN Weather Center. Elisa, what are the next few hours look like here?

Elisa Raffa: We're still going to find this flooding rain. And then the rivers are still going to be responding to this rain even through the weekend. We now have a tropical depression. All that means is that it's losing the skeleton of its once tropical structure. But it doesn't need that to dump all of this heavy rain. That will continue. We have this outer band that has been producing tornado warnings all day in the Eastern Carolinas. And then this rain stretches into Tennessee, even parts of Eastern Missouri with some of that flooding rain. The flood watches extend pretty far reaching because of all of this rain.

I want to point your attention to all of these white outline boxes. These are all of the flash flood emergencies in Western North Carolina. Just incredible how many emergencies there have been. There was one all morning in Atlanta that was thankfully allowed to expire. There's still a flash flood warning, though, as those waters, as you just saw from where Nick is, still have to recede. The warnings, though, continue in North Carolina.

A couple of warnings actually where there are dams that are at risk of failing and eroding from all of the heavy rain and record rises in the river. And that's because this area here has seen more than a foot of rain. You could see this hot pink here near Asheville where we've had totals exceed 10 inches. This is a mountainous terrain, so there's really not really anywhere for this water to go, which is why they're worried about landslides that we've already seen some reports of, again, because this land will just kind of slide forward with all of this heavy rain.

Still finding some gusts up to 40 miles per hour. Roanoke seeing some of these gusts, 37 miles per hour gusts even in Cincinnati as the winds continue to whip around with some of this heavy rain as well. Some of these totals have approached 30 inches in the mountains of North Carolina. Just incredible, the records amount of rain that we've seen, Table Rock, South North Carolina, 13 inches, Asheville, 13 inches, Atlanta, got 11 inches of rain this morning. Again, we are still worried about that flooding through the day today, especially in the mountains there on North Carolina.

And as we go through the weekend, what's left of Helene will just continue to swirl over the Tennessee Valley. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Elisa, thank you so much for that update. Danny?

FREEMAN: Joining us now is Florida Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez. Lieutenant Governor, thank you so much for being with us this afternoon. We spoke with you yesterday on this program. And you felt confident in the state's preparations. Tell us, how did it hold up?

[14:10:02]

JEANETTE NUNEZ: Yeah. Excellent. Under the governor's leadership, we had all of those resources, and assets, and personnel staged, and ready to start deploying the minute the storm subsided. What we saw is into the wee hours of the morning, folks were already heading out. They were doing search and rescue. They were making sure that if people were stranded, they were rescuing those folks, and then beginning the tedious work of power restoration. I know we talked about the importance of that.

Residents, of course, are eager to get their power restored. Right now, we have a little over 1 million people without power, but that work is ongoing. And we've seen a tremendous amount of progress. So we hope in short order, we'll get the power restored. Of course, people are going to have a lot of damage in that Gulf coast Big Bend area, and even further into Pinellas, Tampa area, we've seen a lot of damage, a lot of destruction. And so we're going to continue that difficult work. We'll stand up all the necessary food and water distribution, and then begin to assist them with rebuilding and recovery.

FREEMAN: Lieutenant Governor, can you give us an update on injuries your state has seen and the number of people who may have lost their lives in this storm?

NUNEZ: Yeah. Tragically, right now, what we are seeing is six individuals have perished. One of those was early on in the storm, it was a traffic accident. The other one was a tree, unfortunately, fell on the home. The other four were still getting information. But what we continue to message, and this is an important part of post-storm, we want people to be safe, obviously, leading up to the storm, during the storm.

But what we see is a lot of time, that fatalities occur afterwards. People going out into flood waters where there are down power lines, working with power tools, and maybe not having the necessary safety precautions in place, tree limbs falling on homes and on individuals, generator usage. All of this is ongoing messaging that we'll be sharing with Floridians to make sure they maintain the safety and well-being of their loved ones. But it is something that we're concerned about, and we'll continue to provide assistance. If anyone needs assistance, we'll have plenty of nonprofits along to help, especially the elderly. Sometimes, they want to get up on ladders, and we don't recommend that. We'll have plenty of resources to be able to assist them. But it's a difficult long haul recovery process that we're going to see here in the state of Florida.

FREEMAN: And of course, our hearts go out to those who lost their lives and their families. Lieutenant Governor, what comes specifically next in these efforts to recover and rebuild? What are your folks on the ground doing in the gulf right now?

NUNEZ: Right now, of course, debris removal, cut and toss operations, search and rescue, I think for the most part we've been able to address that very quickly. What you see is many roadways, many bridges need to be inspected to make sure they're passable and they're safe. And so once all of that assessment is done, then all the folks can come in and begin that process. We saw it during Hurricane Ian two years ago. There were bridges washed out. We helped to rebuild those in very short order, three days in one case, two weeks in another. People's homes, of course, if there is a tremendous amount of storm surge, like I mentioned in that Tampa Bay Pinellas area, they'll have to start going through that process with their insurance.

But I do want to share and provide this information to all Floridians. We stand ready to assist you. We'll be with you throughout the long haul and we'll recover.

FREEMAN: Well, I'm really glad that it does seem like many Floridians heeded your advice, certainly yesterday and throughout the evening. Lieutenant Governor Jeanette Nunez, thank you so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

NUNEZ: Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right. Still to come, we're following breaking news out of Lebanon where an Israeli airstrike targeted the head of Hezbollah. We're live in Beirut.

Plus, Donald Trump is in Michigan set to deliver remarks on a issue for voters, the economy.

And newly uncovered messages sent by J.D. Vance back in 2020 will tell you what they reveal about his thoughts on Trump during his last run for the White House. We're following those stories and more right ahead on CNN News Central.

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KEILAR: We are anxiously watching the aftermath of some huge explosions in Beirut, Lebanon, and whether the top leader of Hezbollah may have been killed in one of them. The Israeli military says, it struck the group's central headquarters there earlier today. And an Israeli source tells CNN that Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah was the target. The attack marks another major escalation in the Middle East conflict. CNN's Ben Wedeman is in Beirut for us. Ben, what more do we know about these powerful explosions?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand, Brianna, that there were six buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut that were utterly flattened by this bombing that took place around 07:00 p.m. local time. Now, we -- of course, the Israelis have claimed that the target was the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah. We've heard not a word from the organization itself, neither confirming nor denying whether he was at that location or whether he was killed.

What we do know from the Lebanese Ministry of Health is that at least two people were killed, 76 injured. Now, we're outside the Rafik Hariri hospital in Beirut, where I spoke to a doctor, and they have received some of the injured. But he said the numbers are minimal. Of course, this is a hospital somewhat away from the bomb site. But we expect the death toll, the number of injured to increase dramatically, given that this is a part of Beirut that is very densely populated, where the Israeli airstrike took place.

[14:20:20]

There's an ambulance that's just arrived. Of course, we don't know about the nature of the person inside. This is a very densely populated neighborhood. I've been there many times. The buildings are smack dab against one another. It's actually -- it appears to have happened at a Palestinian refugee camp, the Borj El Brajneh camp, which is one very crowded place.

Now here, I'm just going to step aside. You can see somebody who has been injured. It does not appear to be, in this instance, a serious injury. Now, what we've seen while we've been waiting here is that many people have been coming to donate blood. This is without, a doubt, the largest airstrike on Beirut since the July 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel. And I believe it's the fifth Israeli airstrike on Beirut since last Friday. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right. Ben Wedeman, potentially huge ramifications here. Thank you so much for the report from Beirut.

Let's bring in CNN's Jim Sciutto. He is in Tel Aviv. Jim, this attack came just moments after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a rather fiery speech at the U.N. where he threatened Iran and vowed to continue the fight against Hezbollah and Hamas. What does this mean for that U.S. proposal for a ceasefire?

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN REPORTER: Well, first, let's get to where Israeli officials stand on this. Israeli officials are confirming that Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, was the target of this strike. They have not yet confirmed whether he was struck, whether injured or killed by the strike. They're still seeking information and intelligence. Timing-wise, this comes not just on the heels of Netanyahu's defiant speech at the U.N., but in the midst of very high level U.S.-led negotiations to create a ceasefire, come to an agreement to a ceasefire on the northern border between Israel and Hezbollah.

And one can only surmise that a strike of this size going after the leader of Hezbollah essentially puts those ceasefire talks negotiations to an end or certainly puts them at great risk. The U.S. effort has been going back nearly a year, Brianna, to those October 7th attacks, to prevent a larger regional war from developing from this. And that effort has been on a number of fronts, including those ongoing on again, off again, talks for a ceasefire in Gaza as well as a hostage release deal. Those talks came to an impasse in the last several weeks. And now, this most recent effort for a 21-day ceasefire on the northern border between Israel and Hezbollah, well, now you have a strike, quite a large strike in Beirut targeting the leader of Hezbollah, which one can -- with some confidence say, at least puts those ceasefire talks very much into doubt.

I want to tell you what a U.S. official is telling me now about us knowledge of this strike. A U.S. official tells me the following, quote, "we are still gathering information. But I can tell you that the United States had no knowledge of or involvement in no advanced knowledge of this attack and that we had nothing to do with any IDF military action in Beirut today." That speaks to, I think you can read between those lines there quite clearly, Brianna, that the U.S. was one not involved in this and only got -- well, he is saying that they got no advance knowledge. I know that others have reported that the U.S. had knowledge perhaps minutes before the strike. Regardless, that is not an Israeli call to the U.S. for certainly any approval of this strike in advance. And you can hear from that statement from the U.S. official that the U.S. wants to indicate, in fact the opposite, that it did not give approval for this strike.

And I think it's quite clear, given the broader U.S. efforts to come to some sort of a bring about a ceasefire agreement in the north, that it is quite concerned about the potential ramifications of this strike. This region has been on pins and needles for weeks and months about the possibility of an expanded war. A strike like this one certainly only raises the risk.

And right now, Brianna, you have to imagine how does Hezbollah respond? And of course, the other question is, how does Iran respond in the midst of all this? Because Hezbollah, of course, is Iran's proxy force in Lebanon. It's a dicey time here, to say the least.

[14:25:02]

KEILAR: Yeah, that is the big question, how will Iran react here? Jim Sciutto, thank you so much for that update from Tel Aviv. We appreciate it. And just ahead, former President Trump about to take the stage in the

battleground state of Michigan. RFK Jr. is up now. He's been a key -- he's been a -- it has been, I should say, a key state for the former President in the past. So what is his strategy this time around? We'll take you there live.

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