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Helene Now a Tropical Depression As It Thrashes Southeast; 25 People Killed Across 4 States As Helene Batters Southeast; Crews Rescue People From Severe Flooding In Atlanta; Israel Says It Struck Hezbollah's Central HQ In Beirut; No Word On Fate of Hezbollah Chief After Israel Strikes On Lebanon. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired September 27, 2024 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:13]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Helene's Wrath: The storm is blamed for at least 25 deaths as it churns through the northeast. Its relentless rains have put one dam in jeopardy of failing. One Florida sheriff compared the roads in this country to a, quote, "war zone."

Plus, hitting Hezbollah, Israel strikes the group's central headquarters in Beirut as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offers a defiant defense of this country's fight against Hamas and Hezbollah and insists Israel has every intention of fighting on.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And the last word on the Titan tragedy. The Coast Guard closes its hearing over what went wrong with the submersible, which imploded in the Atlantic last year, killing five people.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

FREEMAN: We begin with breaking news. A potentially life-threatening situation is unfolding as Helene thrashes the southeast. The storm, now a tropical depression, but it's dumping catastrophic amounts of rain across the region, even triggering landslides. Officials say all roads in western North Carolina should be considered closed amid the severe flooding. And the National Weather Service is warning a dam there is at risk of imminent failure.

We also have new video out of Atlanta showing cruises. They rescue people trapped in rising waters. At least 25 people across four states have been killed.

Now, Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane in Florida's Big Bend region last night. This is some of the devastation you can see behind me that was left behind. For more on this, let's go to CNN's Nick Valencia in Atlanta.

Nick, what is the situation like where you are right now?

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Danny, you see some of the water left over from that storm system that ripped through metro Atlanta last night. But some of this water, believe it or not, is being pumped out of the homes here behind me, out of their basements.

In fact, I spoke to a resident who said she had nine feet of water in her basement - you see that - where some of this water is coming from. And then you see this man out here. He's a cardiologist, we understand, at a local hospital. He's got sewage that he's cleaning off his front steps because there's a sewage pump just to the off camera to me.

But one of the more harrowing stories that we heard since our several hours of being here is what happened to the owner of that white Sedan here, Angelina Madut. She was working the overnight shift at a bakery in Norcross said she couldn't afford to miss a day of work. And even though she knew that Tropical Storm Helene was on its way to the area, she had to get to work and she had to get back.

She comes through this road all the time, but she didn't really remember or understand just the grade here and the flooding. It really basically just submerged her car. You could see some video from earlier today. The water level on that car was reaching to the top of the window.

We caught up with her husband. In fact, it was a meteorologist, a former HLN meteorologist, Bob Van Dillen, that was able to, you know, risk his own personal safety. He pulled her out of the car and was able to take her to safety. We talked to the woman's husband a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERNIST MADUT, ANGELINA MADUT'S HUSBAND: Tried to roll down the window and then the water came in and she was panicked. And, you know, I'd say, you know, just scream and, you know, and wave at them. And that's when Bob, which they parked their car facing that way and they didn't know what was, you know, behind them. So realize, you know, she - someone need help and came out.

VALENCIA: So if it wasn't for him hearing her yells, she would not have been rescued.

MADUT: He would not been - she would not been rescued.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: Emergency service is still in the area. You can hear the sirens from a fire engine on its way to help somebody else out. But take a look here at the situation. This is another one of the homes that was damaged in this area.

[15:05:03]

All of it underwater just a couple of hours ago. The sun is out. It's starting to get some of this water back to its, you know, normal levels. But you see here clearly the drainage system an issue in the city of Atlanta. So officials telling me it may take some time, perhaps several days before these water levels go back to normal. Danny?

FREEMAN: Well, and again, just incredible that that woman in her car was saved. And I appreciate you telling us that story, Nick. Thank you so much. Stay safe.

All right. Now to CNN National Correspondent Michael Yoshida. He's live for us in Steinhatchee, Florida.

Michael, tell us about what you're seeing down there.

MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Danny. Now that the sun is up, we're really starting to get a sense for how powerful Helene was when it hit this part of Florida, right in the Big Bend area in Steinhatchee. You can see some of the debris that they've already started to pile together. All of this from last night's storm surge.

This entire area was covered with pieces of docks, some boats that had floated up out of the water as well. And as we walk this way, this entire area was covered last night. We were a little further up the hill on higher ground, but we saw that storm surge come in and really where I'm standing right now, the water would have been above me.

Another perspective, you can see these buildings here. The water was up to about the roof level. So significant, significant amount of flooding. And now as we look at the cleanup, I want to point out, you can see a dock that was in the water, it was way further up the hill. It's now been moved closer to the marina.

That's a new dock. The owner of this marina telling me when they were hit by Idalia last year, they had most of their docks destroyed. They had just spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to rebuild them to get ready for this year. Now they've been hit by yet another storm. They were hoping these new docks would survive this storm. Obviously, you can see significant damage here in Steinhatchee. A lot of cleanup ahead as we're just, again, really getting a sense from officials how bad the damage was as they start their assessments.

FREEMAN: Well, and again, just wild to think that that water may have been above your head not too long ago. Michael Yoshida, thank you so much for that report.

Let's go now to the CNN Weather Center with meteorologist Elisa Raffa.

Elisa, what's in store for the next few hours?

ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Danny, we're still looking at this flood threat continuing as we go through the day today. Helene is a tropical depression, so it's starting to lose its skeleton, but that doesn't mean that it won't produce this flooding rain. It continues to do that across the Carolinas.

We still have tropical storm-force gusts. Cincinnati gusting up to 45 miles per hour; Louisville, 40-mile-per-hour gusts. At Charleston, winds are gusting to 31 miles per hour. You can see the rain is stretching all the way into southeast Missouri and then the Carolina coast there. So, again, a very wide storm as we've been talking about.

Look at the flood watches, all of that green areas where we're seeing some of this heavy rain from Helene. But we've really been focusing on the western Carolinas. All of this white outline means that those are flash flood emergencies. That is the highest level that we have to alert people about rising waters and flash flooding. It has been catastrophic what's been going on in the western Carolinas out there today.

I mean, they've had so much rain. The rain is tapering off, but that doesn't mean it's over because now the rivers are aggravated. They're rising, getting to record levels and then spilling. So just incredible to see what's been going on around the Asheville area, Hickory, the mountains and the foothills. Some of these rainfall totals have been over a foot - well over a foot. All of these kind of purples that you see here near Asheville are these totals that are over 10 inches.

This is also a mountainous area, so the terrain isn't really good at taking in this water. So it has nowhere to go but to rush down the mountain and that's where you get these landslides that are such a concern.

Here's a look at some of these rain totals. I mean, some of these mountains here in North Carolina were approaching 30 inches of rain. Thirty inches - 13 inches has fallen in Asheville. So again, the river problems will continue as we go into the weekend. Danny?

FREEMAN: Yes. And just incredible when you see just how much rain that area might - I mean, had to take in. Elisa Raffa, thank you so much for that report. Brianna?

KEILAR: Joining us now is the mayor of Cedar Key, Florida, Sue Colson.

Mayor, you're on the phone with us. Obviously, there's a lot of damage to your area there. We're seeing it, the pictures, really hard to absorb here. Tell us what you've been able to get out and see in your community.

MAYOR SUE COLSON, CEDAR KEY, FLORIDA: Well, it's pretty much utter - just a desert, rather, of just debris. We are a very old town, and we have historic buildings. We've lost a lot of those, a lot of the new homes. And we're a very, very environmentally friendly town, and we have a wonderful clam industry. And we produce farm-raised clams here, so we're concerned about water quality in all this debris.

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It's just a multi, multifaceted mess.

KEILAR: It is - it's a beautiful community on its best day and I think we are seeing it here on its worst day. Cedar Key can only be accessed by one bridge. Can you tell us - is it open?

COLSON: No, it is not at this time and it's because we have too much damage on land that we have to secure the propane tanks that are floating around that are not turned off properly and can cause fires or explosions. We also have had a fire today, and there's a lot of downed wires, and there's a lot of debris that's extremely dangerous.

So until we can clear the roadways and make it somewhat safe, we can't let our people in. We also don't have any sewage, water or electric. So there's really not a whole lot to be able to sustain people being here.

KEILAR: Some people, though, dozens, I know you had said decided to stay, not quite a hundred, but they decided not to evacuate. Have they all been accounted for at this point?

COLSON: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. We have a very detailed list that went out and we had people go out and secure that they were there and made sure that they were safe and we lost none and no injuries.

KEILAR: That is fantastic news. Can you tell us - I mean, you are detailing so much damage, so many needs for your community. Do you have what you need for recovery? What are you going to be asking for? What do you want the state to know?

COLSON: Well, we have to ask for, first of all, patience for our people, that they have to understand we're doing the best we can as fast as we can. Number two, from our agencies to give us relief as fast as they can. Everything is about timing. And then we're going to need lots of dollars to fix it. We always get a lot of volunteers that come from our surrounding communities, but we can't bring them in quite yet because it's not quite safe enough.

So we want everybody to hold on so we can get them in. And we want assist with money from agencies and things that we need to put the infrastructure back. We need the sewage treatment fixed. We need the water fixed. We may have saltwater intrusion in our wells. So there's a lot of issues and it's not one simple problem. And we're a very small community, so it makes it difficult.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. And we're seeing the damage. It is going to be a long road ahead. Mayor, thank you so much for joining us. We wish you ...

COLSON: You're welcome.

KEILAR: ... the best of luck as you are working at the very beginning here of your recovery. Thank you. And glad that everyone's accounted for.

COLSON: You're welcome.

KEILAR: Mayor Sue Colson of Cedar Key.

Still ahead, Lebanon's capital, Beirut, rocked by several large explosions. Israel says its military was targeting Hezbollah's leader. We are live in Lebanon and Israel with new details on the strike. No word yet on whether Hassan Nasrallah survived that attack. We are staying tuned to see.

Plus, Vice President Harris heading to the U.S. southern border. What she's expected to say as she is trying to tackle the immigration issue head on, an issue that former President Trump polls much better on.

And New York City Mayor Eric Adams facing federal corruption charges in court today. What sources tell CNN about the state's governor possibly removing him from office?

We have those stories and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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FREEMAN: We are now seeing stunning new video of those massive explosions that rocked the Lebanese capital of Beirut today.

The Israeli military says the strikes were aimed at Hezbollah's top leader Hassan Nasrallah. Now, it's not known if he was injured or killed at this time yet as rescue crews search to the rubble. We have a team of correspondents in the region right now. Jeremy Diamond is with us in Tel Aviv, but let's first begin with CNN'S Ben Wedeman in Beirut.

Ben, what are you learning about these strikes and the casualties?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the casualty figures, Danny, are very preliminary. At this point the ministry of health is saying two dead, 76 injured. Now we're outside the Rafik Hariri Hospital in Beirut where we've seen a variety of injuries arrive already and it is expected given that this bombing flattened six buildings in a very, very crowded part of Beirut that the death toll inevitably will rise as far as whether Hassan Nasrallah the secretary general of Hezbollah was killed or not, we still don't know.

I have been trying to call and message my Hezbollah contacts nobody is answering. Obviously, the group is in a state of crisis at this point when you consider what has happened since Tuesday of last week with the pager attacks and walkie-talkie attacks, a series of targeted strikes on Beirut killing senior commanders and, of course, starting on Monday, this Israeli bombing campaign of shock and awe that has killed over 600 people in the last five days.

Now, as I said this was an area of town very crowded and it's not - the Israelis are claiming that they're underground, that there was a Hezbollah command headquarters.

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This we don't know. But at this point, we know that obviously nerves are on edge. The United Kingdom has announced that it's putting on additional flights to fly out British nationals from Lebanon who the government in London has already urged all British nationals to leave. We understand that security has been beefed up outside the U.S. embassy and we heard - and we got an announcement from the Iranian embassy here in Beirut saying that this strike, in its words, changed the rules of the game and is vowing revenge for the strike. And even if Hassan Nasrallah was not killed, this basically is another psychological blow to a group that until recently took pride in what it thought was its tight internal security. What we've seen with the pager attacks, the walkie-talkie attacks, that clearly their communications, their internal intelligence has been severely compromised. Danny?

FREEMAN: Ben Wedeman, thank you very much for that report.

Let's go now to Jeremy Diamond. He's in Haifa, Israel.

These strikes came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered that combative speech at the U.N., where he threatened Iran and vowed to continue these attacks or his attacks, rather, on Hezbollah and Hamas. Jeremy, what message do you think Israel is sending in this latest strike?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is no question that today's strike marks a significant escalation by Israel in this nearly year-long conflict with Hezbollah, following a series of escalatory actions by Israel over the course of the last week and a half or so. We have seen since those pager attacks that Israel has consistently been going one rung up the ladder almost every single day as it looks to intentionally escalate this conflict and to try and de-link it, effectively, from the war in Gaza.

While Hezbollah has said that they would stop firing rockets on northern Israel should Israel stop the war in Gaza, Israeli officials believe that this is the better strategy to get Hezbollah to stop firing rockets, to effectively beat Hezbollah back into submission, to stop them from firing rockets in northern Israel and to restore security there, where some 60,000 Israeli residents have been displaced from their homes.

An Israeli security official telling me tonight that indeed Hassan Nasrallah was the target of this strike. But I'm told that at this hour, the Israeli military is still conducting what's known as a battle damage assessment to determine whether or not Nasrallah was actually killed in this strike. What is clear, though, as Admiral Daniel Hagari, the Israeli military spokesman, announced this evening, the Israeli military went after what they describe as Hezbollah's underground headquarters beneath residential buildings in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

And when you look at the power of this explosion and the Israeli strategy that we have seen being employed in Gaza, this suggests the use of very heavy munitions, potentially those 2,000-pound bombs that are used to penetrate targets deep underground, but that leave in their wake enormous civilian casualties. And, in this case, we have seen six different buildings, according to Lebanese state news agency, that have been flattened in this strike. The death toll expected to continue to rise. And these strikes clearly putting this region very, very much on edge, escalating the situation even further, where it seems almost difficult to imagine how this region and how this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah can be turned away from all-out war. FREEMAN: And, Jeremy, before you go, we couldn't help but notice behind you, it seemed like there was, perhaps, rocket fire in the air. I know you were speaking with us, but can you give any clarity on what might have been happening in the background of your shot there?

DIAMOND: You know, I haven't - I'm hearing things very distantly. I don't think we've gotten - yes, we did actually just get some rocket sirens just north of us. I'm just looking at this red alert siren app. Yes, in the area of Karmiel, which is just to the northeast of us. And so, that may be what you were seeing.

This is now the second barrage of rocket fire that we have seen, likely from Hezbollah, coming into northern Israel. The first barrage was towards a town called Safed, where the Israeli military's northern command is based. And I'm now hearing those booms in the distance.

Obviously, you see these interceptions before you can actually hear them. But you're right, if you guys were seeing that on my screen, those were likely rocket interceptions.

[15:24:58]

Again, as we expect, that - following this very significant strike in the Lebanese capital, targeting and potentially, although we do not know yet, having killed or injured Hezbollah's leader. I think we can safely expect that Hezbollah will continue to more barrages of rockets. The question is how much further will they go.

You know, Israeli officials had been anticipating, in the event of a serious escalation, that you would see Hezbollah fire hundreds of rockets simultaneously. We have not yet seen that, but perhaps now we will. Danny?

FREEMAN: Jeremy Diamond, thank you very much for that report. Please stay safe where you are. Thank you.

All right, still ahead, Vice President Harris heads to the border and tackles a key issue that Republicans are trying to use against her, immigration. We'll be joined by the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona to talk about the border and why he supports Harris. Stay with us.

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