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Earthquake Hits Mexico; Hurricane Katia; Hurricane Irma; Rohingya Flee Myanmar; North Korea Nuclear Threat; Trump White House; Papal Visit; Harrowing Flight Races Hurricane Irma. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired September 8, 2017 - 08:00   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:00:00] KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN NEWS STREAM SHOW HOST: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. Welcome to "News Stream." We are tracking two major

natural disasters. Mexico shaken by the strongest earthquake it has felt in a hundred years, and Hurricane Irma continues to plow to the islands of the

Caribbean, leaving a trail of destruction as it heads for Cuba.

The president of Mexico has mobilized the army after a deadly 8.1 magnitude earthquake rocked the country early on Friday. He says this was the

strongest quake Mexico has experienced in 100 years. It was centered off the southern coast near the border with Guatemala. At least 16 people have

died, and this was the moment the tremors hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNTRANSLATED)

LU STOUT (voice-over): About nearly two million homes lost electricity when it happened, but power has been restored to most. However, some no longer

have running water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: Paulina Gomez-Wulschner is a journalist in Mexico City. She joins us now live on the line. Paulaina, what is the latest on the devastation

and the human toll caused by this major earthquake?

PAULINA GOMEZ-WULSCHNER, JOURNALIST (via telephone): Well, I can tell you that 50 million Mexicans felt this earthquake and assessment will continue

as, you know, as soon as -- everything starts around 3:00 in the morning local time (INAUDIBLE).

So, let me tell you that children from kindergarten to junior high in 11 states will not have classes today because we want to avoid risks and we

want to make sure that school infrastructure is in shape for children.

I can also tell you that the last replica (ph) happened only five minutes ago. So throughout the whole night, replicas (ph) have been keep going on.

And this is one of the biggest fears for Mexican citizens because residents (INAUDIBLE) that big replica (ph) could happen in the coming 24 hours. A

replica (ph) as big as 7.2 in the Richter scale.

So, you know, we are still on alert and having precautions. Authorities recommended to stay safe in safe places and to check our homes for damages.

And we could detect some damages in wall, in the ceilings. We should report them on the 911 line for, you know, authorities to come over and assess the

damages.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Yes, absolutely. It sounds like Mexico is still very much on alert, given all the number of aftershocks, maybe some concerns

that building safety may not quite be there after this major 8.1 magnitude quake. Paulina, we've seen video of the impact of this quake, you know,

inside, this light fissure swaying back and forth. Outside, entire buildings, even monuments swaying, moving in Mexico City. What happened

when the quake -- for you when the quake struck? Where were you? How did you feel it?

GOMEZ-WULSCHNER (via telephone): Well, let me tell you about this. I was in Mexico City in 1985, which was the biggest earthquake ever. It devastated

the city. Thousand people died. And this one felt stronger. I was driving, listening to a radio, and then the alarm went up for earthquake so I just

pulled the car.

I am in the middle of the street with a bunch of people who were like hugely terrified. A lot of people underwent nervous breakdown because it

was so strong. You can see everything rocks. You could hear the walls cracking in the buildings. I was located in a very rich area in Mexico

City,

[08:05:00] but no big damages happened here, only it smashed the windows, and people with nervous breakdowns. The biggest damages happened in the

state of Chiapas, actually the state of Oaxaca.

LU STOUT: Right, right. The concern is -- yes, absolutely. It's good to hear not much damage where you are in the Mexico City, but we're still

trying to get a clear picture of the devastation (INAUDIBLE) Oaxaca and Chiapas. Paulina, we will leave it at that. Thank you so much for your

reporting.

Now, while Mexico's western coast is dealing with the aftermath of that massive quake, Hurricane Katia, category one storm at the moment, is

bearing down on the east coast. There is a hurricane warning in effect from Cabo Rojo to Laguna Verde. But all eyes right now are focused on Hurricane

Irma as it continues its deadly march through the Caribbean. It is moving through the southeastern Bahamas, home to some 400,000 people.

The prime minister says the country ordered its largest evacuation ever ahead of the storm. Earlier today, Irma was downgraded to a category four

hurricane, but its sustained winds are still a destructive 250 kilometers an hour. At least 10 people across the Caribbean have been killed. The

storm is eyeing the U.S. mainland. Mass evacuations are underway in parts of Florida, where the storm is set to make a direct hit over the weekend.

Government officials are warning the people to take the storm very seriously. After pummeling the Turks and Caicos islands overnight,

Hurricane Irma is bearing down on Cuba. People there are hunkering down. Now, Patrick Oppmann joins me from Caibarien, it's a tourist town in the

north of Cuba. Of course, he joins us live. Patrick, we know that Irma is on track to hit Cuba on Saturday. What kinds of preparations are being made

there?

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, just a few minutes ago, we saw horse and cart come over, these people's home off to the side of us.

They packed it up with some of their belongings; mattress and plates and dishes and other kind of things. Not much really. And then they went off by

horse and cart. So, sure they're not going to go very fast or very far that way.

So, people are doing whatever they can, whatever they need to do in this low-lying area, which is quite famous because right behind me are Cuba's

famous keys, sort of Cuba's version of the Florida Keys. A very popular tourist destination. Dozens of hotels up there. They are completely empty

right now, Kristie.

The government is coming and saying you need to leave the island, at least go somewhere else from the island to be less affected. I say less affected

because the government has come out today to say that just about the entire island of Cuba in some way will be impacted by the storm.

It is such a large and powerful storm. People here are making that hard decision of do I stay, do I go, do I try to stay to look for my house. Some

people here said there is really nothing you can do when a hurricane comes and you're just better off leaving.

Even if it's just a glancing blow along this northern coast, they believe the hurricane is going to come. It's going to have a tremendous impact,

Kristie, before that turns and heads to Florida.

LU STOUT: Yes, the storm is going to have a tremendous impact there. We know that Cuba has a long history of dealing with major deadly hurricanes.

Can you remind us how Cuba has been hit by hurricanes before and how well prepared it has been in the past?

OPPMANN: Absolutely. On the road here yesterday about five-hour trip from Havana and all along the highway, we saw massive trucks being directed by

the government pre-positioning supplies, materials, things they know will be damaged by the hurricane like light posts. And having those nearby for

when the storm finally (INAUDIBLE) that they come in and swoop in immediately and go to work.

It is incredible because this is an island that is short of resources and island that is still in U.S. economic sanction. But this is one thing that

seems to do well. It is probably out of necessity. When you're on an island, you can't flee anywhere. That's is why the government knows that in

the summer months, people go a long time without electricity or running water. There is some discontent.

So, they need to respond to these problems very, very quickly. And typically what is the wild card here is that Cuba while has rich experience

with hurricanes, no one has ever dealt with hurricane quite like this one, still very powerful category four storm. So, we will see how well they do.

I think a lot of people here are uncertain.

LU STOUT: All right. Patrick Oppmann reporting live for us from the northern coast of Cuba. Thank you, Patrick, and please take care.

Now entire neighborhoods in several islands have been wiped out by the storm. For places like Barbuda and St. Martin, the devastation is just

beyond belief. Unfortunately, as the region recovers from one monster storm, another one is on the way. Leyla Santiago has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEYLA SANTIAGO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The prime minister of Barbuda has said mandatory evacuations could be put in place

[08:10:00] by Friday. This as the island recovers from one storm and awaits another.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): Hurricane Irma, leaving a path of death and destruction as it barrels towards the U.S. homes, now piles of debris.

Power, communications wiped out. Devastating winds reaching up to 185 miles per hour and rain cutting off Caribbean islands completely from the rest of

the world for hours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, WITNESS IN ANTIGUA (voice-over): Antigua, however, Barbuda, our sister island, is still under threat. We have lost all

communication.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): One of the first government officials to establish contact called it --

GASTON BROWNE, PRIME MINISTER, TWO-ISLAND NATION OF ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA: (voice-over): Heart-wrenching. Absolutely devastating. I have never seen

any such destruction on a per-capita basis.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): Devastating and deadly. The category five hurricane claiming the life of an infant on the island of 1,800 people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): We had one fatality. It could have been worse.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): The prime minister expressing shock, more lives weren't lost. In St. Martin, even more deaths, flooded cars and debris

found all over the island. The airport known as a tourist attraction for beach-goers watching planes land, now being called unreachable by the Dutch

Navy. The cleanup is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And all of this may not be the end of it for the Caribbean.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): There it is. The roof just went just, the whole roof.

SANTIAGO (voice-over): These islands may soon get hit by Hurricane Jose, now growing stronger in the Atlantic.

SANTIAGO: And it could be a long road to normalcy for many of these Caribbean islands, take where we are right now in Puerto Rico, more than a

million people without power. Tens of thousands right now without water, and already, authorities say it could be weeks, possibly months before it's

restored. Leyla Santiago, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: Haiti is seeing damage from Hurricane Irma. The impoverished country is still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Matthew which

hit one year ago. Paula Newton joins me now live from Cap-Haitien with more on the story. Paula, can you please describe the immediate aftermath of the

storm and whethere Haiti managed to avoid the worst.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They did indeed, Kristie, avoid the worst, and thank goodness because we had some very blunt

assessments from local officials saying what we cannot handle, a direct hit. They did not get that. Right now, all we are getting are sporadic

reports of bridges being -- roads and bridges perhaps being flooded and some of them have been taken away in the sense they've been completely

washed away, but it is minor in comparison to what could happened.

I mean, Kristie, just look at all the destruction we've seen through the Caribbean in those last few reports. They know that they really dodged it

here and they are wondering what the lessons learned are for next time, While they tried in terms of mobilizing a lot of people, a lot of

resources, it did not work in the end. The other thing that was just concerning, Kristie, was that they were not able to actually tell people

here and convince them that this storm could be dangerous enough that they needed to evacuate.

As a result, very few people evacuated, and thank goodness the storm did not strike here with the ferocity that it did in other places. What will

happen going forward is they will have to get out, to those more remote villages, we did see some flooding, just to make sure that those people

aren't blocked up and do not need urgent care. Right now, Kristie, what we are seeing here is really, really -- and you can really feel it here, the

collective sigh of relief, everyone amazed that they were spared from this storm. Kristie?

LU STOUT: Well, a major sense of relief in Haiti as it escaped the worst of Hurricane Irma. How great is the risk of not just flooding but landslides

on the island?

NEWTON: Well, that's another problem. When we have those localized storms, again you will see them, feel through here even when there isn't a major

hurricane. You will get those localized pocket where a mudslide could happen, you know, not perhaps this hour, but perhaps in the next eight or

nine hours. They will need to look at that. Also, crucial things like rivers and creeks. They need to take a good look at those. And it is always

a risk here.

So many homes precariously on the sides of hilltops. Having said that, there was no report so far. Officials will continue to carry out their

duties here in the northern sector to make sure that they don't get any calls. But given the fact that a lot of people were able to maintain their

communications and their electricity, so far, good news, we will continue to reach out to authorities just to see if they have anything to say. As I

have said, Kristie, lessons learned here are going forward.

Remember Hurricane Matthew from last year, category four, hit the southern part of this country. They are still trying to recover from that. That was

a storm that happened almost a year ago. So, what they really have to do is get more procedures in place. And again, keep convincing people that when

they say to evacuate, you really do need to evacuate. All you have to do is look at the video of destruction that Irma has already brought to so many

places and realize that

[08:15:00] now you're spared and it was really a bit of luck and had you not evacuated -- a lot of the low-lying areas here -- 100,000 people at

risk just in this area here without low-lying storm surge risk, did not, did not, Kristie, leave their homes.

LU STOUT: Absolutely. They were spared this time, but they got to be prepared for the next. I also want to ask you, Paula, are there still

concerns about a surge of water-borne diseases that could follow this earthquake like what happened last year after Hurricane Matthew?

NEWTON: Here is the thing, Kristie. That's always the concern here and continues to be a concern. You have to imagine that late last fall, they

had a storm in this area. It was just a minor storm. It killed 11 people. And then they still continue to have those problems. Immunization rates in

this country are absurdly low given where it sits in the America and that continues to be a problem.

Everyone remembers the cholera epidemic here and people are still trying to come to terms with how do you mitigate those factors. Again, NGOs working

with the U.N. and the government here to try and mitigate a lot of those factors still present on the ground. So, again, it's just a wait and see.

LU STOUT: All right. Paula Newton reporting live from Haiti. Thank you, Paula. As Hurricane Irma keeps rolling on, the Caribbean assesses the

damage and braces for yet another hurricane. Keep it here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Coming to you live from Hong Kong. Welcome back. You're watching "News Stream." The U.S. geological survey has issued a red alert for Mexico

after a deadly 8.1 magnitude earthquake hit early on Friday. That means extensive losses are expected in both damage and in the death toll. Now,

the president of Mexico says this is the strongest quake to hit the country in a century. He has mobilized the country's army, marines, and federal

police to respond.

At least 16 people are reported to have been killed. Nearly two million homes lost electricity when it hit, but most have had their power restored,

and there is a tsunami warning in effect. As Mexico deals with the earthquake, a hurricane is barreling down on the eastern coast, and of

course, Hurricane Irma barreling to the Caribbean at this hour, on course for a collision with the U.S. mainland over the weekend.

Our meteorologist, Pedram Javaheri, is tracking its path route. He has the very latest. Pedram, Irma, we know has weakened a bit, it's now a category

four storm, but remains very, very dangerous. What's the latest?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely. I want to point out too, when you're talking about going from a five to a four, a lot of people

really get not too focused on that number, the category of these storms, the wind speeds are really negligible at this point.

The storm system has been in motion for such a tremendous amount of time that the water is already in motion ahead of it. Of course, the damage has

already been in placed and the weakening is so little that we think the damage could still be essentially as bad as it would be, whether it be a

category five

[08:20:00] or a category four, especially with the landfall predictions across parts of Florida that we'll touch on momentarily. But look at the

significance of the storm system. You take the cloud field of the storm system. You could put it nearly covering the entire state of Texas. So,

we're talking about a significant disturbance pushing right through the Caribbean. Of course, many of these islands are extreme low-lying.

It's actually sandy beaches here. If you work your way towards these beaches, you would literally be able to stand and walk, say, 50 meters out

into the ocean and still be on ankle-deep waters which are perfect for vacation destination across this region and holidays. But when you work

your way and put a storm system of this magnitude across this region, that will create tremendous storm surge that will really decimate these

communities.

So, the areas of interest right now moving forward, the Bahamas. The archipelago is made up of about 700 islands, essentially low-lying, every

single one of them, being low-lying coral islands in place here. So, significant damage expected of a storm of this category. Notice, we are

watching around northern portions of Cuba, that is a hurricane warning in place, and we have hurricane warning now issued for a large area of

southern Florida.

Here is what we are looking at carefully because, you know, the number one weather-related killer when it comes to tropical storms and also hurricanes

are related to storm surges, not the wind speeds. It is not the rainfall there up there, it's not that. But it is the storm surge. It's the water

that's displaced. So essentially when you look at six meters high, that is six meters above the typical dry ground across these coastal communities

that do not have more than a couple of meters on their island chains to work with for elevation.

So much of these islands, especially the smaller ones, would be completely submerged with the storm surge of that magnitude. That's why we think

significant damage, communication will be lost for weeks, potentially months across some of these regions. Of course, it would be inhabitable as

a result of that as well the destruction left in place. As you approach parts of coastal Florida, the infrastructure of course increases.

The storm surge decreases a little bit, but because of the dense population, the damage could be far more tremendous as a result of that.

So, three-meter storm surge potential is there. So we work this and watch the track as it turns a sharp right come sometime Saturday and the storm

system had directly north towards the most populated location across the state of Florida. There is some model differences at this point. Some of

them want to take it south towards the mountains of Cuba. That would potentially weaken the storm system. But high confidence right now that the

trend would keep it across the Caribbean as it heads to the north. Notice the landfall location now a little more refined.

So, much of south central Florida looks to be in the main area of impact with the storm system and the wind field with this as well, you know, when

you get focused on exactly where the storm will end up, but when you look at the wind field and you kind of (INAUDIBLE) the perspective, it really

doesn't matter where it ends up because you will feel hurricane force winds across much of south central Florida, tropical storm force winds

potentially across the entire track of the storm even into the state of Georgia.

So, because of the significance of the size, it really when you look at this comparison, to say a Hurricane Andrew or a Wilma that a lot of

Floridians know very well about, this particular storm will swallow those storms and potentially both of them at the same time because of the

significant nature of this, Kristie, and how expansive of a system it is.

LU STOUT: Yes, incredible. It's not just a super storm, it's an enduring one.

JAVAHERI: Absolutely.

LU STOUT: Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much for walking through all the models. Take care. We will have more on Hurricane Irma later on the program

including a story about just the really tough choices that people are facing living in Florida. Do they need to evacuate or in some cases, can

they shelter in place?

Some startling new numbers in the desperate plight of the Rohingya ethnic minority fleeing the violence in Myanmar. A U.N. official says that more

than a thousand people have been killed in the recent fighting. The government of Myanmar puts a figure at around 420. U.N. also says 270,000

have crossed into Bangladesh in just two weeks.

That's believed to be around one-third of the Rohingya population in Myanmar. Many have made this dangerous journey by boat. A Bangladeshi

border guard tells CNN they have recovered eight bodies from a river, half of them are children. We were also sent photos that were just too graphic

to show you on air.

Turning now to global push to resolve the standoff with North Korea. China says it supports further action from the U.N. Security Council, but

sanctions must be joined with dialogue. The U.S., South Korea, and Japan are all pushing for more pressure on the north after it claimed they

successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. Officials in Seoul and Tokyo believe another missile test could come this weekend. The Chinese foreign minister

stresses once again, talks are crucial.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WANG YI, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): We believe that sanctions and pressure are only half of the key to resolving the nuclear

issue. The other half is dialogue and negotiation. Only when the two are put together can it unlock the nuclear issue of the Korean peninsula.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LU STOUT: That was Chinese Prime Minister Wang Yi there speaking and emphasizing both sanctions and talks. U.S. investigators are digging deep

into a meeting Donald Trump Jr.

[08:25:00] had with the Russian lawyer last June. As you may recall, the president's eldest son had claimed to the statement that that meeting was

about U.S. sanctions. Since then, we know he actually thought it might concerned damaging information about Hillary Clinton. Joe Johns has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOE JOHNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Donald Trump Jr.'s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee prompting a new lead for Robert

Mueller, the special counsel now looking to question White House staffers who were aboard Air Force One about the initial misleading statement Trump

Jr. made in regards to a meeting he took with a Russian attorney at Trump Tower.

In a five-hour closed door meeting, the president's son telling committee staffers he could not recall exactly how much input the White House had on

crafting his statement. That initial statement, as we know now, drafted in part by President Trump, claimed the meeting was about Russian adoptions,

not opposition research. Don Jr. Denying that his father had any knowledge of the meeting.

DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: It was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell.

JOHNS (voice-over): Donald Trump Jr. also revealing the Russian lawyer hoping to get damaging information on Clinton, saying in a prepared opening

statement, "to the extent they had information concerning the fitness, character or qualifications of a presidential candidate, I believe that I

should at least hear them out."

Don Jr. asserting he would have consulted a lawyer, had he intended to use such information. Later saying, "I trust this interview fully satisfied

their inquiry."

But some members of the Judiciary Committee left unsatisfied, expecting to have Don Jr. back for a public hearing.

REP. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: There were huge gaping holes of information that we need to fill.

JOHNS (voice-over): Shortly after, Democratic Senator Chris Coons e-mailing out a memo about a law that prohibits lying to congress. Coinciding with

Don Jr.'s testimony, President Trump trying to convey unity on Capitol Hill.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think we will have a different relationship than you've been watching over the last number of

years. I think that's what the people of the United States want to see.

JOHNS (voice-over): Continuing to align himself with Democrats on fiscal matters this week and leaving the door open to working with Democratic

leaders on immigration. President Trump giving DACA recipients reassurance they won't be targeted over the next six months while congress works to

pass a DREAMers bill, at Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's request.

NANCY PELOSI, MINORITY LEADER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: I was reporting to my colleagues. I said this is what I

asked the president to do and boom, boom, boom, the tweet appeared. That was good.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: And that was CNN's Joe Johns reporting there. Thousands of Catholic worshipers gathered in Bogota, Columbia to see Pope Francis. He is

on a five-day tour of the south American nation to support its peace process with rebels after more than 15 years of fighting. He had a private

meeting with President Juan Manuel Santos and urged Colombians to avoid seeking vengeance for their suffering. You're watching "News Stream." Still

to come, Mexico assesses the damage left by a deadly and powerful earthquake. We will hear from a resident about the situation there.

[08:30:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong. You're watching "News Stream." These are your world headlines.

At least 16 people have been killed in an 8.1 magnitude earthquake in southern Mexico near the Guatemala borders. The president says it was the

strongest to hit the country in a hundred years. There are reports that buildings have been damaged and widespread power outages.

Hurricane Irma is blasting parts of the Bahamas as a category four storm. It was downgraded earlier on Friday but is still packing a very dangerous

punch. The death toll has risen. At least 15 people have been killed across the Caribbean. The (INAUDIBLE) minister says seven people are missing in

the country's Caribbean territories.

A U.N. official says more than a thousand people have been killed in the recent violence in the Myanmar's Rakhine state. The government there put

the figure at around 420. The U.N. says 270,000 members of the Rohingya Muslims ethnic minority have crossed into Bangladesh in just the past two

weeks. That is believed to be about one-third of the Rohingya population in Myanmar.

The personal information of 143 million Americans may have been compromised after credit reporting agency Equifax says it was hacked. The details

include names and social security numbers. Some call it the worst date breach ever. Equifax is a credit reporting company that tracks U.S.

consumers financial history. It is notifying the people affected.

Let's go back to one of our top stories, the deadly earthquake in Mexico. Carlin Crowder was there in Mexico City when it strike. He describes the

scary experience trying to figure out what was going on.

CARLIN CROWDER, WITNESS (via telephone): I live in a 28-storey high-rise building in the eastern part of the city that is really a corporate area.

Fortunately, it is a newer building. Because of our distance from the center of Mexico City, we didn't feel the strong shocks, but the building

was definitely rocking. Me and my neighbors immediately started heading down the stairs. There are parents with babies and you could hear the

elevators going back and forth. It was not my first hurricane, excuse me, not my first earthquake in a tall building but certainly a scary one.

LU STOUT (voice-over): Yes, absolutely, especially being in a high-rise and feeling the building move. Reporters there say that this earthquake lasted

about a minute. Is that what you felt, and if you did, that must felt like an eternity?

CROWDER (via telephone): It did. I describe it as it almost -- as I wsa going down the stairs, I was gripping the handle bars because it almost

felt as if I have had a bunch of drinks, alcoholic drinks which I hadn't, but you just don't have a sure footing and you don't know what's going on.

You know, there is no news. There is no alert or anything.

LU STOUT: The death toll has risen to 16 people killed. Despite repeated warnings from the government about Hurricane Irma, some in south Florida

are choosing not to evacuate. We will hear from a woman who decided to stay just ahead.

[08:35:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LU STOUT: Welcome back. Hurricane Irma is probably the most powerful and menacing storm that many people will see in their lifetime. It is barreling

through vulnerable Caribbean islands just leaving behind a path of death and destruction. At least 15 people have been killed. The tiny island of

Barbuda is one of the worst hits. The core of the storm just slammed the island with sustained winds of almost 300 kilometers an hour.

The prime minister says Barbuda is now barely habitable. Ninety-five percent of the structures were damaged. The French and Dutch island of St.

Martin also suffered severe damage. Irma's wind sounded like a jet engine when the hurricane it. They were so strong. They report they took out the

web cam, filming the scene. British authorities say that the territory of Anguilla received the hurricane's full blast. The island, it lies just

north of St. Martin with a population of around 17,000.

Puerto Rico escaped most of the hurricane's wrath but a people million were left without power and tens of thousands without running water. Haiti which

is still suffering from last year's Hurricane Matthew got battered in its northern mountainous region. Flooding and injuries have been reported

there. And Irma is moving over the southeast from Bahamas right now. No longer a category five but still an extremely dangerous category four

storm.

Right now in the U.S. state of Florida, the storm is forcing hundreds of thousands of people to make a decision that could potentially determine the

rest of their lives. Get on the highway, go to the airport, or hunker down. Kyung Lah reports that the storm is (INAUDIBLE) one of America's largest

evacuations ever.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Irma, destructive and deadly. Turning right toward Homestead, Florida. Joel Melendez, raising from window

to window, house to house.

JOEL MELENDEZ, RESIDENT OF HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA: If you are financially stable and you're able to get out of here, get out of here.

LAH (voice-over): Remembering this is what Hurricane Andrew did to Homestead 25 years ago, a Cat-5 nearly wiping his home town off the map.

This is the picture of Melendez's childhood home completely flattened. His family only survived by hiding in a neighbor's concrete house, supporting

of homes for free.

MELENDEZ: It's traumatizing, you know. It's serious, you know. This isn't a game. You know, I feel for a lot of people, and I can't help that I can't

get to because I'm only one guy, and my brother and I, you know. Hopefully, I made some type of change or I save the life and through this, that's all

that matters, at the end of the day.

LAH (voice-over): Across southern Florida, an ever-widening mandatory evacuation order. People, packing up, crowding roads and airports to escape

the hurricane. Options in Homestead, 30 miles south of Miami are dwindling right with the gas supply. One by one, gas stations closing and boarding

up. Stay at your own risk, say Florida's governor.

GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: We could not save you when the storm starts. So, if you're in evacuation zone and you need help, you need to tell us

now.

KESLYN BERTRAN (ph), RESIDENT OF HOMESTEAD, FLORIDA: I got the big cans, the little cans, everything.

LAH (voice-over): Keslyn Bertran (ph) is not heeding that order. Bertran wasn't alive when Hurricane Andrew ripped through Homestead in 1992.

BERTRAN (ph): My plan was to just stay here. Be where it's safer because since this house stayed here for Andrew, I'm pretty sure it will hold this

hurricane.

LAH (voice-over): She has weeks of food for her 15-month-old son, Cayden (ph), and stocks of formula enough to feed her 4-month-old, Adan (ph), for

months.

LAH: Could you be wrong?

BERTRAN (ph): I could be wrong.

LAH: I mean, what happens if you're wrong and it's too late to get out?

BERTRAN (ph): I did have to be positive. I have to be. I have everything ready for them.

LAH (voice-over): Kyung Lah, CNN, Homestead, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: For millions of people, it has been a struggle to get out of the path of this major storm. The airline industry has been asked to move

[08:40:00] millions in a very short time. One Delta flight literally raced against Hurricane Irma to get their passengers safely to New York before

the storm hit. CNN's Anderson Cooper spoke to one of the passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHEILA SELLERS, PASSENGER ON DELTA FLIGHT (via telephone): We prayed a lot. As we, you know, ascended into the air, you can feel the pressure. I don't

know if it's wind or what, you know, what it was. You can feel the plane having resistance.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: I understand you actually put your head in your lap and kind of covered your ears.

SELLERS (via telephone): I did. Initially, I looked up the window. You kind of want to see what's going on. It's a big deal. The last plane has taken

out. Everybody else was delayed. You feel like, you know, let me see everything I got to see in this flight. I couldn't take it anymore. You can

look down, I see the water. I see the water, everything is turning white because of the wind pushing the waves. And you just see wind. It was a lot.

It was so nerve-wracking at that point.

You hear people moaning and groaning. You can hear people crying. There were two kids crying, a mother trying to console her children. And it's a

lot to hear. You know, I'm in the same state of panic. So at that point, I just closed my window shade, put my head in my lap, and covered my ears.

The plane was turbulent for maybe about an hour. It never really stopped. It might have subsided just a little bit, but not a lot.

COOPER: Well, that's what's extraordinary. They were flying between -- you come in the gap, in the outer band of the storm. They were working with, I

understand, a meteorologist to kind of find a little channel that they could fly through. When you landed, what was that like? I mean, I've been

on flight for people, you know, burst into applause. I assume there was probably some applause.

SELLERS (via telephone): And it was. I don't know why. I didn't anticipate it. If I had, I wish I would have had my phone out, but everybody clapped.

I mean, people are like standing ovation clapping. It felt good. You know, you feel like you beat the odds. But I don't know what devastation was

behind me. I was just happy to be ahead of it. We landed and we landed about 30 minutes early.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LU STOUT: What a ride. That was Sheila Sellers, one of the passengers on a Delta flight that left Puerto Rico just before Irma hit. And that is "News

Stream." I'm Kristie Lu Stout, but don't go anywhere. "World Sport" with Alex Thomas is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:45:00] (WORLD SPORT)

END