Big Storm Threatens Thanksgiving Travel; Storms Delay Holiday Travel for Many
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I don't know if that bolstered your argument, but hey, happy Thanksgiving. Thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello. LEGAL VIEW with Ashleigh Banfield starts now.</s>ASHLEIGH BANFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Ashleigh Banfield. It is Wednesday, November 27th, and welcome to LEGAL VIEW. We're going to begin with icy roads, and howling winds, and flooding, and, oh, just some more than 40 million of you trying to battle through all of that for our revered holiday, Thanksgiving. This storm, this series of storms. is deadly, and it is pounding the eastern half of the country, shutting down whole sections of interstates going both ways. It's canceling hundreds of flights. It is delaying thousands more flights, and even rail traffic has hit the skids. At New York's Penn Station, just take a look at what that's like. Yeah, dozens and dozens of stranded riders just staring up at the train schedule, as Chris Cuomo calls it, it is a "board of broken dreams." And all of this could only get worst. CNN's team of correspondents and meteorologists is lined up like only CNN can be, the full power of the network up and down the East Coast with the latest on this travel nightmare. We're going to tap into each one of these correspondents. In the storm's path right now, some of the nation's busiest airports, where delays and cancellations could have ripple effects right across the country. Our Rene Marsh is live right now at Reagan National. All right, how is it looking so far, Rene?</s>RENE MARSH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you here, Reagan, it's not that bad. However, we are seeing some delays. We are seeing some cancellations. But looking at the big picture of what's going on around the country, flight tracking websites are saying that roughly more than 1,300 delays, although not all of them necessarily have to be weather related. But that's the snapshot that we have for you at this point. And they're also reporting more than 300 cancellations. Now these delays, they can last anywhere from 20 minutes to, for example, this flight here going from D.C. to Norfolk, about an hour. And we actually have a passenger who has a seat on that flight that is delayed for an hour. Ulrick Casseus, thank you for joining us.</s>ULRICK CASSEUS, FLIGHT DELAYED BY STORM: No problem.</s>MARSH: Tell me where are you headed?</s>CASSEUS: I headed to see my father in Virginia Beach. I'm going through Norfolk to see him. Just regular Thanksgiving with the family, you know?</s>MARSH: And so you came here and you saw at first it was a two-hour delay?</s>CASSEUS: Yes. It was a two-hour delay. And then I guess they're doing what they can to actually get everything back on flight, back on status. So it dropped from a two-hour to like an hour, fifteen minutes. And now it's less than an hour, so it worked out.</s>MARSH: And all you want to do is get home to the turkey.</s>CASSEUS: Yes. Get home, relax, be with my family, my friends, that's the main thing.</s>MARSH: All right, thank you so much. Hoping you get there quickly, sooner rather than later. And Ashleigh, we can tell you as far as how other airports are looking. Newark, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Boston, O'Hare, Detroit, Charlotte, those are the airports, as well as Atlanta, we're noticing a lot of delays there. We spoke to the airlines, however, and they told us yesterday they're expecting more delays than they are cancellations. They are not, according to the airlines, as of yesterday, expecting severe cancellations. Ashleigh?</s>BANFIELD: That is much better news and so is the image behind you, Rene. I expected to see almost pandemonium behind you, but it looks like things are as good as they could be in a circumstance like this. Rene Marsh, live for us, thank you, at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. Now, I want to take you to the highways, because this icy, winter storm has already proven deadly. Our Pamela Brown is in the thick of one of the country's busiest driving corridors. I love that you're live doing this. You got the assignment driving New York to Washington on I-95. I started the morning at 5:00 in the morning on I-95, and it was brutal, just brutal. How are things looking now?</s>PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, you know, Ashleigh, we've been on the road since 5:30 this morning, Eastern time, and it just depends on where you are. We were on the outskirts of Connecticut. We were in central New Jersey. Really, all over the place. We did see some backups, and a lot of that was because of accidents and slick conditions on the roads. As you witnessed yourself, Ashleigh, the rain was coming down pretty hard earlier today, and there were several accident. In fact, I-76 in Philadelphia, the westbound side of the highway has been shut down due to a deadly accident there. One person was killed. The other side of the highway, one lane open due to flooding. And we've seen standing water pooling all over the place, and so it's been a really a headache for holiday travelers trying to reunite with their families. And, Ashleigh, I've heard a lot of stories from people who left last night, thinking they were going to beat the rush. But you know what? A lot of other people had the same idea. One friend told me that he was driving from D.C. to Ohio, usually takes eight hours. It took him 13 hours. So we're hearing a lot of those kinds of stories. But a lot of people are going to have to just be patient.</s>BANFIELD: You know something, Pamela? You might be going the right direction, because I left work yesterday to go home, and it's about an hour drive. And it took three hours and 45 minutes to get home yesterday. So maybe some people heeded all the worries and actually started getting out early. Good luck on your journey, my friend, and I hope you make it back here safe. And have a lovely Thanksgiving. By the way, the eastern half of the country may be feeling the brunt of all of this right, and certainly out Pamela's window you could see some of it. But this storm isn't showing any mercy in a lot of places. Get this. According to CNN's Severe Weather Center every single state in the union, except Hawaii, is expecting temperatures to dip below freezing at some point on Thanksgiving morning. Our meteorologist Jennifer Gray has been keeping her eye on all of this. She joins me live now. Listen, I kind of thought that we were deal with a nor'easter that was having sort of effects all over the country, and then I hear this about the temperatures. This is far more than a quasi-nor'easter.</s>JENNIFER GRAY, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You know it's cold when places along the Gulf Coast have freeze and frost watches and warnings. These are the advisories across the I-10 corridor, anywhere from south Louisiana to New Orleans, Panama City, even to Jacksonville will have the freeze threat for tomorrow morning, watches and warnings all across the Gulf Coast. So, yes, it is cold, but the big story, this rain-maker across the Northeast, and that's basically what it is. The biggest part of it is rain. And that's what we're seeing from Raleigh all the way to New York, Boston. The good news is, this will start to make its way out of here over the next couple of hours. By tonight, into tomorrow morning, we will look much, much better. But it's still not over yet. The next 48 hours, we'll see an additional three to eight inches of snow across portions of New York and then down across the mid-Atlantic, possibly one to two more inches of rain. And then as you get high into the Northeast, two to four more inches of rain. But here is a time label of what we're looking at. By Wednesday, 6:00, this is this evening, New York, the rain should start to move on out. And then by tomorrow morning, we should be clear. The sun should come back out. But what we'll really be watching, the winds behind all of this. Here's is at noon today, 27-mile-per-hour wind gusts, 36 in Boston, and then they should be peeking out tonight and then start to taper off tomorrow. We will keep our eye on those balloons, though. The winds right now forecasted to be right on that cusp of whether they're going to fly or not.</s>BANFIELD: I heard it was actually on the actual number. The prediction is the wind will be on the call number. So I guess they're going to have to watch from the beginning of the parade and see if they can -- I hope they do it, Jennifer. Fifty million people watch that parade.</s>GRAY: I know. I hope they do, too. And I'm in the city and I'm looking forward to it so --</s>BANFIELD: Thank you, Jennifer. Keep up the good work. And we'll tap in and find out what you find out, later in the show. By the way, since we've been talking about travel and airports and everything, check out your screen. This is good stuff. CNN decided to make the world's busiest airport -- that's Hartsfield- Jackson Atlanta International, folks. We made this our destination for a fascinating look at the guts and the belly of the beast, what it's like to travel in the places you can't see. On August 28th, more than three dozen journalist descended upon that airport and documented every single part that they could. It's stuff that you absolutely can't believe goes on as you're just about ready to take off and everything seems smooth. Check it all out on CNN.com/ATL24. Again, CNN.com/ATL24. OK, do you have a lot to do around the house today? How would you like to be evacuated ? Because that's actually happening to hundreds of people right now, forced from their homes on the day before Thanksgiving. I'm going to tell you what is going on and why these people now need disaster relief. Also, an officer runs towards a car engulfed in flames. This is why they're called our "Bravest." I kid you not. What happens next is amazing. Stay with us. You'll see.