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CNN NEWSROOM

New York Braces for a Big Snowstorm; Saudi Arabia As U.S. Ally

Aired January 25, 2015 - 16:00   ET

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


(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MAYOR BILL DEBLASIO, NEW YORK CITY: That is as if going from here to Los Angeles and back. That's what they have to deal with, and they are up to the task. How is that going to happen? 2400 workers per shift on 12-hour shifts, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. for each shift, and we will ensure that all hands are on deck for this crisis. We'll have nearly 500 salt spreaders out ahead of the snow falling. When at least two inch have accumulated, there will be 1500 snowplows deployed to address the conditions.

At the same time our colleagues at the Department of Transportation have their emergency pothole crews out already, making repairs in advance of the storm. Again, these are blizzard-type conditions. We expect easily two feet, even the potential of pressing on towards three feet of snow.

I want to emphasize, this will not just be snow. There would be very windy conditions. We expect wind speeds of 35 miles per hour or more. There will be low visibility, so I'm going to say this today and you'll hear me say it over the next few days. New Yorkers should not underestimate this storm. Assume conditions will be unsafe. Assume that you do not want to be out in this storm. When you can stay indoors, stay indoors. When you can day off the roads, stay off the roads, use mass transit or make plans to travel another day. Try with everything you have to avoid being in the middle of this storm.

The storm is expected with initial flurries late morning, early afternoon tomorrow increasingly heavy going into Monday evening, and then continues on into early Tuesday. We'll be constantly monitoring the storm and its path. We're in constant contact with the National Weather Service. We know that storms are unpredictable. They can change. They can get bigger, they can get smaller. They can get faster. They can get slower. We're going to be ready for different scenarios.

The one we are describing to you is the one we expect, but we're also being cautious and making sure we're prepared for the worst-case scenario, not the rosiest scenario.

Now, road conditions in particular will be treacherous. There's no other word for it. They will be treacherous. So all New Yorkers should stay off the roads tomorrow. If you go out in the morning, you have to come back in the evening and by evening it's going to be pretty heavy. So stay off the road tomorrow. Certainly stay off the roads on Tuesday. Again, use mass transit. If that's an option, if you have the option to stay home or make other plans, you should do that right now. Make change your plans now in advance of this storm.

If you're even walking around in your neighborhood expect unusually icy conditions, and unusually slippery conditions. Even walking should be kept to a minimum. We're asking people starting tomorrow afternoon to stay out of city parks. There is also a potential with rapid snowfall, extra burden on tree branches that you could have some branches coming down. We want people to stay away from the parks for their own safety. Every New Yorker should know that if they have any problem with heat or hot water, we want them to call 311 immediately. If you experience a problem, we want to work immediately to fix it. But we need you to call. So anybody with a heat or hot water problem, please call 311 immediately. I'm asking all New Yorkers to look out for your fellow New Yorkers. Look out for your neighbors, particularly if you have neighbors who are elderly or disabled. Check in on them? Check in on them today, make sure they have what they need in anticipation of the storm. Check on them to make sure they are OK.

We're announcing now the alternate side of the street parking will be suspended. Tomorrow, Monday, it will be suspended. Tuesday as well, potential further suspensions thereafter, but definitely no alternate side on Monday or Tuesday. Garbage and recycling collections will be suspended, so we can focus on snow-clearing operations. Any questions or concerns people have, if they need information, call 311, or go on- line at nyc.gov.

If you have a real emergency, a life-threatening situation, call 911. Again for information, for updates, 311 or nyc.gov. The city is doing everything we know how to keep the city safe. We're asking you to keep yourself safe and your neighbors safe as well.

One more important update. Tomorrow school will be open tomorrow, but there will be no after-school activities or trips. So school will be open Monday, but not after-school activities or trips. We will make a final decision tomorrow related to Tuesday, but it is likely that schools will be closed on Tuesday. So again likely school closure Tuesday, but a final decision will be announced at an appropriate hour tomorrow.

A few words in Spanish. Estamos esparando una tormenta deneva severa la Nevada comienta en Lunes y continora hasta al Martes en la manana, estamos la monad las medidas necessarias para garantisar la seguridad de todos los New Yorkinos per su siguridad por favour eviten estar enlacaye tonto domo sea posible (ph).

With that, I want to introduce our sanitation commissioner, who is doing an extraordinary job supervising these preparations. We appreciate her leadership greatly. She will give you further updates, sanitation Commissioner Catherine Garcia.

FREDRICKA WHITIFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: You've been listening to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio there underscoring that this is something to prepare for. He says prepare for something worse than we have ever seen before. Focus on safety. This is a major storm that is forecast to sweep New York all the way up to Maine. The mayor there saying prepare for the worst-case scenario. Roads will be treacherous, stay off the roads tomorrow. He did say that city schools will be open on Monday, but likely to be closed on Tuesday, and he says simply stay out of the city parks. Usually it's the instinct of New Yorkers to want to go to the park when it snows, but this is a big one he says this is believed to be so unpredictable accept for a fact that it will be a severe blizzard, upwards of one to two feet of snow possibly even three feet of snow.

CNN's Ivan Cabrera is with us, tracking the storm. You can tell us in much better detail (INAUDIBLE) what people should be bracing for.

IVAN CABRERA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, basically the National Weather Service has briefed him and told him that they're predicting anywhere from 24 to 36 inches, which is mind-boggling when you talk about that kind of accumulation, again six to nine inches that's just annoying, you clear the roads. You get out of the way. Over a foot, you start becoming a disruptive storm but when you get to 24 or 36 inches, that's historic stuff here.

Just in from the National Weather Service, New York City has now upped its warnings. Now we're talking about a blizzard warning. We're at a blizzard watch, National Weather Service. Boston has done the same. We have gone from a blizzard watch to a blizzard warnings. There are not blizzard warnings posted from New York City along Long Island, along Connecticut, the entire state, the entire state of Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, in fact all the way out to 495, and then up towards Portland here.

Blizzard warning means that conditions will turn very dangerous over the next 12 and into 24 hours. That's when the peak of the storm will be here Monday night and into Tuesday morning with credible amounts of snow. So we're talking about 12 to 24 inches total. Yes there could be some areas that could pick up an additional few inches that will put us over 30 airport and school closure certainly likely.

And the power outage is that I'm concerned about not just because of wind, but also because of the heavy snow that's going to be falling as well, and then coastal flooding. Not the like of what we saw with Sandy, but we're going to see some coastal flooding. Battery Park, likely going to get in on that as well and then coastal Massachusetts and really the entire southern coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island as well, along with Cape Cod and the islands. So they're going to watch that very closely.

So here's the potential here. A lot of folks have been talking about Chicago going to get snow. Well, a little bit of snow here, but a big the snow is as you get further east. That's when the low is going to essentially intensify significantly, east of Philadelphia, and then a swath of 12 to 24-inch totals. That would happen Monday night and as we head into the early part of Tuesday - and we have the timing here for you.

As far as (INAUDIBLE) talk about the first flakes. Well, they're going to be falling tonight through Philadelphia and then Monday it begins across New York, and then Boston begins Monday night and then it continues further to the north. So that's your timeline as far as when the snow starts. WHITFIELD: Ivan, I'm sorry to interrupt you, but we want to take our viewers back to New York now, where we understand the Office of Emergency Management, Joseph Esposito, is talking, addressing what could be some really potentially dangerous conditions.

JOSEPH ESPOSITO, NY OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: You've got to stay indoors at the height of this storm. It's a blizzard warning in effect. We've been coordinating with over 50 of our agency partners in the city, the state, the federal government, to deal with this. Again we've been tracking this for the last few days. It hasn't gotten better. It has gotten progressively worse.

Again, you could have a potential over three feet of snow by late Tuesday. So we've coordinated with all our agencies, tow truck task force will be put into place, we have the National Guard - we've been in touch with the National Guard to bring in some high-axle vehicles to help mainly with EMS, the F.D., because we know in past storms we've had trouble getting down some of these blocks. So we're coordinating with them. We've actually have a couple calls out to FEMA.

We would ask, if you have the possibility, your workers, non-essential workers, if they can adjust their hours maybe to come in a little bit earlier tomorrow and get out before the storm really comes into effect. You don't want to be traveling on a bus or a train 8:00, 9:00 tomorrow night, even 6:00. If you can adjust the work hours, that would helped greatly to alleviate the rush and hopefully help sanitation get an early start on this.

So again, common sense, listen to your body. If you got to go outdoors don't go outdoors unless you have to. Stay off the roads. Starting tomorrow night you should not be out in the storm or driving in it. That's the way to stay safe. Thank you.

DEBLASIO: Thank you, Joe. Just one more comments, and then we'll take your questions. So this is a list of the top 10 snowstorms in the history of this city going back to 1872. Almost 140 years. Right now based on what we know, this is the third place, March of 1888, 21.0 inches. Based on what we know now, this storm will unquestionably be more than that; number from 1947, 26.4 inches could be more than that. Snowiest we have ever seen, February 2006, 26.9 inches in one storm, literally could even surpass that.

So the reason I'm showing you this is so you can relay to our fellow New Yorkers, this could be the storms the likes of which we have never seen before. We have to prepare with that in mind. Whatever normal safety precautions you take in advance of a storm, take even more. Be even more cautious. People will have to expect a lot of challenges, delays, people have to be patient, but most importantly be careful, stay safe. With in a, we welcome your questions.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: You say stay off the roads tomorrow, but if people are taking children to school you have to be on the road. How does that work? DEBLASIO: I think I'm referring more to commuters. From what we know now, and we will constantly update people. From what we know now, there would not be substantial accumulation until late in the afternoon. So the concern would be to for the evening return commute. That's when I think we're going to see real problems.

At this moment, this will not affect tomorrow morning, Monday morning rush hour, but it will affect Monday evening rush hour. That's why if people can avoid being on the road in a commuting situation, they should avoid it.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: The MTA and the buses, are they taking any additional precautions?

DEBLASIO: Joe?

ESPOSITO: Yes, they've been at our meetings and they're preparing chains. They have a lot of snow tires. So some of the bus have snow tires, where appropriate they put chains on. But again, we're stressing is the daytime rush hour is going to be different than the commute at night. If you're all coming in at your normal time in the morning, some of those buses and trains may not be available when they go home, tomorrow is rush hour.

So again, they have extra staff on, extra buses, but again if the conditions get that bad, there will be less buses and trains out there.

DEBLASIO: I want to thank in advance a lot of this preparation has been led by our first deputy mayor Tony Shorris and his chief of staff, Dom Williams. I want to thank them because they have really helped with Joe's leadership as well to get all of the agencies on the same page in preparation for this

UNIDENTIFED MALE: The preparation separates this day of prep from previous storms we have seen with 12 inches, storms of that magnitude.

DEBLASIO: Yes, I think there's more decisions being made earlier. For example alternate site we can tell you already canceled. The anticipation, not a confirmation yet but the likelihood of school closure on Tuesday. I can have my colleagues talk about other things, but I can tell you everything is being sped up in anticipation of this.

ESPOSITO: When something like this happened, with all the events around the city, one of the things that we are cancelling tomorrow night was our annual time when we count the homeless. We canceled that. A lot of personnel goes into that. We said, what's the sense of counting them when there's a blizzard going on. It wouldn't be accurate count and it wouldn't be safe for anybody. So look at any event that's going on around the city and that's one of the ones we are cancelling.

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Mayor, maybe people shouldn't go to work tomorrow in the morning, because they'll need to get home in the evening, and buses, et cetera, cars will be getting stuck on the way back. ESPOSITO: Well, that's why we're talking about the adjusting of your hours. We think it's safe enough for the kids to be in school. We think it's safe enough to leave school, even some of the after school program when the kids stay in school, they're going to be there. It's the later night, it's going to start in the afternoon tomorrow. So we're not telling people to stay home from work. We're saying be prepared, perhaps comes in earlier, get an early jump on leaving, if it starts snowing, you know what? Pack up, take a half a day off and get on the train and a bus and get home.

DEBLASIO: Let me answer that. What I want to say - a couple of what I wanted to. One, if you have to go to work, go earlier. If you don't have to go to work, you can telecommute, telecommute. If you have the option of mass transit rather than your car, use mass transit. The point is people should take seriously the evening rush hour is going to be a huge problem. I'm telling people that right now. If you can avoid it or you can get ahead of it, that is far preferable for yourself and also for your fellow New Yorkers.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Any delays regarding public transit? (INAUDIBLE).

DEBLASIO: Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: Shut down the subway system or buses -

DEBLASIO: Yes, I'm going to try and be clear. This could be the biggest snowstorm in the history of the city. Yes, there will be delays on everything. So the point is we're asking everyone's participation to get ahead of this. The more we get people off the roads, the fewer people move around, the better chance that these hard-working men can get out and clear the road and we can restore normalcy as quickly as possible. By definition, if it's one of the worth storms we've ever seen, there will be a lot of delays.

UNIDENTIFED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) cancelling bus service...

WHITFIELD: Bracing for what could be the biggest, if not maybe one of the top two or top three storms this city has ever seen, according to New York Mayor Bill De Blasio there, saying while you may have to go to work, or perhaps even school tomorrow, Monday, that's safe, but he says have a contingency plan to start making your way back home and then staying in there expectedly for the next 24 to 48 hours, because the storm could dump as mich as one, two or three feet of snow. A big blizzard expected to hit from Philadelphia, stretching all the way up to Maine. So we're going to continue to follow this story.

Another big story, we're following for you, we're talking about President Obama's trip to India. While there he has talked about a deal to let U.S. firms work on a civilian nuclear plant, the president also addressed the growing terror threat near the region.

Let's go to CNN's Erin McPike in our Washington bureau, and of course we'll return to bracing for this big blizzard in the northeast. So Erin, what more did the president have to say?

ERIN MCPIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, the president said he has actually no plans to change the current U.S. counter terrorism strategy in Yemen despite the political chaos that we've been seeing going on there now. He explained why in a press conference this morning in India.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, U.S. PRESIDENT: Our efforts to go after terrorist networks inside of Yemen without an occupying U.S. army, but rather by partnering and intelligence sharing with that local government is the approach we're going to need to take. That continues to be the case.

The alternative would be for us to play whack-a-mole every time there's a terrorist act or inside other countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCPIKE: But some high profile lawmakers who worked closely on this issue are speaking up and saying continuing down this same path just is not working. One of those is Senator Dianne Feinstein, she's of course the ranking democrat on the intelligence committee and also Armed Services Committee chairman John McCain, and they joined forces on CBS this morning, and called for U.S. special forces deploy to Yemen and possibly other areas in the region.

Now McCain said this could be tough for Americans to swallow, but he said pointblank there needs to be American boots on the ground, maybe not combat troops, but that more Americans do need to get engaged in Yemen directly.

Meantime Feinstein said what the president just said isn't enough that intelligence sharing with regional partners will not cut it. And her fix is putting more Americans in Yemen to collect more intelligence from the ground there. This is all happening, of course, at the same time that the president wants Congress to authorize the military campaign against ISIS. So he's really walking a fine line here, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Erin McPike, in Washington. Appreciate that.

And guess what? Our Fareed Zakaria sits down with President Obama this week and you could see his exclusive interview Tuesday on "CNN's New Day" beginning at 6:00 a.m..

All right. What can we expect from Yemen next? Joining me from London is Fawaz Gerges. He is the author of the new book or the book "The New Middle East" and professore at the London School of Economics.

All right. Good to see you professor. So President Obama wants intelligence and diplomatic efforts to keep going in Yemen with the Houthi minority sympathetic to Iran and known to be pretty anti- western pushing out in fact the Yemeni president. How much of a setback is this for the U.S. efforts to stabilize Yemen and perhaps even cripple terrorist activity there?

FAWAZ GERGES, AUTHOR: It's a major setback. It's a major setback for Yemen. Yemen now is in the grip of almost all out war, is descending into multiple (INAUDIBLE). You have the Houthi, the pro-Iranian community that has taken over Sanaa and most of the institutions. You have Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is one of the deadliest Al Qaeda networks. You have the south, which would like to go it alone outside of the state of Yemen, multiple provinces in Yemen, basically no longer take orders from Sanaa.

I think the options facing the United States are extremely bad option, Fredricka. And the worst-case scenario, given how bad the options are is to let's say send American special forces or American boots to Yemen. This would be a recipe for disaster. The question is the challenge facing Yemen and neighboring countries and the United States is to help bring about stability in Yemen, is to help mediate between the various warring factions in Yemen, to help rebuild this state in Yemen.

It's not ease, but to say given the multiple conflict that exists in Yemen, which would send American troops. This would basically be disastrous, catastrophic, for both the American forces and the stability, the option, the potential of putting Yemen together.

WHITFIELD: In fact, when you take about the neighbours of Yemen - let's talk about Saudi Arabia, you know, obviously very concerned about the stability or the lack thereof in Yemen. So will President Obama find working with the new king, King Salman, who is 70-something years old to be similar to working with Salman's brother, King Abdullah, since a common goal that the U.S. and Saudi Arabia share is keeping a close watch on Yemen?

GERGES: Well, I think as you well know, Fredricka, historically, Saudi Arabia relies on the American security umbrella. This is a very strategic and significantly economic relationship. I mean, just for your own viewers, Yemen symbolically is the birthplace of Islam, is where the Prophet Muhammad was born, where the two holiest places are, Mecca and Medina.

Saudi Arabia produces 10 million barrels of oil a day. Saudi Arabia buys tremendous tons of weapons, tens of billions, big contracts, big money, big financial service. The challenge facing President Barack Obama, I don't think we'll see any change in this relationship, because the new king, King Salman, does not really differ from his brothers. He would follow a similar policy both domestically and international relations. The challenge facing the president of the United States is not only to renew and maintain this relationship, is to impress on the new leadership the need for reforms. The need to allow dissidents, liberal dissidents to have an open space, a bigger space, is to really walk a fine line, between maitaning the strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia and impressing on the new leadership the urgent, the fierce urgency to reform.

WHITFIELD: Is that realistic, though? Because I mean, while there have been manage complaints about some sort of reform as it pertains to human rights in Saudi Arabia, the U.S. doesn't seem to have that much leverage or influence as it pertains to that, yet at the same time kind of walking that tight rope wanting to maintain the relationship because of oil, and because Saudi Arabia is so influential in that region? GERGES: I am afraid, Fredricka, you are absolutely correct. The United States really does not have the will and the means to really shape or influence Saudi Arabia foreign policy. As you know, in the last four years since the Arab Spring uprisings, there have been some major disagreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia, more than once Saudi leaders differed with President Barack Obama in his rhetorical support for the Arab uprising.

Remember, if you really for your own viewers, the reason why the Saudis are basically reluctant to really carry out radical change because of the conservative religious establishment, you have an umbilical cord, a social contract between the Saudi family, the Saudi monarchy and the religious establishment, the conservative Sunni religious establishment basically is in charge of the social space, the public space, the cultural space. This is a very conservative space. That's why the monarchy, the Saudi monarchy is reluctant to go against the conservative Sunni establishment, because so far it has allowed the kingdom to endure and basically weather multiple storms since its foundation in the early part of the 20th century.

WHITFIELD: All so important, so fascinating. Farwaz Gerges, thank you so much again.

GERGES: Pleasure.

WHITFIELD: The president will be attending the funeral of King Abdullah early in the week. Thank you so much and thanks for hanging with us because I know we got a lot of breaking news, particularly this impending blizzard in the northeast and we have to ask Fawaz Gerges who we invited to stick around, to join us.

We're going to return to our coverage there of this pending blizzard, dumping upwards of one, maybe two, maybe even three feet of snow, starting tomorrow. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Back to our top story now. New York under a blizzard warning, in fact, much of New England is about to get hammered with a major storm. Just moments ago New York City Mayor Bill deBlasio spoke about how dangerous this storm is potentially.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBLASIO: I want everyone to understand that we are facing most likely one of the largest snowstorms in the history of the city, in the recorded history of this city. The early projections for this storm are that it would easily be as much as two feet of snow potentially pushing on closer to three feet of snow. So this literally could be one of the top two or three largest storms in the history of this city, and we need to plan accordingly.

So my message to all New Yorkers is prepare for something worse that we have seen before, prepare -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Well, if you didn't get that point, then I think the mayor is hoping that you really are listening and hanging on to every word. This is potentially very dangerous. If you've never experienced a big storm before, he's saying this one is going to be very memorable.

CNN's Nick Valencia with us now because the governor too is impressing -

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

WHITFIELD: -- on people to -

VALENCIA: Do you ever heard in the press conference and not mincing words, very strong language, asking people to be prepared for something that could potentially be the worse in New York City history. State agencies are taking this very seriously. Let's give you a breakdown of those resources already in motion, starting with the National Guard, six dozen personnel and 20 high-axel vehicles we heard there in a press conference, just a short time ago preparing for 24- hour operation. We also note that the New York state police department will deploy 50 4x4 vehicles and all-terrain vehicles as well to move around in that area. Port authority has 200 pieces of snow equipments, thousands of tons of salts and sand for airport roads and parking lots.

We notice well that in the Long Island, Hudson Valley area, 600 plows are going to be used with 1300 operators, a total across the state, Fred, of at least 1400 plows and 3600 operators. Now, if you're wondering how you can be prepared at home, we also have a breakdown for you that way. You got to be careful as well even if you're hitting those roads. Things like fresh batteries and your flashlights, making sure to have that charge in your cell phones, perhaps even a basic first aid kit and even if you're going on the road, even though the state agencies are discouraging you from road travels, make sure you have chains in your tires, pick up extra warm clothes just in case you get stranded out there, and flares for emergency. We always hear every year, Fred, somebody turns on a generator, puts it too close in their house, they get carbon monoxide poisoning.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

VALENCIA: You guys have to be very careful of that. Make sure that your generator isn't inside. Just be careful, this could be potentially the worst storm in New York history.

WHITFIELD: It certainly sounds like it. It's tough to prepare for this, but these officials are trying to really warn people.

VALENCIA: Could be more than 27 inches.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: To have some sort of contingency plan. If you have to go to work, you heard the mayor -- if you have to go to work, then you need to make a plan to leave work early to make your way home. But then after Monday evening, he says forget it. You need to be inside.

VALENCIA: Got to be prepared.

WHITFIELD: You need to make plans to be inside your home. Same goes for kids, even though he said school will be open.

VALENCIA: Tomorrow?

WHITFIELD: On Monday.

VALENCIA: Might not be open on Tuesday.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: Right. They're not going to be open on Tuesday. OK. We're going to talk more about this. We're also going to be joined by the director of the office the emergency management for New York, Joseph Esposito, to tell us more about what you at home can do if you're in New York or perhaps if you're in New England and as a whole, and you're about to be hit by this blizzard, what you need to do, what kind of contingency plans you need in place, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, New York just one of the cities under a blizzard warning from New York all the way up to Maine. The expectation is snow between one foot and three feet could be dumped on the area within the next 24 to 48 hours. Snowfall beginning tomorrow, late morning potentially. And we just heard from the New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio momentarily, just moments ago, where he said, you know what? The plan is you need to have a plan in place, and you need to expect to stay inside for the next 24 to 48 hours. He is saying, however, school will be open tomorrow. If people need to go to work in the morning, they can, but have a plan in place, use public transportation to make your way back home by late afternoon, so you don't get stuck in all the snow.

Joining me right now, also commissioner of the New York City office of emergency management, Joseph Esposito, you were in there with the press conference as well with the mayor, also imploring and letting people know there needs to be a plan in place. What is your greatest concern for New Yorkers particularly, as they want to venture out tomorrow, when there is no snow falling, and they feel a sense of comfort that it's going to be like any other day?

Can you hear me, Mr. Esposito? It looks like we're going to try to work on some audio there because it is really important to hear from him to find out just what kind of advice they have for New Yorkers to get ready for this big storm. We're going to take a short break for now. We'll be right back in the Newsroom.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, New York's mayor says prepare for the worse, he took to the microphone in a live press conference moments ago and says this blizzard expected to begin tomorrow, could be worst that New York has seen in a very, very long time, one feet, maybe even three feet expected from New York all the way to Maine.

Back with me now, New York Commissioner Joseph Esposito of the office of emergency management. So you said in that press conference, Mr. Esposito, be prepared. What are you advising people to do?

JOSEPH ESPOSITO, NEW YORK CITY COMMISSIONER: Well, it's going to start off slow tomorrow, Monday. So the schools will be open, you'll be able to get home from school and work. If you finish early, it shouldn't be a problem. As the day goes on tomorrow, commuting -- the p.m. commute is going to be very, very difficult. So we're trying to tell people get out of work early, start your day earlier, but after tomorrow night, you're going to have to get home and bunker down, Monday and especially Tuesday. It's going to be very, very difficult conditions, a 65 an hour gusts, winds, and blizzard-like conditions.

WHITFIELD: Are you worried at all that when the message is people go ahead and go to work, go to school tomorrow, but have a plan to leave early. There will be this false of security since snowfall doesn't begin until late morning, mid-day, and people leave their homes in the morning and don't think it's going to be a really big deal and then suddenly, they are shocked with a big surprise in the afternoon, and that community even on mass transit is going to potentially a mess in the afternoon?

ESPOSITO: Yeah, without a doubt. That's correct. That's why we had this press conference. Get in early and get out early. Do not be at work or school or out and about. Get home early.

WHITFIELD: OK. We heard the mayor say you know 6,000 miles of roads that sanitation workers will have to clear. And those trucks will get out there, as soon as two inches on the ground and the clearing will begin. You got salt trucks, et cetera, paint a picture for us of what you expect to be in the midst of, come early evening or late afternoon.

ESPOSITO: Tomorrow, again, it's going to start out slow, but sanitation will be ready, as you said two to three inches, they start plowing. But the trick is going to be keeping up with the snowfall. We are going to have blizzard-like conditions. They'll be able to plow the street, but back in half an hour, it would be covered again. So we got a tremendous amount of personnel on hand here, equipment, and they'll be out early. But the problem will be keeping up with the blizzard-like conditions. These are blizzard-like conditions.

WHITFIELD: Help people prepare. They're getting this news now, here it is, you know 20 minutes or so before 5:00, they want to get to the stores as best they can today, maybe even take advantage of that in the morning, what do you want them to stock up on?

ESPOSITO: Well, I don't think it's -- you know, this is New York City. Make sure you have the essentials. That's the bottom-line. You know, get some flashlights if there is a blackout, things of that nature. But I think most families got what they need to get them through a couple of days. So you don't have flashlights, that's one of the key ones. WHITFIELD: And then we heard the mayor say, you know, pay attention to

the most vulnerable, the elderly, be in touch with them. What are you encouraging people to do so that the most vulnerable cannot be overlooked as what could be a very frightening time?

ESPOSITO: Well, some of things -- we have an advance warning system, where we tell the care providers to let their folks know what's expected, what's coming, to check on. We ask our neighbors, check on the most vulnerable people. The department for the aged will be delivering extra meals tomorrow to make sure that they have meals for a couple days. So again, we'd like to see neighbors, if you know somebody who is homebound, check on them. Make sure they are OK in the next couple of days.

WHITFIELD: All right and New York of course is a big pedestrian city, but we heard the mayor say, you know, at some point, I don't want you even walking on the street. Let alone, even thinking you can rely on mass transit. How do you get the message out to people, particularly New Yorkers who are used to just having it their way, doing whatever that they wanted -- you know, how are you telling them beginning tomorrow, it's a different ball of wax altogether?

ESPOSITO: We put them on alert. We put our constant alerts through our office, through city hall, through these press conferences. Again, we're trying to tell people, take this serious. You know, people have to start listening to the government when we tell them this is a serious event. This is going to be -- if you look at the projections by the national weather services and all the other weather services, this is going to be a big one. This could be the biggest snowstorm in recent history -- in the history since we've been keeping records here in New York.

WHITFIELD: All right, Joseph Esposito of the office of the emergency management there in New York. Thank so much for your time and all the best. And we'll be right back with much more in the Newsroom.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Hey, take a look at these images right here. Let's now think Super Bowl Sunday, the Seattle Seahawks arriving in Phoenix, they are preparing to face the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl next Sunday, but with the big old storm barreling down, what's the commute going to be like for the Patriots? So far, most of the talk has really been a little less about Super Bowl and more about deflated footballs, but there are millions of fans who are looking forward to the game. Both teams will be spending this week in Arizona getting ready for the game, but of course, will those New England Patriots get there? I'm sure they're making their travel plans right now or adjusting them as a result of this nasty and pending storm that will le barreling down on New England.

How about we check in with our own, Sara Ganim, who is in New England Patriots' turf, you already have some snow on the ground, but a really big one is on the way. You know, we're talking about a storm of between one and three feet of snow. So how are the Patriots and the fans making adjustments now? SARA GANIM CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, yeah, you've made mention of the

big one, which we just brought up here amongst ourselves a few minutes ago, which is that we hope the Patriots team is making some travel adjustments or at least monitoring this big storm because their flight is supposed to leave tomorrow after a send-off parade at 11 o'clock in the morning. We all know the storm is going to start at some point during the day tomorrow. So we hope they can adjust accordingly and make it to Arizona, Fred. But in the meantime, everyone is still talking about this so-called deflate-gate. Of course, head coach, Bill Belichick, doesn't want to talk about it anymore. The problem, Fred, is that yesterday, he held a press conference where he said he had figured out what he believes is the reason for the deflated balls. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL BELICHICK, PATRIOTS HEAD COACH: I'm embarrassed to talk about the amount of time that I've put into this relative to the other important challenge in front of us.

GANIM: New England Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick in front of the cameras for the second time in three days, addressing the deflate-gate controversy at a surprise press conference saying he conducted his own experiment to determine what might have happened.

BELICHICK: We simulated a game-day situation in terms of the preparation of the footballs and where the footballs were at various points in time during the day or night, as the case was Sunday.

GANIM: Belichick delved into the science behind the issue, at times sounding more like a physicist than a football coach.

BELICHICK: The atmospheric conditions, they were adjusted to the climatic conditions. The balls, you know, reached equilibrium. They were down approximately 1.5 pounds per square inch.

GANIM: Belichick said that his experiment found that the footballs exposed to the elements did lose 1.5 pounds of air pressure. He added that it's league officials who monitor the pressure of the footballs, not his staff.

BELICHICK: When we hand the balls to the officials, the officials put them out whatever they put them at. But let's just say it's 12.5, that's where they put them then the air pressure at that point from then on until the end of the game, we have no knowledge of.

GANIM: One former official backed him up.

JIM DAOPOULUS, RULES ANALYST FOR ESPN AND MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL: It's something that the officials take very seriously and they make sure that they do what they're supposed to do.

GANIM: Earlier in the day, Patriots players downplayed the controversy, saying it wasn't a factor in their Super Bowl preparation. The NFL players union advised them not to comment until the league's investigation is complete. MATTHEW SLATER, PATRIOTS PLAYER: We have been instructed by our union,

as players to reserve comment on the situation. It's an ongoing investigation, so in order to protect our players, we're going to go ahead and not talk about that.

GANIM: Meanwhile, Belichick is ready to move on.

BELICHICK: This is the end of this subject for me for a long time. OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GANIM: Fred, it did appear that this press conference which was held, which was unexpected, was a response to the NFL releasing a statement Friday, saying they had found those balls were under-inflated and that they were investigating whether any of that was a result of deliberate action. Fred.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. And now, a new concern about how weather may impact their game or their journey in getting to the big game. All right, Sara Ganim, thanks so much. Keep us posted. I appreciate it. We'll be right back in a moment.

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WHITFIELD: All right, oversea crews are still hoping to lift the submerged fuselage of Air Asia flight 8501. Earlier, efforts today failed just as the wreckage had reached the surface. Let's get an update from Saima Mohsin in Jakarta, Indonesia.

SAIMA MOHSIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Day two of attempting to raise the fuselage out of the water, and they were incredibly close. A balloon was once again attached to the fuselage by a team of divers in the Java Sea, dealing with choppy waters at the same time. They managed to attach that. They took around four hours, yet again to blow it up as the 10-ton balloon and bring it up and this time, the fuselage came out of the water. They were incredibly close and then a belt snapped and it went back down into the sea, hopes raising and sinking with the fuselage. So now, we are on the sand, officials involved in the operations raised the larger part of the plane out of the sea and that they are going to try to strengthen and reinforce the ropes that tie the balloon to the fuselage. But there are also concerned that the fuselage is damaged, it's fragile.

They're concerned about the walls that they may well be broken apart. So it is an incredibly delicate operation, but they believe this is the best way to get the victims out of the fuselage, out of the water and return home to their families. It is, of course, now almost a month to the day since Air Asia flight 8501 took off on the 28th of December, and just two days later found to be crashed in the Java Sea. Families watching this operation with great hope and great sadness at the same time. They will try again if weather allows first light Monday. Saima Mohsin, CNN Jakarta Indonesia.

WHITFIELD: All right, let's talk more about the week ahead perhaps as it pertains to any kind of recoveries. Joining me right now is Mitch Garber, a consultant and former medical officer with the NTSB. All right, so let's talk about what they have recovered, black boxes. What kind of information has come from it?

MITCH GARBER, FORMER NTSB MEDICAL OFFICER: So the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered. They have been downloaded. They've actually listened to the cockpit voice recorder and they've downloaded the data from the flight data recorder. They know for instance that this is not a terrorist event. They found no evident of that in the cockpit voice recorder. Obviously, that's information they are looking for as they listen during the first times. They've also said they heard audible alarms, alarms going off as the airplane is in this event, and so they know that at least some of those systems, the systems that function for the alarm are working, are functioning during that period of time, and obviously, they're spending a lot of time now going over that data piece by piece trying to find out what they can as to what happened in the last few minutes up to and including perhaps the impact.

WHITFIELD: What would alarms be indicating? Are there hosts of alarms or is it just you know one of three alarms?

GARBER: There's any number of alarms that could be going off. Some of the louder ones will be pressurization alarms, so if the cabin pressure got lost for any reason, that may be a loud alarm, but there are a lot of alarms that would alert the pilots that something bad is going on. In this case, they may have already known that. They have already known there were things they were having to deal with at that point in time.

WHITFIELD: They want to do bring up as much fuselage as possible, which of course have a lot of bodies inside, too. What are the chances this is week? I mean, are there attempts also based on weather conditions?

GARBER: And I think that's really the problem here. This is not an easy task under the best of conditions. The weather this time of year there is highly variable, high currents, high waves, very, very difficult for them to conduct these types of operations. I think they'll be learning each time they try it, getting more and more comfortable with the conditions that they do have, and I think eventually they will get it up, and they will get those bodies back to their loved ones.

WHITFIELD: I think everybody expected this to be a difficult search and recovery, simply because we're talking about the Java Sea, even though 100 feet depth, that is not considered that giant, did anyone expect it will be this complicated? We're talking about a month now.

GARBER: I think the folks that do this for a living, I think they probably did. I think that they were prepared for the long haul. They had a lot of this equipment in place very early on. They were knowing that this would not be a simple operation for them. I think we all want to get it done quickly.

WHITFIELD: Yeah.

GARBER: But it's hard.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, it is. All right. Mitch Garber, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

GARBER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much for joining me this afternoon. I'm Fredrika Whitfield. Much more of the Newsroom continues with Poppy Harlow in New York.

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