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CNN 10
Potential "Bomb Cyclone" Threatens the U.S. Northeast; E-Scooters Pose Challenges for U.S. Cities; Empire State Building Reopens After A Renovation
Aired October 17, 2019 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CARL AZUZ, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Welcome to this October 17th edition of CNN 10. I`m Carl Azuz. Happy to see you this Thursday, exactly two weeks from
Halloween. Our first topic today is a weather event. It`s not a classic Nor`easter. I could be a "bomb cyclone", whatever its formal designation
will be it`s a system so powerful that its causing problems all over the U.S. northeast and it came up quickly. "Bomb cyclones" start as low
pressure weather systems, the lower the pressure, the more powerful the storm. When a system`s pressure changes quickly, dropping 24 millibars in
24 hours, the rapidly intensifying storm has undergone a process called bombogenesis. It has become a bomb cyclone and that`s what the system
along the U.S. eastern seaboard was expected to do.
A CNN meteorologist said it would have the same low pressure as a Category 1 hurricane. What could that mean for the region? Powerful winds blowing
faster than 39 miles per hour and possibly up to 60 are a potential threat from New York City to Portland, Maine. Heavy rain, anywhere from two to
six inches were forecast for the northeast and all of this could last through Thursday. Flight delays and cancellations were expected. Game
four of the American League Championship Series was postponed. It`s in New York between the Yankees and the Houston Astros and they had to wait until
at least Thursday for their fourth match up.
This storm is the second big one to hit this area in a week. The last one brought heavy waves, beach erosion and flooding to the east coast. And
while this weeks storm isn`t expected to bring as much snow as a classic nor`easter typically does except maybe for a small part of upstate New
York, many of its other characteristics are the same.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A Nor`easter occurs within the most crowded coastline of the United States, the northeast and they can occur any time of year but
are most common between the months of September and April. That`s when weather conditions are prime for a nor`easter. You start with a low. It`s
going to travel from the southeast to the northeast and intensify. Nor`easters are strongest around New England as well as the Canadian
Maritime Provinces. Now we have very warm water, the Gulf of Mexico and all around the coast of Florida, it`s going to warm the air above it and
that warm air is going to clash with very cold air coming in from the north.
Now nor`easters carrying winds out of the northeast at about 58 miles per hour or more and keep in mind the wind direction out of the northeast is
what defines a nor`easter. It`s also going to cause beach erosion as well as coastal flooding and very, very rough ocean conditions. Now not all
nor`easters have snow but some of the most memorable ones have dumped lots of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: A struggle for space is taking place between electric scooters and the cities they cruise through. They`re intended to help people easily
make short trips through busy cities without having to get in their cars and fight traffic. And on the plus side, many riders have found them
effective at addressing the last mile problem, the trip from the subway, bus stop or parking garage to the final destination. But one downside is
many of the scooters aren`t lasting long enough for investors to get a good return. So their future`s in doubt and they launched so quickly in so many
places that law makers, businesses and the scooter companies themselves are all playing catch up to define where, when and if the machines can be
ridden.
When they`re on the sidewalks, critics have complained that they clutter narrow spaces and are dangerous to pedestrians. When they`re on the
streets they`re slower than cars and can be dangerous to their riders. Different cities have different rules regarding scooters and some companies
are even testing self-driving scooters. But the point of this would be that the scooter could move and park itself when someone wasn`t on it so it
doesn`t wind up in the way of pedestrians or traffic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Electric scooters rented via apps are flooding city streets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let`s say we want to get this one for you. So you just have to scan (inaudible) here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (inaudible) code there.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. So then you have to give a first push and then you`re good to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The scooters top out at 15 miles per hour. They cost a dollar to rent, 15 cents per minute to ride and use the same lithium ion
batteries your phones and tablets do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We raise $135 million.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: $135 million Lime raised.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, in like a year and a half. So it`s pretty good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s a lot of capital being injected in - -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The cash is crucial because Lime is waging a bitter, block by block battle for scooter supremacy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So really the - - the goal of Bird is to reduce car traffic and trips and people have been trying to find ways to get Americans
out of cars for a long time and - - and we think Bird can have a big impact.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The start ups leave them on streets often without city approval and the apps allow you to discard the scooters pretty much
anywhere. Residents say they litter sidewalks and pose a danger to pedestrians.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cities haven`t really, you know, they didn`t really kind of see and it would have been hard to see this - - this wave of
electric scooters coming. And so there`s really not a lot - - a lot of laws around the electric scooters yet and so we`re working with them.
We`re actually supportive of regulation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well there`s definitely a buzz riding these. It`s really cool to be whizzing past a pedestrian and being able to see above
everybody else but with that speed, you can also feel the risk especially when you`re in the streets and you feel a bus go past you. You can really
feel your mortality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The most important advice I have for getting on an e- scooter is knowing when to jump off any scooter (ph). Sorry.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: 10 Second Trivia. Which U.S. president officially opened the Empire State Building by pressing a button to turn on its lights? Woodrow Wilson,
Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, or Herbert Hoover. In 1931, President Hoover hit a button in Washington, D.C. to turn the New York City landmarks
lights on.
Including the land it was built on, the Empire State Building cost just under $41 million to construct during the great depression. The cost of
its recent four year renovation more than $160 million but it is a major tourist attraction. About 4 million people visit the building every year
to travel up to its observatories and gaze at the city below, and that`s worth about $130 million every year to the skyscraper. It`s changed a lot,
at least internally since the art deco landmark opened in 1931 and the new renovations are intended to make it feel as modern as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the new 102nd floor of the Empire State Building Observatory. We`re here on the opening day of a project which has
been going now for - - for four years. The project started four years ago and we thought the project was going to be very simple and straightforward.
The project grew and as it grew, it grew into the museum exhibit that we have today and included renovations of the second floor through the 80th
floor, 86th floor and now the 102nd floor.
So what used to be on the 102nd floor that you`d come up in an elevator and you`d see a perimeter of windows which (inaudible) just about here. You
had really a step on which you had to step and some barrier to access (inaudible). And now we`re looking at some great floor to ceiling, all of
the walls in this entire space have been blown off (ph). You see the original beams. Then we`ve got this incredible glass elevator which comes
up into a glass shaft. We want the observatory of the views here, of the experience here to meet the 21st century and beyond.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
AZUZ: If NASA succeeds in returning astronauts to the moon in 2024, here`s a look at what they`ll be wearing. The agency unveiled two very different
looks recently. The white one is designed for when space travelers go outside to bounce along the moon`s south pole. The orange one is what
they`ll wear when launching into space and returning to Earth. NASA says the suits will give astronauts more mobility though. You can still its
still more limited than say a business suit. They`ll be more expensive too. The originals cost around $22 million.
Now some might have a "prada" with that. They "ermay" think that "la cost" is "berberry" expensive but not that "Armani" spacesuits will be made and
if these are just the first in "Berginning" of a "Klein" of common space projects. Who`s to say they`d "Gotea" extremes when there`s a "Vouton" of
possibilities in "Interstella" fashion. I`m Carl Azuz for CNN.
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