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NEW DAY SUNDAY

796,000 Customers Without Power In The Carolinas; Carolinas Face Days Of Devastating Flooding; Typhoon Hammers Hong Kong; Typhoon Rips Through The Philippines Leaving 40 People Dead; Trump To Impose $200 Billion Tariff In Chinese Goods; Trump Praises His Poll Numbers, Slams Russia Probe Aired 6-7a ET

Aired September 16, 2018 - 06:00   ET

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


[06:00:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICK WATT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The wind has really picked up. The rain has gotten a lot heavier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beach is now up on the boardwalk. This is about a foot and a half of sand or so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone yelled, shark! Shark!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There was a ton of people screaming, asking for help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A nightmare at Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, a young man bitten by a shark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Somebody had him underneath his arms sitting in the sand.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The 35-year-old 10-year veteran of border patrol. He was a serial killer who is targeting his victims.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY WEEKEND with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning to you and we're starting with the floods, devastating parts of the southeastern United States.

CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. The message is clear to people who are living in North and South Carolina this morning.

Tropical depression Florence has brought catastrophic flooding and the worst is on its way. Florence is creeping across the Carolinas right now, just three miles per hour. Already 13 people have died.

Meanwhile, 800,000 customers do not have power this morning in both states. And hundreds are still stranded in their homes. BLACKWELL: The storm has dropped 40 inches of rain since making landfall, that was Friday morning. It could be three to five days before the water levels peak. And, of course, that could pose dangers just not to the coastal communities but to people living along the dozens of rivers that stretch through both states.

This morning we know at least three of the people killed were killed by the flash flooding.

PAUL: And we know downed trees and power lines are still a very big concern there. Kaylee Hartung is in Fayetteville, North Carolina. First of all, what are things like where you are right now, Kaylee?

KAYLEE HARTUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christi, when Florence barreled through here the eye of the storm coming to Wilmington on Friday, you mentioned it downed trees and power lines. Such a threat one of those trees falling and claiming the lives of a woman and her seven-month- old son in their home.

But now we are most certainly moving into the second phase of the damage that this storm will do to this area as the rain continues to fall. Something described as a crisis situation in the Wilmington area last night as the Cajun Navy was a called into action by the fire department here to help rescue people from their homes as those floodwaters began to come in inland. You mentioned it the rivers, some of them not expected to crest until Monday or even later in the week, but those waters are beginning to rise and take effect, and surprise people, in effect.

Yesterday I was up just north of here in Pender County. A county under mandatory evacuation. Officials there told me they hadn't yet had any calls for service. Nobody had needed rescuing from their homes if they had stayed, but the concern was that as this storm moved on, as the storm was downgraded, that people would be wanting to come back to their homes to survey the damage that it had done.

But the reminder again that the damage that this storm will do is so far from over. Just after having that conversation with an official, where she wanted me to continue to caution people not to try to come back to their homes, I encountered a family who was in the process of packing up their things, of evacuating, of heading somewhere, a destination unknown, but they recognized it was time to leave their home because the northeast Cape Fear River had already begun to creep into their yard. Typically a 200-yard walk.

That family told me they expected to lose everything. They were packing up so much as their furniture and personal belongings because they hoped to have something to start over with after the floodwaters came up to the second story of their home. As they are expected to do later this week -- Victor and Christi.

PAUL: All right. Kaylee Hartung, thank you so much for the update.

BLACKWELL: We got on the phone with us the president of the Cajun Navy, Todd Terrell. Todd, good morning to you again. I know that there were hundreds of rescues that your group executed on Friday and Saturday. Are there still people that you know of that your volunteers are trying to get to?

TODD TERRELL, PRESIDENT, CAJUN NAVY (on the phone): Oh, yes. In fact, we just -- it's a little after 5:00 over here. We actually just rescued another -- over 200 people and we have got about another 300 to 500 (INAUDIBLE) right now.

What is happening is the water is coming up really fast. We're not sure where it's coming from. I don't know this terrain really good, but this water is coming up really fast. We got a call from the local fire department to get over here and (INAUDIBLE) with them to pick up people. So that's what we have been doing.

BLACKWELL: You say another 300 to 500 people waiting to be rescued?

TERRELL: Yes, at least 300 to 500 from what our estimates are. We are still struggling, it is really raining hard over here and we are up against the elements. And none of us have slept in days. So we are struggling to even -- just to keep on.

[06:05:03]

None of us -- it's been about three days since we have gotten any sleep.

BLACKWELL: Where are you taking the people?

TERRELL: Right now we have a church on military cutoff road. It's a staging area. And we have about 50 of our volunteers sleeping in there, staying in there.

And we have to take the volunteers in. We had almost 200 volunteers there -- I mean, 200 flood victims that is we took there. And we just had buses come from the EOC (INAUDIBLE) here to pick them up and take them somewhere else. Right now they are staying in our staging area.

BLACKWELL: The people that you're rescuing, are these people who decided to stay behind? I mean, I know it doesn't matter to you why they are there, but are they telling you they are people who decided to stay behind or just could not get out or didn't feel like they could leave?

TERRELL: Well, these are people here that never flooded before. I mean, they said they never even come close to flooding. And some of the people there they are in their 70s and 80s and they said they have been there 30 to 40 years.

So it is kind of hard to say why the people didn't get out if they never flooded before, but from what we're seeing here, this group of people, they just never flooded before.

BLACKWELL: And we're seeing a video on screen now, some of these kennels here, we understand that you rescued more than 100 animals so far, including many of the Carteret County Humane Society. Tell me about these animal rescues that you're going on too.

TERRELL: Well, the animal rescues are hard.

First of all, we're bringing them into a place that's not suitable for animals. Second of all, it's wet, it's dark, the animals are scared. So it's a struggle.

Everybody is working on, they're very loud, so it's really scaring the animals. So we're having a tough time, we're making it, but we're having a very tough time.

Now tomorrow we have some animal shelter people coming from all over the country that are coming to help us, because we got a bunch of them out there to get we got to get.

BLACKWELL: I know you're working nonstop as you say, that it's difficult to keep going. Thank you for the work you're doing. If no one has said it, I'm sure many people have the work that you and the rest of the Cajun Navy are doing to help the people there in the Carolinas.

Thank you, Todd.

PAUL: So listen to this, if you stay, notify your next of kin. That's the message from the mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina. One of the many cities under mandatory evacuation orders this morning.

Rodd Baxley is a reporter with the "Fayetteville Observer." Rodd, thank you for being with us.

We just heard from CNN's own Kaylee Hartung who is there in Fayetteville talking to us about a family who is leaving now and expecting to return to literally nothing. Is that a fair assumption at this point?

RODD BAXLEY, "FAYETTEVILLE OBSERVER" REPORTER: Yes, it is much of an oh, no, not again feeling for people in this region with memories of Hurricane Matthew. And we have heard from officials throughout several counties in the region that it could be worse than Hurricane Matthew.

And we have had mandatory evacuations because of the Cape Fear River and Lumber River. Those are expected to crest over the next few days, so the worst is really just beginning for this region.

PAUL: I understand there is a new dam that has been built there. It's just three months old. And the town manager sent a warning that it could be overtaken. How close is that to happening this morning?

BAXLEY: Well, the latest update is not a panic, but like you said, more of a warning. They did just finish restoring that.

We will continue to provide as many updates as we can via social media and via the "Fayetteville Observer" Web site. But as of now like you said it just the wanted to emphasize that last night as to not spread widespread panic. PAUL: What is the most urgent need for the people of Fayetteville then right now?

BAXLEY: The flooding will continue to get worse. They expect -- said they are urging people to stay put if you're safe. And if not, you need to get to a shelter, contact people to come get you. They have been doing water rescues -- they were doing water rescues all day yesterday and they are continuing to do that throughout the region in Bladen (ph) and Robeson Counties, the neighboring counties to come (INAUDIBLE).

PAUL: Yes. It looks so awful there. Thank you so much, Rod (ph), for helping us understand what is happening where you are in Fayetteville. Best of luck to all of you.

BAXLEY: No problem, thank you.

PAUL: Sure.

BLACKWELL: Well, Florence has been downgraded now to a tropical depression, but remember that categorization means the wind speeds have slowed. It's nothing -- it says nothing about the rain that's still in the forecast.

PAUL: CNN meteorologist Jennifer Gray, however, has a good gauge of that. So what does it look like from your end, Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRAY, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Guys, it's unbelievable that we're seeing rain in same the places we were seeing Thursday. It almost like time has stood still over the last 24 to 36 hours. Still seeing rain pulling into North Carolina. If you can believe it, 35 miles per hour winds with 45-mile-per-hour gusts.

[06:10:03]

But like Victor said, that matters very, very little. What we are seeing are these bands of rain just coming in over the same spots over and over. And that is going to cause more flooding than we're already seeing.

So just because you may be waking up in a lull, you're saying, thank goodness the rain is over, it may not be the case. Because we still have a lot of moisture feeding in on the coast and that's going to bring in more rain for today, especially through the Wilmington area.

New Bern could get more rain. And so we're going to continue the flooding threat as we go through the rest of today. And this is going to last well into the middle part of the week while we watch those rivers crest.

So we could still get up to a foot of additional rainfall over the next 24 to 36 hours. Major flood stage in the purple. Look at all of these dots on the map, moderate flood stage in red.

We are going to be watching these rivers crest incredibly high. This is the little river and it is going to crest at 35 feet. That is six feet above the record that has already been set.

So that's going to happen Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then finally start to slow down a little bit. This is also the Cape Fear River. It's expected to crest near record stage.

It's at 31 feet now. By the time we get into Tuesday, guys, that is going to double. That's going to hit 60 -- over 60 feet.

And so it is just something that is going to be incredibly scary for residents well after the rain has gone. Christi and Victor, we are still going to see these rivers rise. So you can't let your guard down.

PAUL: No doubt. My goodness.

BLACKWELL: Jennifer Gray, thank you so much. We'll check back in just a moment.

PAUL: We want to take you in Asia now because there is a lashing going on there, destructive winds. Look at these pictures. That's what winds are doing, tearing off roofs, blowing out windows. This is in Hong Kong.

The highest typhoon warning signal is now in effect there. The Hong Kong observatory predicts the storm is going to hit China's heavily populated Pearl River Delta next.

BLACKWELL: The Chinese state media reports authorities in the port city of Guangzhou have issued the highest typhoon emergency alert. Evacuated 100,000 people and shattered all businesses industrial and manufacturing operations.

PAUL: I mean, these pictures are just -- you can't take your eyes off of them.

Before hitting Hong Kong the typhoon caused flooding, landslides in the Philippines. Look at what they're dealing with there. And in the last hour officials have confirmed 40 people have died.

BLACKWELL: President Trump is planning new tariffs on Chinese goods. We'll tell you how that will affect your holiday shopping this year.

PAUL: Also, a man died after a suspected shark bite in Cape Cod. Officials have not seen a fatal attack like this in nearly 80 years. We'll tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:56]

BLACKWELL: Sixteen minutes after the hour. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that President Trump wants to impose a new round of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. And he wants to do it before the new trade talks scheduled for the end of this month.

PAUL: Yes, the tariffs can result in higher prices of goods because companies usually pass on the costs, of course, to consumers. And take a look at the calendar. I mean, the holidays are right around the corner.

So the impact could be felt by millions of American consumers. The CNN White House reporter Sarah Westwood is with us now. What else do we know about the tariffs, Sarah?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Christi, we know that these planned tariffs are on $200 billion worth of Chinese imports are designed to increase leverage over Beijing as the U.S. and China discuss the potential of renewing high-level trade talks. Obviously, those talks have fallen apart in the past. And China has so far matched Trump's tariffs dollar for dollar because these $200 billion worth of tariffs would be on top of the $50 billion worth of tariffs President Trump has already imposed on Chinese goods.

Those have been bet with retaliatory tariffs that have hit farmers, manufacturers, the groups that are theoretically close to President Trump. Now, these goods that would be subject to tariffs are things that many Americans use, televisions, furniture, even food seasonings. So this could escalate a trade war heading into the talks with China and potentially impede process.

BLACKWELL: Sarah, the president says that he has figure out why his poll numbers are low, and he says it's Bob Mueller and the Russian investigation. Tell us about it.

WESTWOOD: Well, no surprise there, Victor. President Trump is not a big fan of the Mueller investigation frequently blaming the investigation for getting in the way of what his administration hopes to do.

Last night he went on another tweet storm about the Russia investigation writing, "While my (our) poll numbers are good, with the economy being the best ever, if it weren't for the rigged Russian witch hunt, they would be 25 points higher. High conflicted Bob Mueller and the 17 angry Democrats are using this phony issue to hurt us in the midterms. No collusion."

Now President Trump hasn't weighed in directly on the guilty plea of his former campaign manager Paul Manafort but he is pivoting back to Russia investigation that led Manafort to plead guilty to two federal crimes and he was convicted on eight other criminal charges. And President Trump is claiming that the Mueller investigation is pulling down his poll numbers even though we know from other polls, Victor and Christi, that the majority of Americans want the special counsel to be able to finish his probe.

PAUL: All right. Sarah Westwood, we appreciate it so much. Thank you.

Julian Zelizer, CNN political analyst and historian and professor at Princeton University, as well as Siraj Hashmi, "Washington Examiner's" commentary writer and editor. Gentlemen, so good to see you both. Thank you so much.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to see you.

PAUL: I want to take a look at some CNN poll numbers here that were conducted September sixth through the ninth. So very recent here.

We first of all have Robert Mueller's favorable rating at 36 percent. And then we have CNN poll -- the opinion of Donald Trump, his favorability also at 36 percent.

[06:20:08]

Now the unfavorables are very different, 28 percent for Mueller, 61 percent for Donald Trump, and there's a 22 percent unsure, uncertainty we should point out in the Mueller case with people.

But, Siraj, when you look at the numbers, they are of the same favorability of people who were polled. What do you make of the president's rant?

SIRAJ HASHMI, COMMENTARY WRITER AND EDITOR, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": Well, it is possible that with President Trump facing the midterms those unfavorable numbers are going to impact them probably more than Robert Mueller and how he conducts his investigation.

I think one thing you have to look at here is that Robert Mueller's status of conducting this investigation has always kind of been loom and gloom because -- with respect to looking at Trump and collusion with the Russian government. He hasn't found it yet. And one thing you have to look at is whether Trump fires him after the midterm elections because that might be the one time he might be able to do it. And possibly dismiss Jeff Sessions as -- that's the rumor.

PAUL: Yes, that is the rumor.

I want to ask about Woodward -- Bob Woodward and his book. Julian, listen to this.

So President Trump on Monday tweeted, "The Woodward book is a joke, just another assault against me, in a barrage of assaults, using now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources. Many have already come forward to say the quotes by them, like the book, are fiction. Dems can't stand losing. I'll write the real book."

Well, seven and a half hours ago Rudy Giuliani, the president's attorney tweeted this. "

"#REALNEWS: Woodward says no evidence of collusion. So does Manafort's team. Mueller can investigate endlessly and he will find no evidence. The only conspiracy, using criminal means, is the campaign to stop and then remove President Trump."

So Giuliani, is using Woodward to say, hey, he says there's no evidence, are we supposed to believe Woodward or are we not supposed to believe Woodward?

ZELIZER: Well, the administration loves to have many issues both ways. And so it's not a surprise to hear them contradict each other. And we believe Woodward when it benefits the administration and dismiss Woodward when it doesn't.

I think the reason the books has had an effect is because it's not an isolated account of the administration. It fits with a lot of what we hear from new sources, from other books, and from what we see right in front of us. A lot of Woodward's book is not a big surprise it's simply a confirmation. And so that's why it's hard, I think, for the president simply to dismiss it and maybe it's not a surprise that occasionally cherry-pick some of the parts of the book to use for their own purposes.

PAUL: All right. I want to just kind of flip back to China issue real quickly here for a second, Siraj.

"The Washington Post" reporting that the U.S. has a $233.5 billion deficit in goods trade -- in goods trade with China. Just this year alone so far and that's up eight percent compared to the same period as last year. So when people see that they might look at it and say, well, yes, this is unfair.

Is the tactic he's using is it suitable to try to balance this?

HASHMI: Yes. The thing is we have to look at the primary policy aims and tariffs don't usually address that. In fact to channels (INAUDIBLE) to come they also (INAUDIBLE) their political dysfunction along the way.

But if he's trying to get these trade talks going with China, what Peter Navarro, Robert Lighthizer and Steve Mnuchin kind of carrying this football right now, you know, dangling $200 billion of tariffs on China might be the only way to get them to the table. And if he ends up implementing $200 billion in sanctions, you can look at the full-on trade war because China is just going to retaliate back.

I don't think there is really a better way of approaching it. Because Donald Trump's view of what American manufacturing should be is very traditional and conventional like locomotives, assembly lines, smokestacks. It's not the wave of future, we're looking at technology and the advancement of it.

And Trump really needs to try to -- it's a difficult situation right. I think he's trying to placate both sides of the argument that trade wars and tariffs don't work.

PAUL: Julian, there are people who look at this and say, listen, talks haven't worked so what's the harm? To that you say what?

[06:25:00]

ZELIZER: Well, there can be very serious harm (INAUDIBLE) soy bean farmers who are seeing their prices drop as consumers in a few months you see the prices of good go up. And all of that is not good economic news. And simply look at the long-term, historically these trade wars have a bad effects, really bad effects. So there's a lot of evidence even if it might sound good or it might be okay but this not smart strategy economically or politically.

PAUL: All right. Siraj Hashmi and Julian Zelizer, always good to see both of you gentlemen. Thank you.

HASHMI: Thank you.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

PAUL: And listen, don't miss Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congressional nominee for the 14th District in New York today on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER." That's a 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

BLACKWELL: A huge worry for a lot of people during the storm is the safety of their pets. We'll talk to someone who's helping rescue animals in the Carolinas

and ask them the best way to keep your pet safe.

[06:30:34]

BLACKWELL: Well, this morning Hurricane Florence now downgraded to a tropical depression is responsible for the deaths of at least 13 people. The heavy rain though is continuing to hammer parts of the Carolinas. The storm is slowing moving though saturating the southeast coast with experts saying that Florence will produce catastrophic flooding for days to come.

PAUL: Nearly 800,000 people in the Carolinas do not have power this morning. Authorities in North Carolina telling drivers who are trying to use interstate 95 from the north, go around. Yes, go around the entire state.

They say motorists need to go west all the way to Tennessee to avoid flooded roads. I mean, look at what they're dealing with there.

I want to give you a look at what people living in the Carolinas are dealing with.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: The wind has really picked up. The rain has gotten a lot heavier.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The beach is now up on the boardwalk. This is about a foot and a half of sand or so.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is one of the largest ones we have seen. I mean, this one completely uprooted.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): We are going to a place where there's some high-water rescues that are necessary.

HARTUNG: The family who lives here tells me they expect the water to come to their door to their home, on the second story of that home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL: And right now in South Carolina, authorities there say there is still the worst yet to come in at least certain parts of the state.

BLACKWELL: The rivers are rising with more than a foot of rain still on the way. More than a foot still to come.

CNN's Nick Watt is live in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Nick, we know not everybody is seeing the same degree, the same level of flooding. What are you seeing where you are?

WATT: Well, Victor, here in North Myrtle Beach, there's a real feeling that this town has dodged a bullet. The big fear here was a storm surge. The ocean just inundating this town and that never happened. There were some minor damage, some power lines down, some trees down, some (INAUDIBLE) but nothing major.

But there are now three deaths in South Carolina. One woman who was killed when her vehicle hit a fallen tree on the road. And two people who died of

carbon monoxide poisoning reportedly after using a generator during a power cut inside their home.

Obviously, officials are warning people do not do that. Carbon monoxide kills. Now as I mentioned the coast here, North Myrtle Beach, has dodged a bullet of the story, and the storm, and the weather today moving inland. We are keeping a particular eye on the Pee Dee River at Cheraw. That's nearly 100 miles inland.

Right now that's running at about 27 feet which is way above normal. And over the next 23 to 24 hours, it's expected to rise even further up above 40 feet. And eventually peak sometime Sunday or early this weekend about 48 feet, which is just below an all-time record.

And the reason for that, those trillions of gallons of rain that have fallen over North Carolina and South Carolina getting into those rivers and flowing. That water has to go somewhere. Those rivers are rising and as Christi mentioned earlier the issue today is going to be roads, flash flooding, people being told to stay off those roads.

That is the danger. Rivers, flash flooding, dangerous roads, that's -- we've got our eye on today, that's where the danger is -- back to you guys.

PAUL: Well, Nick, we're glad that you're out of the danger it seems at the moment. Do take good care of yourself and the crew there. Thank you so much.

BLACKWELL: Now for a lot of people the big concern is what to do with their pets. Volunteers from around the Carolinas, really across from the country, joined together to help rescue animals affected by the storm.

Joining us now, Troy Snell, rescue and response field supervisor with the Humane Society.

[06:35:02]

Troy, good morning to you.

TROY SNELL, FIELD SUPERVISOR RESCUE AND RESPONSE, HUMANE SOCIETY: Good morning. BLACKWELL: So for a while understandably, the winds, the rain were too heavy, too stiff to get out there and start rescuing. Have you been able to rescue animals and how many and tell us how things are things are going?

SNELL: So right now we've got an urgent call for in Brunswick County, North Carolina. So my team was in Greenville, South Carolina, so we got -- took off from there and drove last night and got in about 10:30 to Brunswick, North Carolina. And we hunker down at the local animal shelter. Because pretty much there's no power anywhere there, a generator which is good.

So at about 5:00 this morning, we've woken up there is a rescue group called, Paws Place rescue group that called out for urgent help to have 23 dogs that are in the flood area. So we're actually flooded now. So we are staging and waiting for the National Guard because our vehicles could not get close enough to get them sourced. Staging right now, waiting to assist those 23 dogs.

BLACKWELL: So when you -- when you take in these animals some of them potentially in homes that have been left or found in areas that are flooded, what do you do with them and what effort do you make to find the owner?

SNELL: So pretty much what it is we work in coordination with whatever local agency pretty much the animal control, animal shelter --

BLACKWELL: Yes.

SNELL: -- and we go with them so they're getting -- receiving all the calls which are pretty much from owners or rescue groups so we -- I would say pretty much all of them we know where they're going right now. If we go to an area and it is -- like we've seen an animal like it's pretty much up to animal control and saying, OK, we know whose (ph) (INAUDIBLE). We know the owners. Get it back to the shelter and the shelter and their staff will make all efforts to find out who the owner is and get it back into that home once it's safe.

BLACKWELL: OK. Troy, I've spoke with Todd Terrell of the Cajun Navy at the top of this show. His group rescued more than a hundred animals from the Carteret County Humane Society just a couple days ago, and some unfortunately were not able to have been saved because the roof collapse there.

My question here to you is, why were those animals still there? State and local officials were urging people to evacuate the county by noon on Tuesday for the entire county. I mean, I know you're rescuing animals now but the call was to get -- the animals -- get everyone out of the county before the storm came. Why would the animals at the Carteret County Humane Society still there as the storm was coming?

SNELL: I mean, from what I know if maybe that agency didn't have the correct transport to get them out or -- because if you have a lot of animals, you need to have enough transport vehicles to get them out. I mean, we always urge people to heed the warnings -- BLACKWELL: But this is the Humane Society. Would it not have been

easier to transport the animals ahead of the storm instead of now trying to get them out during the floods?

SNELL: It would have. That's why us the Humane Society of the United States, we pre storm in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and transport out over 400 animals prior to the storm hitting.

BLACKWELL: OK. Troy Snell, thanks so much for being with us. We'll check back in as this continues unfortunately over another few days. Thanks so much for your time this morning.

SNELL: Thank you.

PAUL: Listen, if you want to help people who are impacted by Hurricane Florence, there are ways that you can donate. You can give blood, you can get in touch with charities that are responding. And I know sometimes that feels a little overwhelming because you don't know where to go, well, CNN.com/impact has ways to help you filter that out and find out who you can help.

BLACKWELL: A man has died after a suspected shark bit at a Cape Cod beach. Officials have not seen this kind of incident in almost 80 years. We'll tell you what happened.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:43:22]

BLACKWELL: Officials believe that they have seen their first fatal shark attack in roughly 80 years. This was on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Yesterday 26-year-old Arthur Medici was apparently attacked by a shark while boogie boarding about 30 yards from the beach.

PAUL: People tried to carry him to safety after that incident. He died at the hospital, but look at all the people coming together just to try to save this man.

Reporter Jim Smith from CNN affiliate WBZ has more for us here.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden, somebody yells, shark! Shark!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There were a ton of people screaming asking for help.

JIM SMITH, WBZ REPORTER (voice-over): A nightmare at the Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, a young man bitten by a shark and this time it's fatal. Witnesses say the victim was boogie boarding and suddenly attacked.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were going like this waving to us. And I ran up -- I ran up there. There was just somebody -- somebody had him by -- by -- like underneath his arms sitting in the surf. You know, they had him supported up, his head up in the surf, and other people came down with towels and wrapped his legs in towels.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have report of an unknown shark bite.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have an unconscious male, severe leg injuries.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Around noontime today our department received a 911 call about a possible shark attack in the water, a male in his mid-20s was brought out of the water and CPR was in progress.

SMITH: The 26-year-old victim was from Revere. Police say his family has been notified.

A long-time surfer says people did everything they could but they were severe leg wounds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There were a half dozen people trying to stop the bleeding with the towels and the, I guess, the cord from the boogie board. They were amazing. They did a great job.

SMITH: Police closed the beach to swimming on one of the prime weekends of the September season.

[06:45:00]

Even long-time Cape Coders now realize things have changed thanks to a surging shark population.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is just crazy, I mean, I come to the beach all the time. So it's a little, you know, it's scary and really sad. My heart goes out for that family.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL: And we'll keep you posted on what we learn about that.

Meanwhile, in Texas a serial killer has been caught, this is according to authorities there. But here's the thing, the suspect is a U.S. border patrol agent.

Police say Juan David Ortiz according to a criminal complaint confessed to killing four people whose bodies were found over the past two weeks.

BLACKWELL: Officials are not ruling out the possibility of more victims. Ortiz was arrested in Laredo yesterday. This was after a woman he allegedly kidnapped escaped and called police.

He's been charged with the four murders and the kidnapping. A spokesperson from the U.S. Customs Border and Protection Agency told CNN that they are fully cooperating with the investigation.

Former Vice President Joe Biden is not holding back when it comes to President Trump what he said last night. Plus, the political buzz surrounding a possible run in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, FORMER: VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Barack and I agreed to remain silent for a while to give this administration a chance to get up and running the first year. God forgive me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[06:50:34]

PAUL: Well, former Vice President Joe Biden headlined a dinner for the country's largest LGBTQ civil rights group last night and in the speech he took a jab at President Trump's abuse of power, he says. Saying that he uses the White House as a -- quote -- "bully pulpit."

BLACKWELL: CNN political reporter Arlette Saenz reports.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Former Vice President Joe Biden didn't offer any explicit clues when it comes to 2020 but he did show his willingness to go after President Trump saying that the president is using the bully pulpit to exert his power over people who has little or none. Now one thing that he did talk about was the president's response to Charlottesville. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BIDEN: We are in a fight for America's soul. And we have leaders -- we have leaders who at the time when that occurred when these guys were accompanied by white supremacists and Ku Klux Klan and those who objected making a comparison saying, they're good people in both groups.

What has become of us? Our children are listening. And our silence is complicity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: This comes as the former vice president is preparing to be one of the most active Democratic surrogates out on the campaign trail this fall. As he's trying to help Democrats get elected in the Senate, the House, to governorships, and even state level races. His team is still mapping out his campaign schedule, but he's expected to go to states like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin.

We also know of the one trip that is out in the works heading out west to California and Nevada in the first week of October. He'll be out there trying to raise money for Democratic candidates as well as holding public events, including a likely stop in Nevada's Senate Democratic candidate Jacky Rosen. She's running against Senator Dean Heller. And Democrats see a real pick-up opportunity in that seat as they are trying to win more seats and win control of the Senate.

Now one big question that is going to be surrounding the vice president throughout his time out on the campaign trail is, what is he thinking about in 2020? So far he has said that he's going to make that decision by January. He's not going to be talking about it until then, but here folks in the room during the speech were shouting, run, Joe, run.

Some people were shouting "2020." The vice president nearly answered, thank you.

Arlette Saenz, CNN Washington.

PAUL: Arlette, thank you so much.

And some of college football's best traditions they go back decades across generations. Coy Wire says there's a new one and this might be the best. What?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Good morning, Christi.

With all these lights waving in the stands, you would think these folks are at a rock concert. But they are not. They are carrying on a wonderful new legacy at a university inspiring and giving hope to young kids at a nearby hospital whose lives are on the line.

The difference makers are coming up on NEW DAY.

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[06:57:44]

PAUL: All right. College football, I mean, so chalk full of traditions, but there's a new one at the University of Iowa. And it goes far beyond the field of play.

BLACKWELL: Yes. The special moment when the entire stadium welcomes a group of fans who wants nothing more than to be at this game. Coy Wire is here with us.

WIRE: Good morning to you.

BLACKWELL: Good morning.

PAUL: Good morning. Welcome back.

WIRE: Happy Sunday.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

WIRE: Good to be back. These difference makers are brought to you by the new 2018 Ford F-150. And this week we highlight Kirk Ferentz. He's the head coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes' football team. And every home game after the first quarter Kirk, his players and the entire stadium turn and wave to the children of the nearly children's hospital.

This Hawkeye wave as it's called is something that started on social media and has become a special way to touch those who are going through the toughest of times.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KIRK FERENTZ, IOWA FOOTBALL HEAD COACH: There was a mother of three from a very small town in Iowa who had the concept. She went on Facebook. And then it just -- it took off. And it actually became to fruition in the first ball game.

It's really heartwarming, and the stories are very moving. The kids are very inspirational. It does give us a chance to really, you know, just for 60 seconds acknowledge some really worthy people.

There's been a long-standing connection between our program and football, but all of our athletic programs with the university with the children's hospital. So we've gotten to know a lot of the people there.

You know, sometimes in the athletics, we think of ourselves as special because we are competitors and we're coaches, and I think what we learn is we are just very fortunate. It really puts things in perspective for you. We are fortunate.

And the special people are the people that we salute, whether it be the doctors, the nurses and staff members, but mostly the patients and their families. I think that's really what it is all about. And there's so much that divides us nowadays, it is really nice to have something so simple that is heartfelt to bring us together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Now, Victor, Christi, I want you to check something out. Yesterday's game at Kinnick Stadium was a night game. So what did the fans do? Take a look.

They turned their cell phone lights on and still made sure that those kids could see them being seen.

[07:00:00]

I think they wanted to make sure that those kids knew they were thinking about them even at night time.