charges against him. and baby makes 7 billion. a new milestone for the global population on this "american morning." ♪ good morning to you and happy halloween. >> happy halloween! >> whoo! it is monday, october 31st. welcome to "american morning." i'm carol costello. >> good morning. i'm alina cho. talk about an october surprise, and i'm not talking about politics. >> no. >> that storm was really -- >> it was vicious, wasn't it? >> it certainly was, and it came through fast and left just as fast, but boy, did it leave a trail of destruction. >> yes, it did, and that's up first. the aftermath of a rare and deadly october nor'easter, the storm dumping wet, slushy, heavy snow from maryland to maine. close to three feet of snow fell in new england, leaving millions without power this morning. it's literally postponed halloween in parts of new england. the "boston globe" reporting some towns rescheduled the holiday for friday instead. local officials don't want the kids out with so many power lines down. and it was one of those weekends where travelers heard trouble. 40 passengers stuck on an amtrak train for 13 hours when a rockslide blocked the tracks in central massachusetts. >> at least they had a working bathroom on that train because they didn't on this plane. jetblue facing millions of dollars in potential fines this morning after passengers on board a flight from ft. lauderdale to newark were diverted to hartford and then trapped on board that plane on the tarmac for seven hours. no food, no water, little fresh air and, yes, the toilets were backed up. >> sounds like a great time. check out this ireport. time-collapse video from a yard in oak ridge, new jersey. autumn turning to winter. the ireporter says they ended up with 16 inches there. he set up his camera to take a picture every minute for seven hours on saturday. >> that is cool. >> that is cool. >> the storm was almost worth it, seeing those pictures. not. in some of the hardest hit areas, people are told it could be a week or more before they get the power back on. chad myers is live in york, pennsylvania, this morning. and chad, you usually like snow, but maybe not so much this morning? >> reporter: not when there are still leaves on the trees, carol it was a mess yesterday. power crews were up and down trying to get these power lines back on, and they did a pretty good job. it was sunny yesterday, almost 45 degrees. our saturday snowman turned into this yesterday. so, although it melted rather quickly and the roads look pretty good this morning, you know, those eight hours of snow, that just brought down so many power lines. it will be days before they get all this power back working for everyone. >> this is going to take a long time to get this back up, isn't it? >> absolutely. >> how many days, do you think? >> i'd say probably wednesday. yeah, we've got a lot of crews coming in from other areas, other states. >> reporter: i see the windshield just a mess, completely smashed. what did that feel like? >> just looking at it, it's the sound of the tree falling on the car that scared me, and it didn't break, so i didn't get any glass in my face. i mean, it shattered and the mirror's hanging down there, so i couldn't even see the back windshield through the mirror. >> reporter: does it make you think about driving under trees next time or driving at all? >> yes. i debated whether to turn right and go home before i made that part of my trip yesterday or not and i didn't, and it was the wrong mistake. >> reporter: so, what do we have for this morning? this morning we have fog out here. fog is never good when temperatures are below 30, especially 32 where we are right here. the fog could make black ice, especially on the bridges and overpasses. watch that. the roads will look good and all of a sudden, you'll get to a bridge and it could be a sheet of ice. what else does it mean? it means because we had clear skies, temperatures were very cold overnight, the planes have frost on every wing, every surface. nearly every plane leaving atlanta today all the way to maine will have to be deiced before it leaves. that will slow down the first departures, maybe even a couple arrivals later on having to be a little slow, so expect that. everything's going to move just a little bit slower today. by some time, maybe 8:00, 9:00, things are going to start to melt. that means there's going to be spray on your windshield from the car in front of you, some of the slush on the roadways. make sure you have that little blue jug, that windshield washer fluid, make sure that jug under your hood is filled up today, because otherwise, you'll just be smearing that muddy water back and forth with the windshield wipers. it will be kind of a tough day to be driving around, especially this afternoon. and every night this week it's going to get down to 32 or colder, so it's going to be a cold night in houses without power. area hotels are jammed here in york, pennsylvania. >> i don't think there's a hotel room that -- i mean, there aren't any left, that's it, you're right. chad myers, thank you, live in york, pennsylvania, this morning. >> reporter: you're welcome. >> more than 4 million people across the northeast are waking up in the dark this morning. it really was the perfect storm as far as power outages go. wet, heavy snow snapping tree limbs that didn't even have a chance to shed their leaves yet. in connecticut, in particular, a big mess, branches and power lines. the governor said this storm broke a state record for blackouts, and that record was just set back in august when the remnants of hurricane irene came through. joining us now for an update on the situation is mitch gross. he's the spokesman for connecticut light and power. and he's joining us by phone from berlin, connecticut. mr. gross, thank you for joining us this morning. 750,000 customers in connecticut without power. when we take a look at the map, that's nearly the entire top half of the state, plus more. there you see it there in the black. what are you doing this morning to try to get the power back on? >> it's all hands on deck. good morning. and yes, 750,000 cl&b customers without. howev however, saturday night, we restored power to over 140,000. so, we are making progress. it's a 24/7 exercise, of course, around the clock the crews are working, and we have commitments from an additional 600 crews coming in from literally all over north america to help us out. so, a lot of help is already here, a lot more on the way, and we still have, yes, quite honestly, a lot of work to do. >> that's right. and by some estimates, it's going to take more than a week in some areas of connecticut. now, having said that, in terms of tree damage, this was five times as bad as hurricane irene in terms of downed trees. i think it's safe to say it took a lot of people by surprise. and if you had to point your finger, was the culprit the leaves on the trees, do you think, that just weighed those trees down? >> exactly, it's the trees. we have -- connecticut is one of the most heavily wooded states in the country. connecticut light and power, one of the most heavily wooded utility service areas in the country. trees are, you know, our customers love their trees, but sometimes it's a double-edged sword, and we knew and it was accurately predicted that all of our trees, that with this storm coming, you know, the snow and the ice was going to weigh the leaves down and snap the branches, and you know, there were going to be problems. weed in very clear to our customers, as did government officials. and you know, the reality was, yes, we were in the dark in a lot of places. >> is it fair to say that every county in the state of connecticut is affected by this? >> every county. there are eight counties in connecticut. we service 149 of connecticut's 169 towns. every one of the towns we service has been impacted to some extent by this storm. >> one last question here. people in connecticut are saying it's like a third world country, no food, no water, no light. obviously, a lot of people are really frustrated. what is your suggestion for these residents in terms of coping and getting through this in the meantime, while their power is out? >> well, i can easily say patience, of course, but there are -- you know, shelters have been set up in many communities, and neighbors are helping neighbors and reaching out, and that's what we do up here, you know? you know, it's new england, it does snow. it just happened to snow a lot earlier than we're originally used to, but we will get through this. neighbors are helping neighbors and reaching out to families and friends. people are taking advantage of the shelters, and we'll work as hard as we can to get those lights back on. >> there's a reason why they're calling it shocktober. mitch gross with connecticut light and power, thank you for that update. >> i like that, shocktober. >> best of luck. >> really, it's the last day, thank goodness. let's send it to atlanta and reynolds wolf. so, shocktober is over. is it going to get better? >> a little bit. this is one of those things where it will take a couple days to get back to normal. the reason why all this happened was, of course, because of the nor'easter. there is an intense area of low pressure pulling along the eastern seaboard. it brought in a lot of cold air that came from the north, plus a lot of moisture off the atlantic, and the result was what you see here, over 30 inches of snowfall in parts of new hampshire. plainfield, massachusetts, had over 30 inches. windsor, a couple feet, also in west milford and millbrook. the contrast in places like new jersey and back towards philadelphia -- philadelphia had only 0.3 inches of snowfall, so kind of a feast or mam famine in parts of the northeast, but we anticipate today that that cold air will remain locked in place, especially from the jersey shore, parts of long island, back along the delmarva peninsula, and washington, d.c., certainly a cold morning, but certainly should be above the freezing point, and we expect temperatures to modify, warm up a bit through the rest of the workweek. in terms of traveling, here's what it means. if you're flying out, biggest problems will be well south in the sunshine state of florida where it's going to live up to its billing today. not a whole lot of sunshine, but still heavy rain, delays under an hour for miami, orlando and tampa. detroit, scattered showers may keep you grounded. in san francisco, not the fog, but rather, the gusty winds may give you a few delays here and there. now, what we're going to be seeing across the nation's midsection, a little dry air moving into the central plains, the midwest, into the intermountain west, central rockies, scattered showers. maybe in the highest peaks you'll see a touch of snowfall. for much of the west coast, pockets of fog along the coast, and for the four corners, southward into phoenix and tucson, should be just beautiful. now moving into the great lakes, we're seeing another area of low pressure, and with that, scattered showers to parts of, say michigan, maybe even detroit before all is said and done. but in the northeast, things should improve a little bit. still some scattered showers in parts of the southeast. wrapping up your forecast, highs for the day, 68 kansas city, 54 minneapolis, 60 in billings, 63 san francisco, 70 albuquerque, 56 chicago, 62 in atlanta and miami and tampa into the 80s. that's a look at your forecast on this halloween. let's pitch it back to you. >> all right. >> we got it. >> there you go. good catch. >> thank you, reynolds. we'll check in with you later. >> and often. meanwhile, politics now. herman cain's campaign is denying an explosive, new report that says two women filed sexual harassment claims against the georgia businessman back in the 1990s. according to politico, those complaints came when cain was the head of the national restaurant association. both women were reportedly paid large cash settlements for their silence and left their jobs. cain's camp says the report isn't true, calling it unfair. >> i'm not going to comment on that, because you know, i think that is one of those kinds of things that -- >> yes or no? >> last question -- >> have you ever been accused of sexual harassment? >> and the man you just saw questioning cain is the man we will talk to very soon. we are going to talk about the report, how the sexual harassment claims against cain might impact his run for the white house when we're joined by the reporter who broke the story, the man there, jonathan martin, politico's senior political reporter, will join us in the next half hour with "american morning." >> some conservatives saying these reports are unfair because the women are not named and the allegations aren't really specific. >> that's right. they're saying they can't go after his ideas for how to fix the economy, so they're pulling this out. >> we'll talk to jonathan martin and ask him to stand up for his story. it will be interesting. still ahead, stories from inside a nightmare jetblue flight. passengers stuck on the plane for seven hours after it was diverted in the storm. food, water, air running out. yo hear cell phone calls from passengers and the pilot pleading with the airport for help. >> one man now says he knows what it feels like to be incarcerated. speaking of nightmares, at long last, 100,000 qantas airlines passengers may finally get to their destinations. we'll explain. you're watching "american morning." it's 14 minutes after the hour. (rambling phone conversation) when an investment lacks discipline, it's never this obvious. introducing investment discipline etfs from russell. visit russelletfs.com r a prospectus, containing the investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other information. read and consider it carefully before investing. welcome back at 17 minutes after the hour. jetblue passengers say it was downright degrading! about 200 people were stuck on a plane on the tarmac for seven hours in connecticut during this weekend's storm. i cannot imagine being on that plane. >> i think it would be like hell. whatever happened to that passengers bill of rights, you ask? because there is a passengers bill of rights. this was supposed to prevent this kind of thing. susan candiotti has stories from inside the hell. >> reporter: alina and carol, good morning. blinding snow in a freak october storm created havoc in the northeast, but one of the worst nightmares was for stranded passengers in hartford, connecticut. 23 planes were diverted to hartford, according to jetblue, which says 6 of the planes were theirs, stranding passengers on the tarmac for eight and nine hours. no food, water, bathrooms unusable. passengers did have cell phones and unleashed their fury. >> they're filled. they're totally filled. no one can go in them anymore. you just have to hold it. >> going in and out, bathrooms are locked. people are quite upset. >> reporter: a department of transportation rule enacted last year called the airline passengers bill of rights was supposed to prevent situations like this. among the requirements, food, water and a clean bathroom within two hours of being stuck and the right to get off a stranded plane after three hours. in a statement, jetblue apologized and says power outages at the airport made correcting problems difficult. the changes came after a february 2007 incident. passengers were stuck on a jetblue flight at jfk for eight hours. >> there was no power and it was hot. there was no air. they kept having to open the actual plane doors so we could breathe comfortably. >> reporter: and now it appears history is repeating itself. >> it is absolutely unacceptable that the airlines and the airport did not manage to get these passengers off the plane. >> reporter: kate hanni fought for the bill of rights after being stuck on a plane herself five years ago. she now runs a website that advocates for passengers and says the airlines needed to cancel flights sooner. >> the flying public has overwhelmingly said they would rather have their flight canceled or be stuck inside an airport than they would like to be stuck inside an airplane. >> reporter: an airport spokesman did not respond to cnn's call seeking comment. the d.o.t.'s new regulation doesn't apply to airports. >> hopefully, we can get airports added to the rule, because this is a real -- i knew when i talked to operations last night, i knew that they were scrambling and they knew they had screwed up royally. >> reporter: the d.o.t. says its passenger protection rule has virtually eliminated all delays of three hours or more. a spokeswoman says no airline has been fined since the new rule came out, but because of what happened this weekend in connecticut, the d.o.t. has just opened a new investigation. alina and carol? >> they've opened this new investigation, but the legislation applies only to airlines, not to the airport itself. and in this case, it appears the airport was to blame for these passengers being stuck on the tarmac for seven hours. >> you can bet that the passengers are not mad at the airport, though. probably mad at the airline. >> they're probably mad at everyone. but we actually have some audio from the pilot aboard that jetblue plane, and he's pleading for help during this ordeal because one of the passengers was sick and another passenger was in a wheelchair. listen. >> look, you know, we can't seem to get any help from our own company. i apologize for this, but is there any way you can get a tug and a tow bar out here to us and get us towed somewhere to a gate or something? i don't care. take us anywhere. >> jetblue 504, roger. i will talk to state operations and see what they can do. were you able to resolve the situation in the back or is that still ongoing? >> yes, we've resolved it for now. we've got the show of authorities on board, but i have a paraplegic on board that needs to come off, i have a diabetic on here that's got an issue. it's a list of things. i just got to get some help. >> but they didn't get any help. but again, so, the pilot is begging the airport to help him and he is a jetblue employee, so -- >> under the category of making matters worse, that's exactly -- >> right, but as far as these fines that could be levied against jetblue, maybe not because jetblue, you know, the pilot there, he apparently tried to do something about the situation but couldn't get anything done. >> that's right. i mean, the reality is, is once this is all figured out, there is that possibility that jetblue could face a fine. really, what it is from that passenger bill of rights is $27,500 per passenger. if jetblue in the end is fined, which perhaps they won't be, it would amount to -- >> $5 million? >> $5.5 million for the airline. so we'll have to watch this and see what happens. but you're right, i mean, jetblue is firmly placing the blame on the airport, saying it's their fault. >> we'll see what happens. just ahead on "american morning," a global population milestone. now it's just you and 7 billion of your closest friends. 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