CNN "CNN Newsroom" - Transcript: Interview with Daniel McKee
Interview
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WHITFIELD: All right, so we'll consider this still in the early stages of its potential. Thank you so much Tom Sater in the CNN Weather Center. All right Rhode Island is now in fact feeling the full brunt of - or at least parts of the full brunt of Henri as the storm nears landfall. A state of emergency has been declared. Joining us by phone right now Rhode Island Governor, Daniel McKee.
Governor, thanks so much for taking the time to talk with us. So what is the situation right now? What kind of deterioration are you seeing? What are you witnessing?
GOV. DANIEL MCKEE (D-RI): Well first thanks, Fredricka, to having us on again. And, yes, the Ocean State is, you know, has a storm that's on our borders right now. And right now what we're asking from Rhode Islanders is to stay safe. I've asked yesterday and again this morning for people to stay at home. And rather - be safe rather than sorry. We - earlier this morning we had a press event. We were 8,000 people out of electricity. Right now we're approaching almost 10 times that and expecting - and expecting to be over 100,000 in a state of million people.
So we are very concerned about the impact that the storm is having on us. I'm calling actually from the Westerly Police Station. I heard Chris talking about the impact of Sandy just, you know, 2010. We got crushed here in Westerly, you know, Rhode Island so I'm down at the police station right now ready to kind of take a look on the, you know with our police department, with our public safety, with our state police exactly what's happening here.
So, yes, we're in the middle of a - of the eye of the storm and - but we do have our emergency management people that have done this before and I have as a Mayor and now as a Governor, a new Governor as of March. So we're ready and yesterday we did talk to the President, President Biden, with Governors from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey. And we did have a state of emergency signed by the President yesterday and he committed support during the storm and also on a quick recovery that we are hopefully - we're going to work as hard as we can to get everybody back.
Because we're facing 90 degree weather on Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday and if we're without electricity you know that means in terms of the health and the economy relative to the, you know our seniors and others and our business community. So -
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WHITFIELD: And I'm sure that preempted -
MCKEE: -- (inaudible).
WHITFIELD: -- yes, that preemptive state of emergency is very helpful because it does seem to be imminent that you will have power failure in a very large way. We know you'll have those uprooted trees that are likely to come down as is being forecast. That too is going to be a sizable problem. What about Block Island? This is a popular tourist destination already feeling the effects - the early effects of this storm. What kind of precautions have been made? How have you been able to execute evacuations?
MCKEE: Yes, that's started late on Friday and all day yesterday in terms of Block Island, people who are not living there, getting off the island. I believe that I was told this morning, 60, 70 mile an hour winds have already started there. So, you're right that's a big concern of ours. It's a, you know, we're the Ocean State as we talked about before. We have many, many visitors here right now from all over the world, all over the country and Block Island's one of them. So we are taking that precaution.
You know the last time we spoke, Fredricka, we were talking about the, you know, the impact that the - that the COVID virus has on us. And so, yes, -- so we're all-hands on deck right now and our ferries were taking people off Block Island, bringing them to our mainland all day yesterday.
WHITFIELD: Yes. And back to those trees. Because that seems to be a gigantic concern, the uprooting of trees. You're going to have soggy soil because of this, you know, deluge. There's nothing you can do to prevent them from coming down. But what kind of precautions we're you able to put into place so as to lessen the danger to people?
MCKEE: So we have the national grid which is our utility company here in Rhode Island and also PPL which is from Pennsylvania who actually they're in the middle of a transaction. So they got about - I think it's the last I heard over 200 trucks on the ground, you know, for line work and forestry work I think we have over 100 vehicles on the ground as well.
So and then we have - we have trucks coming in and help coming from out of state. That's one of the things that the President did offer up and, you know, to make sure that states weren't getting impacted, Fredricka, where (ph) they were sending their workers and their staff to us with their vehicles to mitigate any issues that have to do with trees, you know, coming down on lines and all - everything that brings with it, right, the safety.
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That's why we're telling people stay in your house, don't -- you don't have to go see, you know, the waves on the, you know, down in Narragansett, they're not our beautiful beaches and that type of thing. Stay at home. And also when trees are coming down stay away from those.
Lines can come down, they can be live, we don't need any, you know, body, you know, getting hurt. Or potentially, you know, dying because they decide to kind of move a live wire off the street or off their yard.
This is when you call for help and that's what we've done. Communicating we had a press event his morning, we've got another now at 4:00, and we're in constant communication with the people in the state of Rhode Island.
WHITFIELD: Yes, good point. The dangers don't just come in the height of the storm but afterwards as well. Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, thank you so much and all the best to you and all the Rhode Islanders.
MCKEE: Well, thank you -- thanks for the good wishes, we'll be talking. Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right, thank you.
MCKEE: Bye.
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