Return to Transcripts main page
CNN News Central
Hurricane Melissa Packing 175 MPH Winds; Cuba to Get Hit by Melissa; Steve McKinley is Interviewed about Hurricane Melissa; Air Traffic Control Shortages at Atlanta and Newark Airports. Aired 9- 9:30a ET
Aired October 28, 2025 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[09:00:00]
STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Mulling options to take internal action, action inside Venezuela to target these drug cartels, which could perhaps lead to an open confrontation against the government of Nicolas Maduro.
Now, we understand that the president has not made that decision yet, and that right now the U.S. are provoking or trying to present a show of forces action to rattle the ranks of the Venezuelan government and perhaps to trigger defections in around the Maduro circle. However, this thing could get really, really more serious, especially with more U.S. assets on the way.
Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Absolutely.
Stefano Pozzebon, thank you so much.
A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We begin with breaking news. Extremely dangerous, catastrophic and potential to bring total structural failure. Forecasters warning Hurricane Melissa is blasting out winds at 175 miles per hour. The eye of the storm is headed for a direct hit on western Jamaica. The storm will engulf the entire island. We are live, seeing the first effects of the most powerful storm to hit the planet this year.
And a violent end to a high-speed chase on a California freeway. A suspect accused of shooting and killing a deputy then crashes into a car while fleeing on a motorcycle.
And a World Series game that is one of the longest in history. How the L.A. Dodgers took the win in an 18-inning marathon for the ages.
I'm Sara Sidner, with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news, we've got live images from Jamaica where the eye of the most powerful storm on earth this year is approaching the western coast and is expected to make landfall shortly. Hurricane Melissa is an extremely dangerous category five storm. And the World Meteorological Organization says it could be the storm of the century for Jamaica.
The newest track shows Melissa is about 55 miles south southeast of the coast. What's really amazing about this map right now is you really can't even see Jamaica. I mean Jamaica is completely covered by the size of this storm. And the eye itself takes up a significant portion of this island as it is moving over there with sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. That's sustained winds of 175 miles per hour. The eyewall, at this moment, could be recharging. The National Hurricane Center is warning it could bring total structural failure to Jamaica, especially at higher elevations.
Just a few minutes ago we spoke with a resident who is bunkering down just west of the capital, Kingston, about the preparations she is taking.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NATASSIA WRIGHT, JAMAICA RESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER OF MIND FOOD INTERNATIONAL (via telephone): Just ensuring that we have food supplies, that we, you know, there's not much leakage. We would have fixed any roof issues that we had. And, you know, just making sure that we stay put because even though the structure of the home may be perfect, if the surroundings have -- has a lot of trees or, you know, there are debris that have not been taken care of, they -- those things are missiles in this kind of wind that we're feeling right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: All right, and we do have breaking news from the ground there. You can see our man Derek Van Dam beginning to get blown around a little bit in Kingston.
Derek, what have you learned right now about this storm?
DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, John, we're waiting the inevitable of this unthinkable tragedy that will unfold here in Jamaica. We've just got a special update from the National Hurricane Center at 9:00 a.m. This storm has gone nuclear. And what I mean by that is that it's dropped in pressure below 900 millibars. So, think about how we often relay the power of a hurricane in categories. The Saffir-Simpson Scale that goes from category one to category five. Well, meteorologists also use what's called "mean sea level pressure" as well. And the fact that it's just dropped below 900 millibars to 896 millibars means that this is still one of the most powerful and lowest pressures in the Atlantic basin. Still need to confirm this information.
But let's give an analogy for you so you understand what pressure means. It does really correlate to the strength of a hurricane. But think of mean sea level pressure, 896 millibars, like the vacuum -- a vacuum in -- in the air. The stronger the vacuum, the lower the pressure. So, the faster that air kind of gets sucked in towards the center of the hurricane. So, that inflow is what powers the storm. So, when I say this storm has dropped the pressure, it means that it's
gotten even stronger.
[09:05:01]
So, the fact that it's dropped below 900 millibars in this special update means that this -- this storm -- we know it already, but it is -- it is one of the most powerful storms in the Atlantic basin. It will be the storm of the century here in Jamaica. And the winds at this update coincide with that drop in pressure as well. One hundred and eighty mile per hour winds, sustained, across the center of Hurricane Melissa. That is what we are facing over the western portions of Jamaica. Terrifying. That will isolate communities. That will rip the island where that core of the center of that storm comes on shore. And it will -- it will literally defoliate the trees. It will shred bark off the sides of these trees. It will take down structures. It will make roads impassable and isolate communities.
So, the fact that we're getting this new information from the National Hurricane Center, dropping below 900 millibars, that is a form of strength. And that shows you the immense pressure of this storm as it makes its final approach west of Kingston, where I'm located, west of here. That is where we will have the greatest catastrophic impacts, where the core of this powerful, powerful, intensifying hurricane makes landfall.
John.
BERMAN: All right, I just want to reiterate this, Derek, because the numbers you gave us are I think a little bit hard to process, but dropping below 900 millibars with sustained winds of 180 miles per hour.
And when you look at this map, I think it could be confusing, because what most people see there is Cuba. And you see the outer bands approaching Cuba there.
No. What's truly fascinating about this map right now is you can't even see Jamaica because Jamaica is completely subsumed in the purple there. The eye wall itself there is going to make a direct hit with these incredibly powerful winds there.
VAN DAM: Right.
BERMAN: This storm is a monster, Derek.
VAN DAM: Right. Yes, it's -- it's huge. The wind field is expanding. The core of the hurricane, the strongest winds near the eye, is also expanding. But it's that pressure that gives the meteorologists who study this, the forecasters, the indication that this is reaching the upper echelon, the upper threshold of what the -- what nature can produce in this part of the world. We're in very rare air -- rare territory for Hurricane Melissa in terms of its strength and its pressure.
So again, we often communicate the power of a hurricane in categories. The Saffir-Simpson Scale, cat one to cat five. We know this is a cat five. That's a measure of its potential damage in terms of the wind. But when we talk about the pressure of the storm dropping below 900 millibars to 896, we're talking one -- the first or second lowest Atlantic basin sea pressure ever measured. And that comes from the hurricane hunters who drop the dropsons (ph). They penetrate the eye of the storm. We've seen the amazing visuals of that stadium effect of the clearing skies overhead. That's the vacuum analogy I used a few minutes ago, as that air rushes into the center of the hurricane, it clears out the eye above, creates the stadium effect. And the readings that the hurricane hunters have found show that this storm is still strengthening and it is still deepening. And that terrifies me. And it should terrify the people of Jamaica.
BERMAN: Yes. And again, most terrifying for the people in the direct path of the wall, which is not exactly where you are. I forgot how far you said Kingston was from where the eye is expected to make landfall, Derek. But for the people there in the capital, what wind speeds -- and we're talking about 180 mile per hour sustained winds at the center of the storm. What does that mean for where you are in Kingston?
VAN DAM: OK, so -- so Kingston is roughly about, I would say, 75 miles to the east of where the hurricane will make landfall. But because of this expanding wind field, we clearly already have tropical storm force conditions. We will feel hurricane conditions. We're also on what we call the dirty side of the hurricane. So, the nation's capital, Kingston, population a million people, we could be facing tornadoes that spin up at a moments notice because it's that right front quadrant of a hurricane that is most lethal, most dangerous. It also pushes up the storm surge from the Caribbean Ocean. And not to mention the heavy rainfall that will be compounded by the mountainous terrain here meeting the storm surge on that right front quadrant of the core of the hurricane. And that will rise the water into some of the most vulnerable communities along the south coast of Jamaica.
We're worried about the St. Elizabeth Parish. So, if you look at a map of Jamaica, you can kind of see the Treasure Beach. The Mandeville region. Those are very specific locations.
[09:10:01]
But last year Hurricane Beryl came through here in 2024, didn't make landfall. It was an economic disaster because that is the breadbasket of Jamaica. So, if we have a second storm this powerful, we have the potential ramifications of an economic disaster for the second year in a row. So, that's also part of this story.
John.
BERMAN: All right, Derek Van Dam for us in Kingston this morning. Derek, we can hear in your voice just how historic this storm is becoming as it moves ever closer to landfall in Jamaica. You and your team stay safe. Keep us posted as to what you see.
Sara. SIDNER: All right. And we should just mention again, the breaking news Derek just gave us is that this hurricane is growing even stronger after blasting Jamaica today with what are now 180 mile per hour sustained winds. Hurricane Melissa is taking aim at Cuba. The island could see winds up to 100 miles per hour or more and up to 25 inches of rain. Compare that to this month's rainfall average of just over seven and a half inches.
Joining us now, CNN Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppmann from Santiago de Cuba.
Patrick, how are Cubans reacting to this threat this morning?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF AND INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Cubans have experienced hurricanes their whole lives. So, you just simply can't get out of the way of a hurricane when you live on an island.
But, you know, what we're hearing, what we're just learning now indicates that they've never gone through a hurricane like this. And at this moment, there are hundreds of thousands of people that are in the process of being evacuated on this island and they have only hours to go before conditions make that impossible.
And so, you know, all around me on rooftops we see people getting things down, trying to get their possessions if they have anything on the roof, building materials, that kind of thing because that can turn into shrapnel. So, they're trying to get those kinds of items off the roofs because they know those will go flying off in 100 mile an hour winds, can hit people, can kill people.
There are mountains behind me where there are whole communities. Those mountains could lead to, once we get this heavy, heavy rain, we could see massive flash flooding. So that is, of course, a major concern here.
So, you know, yesterday we were out off the coast here where there are some islands and there were people being evacuated off those islands. Some did not want to leave. And the low-lying coastal communities as well. People were being evacuated and going to shelters or staying with relatives. There's really no safe place to go if you're in eastern Cuba right now.
This storm is coming. It is a monster storm. I have a feeling that tomorrow, and in the days ahead, the city where I am right now will look very, very different.
SIDNER: Yes, especially once we all see what happened to Jamaica, as you see, which is completely engulfed in the winds of the storm, and the eye has not yet hit, but it is heading directly to western Jamaica there.
Patrick Oppmann, thank you so much for your reporting. Appreciate it.
Kate. BOLDUAN: Let's get back to Jamaica right now and the preparations
underway and the threat of this, we'll show you that graphic, the radar. That massive storm right there engulfing the entirety of Jamaica. Forecasters there saying no part of the island will go untouched.
We have this new update now, just in from Derek Van Dam, saying that there's now -- it's now gaining strength. Sustained winds of 180 miles an hour.
Government officials say very clearly there is an element here of they do not know what to expect, as they have never had a storm of this strength make such a direct hit.
Joining me right now is Steve McKinley. He and his wife are on vacation in Jamaica from Oklahoma and are now, like so many, stuck until this passes.
Steve, thank you so much for the time.
What -- what are you thinking? What are you feeling right now as you look outside and you're preparing for all of this to come?
STEVE MCKINLEY, STUCK IN JAMAICA: You know, it's -- it's really overwhelming. We've never been through anything like this. And -- and hearing the more and more updates and more reports and how it's getting stronger and stronger, we really have no idea what to visualize at the other side of this. But we are in a very safe place. And -- and just waiting and waiting. It's been a few days of waiting time and to see what happens.
BOLDUAN: Yes, when you hear 180 mile an hour sustained winds of the storm, I was thinking, you're from Oklahoma. You speak the language of tornadoes more than you would a hurricane. That's an EF-4 moving towards an EF-5 tornado.
MCKINLEY: Torontos. True.
BOLDUAN: Just knowing that that is on its way, that's tough.
MCKINLEY: At this large scale, to affect the whole island, it's going to be devastating. And it's -- it's really overwhelming to think about what -- what is coming.
BOLDUAN: The resort that you're at is along kind of the northern side of the island. What are you being told from the hotel?
MCKINLEY: Yes.
BOLDUAN: What are -- how are you preparing? What -- what is the plan if things get bad?
[09:15:05]
MCKINLEY: You know, I don't know if it really goes to heck. But they have boarded up everything. They've moved the guests down to the lower floors. It's a very, very solid, concrete structure. So, we feel very safe. There's kind of like a safe room in our room and they're just telling us to stay inside. They've still got staff here that's taking care of everything. And that's hard to imagine and very humbling that the staff would stay even because they've got family and kids and out in the country where they live and they're stuck here also. It's an inconvenience to us, but we can see what's going to happen and what the future looks like for them. It's very, very humbling and very devastating. And we feel very compassionate for them.
BOLDUAN: That is a very sweet thing to say as things are -- as things are about to change in a big way.
You're supposed to be on the island until Friday. You tried to get out this past weekend when you realized this storm was coming and what it was going to look like. What was it like trying to get off the island, clearly without luck?
MCKINLEY: Yes. You know, when we made the decision, we pulled the trigger a little late. But when we had our flights and everything, we were pretty excited about going ahead. And then we got that text that the flight had been canceled and they were closing the airport. And then avenues of departure were eliminated. So, and we -- and we still didn't comprehend really what was coming until you get this close to it. It's been several days of building up. But now we're getting really close and it's starting to have an impact. You know, everybody is kind of stressed and everybody's kind of gone through it. And we're anxious about what the other side looks like.
BOLDUAN: Yes. Well our hearts, our prayers are with you and your wife and everyone there working there and vacationing there on the island.
Steve, thank you very much for taking the time. We'll definitely be checking back in with you as things are developing today. Thank you so much.
MCKINLEY: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: Thank you. Is that Cheryl (ph) right next to you?
MCKINLEY: That is Cheryl.
BOLDUAN: Oh, hey.
CHERYL: Hi, family.
MCKINLEY: Thank you.
BOLDUAN: There you go. Cheryl and Steve, for family back in Oklahoma, they're doing all right. Smiles on their faces right now. Thank you both so very much. John.
BERMAN: Nothing like a hurricane photo bomb right there.
BOLDUAN: As usual (ph).
BERMAN: All right, today, air traffic controllers set to miss their first full paycheck since the start of the government shutdown. Staff shortages leading to major delays. What this means for them and what it means for your air safety.
A major shakeup brewing at ICE. At least a dozen directors could be reassigned. Reports that the Trump administration is frustrated by the pace of immigration arrests.
And a new report on Austin Tice, the American journalist who went missing in Syria more than a decade ago. CNN tracks down people who say they were involved in the disappearance.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[09:22:08]
SIDNER: Breaking news this morning. The strongest storm on the planet is getting even stronger. These are live pictures from Montego Bay, Jamaica. The western part of the island. We are now learning that the storm is packing sustained winds of 180 miles an hour. The storm system is already engulfing Jamaica. The eye of this catastrophic storm is heading right to where you're seeing, on the western part of Jamaica. We will keep you posted on all things Hurricane Melissa, now at a category five, and there's expected to be catastrophic damage there on that island.
This morning, air traffic controllers will miss their first full paycheck since the government shutdown began. And we're hearing that the major airport hubs in Atlanta and Newark are both short staffed this morning.
CNN's Pete Muntean is at Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, for us.
What are you learning, Pete?
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, you know, the staffing shortages are getting deeper with no end in sight for this government shutdown that started back on October 1st. You know, we've talked about the shortages at places like Newark approach control. That's a place that keeps having shortages. Atlanta approach control also on the list today. The list is short so far for today, but we know that things can change so, so quickly.
It's top of mind for so many travelers here at Reagan National Airport. And if it's not already, air traffic controllers are going to make it top of mind for them. They're handing out these leaflets here at DCA and at airports across the country. Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta, LAX, the list goes on and on, about 20 airports so far, trying to get folks to call their representatives to end the government shutdown now because air traffic controllers continue to work without pay.
They received their first zero dollar paycheck today. It's spelled it out, zero dollars on the pay stub that they got in their emails last week. Of course, a real mix of emotions and controllers continue to call out sick, and it's been having an outsized impact at airports across the country. We saw cancellations and delays due to a ground stop at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport yesterday. There was a staffing shortage at the control tower there. There were also staffing shortages at places like Newark, at DFW, and LAX, the approach control facilities there. This really can have a disproportionate impact.
And I want you to listen now to National Air Traffic Controllers Association President Nick Daniels. He says the union is not doing any sort of coordinated act. This is not some sort of walkout. But controllers are understandably upset trying to figure out how to make ends meet right now.
Listen. VC)
NICK DANIELS, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION: I'm going to work right now and I'm thinking about, how do I pay my rent? Rent's due in a few days. How do I put food on the table? How do I put, you know, gas in my car just to show up to work? And those are levels of safety that are being reduced in the system and the flying public doesn't deserve.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[09:25:01]
MUNTEAN: There are more than 270 incidents of low staffing that we have counted since the start of this shutdown. Air traffic control is already so short staffed, short about 1,800 controllers nationwide. And union president Nick Daniels says this makes it even harder for air traffic control and the FAA to try and find new people to join their ranks. By the way, the training academy in Oklahoma City essentially shuttered right now.
SIDNER: Wow. I got to say, we know that these air traffic controllers are under such pressure when there is full staffing, and they haven't seen that for years, because you've been reporting on this for years, and now you're seeing even more pressure on them. It is really hard to take.
Pete Muntean, thank you so much. At least you have a little soft jazz there to try to calm your nerves inside the airport this morning.
Kate.
BOLDUAN: Smooth jazz fixes everything. Always.
SIDNER: Smooth.
BOLDUAN: Coming up for us, the White House makes their plans -- is making plans for a massive change at ICE amid growing frustrations within the administration over what they believe, what they see as lagging immigration arrests.
And a suspect accused of killing a deputy flees the scene on a motorcycle, crashes in the middle of a high-speed chase.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
