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Nearly 800,000 Without Power As Isaias Pushes Inland; Threats Of Isolated Tornadoes, Strong Winds, Flash Flooding Today; Soon: Trump Campaigns In Deep-Red Tennessee To Boost GOP Candidates; Trump Russian Diesel Deal Sparks Ukraine Anger, Doubts Among Analyst; Dems Believe They Can Flip 4 Senate Seats In States Trump Won. Nearly 800,000 Without Power as Isaias Pushes Inland; Trump Calls for New President of Ukraine; Eight People Dead in Mass Shooting in PA; Diesel Costs Soar as Truckers Struggle to Deliver Goods Nationwide. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired October 10, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:34]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: New threat, isolated tornadoes and strong winds remain a major concern across the southeast today as the remnants of Isaias push north. Two people have died in the storm. Hundreds of thousands are without power.

Plus, a horrific scene in Erie, Pennsylvania where nine people have died in a standoff and mass shooting. The police calling the circumstances deeply disturbing.

And later, Trump in Tennessee. The President's latest campaign stop is once again at a red state rally. Why he's out on the trail for Republican candidates while facing his own dwindling approval numbers.

Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. And we begin with cleanup and damage assessments now underway after a powerful hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast overnight. Nearly 800,000 people are without power across Florida, Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina as Isaias brings dangerous weather threats inland.

Officials in both Florida and Alabama say at least two people have died from downed trees. And you can see the storm's destructive winds right there and power ripping off the roof, clean off this hotel in Pensacola. One guest says this hurricane sounded different.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STORM MCCREE, HOTEL GUEST: They ripped the roof off and everything almost immediately. So as soon as it picked up, everything just came apart. I don't even know how to describe it. So, you know, I've been in a lot of storms and the howling and the whistling and stuff like that. You know, the normal attributes you get with a hurricane, but this had like a growl to it. It almost had like a roar. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Isaias is now a post-tropical cyclone, but officials are urging residents to be cautious in the days ahead.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS (R), FLORIDA: Although the center of the storm has moved out of Florida, the threat of flooding remains. Forecasted rain totals of 4 to 8 inches across the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend this weekend. Water levels along Florida's Gulf Coast are expected to continue receding throughout the day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to give an update next hour, and we'll bring that to you live as it happens. CNN is following the latest developments as the storm moves inland now.

CNN National Correspondent Rafael Romo rode out the worst of Isaias in Pensacola after the storm's landfall last night. He walks us through what he saw once the sun came up.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're standing outside the Rest and Relax Inn here in Pensacola, Florida. And as you can see, behind me, this is what remains of the roof of this structure. During the peak hours of Hurricane Isaias, when the winds were at their strongest, the hurricane ripped off that part of the roof of this structure.

And as you can see now, the debris are literally all this area in the parking lot. The good news is that, as far as we know, there were no injuries reported. And that's not something that we can say here in Escambia County, because officials say that at least one person died when a tree fell.

Now, if you can see on this side of the parking lot, there's a lot of debris all over the place, including heavy stuff. And as you can imagine, it's going to take weeks before all of this can be cleaned up. At one point, officials say that as many as 860 households in the Gulf Coast region were without power on Saturday morning.

The situation has been improving over the hours, but definitely it's going to take a while before people here, residents in Florida and other states affected by Hurricane Isaias go back to normal.

Rafael Romo, CNN, Pensacola, Florida.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you, Rafael.

It is going to be slow going. Let's bring in now Meteorologist Melissa Nord for the latest forecast. So how wide-reaching are the impacts going to be this weekend?

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, Fredricka, you saw how Rafael shot there. It wasn't raining. The winds had calmed down, but all the moisture left from Isaias is moving north and east, along with some gusty winds. So it's a wide-reaching storm. Eventually, the remnants of it impact the northeast tomorrow in the form of rain.

[13:05:02]

But today, this afternoon, we're watching that rain spreading northward, heavy rain embedded within these cells, moving into the Carolinas as well, and then gusty winds. And the aftermath of those strong winds from yesterday still being felt along the Gulf Coast of Panhandle, Florida, up through southern Alabama.

This map shows you county by county the current percentage of customers without power. The darker the purple color, the more people in each county percentage are without power. So still a lot of these counties, we're talking about 80 to 90 percent of customers without power.

When you have that many without power, that's going to take more than a quick afternoon to get everybody back online. But at least at this point, along the Gulf Coast, the winds have started calming down, the rain is gone, so those recovery efforts can get underway.

To the north, though, a lot of wind advisories and also high wind warnings in place. Some of these wind gusts in the higher elevations in the Appalachian Mountains could get in excess of 50, maybe even 60 miles per hour. And then there's a lot of rain, especially on the eastern slopes of the mountains.

It's actually pulling in moisture, not just from what's left of Isaias, but also off the Atlantic. So some of these eastern-facing slopes of the mountains could get 6 to 10 inches of rainfall, plus the winds. That could mean some isolated flash flooding and some trees toppling and isolated power outages.

Because of that, we have a level three out of four risk of excessive rainfall today. That includes northeast Georgia, the northeast Georgia mountains, up through Asheville, some of the same places that got hit hard by Helene two years ago.

Now, this is not a Helene storm, it's not the same, but it just kind of shows you how these storms that make landfall along the coast, they don't just end at landfall, Fredricka. There's a lot of impacts that are going to stretch here today and then to the northeast tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Wow, it's going to keep going.

All right, Melissa Nord, thank you so much.

All right, joining me right now is Gulf Shores, Alabama, Mayor Robert Craft. Mayor craft, good to see you.

All right, well, tell me what this was like during this storm and what is the extent of the damage this morning?

MAYOR ROBERT CRAFT, GULF SHORES, ALABAMA: Well, it was a loud, scary night in that the wind was blowing strong. The gulf was really messed up and that makes a lot of noise that you can hear throughout the city. The power went out and I don't know of any structural damage and gratefully, I don't know of any injuries to anybody during the process.

So all in all, it was a scary night, but we're doing quick recovery here. We'll get power back hopefully sometime today or early tomorrow to everyone that is without. And we're in the debris cleanup phase now, but all in all, it could have been much worse.

WHITFIELD: Yes, indeed. And thankfully it wasn't. We're looking at pictures now of downed trees, you know, disturbed power lines in some of your, you know, neighboring cities there. But I wonder what kind of challenges do you see your city facing since you are still assessing some of the damage and, you know, people are inconvenienced obviously with a lot of the, you know, power outages. Thankfully, no serious injuries that you know of, but tell me about what challenges remain.

Challenges remain to get everything clear enough to let everyone leave and go home. We had quite a few visitors in town that mandatory evacuation and most of them left, but not all of them did. So we've got people that are still here. We just -- the governor just lifted the evacuation order so they can get out and go home, which will allow us to really get into the properties and cleaning them up now.

So we're in the process of just recovery. It will be a long time of getting all the debris cleaned up, get the power back on. Those are the challenges that exist after every one of these things. And so it's work to do, but it's not dangerous work and the fear is past of anything really bad happening. So it's relief.

WHITFIELD: Yes, enduring storms always means you learn something, you know, and prepare -- to better prepare yourself for the next storm. What do you think you all experienced here that might better prepare you for preparedness if there's another storm coming?

CRAFT: It gives us good examples to have conversations with our governor. She's the only one that can call a mandatory evacuation. The other thing I can do as mayor is call a voluntary, which we do, but it gets very little traction.

And our -- what our request was, we didn't mandate or even ask for our residents to be evacuated, but all the visitors that we had that don't stay in a condo or stay in a hotel, that means we can't secure the condo and hotel while people are in there. So convincing the governor that what she did was perfect so that for future opportunities, we've got an example that says this worked and it didn't cause any problems.

[13:10:01]

WHITFIELD: Right. So just to underscore, so Governor Kay Ivey did order non-residents, tourists and visitors in your area to evacuate. So the curfew, you know, has expired by now, right? So does that mean Gulf Shores is, you know, open for business again? Or are you asking people to, you know, kind of take it easy? Don't, you know, flood to Gulf Shores just yet. What's the message you're sending? CRAFT: The message is that there are areas that we have power interruption and potential power lines down that you can't get to. The roads are still have debris on them. We're probably -- we'll be wide open for business sometime tomorrow, but certainly by Monday. So we're still cleaning up and the less traffic we have to deal with, the more efficient we can be at that.

WHITFIELD: All right. Gulf Shores, Alabama Mayor Robert Craft, thank you so much. All the best to you and your neighbors there and residents. And I'm glad things weren't worse for you.

CRAFT: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Don't forget, CNN's weather app has all the insight that you need about this storm and weather in your area. You can get it now in the Apple app store.

All right, and then there's this breaking news from Tennessee where Christa Pike has been discharged from the hospital. She's the death row inmate who survived two attempts to execute her by lethal injection just 10 days ago. Her lawyers say Pike has been moved back to the women's prison where she was housed for the last 30 years and is continuing to receive medical care at the prison. Tennessee has suspended executions in the state for now.

All right, coming up, New Yorkers expressing outrage over the latest ICE shooting. Protesters and elected officials are demanding answers after ICE agents shot a man in the Bronx with his five-year-old son in the car.

Plus, President Trump is taking his midterm message to traditionally red states, the reason he is focusing on areas his party has long counted on.

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[13:16:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, due to Hurricane Isaias, President Trump canceled his visit to Alabama today, but he is still heading to Tennessee to continue his red state campaign blitz for candidates on the ballot there. He's expected to arrive in the next hour in Clarksville and hold a rally in hopes of boosting Republicans ahead of the upcoming midterm elections, which are just 24 days away now.

CNN's Steve Contorno is in Tennessee for us. Steve, what can you tell us about the rally there this afternoon?

STEVE CONTORNO, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Fred, I think one of the questions many are wondering, including here in Tennessee, is why is the President coming here? This is not a place that has any especially competitive House races. The road to control the Senate will not go through Tennessee.

But what I'm told from talking to a GOP official is that, look, the President wants to, quote, "pay respect" to some of these deep red areas that have supported him over the last decade, because in many respects, this is the last hurrah for President Trump, at least in terms of campaigning for a meaningful election while he is in office.

And this is also an opportunity for Republicans, I'm told, to rally the base across the country. And that is something that Republicans know that they face in terms of a challenge going into this election cycle. President Trump himself has even expressed frustration that people who have come out to support him in 2016 and 2020 and in 2024 haven't necessarily showed up for Republicans in the midterm elections.

He spoke a little about this last night in Syracuse, New York. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In this election, I'm asking you to do me a favor. Just pretend I'm on the ballot. Here's the story. When I'm on the ballot, we win everything. When I'm not on the ballot, 48 percent of you don't vote.

Please pretend I'm on the fricking ballot, will you? Pretend.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CONTORNO: Now, I'm told as we get closer to Election Day, the President's schedule is going to focus more on some of those key battleground states. But, Fred, we're 24 days out now, and here he is spending a key weekend in Tennessee.

WHITFIELD: It is close. All right. Steve Contorno, thank you so much.

All right, joining me to talk more about the upcoming midterms is Larry Sabato. He's the director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Larry, great to see you.

LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR POLITICS AT UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Thank you, Fred. Good to see you, too.

WHITFIELD: All right. So what do you make of President Trump's red state campaign blitz just 24 days away from midterms?

SABATO: Well, I hate to disagree with an old friend of mine, Steve Contorno, but look, Tennessee has several Democratic dog catchers. So, you know, you want to get this universal in Tennessee. I'm kidding, of course.

It's -- what it tells you is, number one, they're trying to energize the MAGA vote. Trump wants every red state, blue state, purple state MAGA voter to come out, and they're having trouble doing it. They are not excited compared to the Democrats in the population.

[13:20:09]

Democratic turnout looks like it already is in many of the states that are -- that have had early voting ongoing for some time. The Democrats are turning out at a considerably higher rate than the Republicans, even more so than usual. So, you know, you get it.

They're trying to energize the base, but they're also trying to keep Trump away from perhaps some of the media markets that heavily Democratic or Independent media markets, because at this point, he produces more Democratic votes than he does Republican votes, and everybody knows it.

WHITFIELD: A new poll from Pew Research has the President's approval rating at just 30 percent, the lowest of his second term. And at his rallies, his battle cry to the voters is, pretend that I'm on the ballot. Is that's -- is that kind of the credo that's going to make the difference that will inspire people to come out and vote if they were particularly reticent about midterms? But hearing that, they will?

SABATO: No. In a word, no. That's not going to help the Republicans. That 30 percent probably could be better communicated with in other ways. There are loads of ways to reach voters, and it doesn't have to be on national TV.

This is -- it's as though they think that this is only going out to red households. No, it goes out to blue households. It goes out to the Independent households, where at this point, Democrats are winning well over 60 percent of the vote, some places 70 percent of the vote. So, no, it's not helpful.

WHITFIELD: Recently, the President, you know, has even dangled, you know, a few other things to entice voters from the Trump accounts for all kids now under the age of 18. And just as recent as last night, claiming his deal with Russia by lifting sanctions to purchase diesel fuel will lower prices. Are these last ditch efforts going to make an impact?

SABATO: They'll make some impact. And if you've got an extremely close race statewide in some of these states, and you probably do in the Senate races, then maybe you get a few thousand more votes. Maybe that's exactly what you need. But in most places, voters have been through this so many times over so many years, not just during the Trump terms.

You know, it's -- it is a form of legalized bribery in a way, using voters' own money to bribe themselves with. And it works with some people. It doesn't work with others. And by the way, a lot of it's never going to happen, like the $5,000 per voter. You have to be a special kind of fool to believe that you're going to get $5,000 after the election, even if Republicans win both of the houses, which they're not going to do.

WHITFIELD: All right. So look at your crystal ball, if you will. Just three weeks away, what are you seeing? Are you seeing Democrats as picking up some seats in the House? Or do you see a wider, you know, margin than others were expecting?

SABATO: I think it's going to be a pretty healthy margin in the House of Representatives for Democrats. I don't think it's going to be the situation the Republicans had with a margin of four over the last Congress. Sometimes it was five, sometimes it was six. But you get my point.

This is going to be a double-digit margin. It should be well into the double digits. I think right now, I'd say, well over 230 seats for Democrats, 218 as a majority in the House of Representatives. And in the Senate, that is where all the additional effort that Democrats are displaying now will be important, because you've got in at least three and maybe five states, you're going to have the decisions made by a relative handful of voters.

So if you can motivate those additional 5,000, 10,000, 20,000 voters in states of millions, you may well get more than the 51 Senate votes you need. You may get the 52 that would enable you to do without Senator Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who roams back and forth between the two parties, or more than that. But Democrats would be perfectly happy with 51. They're still not absolutely favored for 51, but it sure is looking better for them.

WHITFIELD: All right, very fascinating. Quite the race. Just now a couple weeks away, three weeks away, 24 days if you're counting day to day.

All right, Larry Sabato, thank you so much.

SABATO: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, Hurricane Isaias slamming the Gulf Coast as a Category 2 storm, leaving a trail of damage and hundreds of thousands without power. The deadly storm is now moving inland, but the threat is far from over for much of the southeast.

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[13:29:30]

WHITFIELD: All right, cleanup and damage assessments are underway after a powerful hurricane slammed into the Gulf Coast overnight, leaving nearly 800,000 people without power across the region. Isaias brought dangerous weather threats inland, and authorities say at least four people were killed in storm-related incidents, two each in Florida and Alabama.

And you can see the storm's destructive power as fierce winds ripped the roof clean off a hotel in Pensacola. Isaias is now a post-tropical cyclone, but officials are urging residents to be cautious in the days ahead. Officials are coming together in support of neighboring communities. As one County Commissioner told my colleague Brianna Keilar this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL RATFIELD, BAY COUNTY FLORIDA COMMISSIONER: To our neighbors to the West. Know that we have your back. Okaloosa County. They supported us during Hurricane Michael, and you know, we hear you guys talking about weeks of recovery. This is years of recovery. This is this is a long road to go, and they will definitely need our help in the future. And we're here for them as well. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to give an update. Next hour will bring that to you live as it happens.

All right. And then we've got this breaking news moments ago. President Trump lashed out at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, blaming him for soaring diesel fuel prices and pointing to Ukraine's past attacks on Russian railroads. And refineries.

CNN Senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak is with us now. You were the one who asked a question and Trump spoke up on it. Tell us more about what was said.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. And I wanted to get the president's reaction to some of this criticism that we've heard, including from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to this agreement that the president's Trump and Putin reached yesterday wherein Russia would supply the global marketplace with diesel. To do that, the U.S. had to lift sanctions that had been on place on Russia since the start of the Ukraine war, and the critics suggesting that this would essentially prolong that conflict by giving Putin this economic lifeline.

Of course, President Trump trying to bring down diesel prices now three weeks before the midterm election, squarely focused to try and make things more affordable for Americans. But the critics say that this wouldn't necessarily have the effect of bringing down those prices by very much while also rewarding the aggressor in the Ukraine war. But the president really went off on Volodymyr Zelenskyy. You know it was quite a remarkable moment. Listen to all of what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Zelenskyy could have settled this war many times. Many, many times. And he chose he chooses not to. Very difficult. It's a war that should have never been started. If I were president of the election, weren't rigged, I would have been president and that war would have never started. But he could have settled it many times and he chose not to. We said you can do whatever you want to Russia. Don't hit the refineries because that's a world problem that's caused and he wants to make problems for the world.

He wants to make problems for our farmers, our ranchers with diesel fuel because Russia supplies a large portion of the diesel fuel throughout the world. And we told him do whatever you want, but don't hit the diesel fuel because there's a big problem, big shortage. And what does he do? He goes and hits the diesel fuel. He can do whatever he wants, but he can't do that because we have a world problem and the problem is caused by the lack of refineries for diesel fuel.

So, what does he do? He goes and hits refineries and I said to him, do what you want. Don't hit refineries. There's plenty of targets. Don't hit refineries. And he went out and he hit. And he's not going to affect our farmers and he's not going to affect our ranchers and he's not going to affect the rest of the world. So, we he'd better damn well stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

TRUMP: Well, I agree with you. And you know what I suggest? I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does. And let me go a step further. If I were president, you wouldn't have ever had that war. That war would have never started. There was no reason that that war with Ukraine and Russia started. It started due to incompetence. Should have never started. You wouldn't have lost 30 percent of your country already. You've lost 30 percent of your country and you've had over a million people killed between the two of them. Over 2 million people killed.

That's a war that should have never started. And I think it's time for Ukraine to get a new president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So, wow. President Trump saying that it's time for Ukraine to get a new president. You know, Fredericka, the president's relationship with Zelenskyy has kind of veered wildly throughout the course of this administration. Obviously, it began on a very sour note with that episode in the Oval Office where the two were shouting at each other. It had seemed to have been improving over the summer, the president saying that Zelenskyy was brave, that he had led Ukraine well in the course of its conflict with Russia, but now clearly the pendulum is swinging very much in the other direction because of these continued Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian diesel refineries.

[13:35:00]

That is part of why diesel is so expensive right now. It's above $6 a gallon. It's historically high and it's causing prices to rise on all sorts of other things because diesel is what is used to transport them. And so, really an incredible moment. Does not seem to suggest that the president is anywhere near finding a way to end the Ukraine war as he allows Russia to begin selling its diesel on the global marketplace.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, yes, that was a -- wow is the way you put it and I think that was a big wow on hearing those remarks coming from the president. All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you so much.

All right. Straight ahead, a horrific scene in Erie, Pennsylvania, where eight people and the gunmen have died in a mass shooting. New details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:40:00]

WHITFIELD: A shocking scene in Erie, Pennsylvania where police say eight people, including two children, are dead after a mass shooting in a home last night. Police responded after reports of shots fired outside the residence. Two women were found dead in the street. Authorities say the suspect then entered the home where there was more shooting during a standoff with police. And when police finally entered the house, they found more victims, including children and the suspect who apparently died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

And in New York City, a more outrage and protest after ICE agents shot and wounded an undocumented immigrant in his car while his five-year- old son was in the backseat. Federal officials say the agents shot the man in self-defense. CNN's Mark Morales is following the story. And what more do we know, Mark

MARK MORALES, CNN REPORTER: Well, we're seeing camera footage from both what happened in the immediate aftermath of the shooting and what happened right before that. And of course, as you just mentioned, that happens all under this backdrop of this intense anger of people that are not only critical with the tactics that were used here, but also with the fact that the shooting happened with a five-year-old kid in the car.

Now, when we go back to that footage that we're talking about, we see the body camera footage from police officers that had just arrived. And you see them rushing to the scene. They rush to get to this man. They put him in their car, and you actually see them driving as fast as they can to a nearby hospital to get him treated for his injuries. And you actually get that scene, and we really get to feel like we're a part of what's going on in that immediate scene.

We also saw footage from an overhead camera that's also run by the NYPD that shows what happened in the immediate moments before. So, we see him. We see Oscar Belgal in that car, parking at the hydrant. And then we see ICE officers that close in on him quickly. And as you see one officer on one end of his side view mirror, you see the other officer come in through the front. You see him sort of pull away. And the shooting, of course, happens off-camera, but you actually do get that sense and that footage right from there.

Tom Homan was on Fox this morning talking about this incident. Here's what he had to say. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: The men in white ICE perform -- they perform exactly as they're trained. This man tried to run an officer over. He feared for his life, so he took action. And now, this person is in custody. He'll be charged with a federal crime of assaulting a federal law enforcement officer. But many of these instances could be avoided if they simply give us access to the bad guy in the safety and security of a jail rather than release him in the community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORELES: So, this question about assaulting a police officer with the vehicle is a situation that has come up time and time again in other similar situations in other cities. But it comes out of this central question of when will he get these charges because as of right now, we haven't even figured out where Oscar Belgal should have his hearing for his habeas corpus, which is directly tethered to where he's going to be for whether or not he gets deported or not. So, that's something that is still being figured out today between his legal team and between prosecutors.

WHITFIELD: All right. Mark Morales, bring us that information when you get it. Thank you.

All right. Coming up, some truckers say their costs to deliver goods across the country nearly doubled since the start of the war with Iran. The fuel crisis still hitting truckers across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're only at 18 gallons and we're already 150 bucks.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, it's not necessarily double what you're paying last year, or is it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's close to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:45:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. Now, to the growing affordability crisis. Earlier this week, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at trying to bring down near record level diesel prices. The move is part of the administration's effort to lower fuel costs ahead of the midterm elections. AAA reports the average price today is $6.28 a gallon. That's nearly $3 more expensive than a year ago. As prices climb, trucking has become one of the hardest hit business sectors.

CNN's Natasha Chen explains how this is happening just as many truck drivers are still trying to recover from the pandemic downturn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to need reinforcements.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Angel and Jorge Diaz can tell the price of groceries around the country are about to go up.

Like potentially --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

CHEN: -- frozen chicken or frozen turkey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. CHEN (voice-over): The brothers co-own JD and LA Trucking near the ports of Long beach and Los Angeles. They took over the family business when their father passed away. They've got 20 trucks hauling goods from the two largest and busiest ports in the U.S., a lot of it is perishable and needing refrigeration, which takes more diesel.

[13:50:00]

ANGEL DIAZ, CO-OWNER JD AND L.A. TRUCKING: Earlier this year it was $5.15. Today I checked it here locally it's at around $8.30.

CHEN (voice-over): Diaz took me along to fill up one of their trucks as the price of diesel hit a new record.

DIAZ: We're only at 18 gallons and we're already 150 bucks.

CHEN: I mean, it's not necessarily double what you're paying last year. Or is it?

DIAZ: It's close to. So, if we would have topped off, we would have spent about sixteen hundred dollars.

CHEN: What?

DIAZ: Yes.

CHEN (voice-over): Sixteen hundred to fill up one truck. Each truck needs to fill up once or twice a week. And if their whole fleet runs at capacity, that's up to a quarter million dollars a month.

TRUMP: The typical trucker will save over $100 every time they fill up.

CHEN (voice-over): And President Trump's recent executive order aimed at lowering diesel prices likely isn't going to help them. The order temporarily lets a type of cheaper diesel called red dye diesel on highways instead of just off road. But each state makes its own rules about where red dye diesel can be used and how it's taxed. And California still has restrictions on it.

DIAZ: Unfortunately, it looks like we're in it for the long run. And that's the scary part.

CHEN (voice-over): There's still a crude oil supply problem, but more recently a diesel production bottleneck because major refineries in the Middle East and Russia have been damaged by wars involving Iran and Ukraine. Trucking companies have to decide how much of the increase to pass along to their clients, who then decide how much to pass along to their consumers, like Lydia Sanchez.

LYDIA SANCHEZ, SHOPPER: We're the ones who are going to pay, you know, if we want to eat, whatever we want to eat, we have to pay come out of our pocket.

CHEN (voice-over): Sanchez has already cut down how much beef she buys and Angelica Vasquez has taken on a second job. ANGELICA VASQUEZ, SHOPPER: We just tried to survive and it's really hard, especially for the gas. I hope the president get more smart.

TRUMP: The gas will go down as soon as the war is over. It'll drop like a rock.

CHEN (voice-over): The Food Industry association says it takes 30 to 45 days for a spike in diesel prices to trickle down to prices in grocery stores. But Rolando Pozos is trying hard not to raise prices at all. He's the CEO of Amapola Market, a small chain of Mexican grocery stores in Southern California.

RONALDO POZOS, CEO, LA AMAPOLA DELL AND MARKET: We can see how our suppliers start adjusting prices and they put you that surcharge that we all love to see, the fuel surcharge. And it's definitely hard to swallow.

CHEN (voice-over): Both Amapola and JD and LA Trucking are family owned businesses who have served their communities for decades.

DIAZ: It's going to get to the point where is this even worth, is it worth operating?

CHEN: What would your dad say?

DIAZ: He would say that we've made it through worse and that we're going to make it through this one.

CHEN (voice-over): Natasha Chen, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, Natasha, thank you so much for that point of view. All right. Coming up next hour, we'll talk to the owner of Smokin' Cajuns BBQ food truck to talk about the effect of fuel costs on his business and customers.

And coming up, with what's left of Hurricane Issa-Es now moving through the Southeast, there's another storm heading to the U.S., this time on the Pacific coast, and the Pentagon is scrambling after Secretary Pete Hegseth's plan to livestream a public execution caught the Army off guard. New CNN reporting straight ahead.

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[13:55:00]

WHITFIELD: All right. What's left of Hurricane Issa is moving through Alabama. And tonight's big college football game between the University of Alabama and Georgia is for now set to kick off. It's a showdown between two of the nation's top teams. And both come into this rivalry game undefeated. CNN's Carolyn Manno joining us now with more on this key matchup. Carolyn.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: With conditions expected to continue to improve ahead of tonight's 7:30 p.m. Eastern kickoff, Alabama has said that they are monitoring the weather, but they are going to proceed as planned. And with these two top tier programs coming in at 5-0, this game has major college football playoff implications right at the midway point of the regular season.

Both of these teams are absolutely loaded on both sides of the ball. Georgia averaging a country best 51 points per game right alongside an Alabama offense that's putting up 49 points per game of their own. And both giving up fewer than 80 rushing yards per game. So, the conditions could be a factor tonight, but we expect a real show. This one also features a pair of dynamic quarterbacks in Georgia's Gunner Stockton, Bama's sophomore sensation Keelon Russell, who has met all the hype.

When you look at the bigger picture, Alabama leads the all-time series and has held the upper hand for decades, particularly during the Nick Saban era. But Georgia had the last laugh in the most recent meeting with a win in last December's SEC championship and tonight another opportunity for two of the best in college football to go at it and really gauge where things stand right at the halfway mark.

WHITFIELD: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredericka Whitfield. Cleanup efforts are underway after a powerful hurricane smashed into the Gulf Coast last night, leaving nearly 700,000 people without power across the region. Isaias is now bringing dangerous weather threats as it moves inland. Authorities say at least four people were killed in storm-related incidents, two in Florida and another two fatalities in Alabama. And you can see the storm's intensity as fierce winds ripping the --

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