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CNN International: Helene Brings Severe Flooding, Damage To Southeastern U.S.; Flash Flood Warnings Issues In North Carolina's Western Countries; Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Speaks At United Nations. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired September 27, 2024 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN HOST: Hello, and welcome to our viewers from around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
We want to get straight to our breaking news this hour, roads underwater, homes destroyed, and fears that the number of casualties could rapidly rise. We begin with one of the largest storms to hit the Gulf of Mexico in the past century. Tropical Storm Helene now pummeling several southern states and heading north, after barreling into Florida as a Category 4 hurricane overnight.
This is just a glimpse of the severe storm surge that accompanied winds of up to 140 miles an hour. Multiple flash flood emergencies now in place in the southeastern U.S. You are looking now at some of the latest images from Asheville, North Carolina. That's where historic levels of flooding could be imminent.
And massive concerns in a major city of Atlanta, with residents being told to stay off the roads, as the city there braces for more flooding. A total of at least seven people have been killed, with watches and warnings in place for 60 million people across 12 states.
We have a team of reporters for you. But first, I want to go to North Carolina, where the Governor, Roy Cooper, is giving us an update. Let's listen.
ROY COOPER, GOVERNOR, NORTH CAROLINA: In the western part of our state, the priority now is saving lives. Helene is causing life- threatening flash flooding, numerous landslides and downed trees, causing power outages. Flooding will continue through the weekend in some areas, and may even occur in areas that don't typically flood.
With the rain that they had already been experiencing before Helene's arrival, this is one of the worst storms in modern history for parts of western North Carolina. The end of the rain is not the end of the threat. This fierce storm will move out of our state in the next 24 hours, but the danger will not be over. Tropical storm force winds that border on hurricane strength are
happening right now across western North Carolina, trees are falling, causing widespread power outages. As of this morning, there are over 879,000 estimated power outages across our state. We're also currently aware of 290 closed roads.
For the people in western North Carolina, do not travel unless there is an emergency, because conditions are continuing to worsen. People in western North Carolina should consider all roads closed unless you are seeking higher ground. For much of our state, there is also the continued potential for net tornadoes with the storm system. They can quickly spin up with a little warning. I urge people to stay informed. Listen to local radio, TV, and local emergency response officials.
Sadly, our hearts are heavy as we report two deaths, one in Catawba County due to a motor vehicle collision on a flooded roadway, and one in Charlotte due to a tree falling on home. There will be more. As we know, this storm is continuing across our state. We are working to try to prevent as many as we possibly can. And in all parts of our state where there is flooding, remember, do not drive through flood waters. As I've said so many times, we've lost too many North Carolinians who've driven into flood waters. So, turn around. Don't drown.
The state emergency response teams' efforts will continue to work with local officials and support impacted communities today and throughout the weekend. Our state's search and rescue teams are being assisted from teams from more than a dozen other states, and I'm deeply grateful for their work to save lives. Currently, we are aware of over 100 swift water rescues since the beginning of this event, but we know there will be many more.
Our emergency management team here and in counties across the state are continuing to deploy resources strategically to save lives and to strengthen the response for counties and cities. Numerous evacuations have been ordered in areas likely to flood. If you're told to evacuate, please get out of the danger zone.
There are about 15 shelters available, and more will be added. Keep yourself informed, as we bear the brunt of the storm, to protect yourself and your families.
[11:05:00]
We know North Carolinians are strong, and our first responders are the best in the nation. I'm thankful for their hard work and for risking their lives to protect all North Carolinians. Today, I'm joined by Emergency Management Director, Will Ray; our Secretary of the Department of Public Safety, Eddie Buffaloe; the Adjutant General of the North Carolina National Guard, Major General Todd Hunt; the Chief Operating Officer of the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Chris Peoples; the Commander of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol, Colonel Freddy Johnson; FEMA Field Coordinating Officer Craig Levy; our sign language interpreters are Brian Tipton, and behind the scenes, our Spanish language interpreters are Yasmin Metivier and --
SOLOMON: All right. We've just been listening to the governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper, there, giving an update for those in his state about conditions, essentially warning those in North Carolina that even when the rain dust stop, the threat does not. Also, really sad update just coming in. He said that they can report two deaths now. He said one was the result of a motor vehicle collision on a flooded roadway. The other was a tree falling on a home. That happened in the major city of Charlotte. So, of course, as we get these press conferences from different local government officials in the southeastern region of the U.S., we will bring it to you.
But now, I want to go to one of our reporters who is standing by, Carlos Suarez live in Gulfport, Florida. Carlos, give us a sense of what you have seen and what the situation there is on the ground.
CARLOS SUAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, good morning. So, the folks that live in Gulfport in Pinellas County are, at this hour, drying out, and they're taking a look at the damage left behind by this storm. We'll walk a bit here. So, this is where we were yesterday. However, the storm surge was so bad that it was unsafe for us to stay here, and so we made our way a bit further north, where things dried out a little bit more.
You could see, though, all of the storm surge that came from this storm, between four to six feet of it, did quite a number on this marina here. You see that one boat there, that is just one of two, three, four, and five that I can count that made their way inland. They were pushed here from the bay because of the strong winds and the strong surf. And to give you a sense, Rahel, of just how much water made its way out here through the overnight hours. That 5,500 is the address of the Gulfport Casino. The water was just above that number.
If you follow the damage a little bit to your left here, you'll see what used to be the entrance to this Gulfport Casino, you see the window there has been blown out. And then, if you follow the promenade, you'll see what's left of it, at least. You can see folks there walking by. All of that yesterday was in pristine condition, and as you can see right now, it's pretty badly damaged. That right there, that's sitting in the parking lot, that used to be part of a floating dock, we're told, that broke free of its pilings and then ended up where it's at right now.
Rahel, the National Guard has been called out to Pinellas County. They are in the city of Gulfport, where we are right now. We're told that they are the ones that are going to be the folks that will be taking care of law enforcement, considering that a good part of this city is without power, and because of all of this damage, they are the ones that are kind of coordinating the effort in making sure that folks stay safe and that these businesses that have been pretty badly damaged themselves are safe from anyone that might want to try to get in there or do something that they really should not be doing. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yes. Stay posted, if you might, Carlos.
I want to bring in our other reporter, Ryan Young, who is live for us in Atlanta, with a whole lot of water as well. Ryan, give us a sense of what you have seen. RYAN YOUNG, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Rahel, when you think about it, Carlos is on the coast. So, it makes sense for him to be surrounded by water and boats. But, look at where I am. I'm at an apartment complex in Buckhead, Atlanta, and you look at this car behind me, the CRV has seen better days. The water, at one point, was above the windshield wiper on the backside of this car. The people who live in the apartment upstairs, they're still up there. They have an infant. There were water rescues all across Atlanta yesterday, more than 25 of them happening overnight. The reason why they were concerned is because the more of 10 inches of rain that has hit this area.
But, when you see how expansive this is and how much water is just left behind, you understand what they're dealing with. This is a city that's been hit by several different rainstorms over a 24-hour period.
We talked to some people who've had to wade through this water recently. They gave us their reaction to waking up this morning and seeing all this. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First of all, how far back there do you guys live, and what's it like back there?
TAYLOR DANIEL, ATLANA RESIDENT: Yeah. So, we're in the very back corner of the neighborhood. It's right adjacent to the Peachtree Creek right here. Coming out of our apartment, it's pretty -- we were fortunate. Our cars are still all right, but there is some that are almost fully submerged. We ventured out for a little bit, and it got up to, as you can see, right about our rib line of about 5'10" --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
[11:10:00]
DANIEL: And we were just out for our morning stroll. Not every day you get a flood.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you ever seen it like this before?
DANIEL: Never. Never before.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: You have counted at least 25 cars that look like they will not make it through the storm.
I'm standing next to a fire hydrant, and you barely can see it. Look, the mayor has been talking about getting folks out safely, making sure they're all right. Overnight, we watched some of the rescues where an infant had to be saved. Children had to be saved. Pets had to be saved. So, you understand how dangerous this water was for so many people, first responders getting out there in the middle of the night to help out.
Take a listen to Atlanta's Mayor talking about the impact on the city.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDRE DICKENS, MAYOR, ATLANTA: The ground has been saturated for over the last day and a half, really, almost two days. So, what that means is, it's very wet ground, and those trees are there. When the winds come, some of them can be uprooted. And so, more rain is set to come over the next few hours. So, we are definitely bracing ourselves for more flooding and more power lines being down.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
YOUNG: Look, I've already got myself stuck around here. The mud is just so immense, as I'm trying to walk my way through this parking lot. There are people on the second floor. We've talked to them. We've watched them trying to make a decision about whether or not they're going to stay or go. This is all a part of a process. This water is receding. But, there is a creek nearby, and this is repeating itself throughout the city. We'll have to see how this plays out, Rahel. But, you can see the real danger here, especially at night. Luckily, so far, no one injured, but massive power outages throughout the city.
SOLOMON: Yeah. You have to imagine, even for those folks who think, do I stay or do I go, if they decide to go, you don't know what the roads look like, even just around the corner.
Ryan Young, thank you.
Let me bring in Carlos back. Carlos, the last time we spoke with you yesterday, we saw some folks who were -- I think you were the same area, roughly, we saw some folks who were still out and about. Have you had a chance to speak to people, and what's their sense of this? I mean, Florida obviously is very prone to hurricanes. How are people there sort of contextualizing or processing this storm?
SUAREZ: Rahel, in talking to folks that live here, I think what strikes you the most is just how bad the storm surge was. And it would be one thing if this -- if the storm had made a direct landfall here. And so, folks perhaps may have thought a little bit differently about the storm.
But remember, where we are was well east of where this hurricane passed us. It was 100 miles to the west of us. And so, the folks that we talked to are kind of like trying to process the idea that the size of this storm was so great and yet it was located so far off the coast that they really can't make sense of all of this damage.
I mean, Greg, if you can show them here, this one business here, they were supposed to reopen just a few days ago. This place had been closed after Hurricane Debby hit just in August, and the folks were getting ready to reopen when this storm hit. Not even here, right? It hit the Panhandle. It hit north of us. And so, folks, in talking to them, they're exasperated. They're overwhelmed, and they -- but they're used to this kind of thing.
I've been here now for three hurricane seasons in a row, covered three hurricanes from this location in Gulfport in Pinellas County. And every time I'm out here, it's the same folks. They are right now -- this one business here, they're cleaning up. I saw them last year. Same thing happened with another storm. They were flooded out. They were trying to reopen. They're right back where they were this time last year.
And the other businesses that are kind of right next to it, it's the same thing. There is a pet animal store, supply store there. I talked to that gentleman for three years in a row for Hurricane Ian that hit to the south of us, and I spoke to him when Hurricane Idalia hit to the north of us. And in both of those hurricanes, this part of Pinellas County, Gulfport, flooded, you can understand why.
We're right up along the bay. The Gulf is on one side. Tampa Bay is on the other. And the sizes of these -- the size of these storms and the intensification of it, when all that water comes rushing in, it doesn't even have to be a direct impact for folks to have their lives literally uprooted. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Well said, Carlos, and we just sort of saw two sort of residents, two neighbors there, sort of hugging, embracing. You just really think about what the people there have gone through, as they see each other again after the storm has passed, and just the emotions and the fear of living through something like that.
Carlos Suarez, thank you. Ryan Young, thank you.
I want to now get to my colleague, CNN's Isabel Rosales, who I believe is in North Carolina. And Isabel, we just heard from the governor there, who informed us now of two fatalities, really sad updates. I think one was a collision on a flooded roadway. The other, a tree falling into a house. Walk us through what you're seeing on the ground.
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Rahel. And yes, such a sad situation. This community is definitely going to be devastated and have a long road ahead of them to cleaning up and getting on the other side of this thing.
[11:15:00]
And by the way, the governor was totally right that just because the rain is passing and we have seen it ease up some, it doesn't mean that the threat is over, because all of this incredible amount of flood water is just going to go back into the rivers and the streams and continue to swell those bodies of waters past the banks. Just an incredible amount of water. Do you see that, past the gas station right here?
That is a propane tank of some sort, like extremely heavy, just floating down. We've seen several of those. There is another one out of the frame too, just massive amount debris going through what is a road here, what would be a road here. And you can see how much the water is just going up to the pump. Just a couple of hours ago, this was mostly dry, but it quickly filled up. The most significant natural disaster seen in western North Carolina.
That is what county leaders are calling this, advising people, please do not leave your homes. Do not go on to these roads. They're saying, consider all roads closed. It is simply too dangerous. As we speak, there are swift water rescues happening here in the county, over 50 so far, and the situation leaders are saying it is only expected to get worse.
Let me also give you some background here, where the camera is facing, just over that way is the Swannanoa River, OK, and that river has risen to 12 feet -- over 12 feet in the last 12 hours. It's expected to rise to 21 feet. That would surpass a record. This is a river that's normally only two to four feet deep, so between that, between all of the rainwater, between how low Asheville is surrounded by water, mountains, bringing down all of that water down 4,000 feet of elevation, you can understand why city leaders, why county leaders are warning people, hey, we're not past this thing yet. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah, even saying that there is a risk of tornadoes, and so saying that the worst may not be over just yet.
Isabel Rosales, thank you for the reporting. Be safe.
And still ahead for us, Israel's Prime Minister targets Iran and other enemies in his address at the United Nations. It comes a day after offering mixed signals on U.S.-led efforts of temporary ceasefires between Israel and Hezbollah. We're going to have the highlights from his speech, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu framed the future as a choice between a blessing and a curse, as he addressed the UN General Assembly a short time ago. Mr. Netanyahu singled out a familiar foe, Iran, which he said wants to move civilization back to a dark age. He referred to the United Nations as, quote, "a swamp of antisemitic bile". For about 40 minutes, he also lashed out at Hamas, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the International Criminal Court. Many UN delegates walked out and jeered when he took the stage.
[11:20:00]
Here is an excerpt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: I didn't intend to come here this year. My country is at war, fighting for its life. But, after I heard the lies and slanders leveled at my country by many of the speakers at this podium, I decided to come here and set the record straight. I decided to come here to speak for my people, to speak for my country, to speak for the truth. And here is the truth. Israel seeks peace. Israel yearns for peace. Israel has made peace and will make peace again. Yet, we face savage enemies who seek our annihilation, and we must defend ourselves against these savage murderers. Our enemies seek not only to destroy us, they seek to destroy our common civilization and return all of us to a dark age of tyranny and terror.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: And Netanyahu spoke as Israel and Hezbollah traded fresh strikes on Friday. Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, most were intercepted, while the IDF is ramping up its strikes on Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon. The Lebanese Health Ministry says that at least 25 people were killed Friday. And we're also getting fresh video of Israeli tanks and armored vehicles deployed in northern Israel.
Meanwhile, in central Gaza, an overnight Israeli airstrike on tents in a hospital compound killed one man and injured several others. Israel says that it was targeting Islamic Jihad terrorists.
Let's bring in our team of reporters, Nic Robertson, who joins us live from Tel Aviv, also Richard Roth, who is at the United Nations.
Nic, let me start with you. I think we were all expecting an impassioned speech. How is Netanyahu address being viewed and seen, where you are?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The country is divided, and there will be those that think that Prime Minister Netanyahu gave the right speech, particularly many in his government who made it very, very clear that they wanted him to go there and be tough. But, equally, there will be others, we've heard some of them on CNN, who feel that they just -- this doesn't represent Israel. It doesn't represent them. They think this is sort of one of the worst versions of projections of what the country is doing and what the country stands for at the moment. So, I think it really only amplifies the divisions at home, as the Prime Minister tries to set out his vision of what's to come.
But, by and large, the tone of his speech, the text of his speech, was not a great surprise. There were many things that he has visited here before, particularly picking up on the issue of Iran and talking about blessings and curses, and trying to make the situation black and white, or black or white. So, this was many people here. They will recognize this as vintage, if you will. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu going out, saying that he is speaking for Israel being tough. But, many people here really feeling that that's not the version of Israel they'd like to see portrayed.
SOLOMON: Richard, let me bring you into this. I mean, you have witnessed many speeches at the UN over the years. We talked about what you were expecting from Netanyahu yesterday. Having now heard from him, did anything stand out to you from his address, anything that perhaps surprised you?
RICHARD ROTH, CNN SENIOR UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT: No. He has always been a very good speaker, especially compared to the roster of the other world leaders, many who don't speak English, many who don't go for punchy soundbites. The divisions that Nic talks about, different set of divisions, were really on display as Netanyahu was about to take the stage. We had a walkout of dozens of Arab and Muslim countries, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, and this was coordinated. Of course, they walked out as soon as he was introduced. And the speaker at the General Assembly, the parliamentarian, was saying, order, order. And in the gallery, you had family relatives of hostages that are being held by Hamas in Gaza. So, there was a split picture also there.
Netanyahu, again using graphics with two different ones showing Iran's domination of the region and one where everyone could get along if there was an agreement. As Nic mentioned, there was no sign or even mention, I believe, of a ceasefire, that 21 days ceasefire proposed by the U.S. and France and others between Israel and Hezbollah.
[11:25:00]
It looks like the fighting will not stop because of this UN General Assembly annual week.
SOLOMON: OK. We'll leave it here. Nic Robertson, Richard Roth, thank you both.
And still to come for us, the mayor of New York City, Eric Adams, arriving to court a short time ago, where he is facing federal corruption charges. We're going to have a live report from outside the courthouse.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. You're watching CNN Newsroom. I'm Rahel Solomon live in New York.
We want to take you back to our breaking news this hour and update you on our top story, that dangerous storm that's sweeping through the southeastern U.S., bringing with it torrential rainfall, downed power lines and widespread destruction. Multiple states right now under flash flood emergencies. Those warnings extending to eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, and Virginia. Helene continues to sweep inland after barreling ashore in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane.
Right now, you're looking at flooding in Atlanta, Georgia. The water is so high you can barely see the roof of a car on the street there. You see it there in that left corner. At least seven people have been killed, but that number, authorities are warning, could rise. People in Asheville, North Carolina, are bracing for what could be imminent historic levels of flooding.
Our affiliate reporter near Asheville says that emergency officials are urging people to stay off the roads.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're on the main road, Highway 1923, into Canton. Behind me, you can see the road, it's closed there. Haywood County officials are asking me to tell you, it's a do not drive situation here in Haywood County. They're basically saying all roads right now anyway in Haywood County are closed. Consider them closed. Don't leave your house. If you're in a safe place, stay there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SOLOMON: All right. Let's turn to meteorologist Elisa Raffa at the World Weather Center. Elisa, give us a sense of where the storm is now and where it's headed.
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It's continuing to swirl in the southeast, and honestly, it's going to kind of sit and spin in the same spot, as we go through the next 24 to 48 hours. We do have some tornado warnings in this outer band that's coming off the shore into North Carolina from Wilmington to Raleigh. We have this tornado risk that will continue, as we go through the day today, because it's a spinning tropical system. So, we could still get some of these spin-up tornadoes.
And then look at the heavy rain that stretches even into Southeast Missouri, north up towards the Great Lakes, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, really seeing some of this rain. The flash flooding, though, has been so pronounced in Georgia and the Carolinas. The green is a flash flood watch, meaning that the possibility of flash flooding is possible. All of the white boxes that you see are flash flood emergencies.
[11:30:00]
That is the highest level that we have to warn for flash flooding. Just incredibly dire situation. We still have flash flood emergencies in effect across Metro Atlanta. This includes Midtown/Downtown in Atlanta, where we had several inches of rainfall very quickly. People needing to be rescued here, showing some of that video.
Then look at all of these emergencies in western North Carolina, just incredible, including places like Asheville, some of the foothills of Hickory, all just to the west there of Charlotte. This is a mountainous terrain. So, that makes this even more dangerous, because we are in the mountains. You're going to have landslides.
The soil has just nowhere to go but down those mountains. Look at how much rain parts of these mountains here have gotten in the last 48 hours, more than 10 inches, some of these totals, again, already eclipsing a foot, and that's why they have such severe problems with the heavy rain and the flooding. Rivers are at record levels and continuing to rise.
Gusts are getting up to 40 miles per hour in Wilmington, 47 mile per hour gust in Charlotte. So, we still have the wind part of this too, tropical storm force winds, even some hurricane gusts possible, as we continue to whip some of these winds from Helene. But again, some of these rainfall totals are already over a foot, and we're still finding this rain come down. It's going to be a long next 24 hours, Rahel.
SOLOMON: All right. Keep us posted. Elisa Raffa there. Elisa, thank you.
And within the next hour, New York Mayor Eric Adams will make his first court appearance on Thursday. He was indicted on federal corruption charges. This is Adams arriving at the courthouse a little earlier this morning. Prosecutors accuse Adams of soliciting and accepting gifts and illegal campaign donations from wealthy foreigners, including Turkish officials, as far back as 2014.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAMIAN WILLIAMS, U.S. ATTORNEY, 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)
SOLOMON: And New York Governor Kathy Hochul reportedly considering removing Adams from office. Meantime, the mayor says that he looks forward to defending himself.
Let's bring in Mark Morales, who is live outside the courthouse for us. Mark, what can we expect in court today?
MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Rahel, as you said, Eric Adams is inside the courthouse right behind me. He got here a little just before 09:00 a.m. this morning, a little earlier than people were expecting, but he is here, and he has been going through that pretrial process. That involves fingerprints, mug shots. And he is expected to go before a judge today for the first time to hear the charges from this -- stemming from this indictment.
And these are not small charges. We're talking about wire fraud, conspiracy, bribery, soliciting campaign contributions from foreign nationals. And this is all coming from, what you said, this roughly 10-year scheme that involved showering the mayor with lavish gifts and money for his campaign, also that they could have a foothold here in New York City government. So, they could have somebody who would be here to essentially help them get things done. This court appearance should start sometime within the next 30 minutes, and we do expect him to enter a plea. He has maintained his innocence this entire time. But, we'll see how this goes. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Yeah. Mark, what about just practically speaking? I mean, how does this impact his ability to do his job?
MORALES: Well, that's a question that's really going to become clear within the coming days and weeks from when we've seen these situations and other politicians that have been going through something similar. It's always had a ripple effect, what happens in the days following?
So, there is two main questions that we'll get the answers to, one is going to be the calls to resign. Does that pick up steam? Do more people jump on that bandwagon? More notable, New York politicians, maybe even some national politicians. That could sway the attitude towards whether people want to deal with him or not.
The other is going to be this investigation. Prosecutors have said that they are not done with this investigation, and it remains to be seen what else comes about, or who else in his administration either gets arrested or search warranted. I mean, these are all major questions that we're still wondering at this point. Rahel.
SOLOMON: Absolutely. Mark Morales live there outside of the courthouse. Mark, thank you.
And coming up for us, securing the U.S. border is one of the big issues in this year's presidential campaign. That's why Kamala Harris, Vice President, is visiting the state of Arizona later. Coming up, why her trip sparked Donald Trump's criticism? And Ukraine's President takes the case for more support to Trump Tower. Can he ease the tension over more Ukrainian assistance? We'll discuss all things politics, including Tuesday's vice presidential debate with CNN's Michael Smerconish in just a moment.
[11:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLOMON: Welcome back. Vice President Kamala Harris is heading to the U.S. southern border, hoping to close a polling gap with Donald Trump on the issue of immigration. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian President, in New York. He is expected to talk about his plan to win the war in Ukraine, Zelenskyy is, which includes a pitch for more military assistance from the U.S. It's not clear if he can convince Trump to change his position on the war. The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly complained about the cost of U.S. help for Ukraine.
Joining us now is Steve Contorno with the Donald Trump campaign in Michigan, and Eva McKend is tracking the Kamala Harris campaign, as the Vice President visits the border.
Eva, let's start with you. Talk to us a little bit about what we can expect from this border visit today.
EVA MCKEND, CNN U.S. NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Rahel, she plans to go on the offensive against the former President, argue it was him who stood in the way of that bipartisan border enforcement bill. She'll voice her desire to hire more Border Patrol agents, and then play up a part of her career that many Americans don't know about.
That's when she was California Attorney General, going after cartel members and drug traffickers. The bottom line here, the American people deserve a President who cares more about border security than playing political games. That is what we expect to hear from her, Rahel.
SOLOMON: All right. Eva, thank you. Steve, we'll try to get back to in a short time. My understanding is that Daniel Hagari of the IDF is now speaking. We want to take you there live. Let's listen.
DANIEL HAGARI, IDF SPOKESPERSON: After almost a year of Hezbollah firing rockets, missiles and suicide drones at Israeli civilians, after almost a year of Israel warning the world and telling them that Hezbollah must be stopped. Israel is doing what every sovereign state in the world would do if they had a terror organization that seeks their destruction on their border, taking the necessary action to protect our people so that Israeli families can leave their homes safely and securely. Thank you.
SOLOMON: All right. We've just been listening to Daniel Hagari of the IDF, very short statements there, at least from what I could hear. But, what he did say is that Israel is doing what every sovereign state would do if they had a terrorist organization on their border, I believe, referring to the activity on the northern border with Lebanon.
But, let me bring in Jomana Karadsheh, who has been following the activity there. Jomana, just give us a sense of some breaking news that we're learning of these large explosions that have apparently rocked the Lebanese capital. What can you tell us?
JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, a short time ago, we were here on our roof and we heard massive explosions that shook many parts of the capital, and we could see a large, thick plume of smoke rising from that direction.
[11:40:00]
That is Beirut's southern suburbs, where you have Hezbollah presence, but that is also one of the most densely populated areas in Lebanon. The Israeli military, in the past, has targeted the southern suburbs, going after Hezbollah commanders. The most recent one was yesterday. But, according to colleagues who have been here for weeks now, they say that this was the largest explosions that they have heard so far, and we could see that from that thick plume of smoke that was rising in the background there in Beirut's southern suburbs.
We are still waiting for more information. I believe information right now is coming in from the Israeli military. They say that they carried out a precise strike on the central headquarters of Hezbollah terrorist organization, that's their words, that served as the epicenter of Hezbollah's terror, intentionally been built under residential buildings in the heart of Beirut, as part of their strategy using human shields.
So, a lot of concern when you hear that statement, Rahel, as well about potential here for civilian casualties. We heard from the Lebanese government yesterday. I did ask the Minister of Health about these accusations that we have heard from the Israelis about Hezbollah using civilians as a human shield, and he dismissed this, saying that we have heard this before. This is exactly what we have heard for nearly a year now from Gaza, describing this as baseless.
SOLOMON: All right. Jomana, I want to give you a minute to just sort of collect some additional reporting. I know this just happened. Thank you. Don't go far.
But, let me now bring in our colleague, Jeremy Diamond, who is in Haifa. And Jeremy, you were able to actually listen to the entire remarks, statement from Daniel Hagari. What did you hear? Bring us up to speed.
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this undoubtedly appears to be the most significant strike that the Israeli military has carried out in the Lebanese capital of Beirut since the beginning of this conflict nearly a year ago, and that's because, in addition to the size of the blast that we are seeing from Jomana's live position, we are also told by the Israeli military, by Daniel Hagari, saying that this was a strike on the central headquarters of Hezbollah, which he is alleging was built underneath residential buildings in the Dahiya neighborhood of Beirut.
And what that tells us, when you look at this picture altogether, when you look at the size of this explosion, when you look at the fact that the Israeli military is saying that they struck underground headquarters, when you look at the fact that they say that it is beneath residential buildings, that points us to the Israeli military's use of some very significant, very large munitions in order to penetrate underground to this underground command center, and it also indicates that there are likely going to be a very significant number of civilian casualties as a result of this strike, and that point was emphasized by Admiral -- when Admiral Hagari said that Hezbollah is using the residence of that neighborhood as human shields.
Now, we don't know, of course, we can't verify the veracity of Admiral Hagari's statements here. But certainly, if the intention here was to strike an underground command center beneath residential buildings, then you can expect that there will be significant numbers of civilian casualties as a result of this, and that the Israelis will have used very large munitions in order to go after that target.
And this just comes on the heels of a week during which we have seen the Israeli military ratcheting up its military activity in Lebanon, consistently escalating this conflict, consistently raising the temperature in this region. The Israeli government and its military says that they are doing this because they believe it is the only way to get Hezbollah to stop firing rockets into northern Israel, to restore security to northern Israel. But, we are also seeing that this is also dragging this region, dragging Israel and Hezbollah closer and closer towards an all-out war.
And certainly, if the Israeli military and the Israeli government are looking to give Hezbollah some kind of a pretext to begin carrying out the kinds of strikes on Israel that it has not as of yet, in terms of enormous barrages directed at central Israel, directed at very significant targets in Israel, then certainly this could be that pretext.
[11:45:00]
So, this is not only likely to be a very deadly incident in terms of the human costs inside of Beirut, but it is also going to be a very significant one in terms of the geopolitical context of this conflict and how much it is going to raise the temperature in this already very, very hot region.
SOLOMON: Yeah. As Jomana just said, a very densely populated part of Beirut. Jeremy Diamond, thank you. Jomana Karadsheh, thank you.
We're going to take a quick break. We're going to have much more on this breaking news in just a minute.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.
SOLOMON: All right. I want to get back to our breaking news.
CNN teams have witnessed several large explosions in Beirut. Let's get back out to Jomana Karadsheh, who is live there. And Jomana, I'm sure you just heard Jeremy Diamond there with that statement from Daniel Hagari, saying that they did, the IDF did carry out this precise strike on the central headquarters of the Hezbollah terror organization. But, I want to draw your attention to something we sort of touched on briefly, this statement saying that these headquarters were built under residential buildings in the heart of Beirut as part of Hezbollah strategy of using human shields.
Talk to me about what we know about the site of that huge plume of smoke, that site of the explosion. What do we know?
KARADSHEH: Well, we are trying to get more information, Rahel, still no information coming in from the Lebanese authorities, but this most certainly was massive blasts that we heard here that shook the capital. These are the largest blasts people, who have been here for weeks, telling us that they have heard since Israeli attacks began on Beirut and elsewhere in the country. Now, this -- the direction of the strikes, where we saw that huge, thick plume of smoke rising from, that is Beirut's southern suburbs, where you do have a Hezbollah presence, where their leader -- their top commanders were known to have been based in the past, unclear, of course, how many of them are still there. But, this is also one of the most densely populated areas in the entire country.
So, when you hear what we heard from the Israeli military saying that this was a Hezbollah headquarter that was built, their main headquarters, according to Israeli military, that we cannot confirm at this point, that was, they say, built underneath a residential building, saying that Hezbollah is using people and civilians as human shields. I believe this is the Israeli military saying that they have used, potentially here, really large munitions and that there -- we could be looking at a situation where there are many civilian casualties, unclear at this point how many casualties, if there are casualties. We're still waiting for more information to come in from Lebanese authorities.
But, we spoke yesterday with the Lebanese government official, the Minister of Health here. We did put that question to him, saying that the Israeli military has been saying that Hezbollah has been firing rockets from people's homes, using residential areas and people here as human shields, and he dismissed this, saying that these are the same excuses that we have heard and allegations that we've heard the Israeli military using, he says, for nearly a year in Gaza, and also warning that while the Israeli military is going after -- it's not only, he said, going after Hezbollah here, as we have heard on a daily basis from the Israeli military, when they announced these Hezbollah targets that they have struck.
[11:50:00]
He also said that they believe, and what the Lebanese government is seeing, is that it is the civilians who are bearing the brunt of this, accusing the Israelis of indiscriminate attacks on civilians, on women and children and civilian infrastructure across this country, Rahel.
SOLOMON: OK. Jomana, thank you. I was just sort of reading some of the updates that are coming into us here at CNN.
Let me bring in Jeremy Diamond. Jeremy, if I still have you, actually, Jeremy -- OK. Jeremy, I do have you, OK, as we sort of just try to understand where our crews are. Talk to me a little bit about the context in which this happens.
You sort of touched on it there that the last week or so, there has been this ratcheting up along the border between the IDF and Hezbollah, and it really started, I think, with those pager attacks. It started with those walkie-talkie attacks. And since then, we have seen this continued tit-for-tat. Just give us a sense of the context in which this is happening.
DIAMOND: Yeah. And I also think we need to be really clear that the escalation, the escalatory steps that we have seen over the course of the last week have been led almost solely by the Israeli government and the Israeli military. It is Israel that has been ratcheting up this conflict over the course of the last week.
We have seen, of course, escalatory steps from Hezbollah as well, the first ballistic missile fired towards Tel Aviv, the first two barrages of rockets, including one today, towards the city of Haifa, where I am right now. But, by and large, what we have seen is the Israeli military, and they are doing so intentionally and without apology, escalating this conflict in a significant way, because they believe it is the pathway to getting Hezbollah to back down from its rocket attacks in northern Israel.
And these strikes in Beirut, they were once considered rare. They were almost viewed as somewhat of a red line in terms of the kind of response that it could trigger from Hezbollah. Until this latest round of escalations, we had only seen the Israeli military carrying out two strikes in the southern suburbs of Beirut. One of them was targeting a Hamas official, and then it was in late July when it targeted Fuad Shukr, who is a senior Hezbollah commander.
But, over the course of the last week, we have seen a handful of Israeli military strikes, most of them, targeted attacks, in the Lebanese capital over the course of just this last week. And so, something that was once kind of extraordinarily rare has now become almost commonplace in this current phase of this conflict between Israel and Hezbollah. We will be looking to see how significant this strike is in terms of the civilian casualties, in terms of the numbers of buildings that were likely destroyed or significantly damaged in this strike.
But again, as I was saying earlier, just looking at the size of the plume of smoke that is emerging from Beirut right now that you are seeing on your screen, looking at the fact that the Israeli military says they targeted a central headquarters of Hezbollah underground, beneath residential buildings, I think we are going to find that the Israeli military likely used very heavy munitions in order to strike underground, and we are also likely to see a significant toll of casualties on the ground as a result.
SOLOMON: Yeah. OK. Jeremy Diamond live for us there in Haifa. Jeremy, thank you.
Let me bring in now Nic Robertson. Nic, walk me through what you make of just the messaging component of this. Obviously, we had that statement from Daniel Hagari of the IDF, but this also comes just hours after we heard from Netanyahu deliver this pretty defiant, impassioned speech in front of the UN.
ROBERTSON: Yeah, really. It's not difficult to imagine that the fighter jets that were carrying these munitions were actually in the air or revving up on the runway, if you will, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left the stage at the UNGA. I think there is several takeaways here, and Jomana and Jeremy are absolutely spot on, when Daniel Hagari comes out and says that the Hezbollah is hiding beneath civilians, that is telling you one thing and one thing only, that there is a very serious, real potential for a high civilian death toll.
[11:55:00]
What we've seen over the past week is the IDF say that they've had these targeted strikes in Beirut that have hit specific buildings in Beirut that, they say, have targeted Hezbollah commanders where there have been civilian casualties, but with the exception of one of those strikes on every occasion, Hezbollah has admitted, although not said the location where that commander was killed, has admitted that commanders were killed, and the IDF has said they were inside these buildings in Beirut.
So, when the IDF makes an allegation that Hezbollah leaders are underneath civilians and there are civilian casualties when those same leaders are killed, that absolutely is concurrent. But, this strike today, coming right after the Prime Minister's speech, is a very, very clear signal that any talk of a ceasefire is just going to evaporate right now.
SOLOMON: Yeah, sort of put those hopes to rest, certainly. Nic Robertson, thank you. We thank our team of reporters there in the region for helping us digest this breaking news. We're going to continue to follow this breaking news of this huge plume of smoke, explosion in the capital of Beirut in just a moment. Our breaking news coverage continues on One World.
For now, I'm Rahel Solomon in New York. Thanks so much for being with me. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
