oing anywhere. she shouldn't go anywhere. and it's a very just resolution in this case. >> i'm going to go out on a limb and say she is just a terrible person. i spent that time covering that case as well. she's one of the worst of the worst. nancy, jeff always great to see you both. wolf starts right now. hello. i'm wolf blitzer. it's 1:00 p.m. here in washington. 9:00 p.m. in iraq. wherever you're watching from around the world, thanks very much for joining us. we're watching two major weather stories right here in the united states. in new york a plane carrying 130 people slid off a runway at new york's la guardia airport. we'll take you live there in just a moment. in kentucky as many as 200 motorists still stuck on a major

highway. heavy snoes have kept them stuck for more than 12 hours. we begin in new york city at la guardia airport. the nose of this delta plane crashing right through a fence just feet away from a huge body of water before it came to a stop. six people were hurt. some have been taken to local hospitals. 125 passengers were on this delta flight. jared was one of them. he's joining us on the phone from new york. are you okay? >> i am. i am. >> tell us what happened. >> so i was sitting in first class, fly all the time. we were circling new york city because of the weather conditions the pilots had announced that the snow and the ice, that we were delayed in landing and then we were given clearance to land. as soon as we landed we felt the wheels hit the runway and we did not feel the wheels take traction and we started to skid. and we skid to the left side of

the runway and we continued to skid. and obviously caused for a moment of prayer and a moment of reflection as people were scared obviously at that point. the pilot did a phenomenal job. got to tip my hat for navigating those few moments. we ended up as you can see from the photos that i had sent we literally were a couple feet away from heading into the water. and i had a friend that was actually part of the hudson river crash several years ago. as we were getting closer and closer to the water, i kept going back to that moment in time. extremely grateful obviously to be alive. grateful to everyone from delta and the emergency folks. it's a testimony that god's not done writing my story. he writes the best story and appreciate all the people for taking good care of us. yes, they got us off the plane.

we had to go down the slide and slide off the side of the plane. we were standing in snow for a few minutes while they were getting all the buses and emergency workers there. a few of the ladies were pregnant. we had them get on the first few buses and obviously the men followed suit. they made sure all of our luggage stayed on the plane. so it was just our phones and wallet we could take with us. >> jared, did you have any warning from the pilot as you were coming in for the landing from atlanta out to land at la guardia airport that there could be a problem? >> no i mean the only thing was the tip we had -- we were delayed for a few minutes circling the city which is not unusual given the amount of air traffic and if you fly allot, just kind of, no big deal. but as soon as the wheels touched down especially for myself and the gentleman sitting next to me we were both in first class. we knew something was wrong.

and because you didn't feel the wheels take and we started to skid and we knew it was going to be a problem. and then it was, where are we going to end up stopping the skid. obviously we settled and settled a few feet from the water. just dwenagain, a huge sense of gratitude for the safety that god provided all of us on the plane. >> how long were you skidding? >> that's a pretty fearful few seconds or whatever it was. >> yeah, no if i had to guess, wolf probably close to 20 seconds from the point of the initial skid within two seconds of the wheels touching down on the runway to the stop of the actual airplane stopping where it stopped with its nose hanging out outside of the fence area. >> did -- were people on the plane, were they totally silent or were there some people obviously concerned? what was the mood in the aircraft based on what you could

tell? you were obviously up front. >> yeah, no it was mixed. there were people that were calm. there were people that were praying. there were people that were frantic. there were people that were crying. so it was a mixed array of emotions. it's obviously causes one to pause and reflect and causes one to you know remember what life is all about and who's most important and obviously the relationships with god and family and friends are most important. makes you grateful for all of that. >> when you were all lining up to get off the aircraft sliding down or whatever getting on the wings, it was orderly or was there a sense of panic? were people screaming and trying to get up front? >> there -- there's always as you've -- there's always with human nature a tendency and propensity for the panic and shoving your way to the front. but for the most part, i would say it was very orderly and

calm. and there were gentlemen on the plane that were allowing obviously the ladies and the kids to go before them which is great. obviously being a gentleman is the right thing to do. ft. most part it was orderly. there were probably a few exceptions in the first few folks that got off the plane, but that's okay. the majority again, i think did the right thing and were orderly and calm in getting out of the plane. >> when the plane -- this delta -- this aircraft finally did stop did you hear immediately from either the pilots of the flight attendants? what were they saying? >> yeah. they did an awesome job. actually had us be calm. they asked us to stay in our seats and gave us directions and guidance about what we were going to do and about the evacuation process that was going to happen. and then they actually -- it was kind of funny. i had to go to the bathroom. i hadn't gone. the pilot smiled at me with a sense of humor and said the

door's locked you're not going to be able to go and apologized. i smiled and said i guess i can hold it. other than that, they gave us guidance and direction. we were told to leave our belongings on the plane which we did. there were a few folks who grabbed their bag skbs suitcases which they were about supposed to. we exited the plane and slid off the side of the plane on the wing itself. >> have you been able to get your luggage, your bag since then? >> no. they're stuck on the plane and they've got us here in a holding pattern obviously in the sky club herein side of la guardia. >> give us a final thought before i let you go, jared. >> just grateful. i've texted and communicated with my family and friends. and just grateful. obviously i thank god for protection and his hand of care in this moment. definitely shaken up. shed some tears and obviously just reflective and grateful.

>> and fortunately you're okay. we do know six passengers were injured. some slightly. some have been taken to local hospitals. hopefully they'll be just fine as well. and as my dad used to say, could have been a whole lot worse. fortunately it stopped just when it was supposed to because on the other side of that little hill was a significant body of water. if it would have continued you guys would have been in great, great danger. we're grateful you're all okay basically. thanks very much for joining us. traffic at la guardia airport by the way has now been brought to a complete standstill because of this accident. miguel marquez has been there all day. i know that all the runways now are shut down right? >> reporter: everything is shut down here and will remain shut down until at least 7:00 p.m. tonight. once that plane skidded off the runway air traffic control also diverted planes on their way into la guardia to other

locations. the fire department is now saying that 16 individuals have suffered minor neck or back injuries. one person it sounds like has actually been transported. everybody else is off and safe from that flight. we understand it's 131 passengers and crew all together on that md-88 on its way from atlanta airport to here in new york. that runway when you -- hearing the person that just spoke, seeing what others are saying about what happened on that plane, it is clear that when it came in over the bay and landed there, it got no traction began to skid immediately. there was a question as to whether or not the plane actually skidded all the way around. it doesn't sound like it from all the passengers we've heard from. a 64-year-old spoke to the new york post saying it skidded and the wing broke offand the nose went up over that berm. when you look at the pictures of people pouring off that plane they're coming off the right

side of the plane. on the left side, you can see the fire engines are putting chemical or water onto that plane to mitigate the damage from the left side of the wing. the pilot telling air traffic control that his left side was leaking as much as a thousand gallons of fuel. amazingly enough this is not the first time this has happened to an md-80 in march on that berm at la guardia airport. when you look at pictures we're now seeing from the opposite side of the airport as well. you can see just how close it came. that berm there clearly there to protect from this very incident or set of circumstances. wolf? >> i want you to hold on for a moment, miguel. we're just getting in the first air traffic control audio involving this plane accident. i want our viewers here in the united states and around the world to listen to this. >> delta 1096 tower.

>> 413 tower, runway 1-3 is closed. tower, red team to go onto 1-3. tower, do you copy. >> call 100 you said runway 1-3 is closed. >> affirmative 1-3 is closed. >> team red south? >> aircraft on the runway. >> delta 1999, go around. climb maintain 2,000. >> 1999 going around. >> the airport is closed. the airport is closed. we've got a 3-4. >> call 100. say again? >> we have an aircraft off 3-1 on the north vehicle service road. please advice. la guardia airport is closed at this time. >> wow. very very powerful words if

you're flying and trying to land at la guardia airport and you hear airport -- la guardia airport is closed at this time, please advise crash rescue. that what we saw and have been covering. much more ahead on these stories. this huge aircraft sliding off the runway at new york's la guardia airport. we're going to analyze this air traffic control audio. how could this happen what happened? what are the lessons learned? plus hundreds of drivers strabded right now on a kentucky highway. some are trapped in the car. some have been trapped for more than 12 hours. many of them no longer have gasoline. it's cold. rescue teams are on the way. stay with us. we're going there live.

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quote today,call liberty mutual insurance at see car insurance in a whole new light. liberty mutual insurance. welcome back. if you're just joining us we want to get you up to date on the breaking news out of new york city. this is the aircraft. the delta aircraft that skidded upon landing. a flight from atlanta. look how close it got to the water. it stopped just atop this berm this little hill at the end of this runway. it could have been a whole lot worse. you see how close it got to the water that surrounds basically la guardia airport. 131 people on that -- on board this plane and fortunately everyone seems to be okay. some minor injuries.

one person we're told taeken to hospital. miguel marquez is our man at la guardia airport right now. from that picture we got, you see how close it actually -- that nose of that delta aircraft actually got to the water surrounding la guardia airport. if it skidded a little bit more it would have gone into that water. >> reporter: it is amazing to see how close it was. that plane skidded as soon as it hit the runway. i just spoke to another pilot who landed about 15, 20 minutes before that delta pilot landed. he says it was slick but conditions could have changed even more to the extreme side by the time that delta flight came in for a landing. clearly, from the passenger that you spoke to, from passengers we've heard from here when that plane hit the runway it got no traction and then skidded literally a hard left hit that embankment went up over that embankment the wing broke off.

as much as a thousand gallons of fuel now have leaked on to the runway that they have contained but they must clean up before operations get back to normal. everything is stopped here at la guardia. everything. this is the priority line here. there's about 40 or 50 people in this line. but the regular line for american airlines where we are right now, it is literally in the hundreds of people trying to figure out how they're going to get home, people on the phone. the pilot i spoke to said that he was on the runway for about an hour because he came in, landed landed the incident happened. he went back out onto the runway to take off again. they waited and waited. they brought all planes back sitting on the tarmac back to the terminals here. now he's on his way to jfk to get another flight out to get back on schedule. this is going to create a massive headache across the aviation system. but the good news, though from

what we understand, 16 injuries neck and back, light injuries. only one person transported and authorities now trying to deal with the -- there's a fuel leak out there. also trying to deal with getting the hoses and the hydrants out there because the conditions are so bad here at la guardia today. and then a third team dealing with the injured themselves and helping them get themselves sorted out. >> just to recap. this was delta flight 1086. it left atlanta at 9:00 a.m. touched down at 11:05 at la guardia. as it touched down, you saw that it started to skid obviously very icy there. the weather pretty horrible in new york. elsewhere around the country as well. fortunately that plane stopped. it could have gone over that embankment and into the water. that fence and berm stopped the plane from going over into the water. let's get more on the weather. jennifer gray is standing by.

jennifer what was it like? i mean didn't they know at la guardia that the runways were icy? maybe they should have closed that airport earlier. >> that's a big question. but weather conditions change quickly as they always do. early this morning up until about 8:00, it was all rain. temperatures were above freezing. then for the next two hours, temperatures dropped very, very quickly. it turned into snow. you have to keep in mind you have that layer of rain underneath all of that snow. that can freeze in an instant and that's most likely what happened here. you have that layer of ice on the bottom. you have the snow on top of that. so it makes it very very difficult to get any traction when conditions are like that. you can plow snow all day no problem. but when wh that rain turns to ice, it is impossible. that's what happened here most likely. temperatures now in new york, 23 degrees. it will be snowing there up

until about 6:00 or 7:00 this evening. so conditions will continue to be nasty there. good idea that they have closed the airport. as we've seen just on the other side that body of water, the east river, frozen. so you can imagine if things would have been worse what we would be dealing with with the water temperatures at freezing or below. so it is just a mess up there right now. temperatures will drop to about 10 degrees tonight, wolf. we'll continue to see whatever's on the ground frozen. this not only goes for the airport, but all the roads around new york city will be a mess through the next 12 to 24 hours. >> stand by. i want to alert the viewers also. the port authority of new york and new jersey which is in charge of these major airports in newark as well as new york jfk and la guardia. they're about to hold a news conference. that's coming up in just a few

moments. also coming up another major weather-related story we're following right now. some people on a u.s. interstate. they are going nowhere fast. this is extremely dangerous. that picture you're looking at is not frozen but the people in those cars may feel that way. a lot of them have been stuck for hours and hours. they're running out of gas. no heat. rescue teams are on the way. we'll go there live.

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news weather-related breaking news on two fronts here in the united states. we're standing by for a news conference by the port authority of new york and new jersey. that's coming up in connection with this near disaster that occurred at la guardia airport just a little while ago. delta flight md-88 aircraft. it began to skid in the eyes and snow. it got stuck just before it could have gone across that berm or hill. stopped at that fence on the other side a body of water. 131 people on board that aircraft. almost all of them are okay. there are some who were slightly injured. some more seriously. at least one person taken to a local hospitalment we're standing by for a news conference from the port authority which runs this airport. will have live coverage. another weather-related disaster unfolding here in the united states as well. nearly 90 million people in 22 u.s. states from texas to

massachusetts, they're now under winter storm warnings and advisories and perhaps no one is feeling it more than hundreds of travelers stranded on a major interstate interstate 65 between elizabethtown and louisville kentucky. some drivers get this they've been stranded for more than 15 hours after 21 inches of snow fell over a 15-hour span. among those strabded, the wife of the reverend jesse jackson. they've been stuck in their cars since 2:30 a.m. on the phone with us right now is the administrative battalion chief of the elizabethtown fire department. i understand you guys are rescuing people as fast as you can. this is an extremely dangerous situation. >> it is. this is a snowfall that we're not normally used to. we have about 20 inches of snow on the ground. we have gotten between 50 and 60

people recovered from their cars and we have them at a local community center where they are being given food and water and making arrangements to get their cars towed. >> these cars they're just stuck there. they can't even move. traffic has come to a complete halt is that right? >>s that correct. we have the state road department currently getting a lane open in each direction on i-65. there are two parkways that connect here in elizabethtown. they are also getting one lane open in each direction on both parkways. so traffic is starting to move. but it's going to take a very long time to clear. >> how cold it is right now? what worries me and i'm sure you and everyone else these people have been stuck in their cars for hours and hours, 12 hours some of them clearly they're going to run out of gas. there's going to be no heat. >> that's correct. it's currently about 25 degrees

here. and we're expecting close to zero tonight. so hopefully we can get all of these cars off the interstate and to their destination before it gets dark. >> i know, chief malone, you guys are not used to this weather in kentucky. do you have enough equipment? >> the national guard has been called out and they are assisting to the north of elizabethtown. we have a lot of state resources being brought into the area. it just takes time to get them deployed and get the roads cleared. >> showing our viewers live pictures on the right of all of these vehicles trucks and cars vans every one stuck over there. you can see the skid marks. clearly this is a dangerous situation right now in kentucky. they're not used to this kind of weather in kentucky here in the

united states. i guess the bottom line is have you had injuries already? what's the status of the folks of in those vehicles? >> right now, we don't have any injuries. we've been able to get everyone that needed to be moved from their car to a warming center where they're able to make contact with wrecker services and aaa and the different companies and start to make arrangements to get their vehicles out of the snow. >> so basically what i'm seeing is a lot of people have simply abandoned their cars and gotten a ride someplace to stay protected and stay warm, is that right? >> that's correct. that is a dangerous time. those cars that are abandoned wind up getting covered with snow from the plows. when plows come through later on they don't know that car's there. we tried to leave someone with the vehicle if we could that could get it out of the way once the road was open. if not, we've asked them to push

it off to the shoulder. >> chief mark malone good luck to you and the men and women helping, good luck to everyone over there. this is just one part of the country right now suffering from this severe weather, snow and ice and sleet. it's an awful, awful situation. we're standing by for a news conference from the port authority of new york and new jersey dealing with the other breaking news weather related. a delta flight skidding as it touched down at la guardia airport. fortunately stopping before it goes over a berm into the water. we're going to find out what happened. take a look at this video. this picture. this is an md-88 delta. this is delta flight 1086. it took off this morning from atlanta harts field airport. landed at la guardia at 11:05 a.m. this morning. upon landing. the size and the snow was simply too much. the plane began skidding and it

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welcome back to our viewers in the united states and around the world. >> i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. we're following breaking news. this delta aircraft with 131 people on board landing at la guardia airport. but then because of the ice on the runway began skidding and got perilously close to the water that surrounds la guardia airport. it stopped on a berm a little hill. if it would have gone over into the water, would have been a complete disaster. bunch of people injured.

one taken to the hospital. everyone off that plane right now. we're standing by for a news conference. the port authority of new york and new jersey which operates the major airports in the new york or new jersey area they're about to have a news conference. we're going to have live coverage of that news conference get more specific details how this happened. we know the national transportation safety board already announced it's sending investigators to la guardia to find out what happened. let's discuss what happened with our safety analyst david soucie joining us on the phone. don't the air traffic controllers know the runway is icy and it's not a good time to happened david? >> they're supposed to know that. that's going to about the first thing that the faa looks at. the ntsb will look at the approximate cause which is the last thing that would have prevented it which is going to fall onto the pilots. the faa is going to be looking at this because if that port

authority had made the -- had reported the conditions improperly to the air traffic controllers and those air traffic controllers said it's safe to fly, there's going to be an incredible investigation and this is not the way to run an airport. >> how common is something like this, a plane lands, it's snowing. we know it's icy. it lands at 11:05 a.m. how common is it that they obviously misjudged the conditions on the runway? >> it's not very common at all. there's a lot of technology involved. there's rolling friction and static friction. the rolling friction which is what you get when you land an airplane those tires are rolling, there's tests done continuously on that airport to tell you whether or not the rolling friction is going to be sufficient to keep that airplane on the runway. so i really suspect that something went awry with the way that that was reported. >> sometimes we're told that those runways can freeze very,

very quickly, that it looks okay but then a few minutes later, it's frozen. is that right? >> yes it is. they're using a chemical on the runways now called urea because you can't use salt or gravel for obvious reasons. this is something that's unpredictable because it does a great job of anti-icing and deicing the runway. a really good job. however, it looks black. it looks like a black -- black ice, if you will. so once it gets to a certain level, once it does freeze, it happens extremely quickly. right when it gets to that freezing point of that runway, it happens very, very quickly. so that could also be one of the reasons that it may not have been reported properly as to the safety of landing there. >> understandably though, they have shut down all the runways at la guardia airport now. their erring on the side of caution. no planes taking off or landing

at least until 7:00 p.m. eastern later tonight. david, stay with us for a moment. i want to go back to miguel marquez over at la guardia airport. you're getting new pictures on what happened? >> reporter: yeah, we're getting a very clear picture of what the front of that plane looks like. it gives a sense of how fast that plane was going when it hit the berm. you can see the cockpit hanging over that berm over the bay. the nose cone of that plane is off, destroyed clearly. and the landing gear you can see literally the landing gear ripped from the bottom of the plane giving you a sense of just what a jolt passengers had as that plane came in for a landing. according to everybody that we've either heard from, seen reported or that you've talked to on your own show that plane hits the runway and then began to skid almost immediately without ever gaining traction. fish tailing basically out to the left. the wing at some point came off

and that front bit went over the embankment. we also understand that there was a fuel leak about a thousand gallons on f fuel that leaked from that left wing. all of the passengers in the other pictures that we see were escaping out the right side of that plane. officials tell us that 16 individuals were injured. light back and neck injuries. one person was injured badly enough to transport him to a hospital. but amazing, amazing that that much force and there weren't worse injuries. one pilot i did speak to that landed on the exact same runway 13 about ten 15 minutes before the delta flight did said when they hit the runway, it was slick, but he did not slip. he got traction and was able to bring the plane into control. he did say in conditions like this, the temperature dropping very fast the snow has been coming down heier and heavier

throughout the day that it could have become much more slick in just that short period of time. >> interesting. we're now told that 24 people have been injured out of the 131 on board this aircraft. 125 passengers, six crew members, pilots and flight attendants. david, that berm at the end of that runway and that little fence that clearly prevented this delta aircraft from going over and into the -- into the water there that surrounds la guardia airport, is that why they have those berms and fences to stop a huge aircraft like this? >> actually, what the berms are for is to prevent fuel from getting into the bay, but it also has a secondary purpose of preventing an aircraft from going off. it really is testament to the airport's designers because that is -- it's a dual purpose and that is what saved lives. it truly is. the engineers rarely get enough credit for the way that they design airports for safety such as this. clearly this is a case of saving

lives. >> we heard from the air traffic controller, the audio. i want you to explain what this means when we hear the air traffic controller saying airport is closed airport is closed we've got a 3-had. >> a 3-4 is that there's an aircraft on the runway that there's nothing that can be done about it. it's on the runway so you can't land on the runway. that's what they've got going there. i don't care that the -- 3-4 doesn't necessarily say dispatch anything yet. it's just a warning ahead of time. >> then the tower says please advise crash rescue la guardia airport is closed at this time. that's what they told all the aircraft hoping to land at la guardia. clearly they weren't going to land at la guardia. we're waiting for this port authority news conference. officials are about to brief us on what happened at la guardia

airport. we'll have coverage when we come back.

you total your brand port authority officials are holding a news conference now on this la guardia crash. let's listen. >> never made contact with the water. the aircraft was carrying 127 passengers and five crew members. happily, there are only minor injuries that have been reported. at this point, we believe two passengers have been transported to hospitals. that number may change. the emergency response the airport rescue and fire fighting was fantastic. four of our trucks responded. 14 airport rescue ft.s in total. port authority aviation staff at the airport had 50 people on the airfield. response was in minutes. the port authority police trained for this repeatedly

during the last three weeks. there were two drills here at la guardia for exactly this circumstance. last thing i'll report is that we expect to open up the other runway 422 at approximately 2:00 p.m. some flights have been diverted to newark and to other airports. as ron mentioned at the beginning of the conference the ntsb is on the way to la guardia. we will be cooperating with them closely as with delta. we're not going to speculate or comment on the causes of today's accident. with that, i'll turn it over to delta airlines. >> thank you, pat. this morning, upon landing, delta flight 1086 from atlanta exited runway 13. it was carrying 127 customers and five crew members. customers were deplaned safely and moved to the terminals on buses. they have subsequently been

reunited with their families and are in the midst of going back home or into the city. we are working cooperatively with the port authority, the ntsb and all officials during the course of this investigation. the safety of our passengers and our crews is delta's number one priority. i want to thank the extraordinary efforts of the port authority, arf, the papd for their quick response in this situation. i also want to express delta's sincere appreciation for our crews to help keep our passengers safe and get them to the terminals safely. thank you. >> we'll take a few questions. as i mentioned before, given the fact the ntsb is on the way, we're not going to comment on causes. >> what was the. [ inaudible question ] >> good question. shortly before the incident at approximately 11:05, two planes

landed and reported quote good braking action on the runways. this particular runway had been plowed shortly before the incident and pilots on other planes reported good braking action. yes? [ inaudible question ] >> i think the pilot did everything we could to slow the aircraft down. obviously the pilot and the co-pilot's good efforts were reflected in the fact that there were only minor injuries. yes? [ inaudible question ] >> yeah, i think what you're referring to is what's called e mass, an faa required area at the end of each runway here at la guardia which slows aircrafts down if they overshoot. as i mentioned, approximately 4,500 to 5,000 feet down the runway the plane veered to the left so it did not make contact with the emass.

yes? [ inaudible question ] >> sure. the port authority's responsibility for plowing and maintaining the runways in a clean operable condition. the faa decides which runways are used which approach planes and pilots will use and it's up to pilots to accept the designation of the faa. yes, sir? [ inaudible question ] >> okay. with respect to passengers the chutes as we understand did not deploy. the airport rescue and fire fighting decision of the port authority police was on scene as i mentioned. there were 14 firefighters on scene. you could see images of those arf staff members on the wings helping passengers deplane. they were bussed to a nermnal here at la guardia. fuel spill. there was a minor fuel spill.

the fuel for a time was leaking out at a rate of about a gallon a minute. the fuel -- the leak was stopped. the new york state department of environmental conservation is on scene. port authority arf airport rescue and fire fighting crews applied foam and the situation's under control. there was a significant presence by the firefighters of the city of new york and we thank them for their response. yes? [ inaudible question ] >> not -- minor injuries. yes. minor injuries. [ inaudible question ] >> it was level five. we were at level five staffing full staffing today and it was snow condition five. yes? [ inaudible question ] >> the plane did not make contact with the water. that was happily that was never

a risk today. i don't know. i'd be speculating. [ inaudible question ] >> pat, it was on a berm or embankment.

the decision to allow planes to land which runway is used and which approach is used is up to the literally minutes before and other pilots reported good braking action. last question, yes? [ inaudible question ] >> i'm not going to address any of those questions. i think those were appropriately directed to the ntsb once they have commenced and finished their investigation. thank you. >> thank you all. >> so there you get the latest information from the port authority which operates the major airports in the new york

northern new jersey area. you now says that delta had 127 passengers on board and five crew members and 132 people altogether. minor injuries. some individuals have been transported to hospitals. the fire department of new york has different people saying 24 injured and nonlife-threatening and three transported to hospitals after this delta md-88 skidded off the runway. fortunately stopped just before it would have crossed an embankment or that berm and gone through the fence into the waters that surround laguardia airport. our safety analyst was listening closely what we just heard from the port authority and the delta spokeswoman. what did you think, david? >> two things stood out to me. he said minutes prior to this there was good braking action and that was reported by the two pilots who had just landed just minutes before this. you had mentioned before wolf about how quickly conditions can change. yes, you do have good braking action until you don't and that

is what happened here. it looks like to me. one of the other things he mentioned was the e-mass area. it's important because over the last few years and what was supposed to be completed by the end of this year is the runway safeties of each runways was examined to make sure if overfly of the runway that the aircraft is safe toward the end of the runway. laguardia is one of the airports identified as not having enough land mass to increase that runway safety area therefore they installed the engineered materials emass which is what he was talking about there. thankfully the aircraft didn't end up in the emass area but that indicates the aircraft went off the runway frir to wayway prior to coming to the end of the runway and can cause injuries to the passengers because you're in a sideways motion instead of a direct forward motion when the aircraft comes to a stop. >> the ntsb the national transportation safety board, the faa, they are going to be investigating how this happened

what happened. it's going to take them a long time to figure it out though, right? >> yes. two things investigated -- this is the different roles of the innocent ntsb and the faa. ntsb will look at the proximate cause or the last thing that could have prevented the accident before it happened and that most likely fall on the pilot because the pilot is the one that makes the decision as to whether he wants to accept the conditions at the one erunway or not. the faa has nine responsibilities within those is one of did the proper procedure, procedure procedures followed in order to buy the airport and port authority whether they cleared the runway properly and if they did or didn't did they report those conditions back to the air traffic controllers or give to the pilots properly? so those are the two main focuses of the ntsb and faa at this time. >> can this plane be repaired? we see some significant structural damage to this md-88. >> i do not think it will be.

typically, aircraft that go through accidents like this there is a number of reasons not to repair the aircraft. number one, the parts that are on the aircraft are probably more aircraft than the aircraft itself to be parted out. number two, the insurability of the aircraft can be affected by the number of repairs on board the aircraft, at least in the united states. if it is repaired it would be likely to see that body or that particular serial number show up in a different country that has lesser standards than we might. >> david sushi, thank you very much. elsewhere in the united states weather-related in the state of kentucky a state not necessarily known for major winter storms but that is why we are calling it breaking news right now. get this. 21 inches of snow has stranded hundreds of cars and trucks on a major interstate interstate 65 south of louisville since 10:00

eastern time last night. fourteen hours now. how bad is it colonel? he is joining us on the phone. >> thank you for having me on here. as you can imagine, having people stranded on the roads is never a good day for anybody. we are actually taking care of two locations. one location you just identified i-65 both ten miles north and south of elizabethtown. we also have stranded motorists on i-24 that's in western kentucky just outside of paducah. so we have been -- we were called up earlier this morning and what we have been doing is taking stranded motorists to warm care facilities where they can get water or any kind of treatment they might need. we have already had a couple of cases of folks that needed insulin or may have been diabetic. as soon as we come upon them we are taking them to these comfort centers. >> we are showing our viewers the video of these cars and trucks other vehicles simply

stranded on the icy interstate on the roads there. do you have enough personnel, enough equipment to rescue these people? because, clearly, their engines no longer can operate. no more gasoline so the heat isn't working. >> most definitely. we have over 8,500 guardsmen on standby. we have activated the units that are in those areas in both western kentucky outside of paducah and, obviously in the e--town area to make sure they are the first to respond. we have a lot of other folks that are ready and willing to go down and help render aid. but right now that's what we are doing. >> do you have a count yet on how many people have been stranded? >> well, not yet. we do have -- we do know the numbers are flooding in from the emergency management area. managers from both paducah and the e-town areas but we don't have an exact count yet, wolf. >> give us a perspective.

how unusual is this in kentucky? >> this is a less than a month since our last weather event, winter-weather event. even though they normally pretreat our roads, last night, we had torrential rain. any assault put down would be washed away. last night, that rain froze. then we had anywhere between 8 to 12 inches of snow depending on what area you're in and even though we had plow teams out all night and throughout the commonwealth within two hours, the snow packed up again. compound that with some people who normally don't drive on those road conditions and you have one or two jackknifed trailer tractors and you have this kind of congestion. >> we are talking about 21 inches of snow in kentucky within a matter of only a few hours. that is pretty extraordinary when you think about it. >> most definitely. duckly luckily and fortunately the

folks we work with create us wonderful humvees to allow us to navigate those treacherous roads. >> do you think you'll get everybody rescued before it gets dark? >> that is our intentions. we are working with local authorities. state troopers have been out there since hour one, along with other folks that have rendered aid through, you know, volunteer services and people with jeeps and other kind of four-wheel drives. this has really been a community effort to help those that have been stranded. >> is there any message, any additional help from outside you need? >> right now just if you don't need to be on those roads, please don't. we are trying to take care of those that are already stranded. >> good luck to you. lieutenant colonel kirk hillbrick with the national guard and good luck to the men and women helping you, everyone who is involved in this rescue operation. it's a major rescue operation in kentucky right now. you see car after car and truck after truck simply stranded on those interstates.

what a story that is. that is it for me. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. in "the situation room" for our viewers in north america, "newsroom" starts right now with annika cabrera. this is cnn breaking news! >> hello, i'm annika cabrera. severe winter weather wreaking havoc across the eastern half of the country. talking snow ice, rain all causing two major travel nightmares right now. on the left side of your screen a delta jet skidding off the runway at laguardia airport and parts of the airport now closed until tonight. there on the right side of your screen you're seeing hundreds of drivers stranded on highways. this is in kentucky. i'll speak live with someone who has been trapped for more than 14 hours. first, to that delta airlines jet. md-88 skidded off the runway and harrowing end to