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EARLY START

Hurricane Laura Slams Into Gulf Coast With 150 Mile Per Hour Winds; Athletes Take Stand After Kenosha Police Shooting; Pence Makes Case For Trump As 'Law And Order' President. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired August 27, 2020 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:31:03]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone, this is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Laura Jarrett -- 30 minutes past the hour here in New York.

Breaking this morning, the strongest storm to hit Louisiana in a century making landfall just a few hours ago. Hurricane Laura expected to bring storm surges that officials call unsurvivable to Louisiana and Texas as far as 40 miles inland. Surges of 15 feet or higher could overwhelm the coasts in both states.

ROMANS: More than 1.5 million people are under some type of evacuation order. Coronavirus and the need to maintain social distance is complicating the response. In Louisiana, the state is taking people to hotels instead of shelters.

Laura is just the 10th hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. with winds of 150 miles per hour or more.

JARRETT: Almost 300,000 customers are without power in Louisiana alone. Conditions are deteriorating rapidly in Lake Charles and that's where we find CNN's Martin Savidge this morning.

Martin, I know that you've been battling out the storm all morning long. How is it right now?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, they say that this storm has gone down to a category three. I've got to tell you, from our vantage point here, there is no way to verify that. It is still howling as hard as we've seen it. In fact, the winds continue to shift here and so we're getting more and more exposed.

I should tell you we're not outside. We're actually inside a parking deck -- a very solid reinforced concrete parking deck. But still, if I were to step just maybe 10 yards beyond the threshold here, you'd immediately be swept away. It's just that much of a difference between here and there.

And the howling of this storm has been going on for hours. We can hear things coming apart out there. You can't see anything now because with the power outages in the area it's literally just confined to light to what we've got generated here in the hotel, so we don't know beyond.

We have heard reports from downtown Lake Charles that there is some flooding. We've also heard reports that there is damage. But there's no way for anyone to make a real assessment because it is simply too dangerous to try to head out there at any time. So you're going to have to wait until daylight and you certainly are going to have to wait until the wind subsides.

But we do know that there were people who decided they wanted to stay. You talked about COVID. They were more afraid of the virus than they were of this storm. They might have a different opinion this morning.

But again, it is just roaring through this structure and it's having a devastating impact on the world around us -- we know that, Christine and Laura.

JARRETT: Yes, you can certainly -- you can hear just how hard it's whipping around there. You can see your jacket and your pants flapping there in the wind. So, Martin, you stay safe there in that parking deck.

ROMANS: All right, let's head to Texas, a little west from where Martin is, to Beaumont, also taking a pretty hard hit overnight. That's where Derek Van Dam is. How are you feeling there, Derek?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, we're doing OK here, thanks. I think we were spared the worst part of the major Hurricane Laura.

But nonetheless, we got battered for the past four hours but nothing compared to the just absolute punishing winds that Martin Savidge has been experiencing and apparently is still experiencing. Those familiar, eerie, howling sounds inside of hotel rooms. We've all -- as veteran storm chasers we've all experienced them before and they are just bone-chilling. You know that if you step outside you experience the full -- the full force of the storm.

Now we, unfortunately, have joined the hundreds of thousands of people without power, so we're running on generators and our satellite truck to broadcast to you today.

But just imagine how scary it must be for the individuals without power riding through this what is now a category three hurricane. I mean, it is absolutely terrifying to have those sounds of a hurricane just howling through your house and the building that you're taking refuge in if you decided to shelter in place for this particular hurricane. Those are terrifying noises.

[05:35:03]

And it will really be a couple of hours -- 7:45 this morning before the sun rises and we get the full scope of the devastation from this storm. And then we start to see what this storm surge -- the unsurvivable storm surge -- how this has panned out, getting some of the latest images we've -- or latest totals we've talked about -- nine to 10 feet of storm surge that we've seen reportable and 137 mile per hour wind gusts in Lake Charles, Laura -- and this is just incredible.

ROMANS: All right, thanks so much for that. Derek Van Dam for us in Beaumont, Texas -- Laura.

JARRETT: So where exactly is this hurricane headed now that it's over land?

Meteorologist Chad Myers is tracking the storm for us, of course. Chad, break it all down for us. And maybe it's too early to ask this but how long is this expected to go on? Are we talking about hours or days?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, it certainly depends on where you are in the storm. I mean, this is going to be hours for many but power outages for days, weeks, or for that matter, months.

So many trees are down and power lines are down now across this area. It will take chainsaws to get to people or chainsaws to get out of where you might be stuck.

Really, Fort Polk is the next place that we will be watching for damage. Winds there are going to be 110-120 mile per hour gusts.

But think about this. Lake Charles had wind gusts over 120 for an entire hour -- a solid hour, gusts were up and down over 120. That's equal to an EF-2 tornado over your home for an hour, and that's the wind damage.

And then south of there and east of there, that's where the surge damage occurred and is still occurring. The wind damage took down powerlines -- 300,000 now -- already greater than that in Louisiana. You see where the darkest area is. That's where most of the power is out.

The surge here is still going up. Usually, you think of the surge being part of the eyewall, but this time because there's so much wind still pushing up the rivers -- the rivers are flowing the wrong direction and water is still going up. You can go to water.weather.gov and you can see these rivers still rising because the wind is still pushing that water up the rivers -- and all the way to I-10, for that matter, in some spots.

So here it goes. It's a 120 mile per hour storm. That's the latest.

Look at this thing. We watched this in the Gulf of Mexico -- such a very warm body of water, anyway. But with the extra one or two degrees that we've added now since the Industrial Revolution, things just got really out of hand yesterday where the pressures just went down rather rapidly.

Planes were in this the entire day flying through, and I couldn't imagine being around there where you're getting winds of 150 and up- and-down drafts. It's a violent, violent ride for hurricane hunters. And thank you to those men and women who risk their lives to help us save lives here.

Guys, back to you.

JARRETT: All right, Chad. Thank you so much for all of that.

ROMANS: A lot of damage already being reported, especially around Lake Charles, Louisiana this morning. Christus Saint Patrick Hospital is reporting damage. Officials will assess more when the sun comes up.

Paul Heard lives in Lake Charles. We understand he had to evacuate his house as the storm started to pull the roof off.

Paul joins us now. Are you safe? Are you safe, Paul? Tell us what happened.

PAUL HEARD, RIDING OUT THE HURRICANE IN LAKE CHARLES, LA (via telephone): I am -- I am safe.

(INAUDIBLE) about 1:00 a.m. In about an hour and a half, it just started taking the house apart. The decking is still on the -- on the house, best I can tell. It is -- it is still dark but one of the shingles are on the (INAUDIBLE) and my roof is clearly leaking.

I abandoned it about an hour ago and got into the car -- excuse me, about two hours ago. And I'm in my car hunkered down because I'm fearing that the house is going to collapse on me.

The surprising thing is I see no storm surge. I live in southeast Calcasieu Parish in the very, very corner just five miles north of Grand Lake. And so the damage that I have has been exclusively by wind.

I'm sitting in my car right now and I'm about three feet below my slab level and there's no water in my car. So I have not seen storm surge whatsoever. Everything's exclusively wind damage.

ROMANS: So this is that excessive wind that the National Hurricane Center was warning us about. These are really strong winds.

Do you feel safe in your car? Are you seeing debris outside flying around?

HEARD: Well, I don't have a choice. I opened up my attic door and put a flashlight up there and I could see my roof was heaving up and down several inches, and it was imminent that it was going to blow off or collapse.

[05:40:05]

And so I took a chance with 100 mile an hour-plus winds and got to my car, which is just 25 feet away. And -- which luckily, it's weighted down with a utility trailer because it is moving around a little bit a few inches here and there, but it's never gone airborne.

But I will not go back in my house --

ROMANS: No.

HEARD: -- until after sunrise.

ROMANS: I would not step outside of that car. I mean, things flying around and that kind of debris can be just -- or that kind of wind debris can be --

HEARD: Absolutely.

ROMANS: -- can be just --

HEARD: Absolutely.

ROMANS: -- devastating.

Do you regret that you didn't -- that you didn't evacuate now that you're kind of stuck here in your -- in your car outside your house?

HEARD: Sure, I've got some regrets -- absolutely. But, you know, we're all human beings and we don't always do what's right and best. But I thought my home is five years old, it's all brick and built just on (INAUDIBLE). Of course, when you get a cat four, cat five and you live just 40 miles from the coast all bets are off.

JARRETT: Hey, Paul, this is Laura here. I don't know if you were able to talk to any of your neighbors, obviously, before things got really bad, but do you have a sense of how many people decided to ride it out?

HEARD: Originally, it was 50 percent. And I'm in a sparse neighborhood. I'm out in the middle of the country -- in the middle of rice fields.

And we have a little small subdivision and it's about 20 families. Half planned on staying. And I think as it went to a cat four-cat five maybe one in four of us stayed.

JARRETT: How much of coronavirus was sort of on your mind? You know, we've heard from some people who feared going to shelters and wanted to kind of just hunker down because of the virus.

HEARD: Well --

JARRETT: Was that a factor for you at all?

HEARD: That was a factor to me because I have immunity problems. I've had psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis and so my immune system is compromised. So I'm very concerned about that.

ROMANS: Paul, what's next for you here? You've got to ride out a few more hours -- at least another couple of hours, I guess, until the sun rises. What are you going to do?

HEARD: Well, my biggest concern is insurance companies. I sure as heck don't want them coming in here and trying not to compensate me for my losses and give me a -- from storm surge because it is absolutely not. I have seen no water.

I'm sitting three feet below my slab level on my house. When I built my home, I dug to columns (ph) out here and built my house pad up seven feet, so I'm way up. So that's why I felt confident about the flood aspect.

The wind aspect was a little tricky. And, of course, when it went to a cat four-cat five, then it's just done and all bets are off.

But that's my real concern right now because with the wind versus the flood.

ROMANS: Yes.

HEARD: Because we went through this with Katrina and insurance companies were fighting over did the flood get there first or did -- or was it damaged by rainwater? And clearly, mine is from structural damage and a leaking (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: Sure.

HEARD: Absolutely no storm surge (INAUDIBLE) --

ROMANS: It seems --

HEARD: -- close to my house.

So that's what I'm worried about (INAUDIBLE).

ROMANS: All right. We all know that after the storm that's the next -- this is going to be a week's long process, no question.

Paul Heard, thank you -- thank you so much. He's riding out the storm in Lake Charles.

And, Laura, it's so interesting. I've heard that so many times in these hurricanes. People in the middle of it still concerned about the insurance nightmare that could come -- could come next. So --

JARRETT: Sure -- it's a lot of money.

ROMANS: -- hopefully when things are safe, he can take some pictures and make sure that he documents exactly what kind of damage caused by what.

All right, Paul Heard, thank you so much.

All right, this is a category three storm. We're going to follow it very closely with you. We've got live reports from three places in the region, next.

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[05:48:54] ROMANS: All right.

Right now, Hurricane Laura making landfall, bringing with it devastating winds to the Gulf Coast. The strongest storm to hit Louisiana in a century. Officials say unsurvivable storm surges could hit Louisiana and Texas as far as 40 miles inland.

This reporter here forced to jump out of the way to dodge this flash of electricity. Almost 400,000 power outages in Texas and Louisiana.

CNN will have extensive coverage of this storm all throughout the day.

JARRETT: Athletes across the U.S. taking a stand after police in Kenosha, Wisconsin shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back. According to reports, the L.A. Lakers and the L.A. Clippers have voted to boycott the rest of the NBA season, while other teams have voted to keep playing.

It all began with the Milwaukee Bucks' players deciding to boycott their playoff game Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE HILL, NBA PLAYER, MILWAUKEE BUCKS: When we take the court and represent Milwaukee and Wisconsin, we are expected to play at a high level, give maximum effort, and hold each other accountable. We hold ourselves to that standard and in this moment we are demanding the same from lawmakers and law enforcement. We are calling for justice for Jacob Blake and demand the officers be held accountable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[05:50:09]

ROMANS: The Bucks' move cascaded. Three NBA playoff series put on hold within hours. WNBA, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball games were called off, including the Reds-Brewers game in Milwaukee.

JARRETT: The Bucks' ownership backed the move to boycott. The team's senior vice president tweeting, quote, "Some things are bigger than basketball."

And former President Barack Obama praised the Bucks players for, quote, "standing up for what they believe in."

Well, CNN has also learned the CDC was pressured to change coronavirus testing guides. A federal health official says word came from the top down.

The new guidelines say some people without symptoms don't necessarily need testing for COVID even if they've been in close contact with someone who is infected with COVID. Now, doctors say this makes no sense and they suggest it could be a way to artificially drive down testing numbers.

Still, the top official in charge of testing -- well, he defends the move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRETT GIROIR, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: There is no direction from President Trump, the vice president, or the secretary about what we need to do when. This is evidence-based decisions that are driven by the scientists in positions both within the CDC, within my office and the lab task force -- and certainly, among the task force members.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: But at least one task force expert did not weigh in. Dr. Anthony Fauci was undergoing surgery during the August 20th meeting where the guidelines were discussed.

JARRETT: Just incredible that they did that while he was under general anesthesia.

Well, this massive storm and the unrest in Wisconsin largely overshadowing the third night of the Republican National Convention. But the Kenosha police shooting was top of mind as Vice President Mike Pence took the stage.

A campaign official told CNN Trump's team believes the convention's so-called law and order message with its firm defense of law enforcement is working. But there's essentially been little to no acknowledgment of the violence faced by black Americans.

And in a last-minute change, the campaign decided to have Pence reference Kenosha but only as a warning about a Biden presidency, even though the homicide rate has increased on President Trump's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Last week, Joe Biden didn't say one word about the violence and chaos engulfing cities across this country.

So let me be clear, the violence must stop, whether in Minneapolis, Portland, or Kenosha. Too many heroes have died defending our freedom to see Americans strike each other down. We will have law and order on the streets of this country for every American.

Joe Biden would double down on the very policies that are leading to violence in America's cities. The hard truth is you won't be safe in Joe Biden's America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Pence, who heads the White House Coronavirus Task Force -- well, he spoke to a crowd last night that was not wearing masks.

Campaign officials tell CNN despite the hurricane, as of now, the president's acceptance speech tonight will go on as scheduled.

ROMANS: Another recurring theme of the RNC, the president has crafted an economy like no other.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, JR., EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Trump's policies have been like rocket fuel to the economy.

REP. VERNON JONES (R-GA): The president also built the most inclusive economy ever.

LARRY KUDLOW, DIRECTOR, U.S. NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: Americans are going back to work.

ERIC TRUMP, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, THE TRUMP ORGANIZATION: And the economy soared to new heights.

PENCE: We built the greatest economy in the world. We made America great again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: But millions of Americans today are out of work and emergency stimulus has expired. But the campaign thinks the economy is an advantage, using Wall Street's gains as a scorecard. And since inauguration, those gains are impressive.

And the vice president claims Trump took a weak Obama economy and turned it into a powerhouse. Well, see for yourself. This is annual GDP growth. You can see the recovery was underway before Trump took office. GDP growth revved up a bit after tax cuts but sustained growth above four percent has been elusive -- and now, the pandemic.

On jobs, the president downplays the job market crash, instead focusing on the more than nine million jobs created in May, June, and July. But the sheer size of the jobs crash was so unprecedented it erased nearly a decade of job market gains. The pandemic has put Trump in a jobs hole, in fact, down a net 5.8 million jobs since he took office.

All right. We're watching Hurricane Laura, a powerful storm slamming into the Gulf.

Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

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[05:59:15]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is a special edition of NEW DAY. It's Thursday, August 27th, 6:00 here in New York.

And we do have major breaking news this morning. One of the most powerful hurricanes to ever make landfall in the United States is tearing through the south as we speak. Hurricane Laura is the strongest storm to hit Louisiana in more than a century.

The category four hurricane, it made landfall around 2:00 a.m. eastern time near Cameron, Louisiana. It had winds of 150 miles per hour. That is very nearly a category five storm. Forecasters are warning of unsurvivable storm surge as high as 20 feet or more.

We're getting some of our first pictures tracking the storm, tracking the surge. We're trying to connect to as many people as we can.

END