Interview with Congressman Peter King
BLITZER: Massive power outages are expected as this blizzard gets worse. The governor of Connecticut says more than 100,000 households could go dark in the coming hours for days. Joining us on the phone right now is the spokesman for Connecticut's Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection, Scott Devico. Scott, thanks very much for joining us. How much snow are you bracing for?</s>SCOTT DEVICO, CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES AND PUBLIC PROTECTION: Good evening. Good evening, Wolf. We are bracing here in Connecticut for a high-impact storm where we will see possibly 24 to 36 inches of snow through in Tuesday, and some pockets possibly 40 inches of snow where these heavier snow bands come through the state.</s>BLITZER: With near hurricane-force winds at the same time and very, very cold. There's a potential for a lot of people losing power. Especially, I'm really concerned about the elderly if they go without electricity for several days. How are you going to deal with that?</s>DEVICO: Yes. We are asking residents to check on their elderly neighbors. If they feel that they are not prepared, help them to be prepared to possibly be without power for a few days and be able to weather that, weather the storm without power for a few days. But we have been down this road before, Wolf, in Connecticut. February of 2013, we had record-breaking blizzards here in the state. And Connecticut residents are resilient. And we're ready to deal with this storm and weather this storm.</s>BLITZER: And the governor has deployed National Guard personnel, right?</s>DEVICO: Yes, there are National Guard personnel who are prepositioned in the state to be able to assist the state police should we need to deploy them to stranded motorists.</s>BLITZER: What about roads? What time is the cutoff when people can -- non-emergency vehicles have to be off the road?</s>DEVICO: Earlier today, Governor Malloy declared a state of emergency and he has instituted a statewide travel ban which will begin at 9:00 p.m. this evening. If you are planning to be anywhere or get anywhere, we're asking all Connecticut residents to do that before 9:00 p.m. this evening and to stay off the roads after 9:00 p.m.</s>BLITZER: What are they telling you, Scott, about how long this emergency will continue?</s>DEVICO: We are preparing for this to go through Tuesday and possibly into Wednesday. As I said earlier, we are anticipating a high-impact storm for the state of Connecticut.</s>BLITZER: When you earlier said 40 inches in some areas, have you ever had 40 inches snow in Connecticut?</s>DEVICO: Close to it. As I said before, the blizzard of 2013, we were in the 30-, 35-, 40-inch range in some places. We will get through this. But the public needs to heed our warnings, stay off the roads so</s>BLITZER: And the National Weather Service is warning this could be deadly. Right?</s>DEVICO: Yes. If you attempt to travel after 9:00 p.m. today, you are not only putting yourself in danger, but you are putting first-responders' lives in danger.</s>BLITZER: Don't travel. Stay indoors. And if you lose power, you're going to deal with that. Obviously, there are emergency personnel who are ready to help. Scott Devico of the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection in Connecticut, thanks very much. Good luck to you.</s>DEVICO: Thank you, Wolf. As this blizzard intensifies, coastal areas are bracing for more than snow and wind. They are also risking very, very dangerous flooding. CNN's Ana Cabrera is out on Long Island, wait out in Montauk right now. Ana, what's it like out there?</s>ANA CABRERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, this is the eastern tip of Long Island, where they are expecting the brunt of the storm. And we are seeing conditions deteriorate since we have been here over the last several hours. You can see the wind really picking up, the snow blowing around down the street here. This is Main Street, if you can believe it. Seems like residents are really heeding the warnings here to stay indoors and prepare for the worst. In fact, we're in front of the one restaurant on Main Street that remains open tonight, a few people staying warm, grabbing a quick bite to eat, but also four cars here on the roadway. They are bracing for two to three feet of snow in the next few hours, 70-mile-per hour wind gusts and coastal flooding. Of course, just beyond this building is the beach, where we had a chance to go down earlier. We saw the waves already crashing ashore. We are anticipating the tide to come in and be high tide about 2:00 right at the height of the storm. They are expecting the ocean to swell two to four feet above what is typical tide overnight hours, so coastal flooding, beach erosion and then of course blizzard conditions on the roads making for a very dangerous and perhaps damaging situation here, Wolf.</s>BLITZER: Yes. I have been talking all day about a quadruple threat that has emerged, Ana, between the snow, the wind, the flooding and the power that is going to be lost. This is a potential nightmare for so many hundreds of thousands -- millions of people out there. Ana, thanks very much. Be careful out there in Long Island. Joining us now is Congressman Peter King. He represents a huge chunk of Long Island right now. Congressman, thanks for coming in. What are you hearing from your constituents there in Suffolk County and Nassau County, not far away from where Ana was just reporting?</s>REP. PETER KING (R), NEW YORK: Yes, I really concur with everything Ana said. This is going to be brutal. And in many ways, the storm has barely begun. The brunt of it is going to start. It is going to be absolutely horrific. The concern, as you said, is not just snow. That can be taken care of. But the power outages and the flooding along the South Shore of Long Island, I can tell that Nassau County, Suffolk County, Town of Hempstead, Oyster Bay</s>BLITZER: Yes, because you think of hurricanes, you don't think of this time of the year there's going to be a hurricane. But if there are 60- or 70-mile-an-hour winds coming in off the Atlantic, that could be devastating, coupled with the let's say two or three feet of snow.</s>KING: I was just talking to my daughter in Wantagh. She said the snow is extremely wet. And that's bad, because that means it will stick to the branches. They can come down, cause the power lines to come down, cause severe power outages. But, again, one thing I'm very confident about, the towns, whether Democrat, Republican, Nassau or Suffolk, the county executives, they are ready to go. They have their troops all ready to be deployed. Same with Mayor de Blasio in the city. Everyone is coming together on this.</s>BLITZER: And you think the governor, Governor Cuomo, is doing a good job right now?</s>KING: Right now, he's doing an excellent job. Yes. And all of us should really stand together on this. But everything the governor says, especially about getting off the roads -- anyone who goes out on the roads tonight is crazy. And it's bad enough to them. I almost don't care what happens to them, but what it can cause for others and the dangers it can cause.</s>BLITZER: I know you represent your district here in Washington, D.C. Is there anything you need from the federal government right now that is not being made available?</s>KING: No, right now, I think federal government is doing all it can do. Obviously, if there's damage afterwards, I would expect the federal government to step in and give us the help and relief that we need. But right now, we have enough troubles and it's to get the job done, get the snow off the ground and get the power lines back up if and when they go down, which they probably will.</s>BLITZER: And at some point, they are going to have to assess the financial damage that all of this is going to cause. At some point, somebody is going to have to help pay for this, right?</s>KING: Well, we had a bad experience during Sandy. I hope we don't have that again. I hope the federal government comes forward, steps forward, does what has to be done. And, again, that flooding along the South Shore of Long Island, that can be devastating. We're very concerned about that.</s>BLITZER: I remember how hard you worked to get that money from Sandy. You had some serious problems, not only with a few Democrats, but a bunch of Republicans didn't want to come through with the cash either. Right?</s>KING: That was rough. Hopefully, everyone learned their lesson from that. We're one country. We're one. When something like this happens, we have to stand together.</s>BLITZER: Yes. Let me quickly pick your brain on this drone that flew over the White House residence at 3:00 a.m. this morning and then sort of crash-landed, if it did crash-land, near the South Lawn of the White House, not very far away. You are on the Homeland Security Committee, the Intelligence Committee. This is very worrisome to the Secret Service.</s>KING: Yes, not just the Secret Service, Wolf. This could replicate itself in sports arenas, stadiums, outdoor facilities throughout the country. There are countermeasures. I can't go into whether or not they were used here or not, whether or not they were broken. The fact is though this is something that requires and is getting tremendous attention from the Secret Service, Homeland Security, branches of government. But this is really in many ways like the modest version or the latest version of the car bomb, because it's going to be difficult and they could strike anywhere. We have to make sure that we're fully ready for it.</s>BLITZER: These drones, they are very available. If you put a plastic bomb on it or some sort of anthrax or whatever, that could be devastating.</s>KING: It certainly could. Again, as I mentioned, obviously, the White House or the president is having an event on the South Lawn with foreign leaders, that's number one. But just again, a football game, baseball game, any type of athletic event, outdoors, so there is real concern. There are -- there's a lot research going on, a lot of work happening. But, again, it has to be done. This is a new weapon that could be utilized against us.</s>BLITZER: Because there are all sorts of capabilities, anti- aircraft missiles and surface-to-air missiles, stuff like that around Washington, D.C., but you can't use that with a small two- or three- foot drone.</s>KING: Wolf, as you and I were discussing before, the Iron Dome wouldn't work here. This is something that is going to -- has to be done. And, again, it's getting a lot of effort, a lot of research. But we still have a ways to go.</s>BLITZER: I have spoken with some officials who are really worried that -- let's say this is nothing, this is just some individual at 3:00 in the morning deciding to go ahead and fly a drone out there and he got carried away for whatever reason. Let's say there is nothing sinister out there. But it does give -- this is what officials have said to me -- sinister ideas to terrorists or sympathizers or others. And they're deeply concerned about that.</s>KING: That's it. Now that it's out there, this is a concern we have had. But now that it has actually happened at the White House and it was probably a harmless event, we hope, but the fact is others are going to see it now. This could incentivize people. There's lone wolves we worry about or just the average nut who is out there can feel incentivized to act.</s>BLITZER: Is there new legislation, based on everything -- you have studied this now for a while -- that's needed to deal with this potential problem out there, the easy availability of commercial drones?</s>KING: We're going to have to look at this. Yes, we have to have restrictions in place, because, again, the danger is there. Yes, I'm saying yes and I can tell you, Homeland Security Committee, others are looking at this and also the FBI, Homeland Security are very, very concerned.</s>BLITZER: It's a very worrisome development. Congressman, thanks very much for joining us.</s>KING: It is. Thank you.</s>BLITZER: Peter King of New York. We are tracking this monster blizzard as it intensifies. We're going to have new details of where the storm is hitting now. And we're also going to check in on the Jersey Shore still recovering from Superstorm Sandy and now, get this, now facing potentially disastrous flooding once again.