born with a hunger to fly and a passion to build something better. and what an amazing time it's been, decade after decade of innovation, inspiration and wonder. so, we say thank you america for a century of trust, for the privilege of flying higher and higher, together. ♪ and a good day to you. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters in new york with continuing coverage of the east coast blizzard this hour. a fifth of the country's states from georgia to new york under states of emergency as the storm continues to pummel the east. this hour a new high, now 13 fatalities reported as a result of this storm. 200,000 residents and 13 states are without power with many of

them in new jersey and the carolinas. new york city itself a total travel ban is in effect with roads closed and aboveground train service suspended. according to flightaware.com more than 10,000 flights have been canceled from friday through sunday. when all is said and done here some areas could see as much as four feet of snow on the ground. and in some places the worst is not over as of yet. good day to you again i'm richard lui and new york city is where we start. a travel ban as i mentioned in effect and commuter rail and bus service also suspended does not stop people from venturing outside so far today. in central park is where adam reese is at. adam, we're waiting any minute now we expect the mayor of new york city to come to the microphones. we'll dip into him when he does tell us what's the latest. but you're there in central park where we saw a measure and this is much earlier of some 15 inches of snow so far. what are you seeing this hour? >> reporter: that's right, richard. and the mayor will tell you how serious this all is. it continues to come down just

as hard as it was this morning when we were here at 6:00 a.m. you see this driving, blinding snow. 15 inches so far by tomorrow afternoon when this blizzard warning is over we'll see at least two feet. as you mentioned earlier that travel ban here in new york city beginning at 2:30 is in place. no cars on the road unless they are emergency vehicles like the one that is stuck behind me. this ambulance was on its way to a woman across on the other side of the park who had slid into a tree on a sled. so they are trying to dig out here. they'll make their way over to her. as you mentioned that travel ban in addition to the cars off the road, trains and buses also at a standstill. laguardia and kennedy also shut down. the museums, the opera, all of that shut down today. but people have come here to central park to take advantage of what really has been all day a picturesque scene. we have two troopers who came

out. your name is stacstacy? >> yes. >> reporter: and? >> jeremy. >> reporter: let's face the camera. you said you're really enjoying it. it's beautiful. tell me a little of what you've experienced today. >> it hasn't been that bad. it's a little windy. if you walk right into the snow, not so much fun. but if you go at an angle, you're okay. we figured how often do you really get a chance to see the city like this. >> reporter: right. >> true new york experience. how often do you get to come play in the snow with your girlfriend? >> reporter: what did you see. we're walking around the park. there have been some sights we talked about people brave enough to be running. i saw a lot of runners today sledding, snow shoeing, skiing. >> i think we were talking about how we wish we had a sled. i mean, we don't have anything in our apartment to come sled on. it would be the perfect time. and we felt so bad for the ambulance over there. we tried to help them but they're really dug in over there. >> reporter: they're unfortunately on their way to a woman who unfortunately ran into a tree while she was sledding.

so you need to be very careful out here. richard -- you guys enjoy, stay warm. when you get home there will be a fire there, some hot chocolate, maybe some s'mores. enjoy. thank you for stopping. again, richard, it's getting dark here now. so i expect that people will start heading home. there were a lot of people that did take advantage of the storm here. we don't see this often this high about 15 inches so far. by the end of it you'll see about two feet, richard. >> not to mention the drifts that will result from this as the hours go forward. behind you there the ambulance now being helped by another emergency vehicle. where you're at here, adam, did you see how that ambulance did arrive from the fdny, what happened and did it get off the road? or is this actually what we're seeing here snow that is on the road that may have been too high? >> reporter: well, we're in central park. so he entered here on 67th street. and he was going to get here on the west drive. this is the loop, richard, that

goes around central park. and i watched him actually as he came in. and all the sudden he got stuck. he's digging himself -- the rear wheel is just spinning here. and unfortunately hopefully there's another ambulance that will tend to that woman who slid into a tree on a sled. but hopefully they'll get out of here any minute. they had shovels onboard the ambulance and they're working on getting that out. but, yeah, even sledding can be a dangerous sport. >> right. adam reese, 5:01 p.m. local time sunset and this is what we're seeing at sunset. an emergency vehicle now struggling and this is why they have asked all of the vehicles to get off the roads in new york city. adam, thank you so much. let's now go to washington, d.c. the mayor there, mayor murie bowser holding a press conference where her city has experienced almost record historic snow just within the last two days. >> -- exceeds the volunteers. so if you are able to help a neighbor, please do so.

if you need us to provide you with a couple of addresses, we like you to go to snow.dc.gov to do exactly that. as people get out and about, the need to shovel walks becomes even more important. so let me turn to director geldhart who will provide additional operation briefing. >> thank you, madame mayor. i am director of d.c. homeland security and emergency management agency and will cover now a little bit where we are in our fazes of operation. as everybody knows we started wednesday about noontime with our preparatory phases and pretreatment phases. we carried that all the way through to our emergency phase where we are now when we had the snow start to pick up and outpace ourselves -- or outpaced our ability to keep up with salt and chemical. we are going to continue that phase through this evening until the snow gets to a point where

we can keep up and get ahead of it and the snow ceases. that's when we'll move into the next phase of operations, which will be our post storm response. that post storm response as we have said to many people we're going to need to do a good assessment on that. right now with the wind blowing the way it is and the amount of snow that's coming down, that's a hard assessment for us to do to say how long, what is it going to take for us to clear everything on the roads. as it is right now in the different sections of the city we have different snow total amounts and it is as you can imagine very difficult to determine with the way that the wind is blowing exactly how much snow we have in certain areas. so we're going to be doing a real hard assessment once the storm ends. we're going to continue to plow through that assessment, but we're going to do a real hard assessment at that point and make some determinations in what it's going to take and how long it will take for us to clean up. we'll also start recovery phase at that point. as soon as we get through that assessment and we're going to continue to plow, we will start to do some of the picking up of

the snow and hauling of the snow as we do that. so you'll see the last two phases go in tandem. and then the recovery phase of course will go beyond our plowing phase. so that's what we've got coming up. i do want to reiterate what mayor bowser said earlier. you know, it did look like it was clearing up earlier today. and we did say we are still in our emergency phase. we ended up having periods of time where we were back up to two inches of snow falling per hour. just over the last two to two and a half hours. with the wind blowing like it is, we can't encourage residents enough, please, we're still in that emergent phase. we're still in the middle of the storm. we really need folks to stay off the streets. the other thing we want to make sure we cover, we have our emergency services that are going out there. and as we're going through this emergent phase we have managed to maintain very good response times. we've been able to respond to those calls for service almost right at the same levels when we

don't have snow. so we've been very successful in doing that. however, we want to make sure the residents understand that we're still in this phase. to that end i think chief might like to talk about how we want to watch for how we're doing with our ambulances, chief. >> so what we're asking is for citizens to recognize that we only have a limited number of ambulances to transport. and we would ask that if you have a lower key type emergency that if you can wait to make the call so that we can make sure we're available for the high er key type calls. we would appreciate that. thank you. >> okay. also during this time as you know we have large snow banks on the sides of the roads, many other jurisdictions are doing this and we ask residents to do here as well, as you're shoveling out and doing that cleaning up around the front of your homes to give us a hand and clean up around the fire hydrants out there as well. if you are out there and you are

shoveling and when you start to shovel and clean that up that will be very helpful as well. that's all that i have. take some questions. that's probably gotten the most snow. >> is there idea when the trains and buses will start -- resume operations? >> do you want to take that? >> sure. sam, we're going to be making assessments -- >> it has been a difficult two days here in washington, d.c. as it has been for many cities on the east coast and mid-atlantic area. right now we're getting an update from muriel bowser, the washington, d.c. mayor, and they are wanting people to stay off the roads. we had reports earlier today right next door very close by to washington, d.c. of over 1,000

crashes in virginia state. why? because of what you see here in front of the white house. and the blizzard warnings continue this hour according to the national weather service. it will go into -- it will remain in effect until 6:00 a.m. sunday. and that's what the officials are saying they are seeing yet more snow, more wind. let get to msnbc meteorologist bonnie snyder. bonnie, the item we need to watch although the sun has gone down, we are seeing more in the north. and then there's a concern about flooding. >> yes. absolutely, richard. i want to get this in though, i was just looking at some of the totals from my colleagues at the weather channel and now two feet of snow at john f. kennedy airport. incredible. in new york. so we have a little over 14 inches in washington, d.c., but by the time the snow accumulates tomorrow we're likely to see 21 inches. so we're still getting these nirms, bear with me because it's still snowing in many places so they keep changing. you can see the storm continues to pummel areas into the northeast. you mentioned the blizzard warnings. let's take a look at where they

extend now. most of these go until tomorrow morning. and it's interesting to note that even though it hasn't officially been a blizzard in many areas with three hours consecutive of strong winds, we do have one exception, nantucket, three hours there today the winds were strong enough to call it a blizzard. an interesting storm as we continue to coffer it. 30 million people still under a blizzard warning. and we'll be monitoring that through sunday morning. the winds will continue to gust very high even for new york we're expecting about 50-mile-per-hour winds tonight. and that's why this storm is not over yet. on the latest radar picture as we go through the past few hours taking us to now you can see the bands of heavy snow wrapping around the low. some breaks in the action but not much. people have been asking me when can i get out and shovel. i would wait because it's still very dangerous out there. south shore of long island getting hard hit now with strong winds, as well as cape cod. i mentioned nantucket, martha's vineyard. some really heavy snow piling through there as well as province town moving into the boston area. now you're starting to get into

those stronger snow bands in boston, in plymouth and north towards manchester. this storm ramping up. let's time it out and take you all the way from tonight into the overnight period. finally the low pulls away, but the problem is is on the backside of the low you get that cold air wrapping in. and with all the abundant moisture we're still seeing bands of heavy snow, even at midnight across suffolk county and well into eastern massachusetts. and even into maryland. so the storm kind of gives you a lull but then it comes back again. now, eventually by 7:00 a.m. the storm is far enough to the east that that's when the blizzard warning will subside. but the danger will not. and part of the reason of course is that we are still looking at not only the potential for more snow in some areas and very strong winds, but we're also looking as well as you mention the risk for flooding. you're going to see that not so much inland into philadelphia, but as we can look towards the coastline, that's where we're likely to see the flooding. so all the way up into the northeast. so for new york city the total snow we're forecasting is up to

30 inches in spots. interesting with two feet already at jfk, three inches just in the past hour, richard. imagine that. three-inch per hour rate of snowfall. you can't see anything at that point. >> that would put us certainly in the top five as we look at the history of snowstorms here in new york city. i guess the one thing we can smile about or feel better about the hurricane force wind warnings from the national weather service now at least as i was just checking as you were speaking no longer on the website. those were up earlier today. so one reason to say that maybe we've seen the worst so far. meteorologist bonnie snyder, thank you so much. >> sure. >> you know the biggest concern bonnie was alluding to here, the jersey shore, flooding could be made worse by strong winds and high tides. joining me from point pleasant is rehema ellis. the national weather service as i was just mentioning they're saying we could still see waves as high as three stories. >> reporter: wow. i hope i'm not standing here

when that happens, richard. >> i'm with you. >> reporter: we've seen some fierce winds today. the wind has actually abated a little bit. this has been the best i've felt all day and i've been standing out here and moving out and about in the community. the roughest part of all of this is that as the wind is coming off of the atlantic ocean and we've got these great white caps out here, that wind is also blowing a lot of sand. and that's got a lot of people concerned about beach erosion. and with this wind pushing the water into the neighborhoods and streets. you know there was a lot of talk about atlantic city and some other areas where people woke up this morning and they had a lot of water in their homes. that's exactly where they did not want it. now the question becomes of how long is all this going to last. we had an opportunity to talk with the governor earlier today. listen to what he had to say. earlier you declared a state of emergency thinking you would get

about two feet of snow. do you think that state of emergency will be lifted tonight or tomorrow? >> probably some time tomorrow would be my guess. i want to make sure that the plows have enough time to really clear our streets so that by monday when we get ready for the morpg rush that everything is fine. >> reporter: fine, but what they will be doing some people probably will find themselves still digging out from the snow. the governor said that the expectation is that along the coast we might have snow amounts in the area of 8 to 12 inches, but inland it could be something like two feet of snow. and that takes a little while in order to clean your sidewalks and get everything together. but tonight is another concern. a full moon, with that will bring more high tide. and with that comes the possibility of even more fierce winds and the possibility of continued coastal flooding, richard. >> yeah, rehema, we're showing some of those pictures close to where you're at where we were seeing inland flooding up to

about a quarter mile or more. and you're about to see a high tide in about two, two and a half hours. so something very major could be happening there. as you look behind you, how has the wave action and where the water has been changed in the last couple of hours? >> reporter: well, what i have to tell you is this morning these waves were really crashing very close to the building where we are now. this building that was rebuilt following sandy, hurricane sandy in 2012, it's now up to hurricane code. so we feel pretty confident that this is going to stand. the waves are not nearly as close to the building as they were earlier today. as i say, it seems to have abated a little bit, the tide has gone out. but you make an excellent point, richard. high tide is expected again in a couple of hours. so we may not be able to see it as well later on because it will be so dark. we will have a full moon, but we've got some heavy, heavy

cloud cover all day today. so we may not be able to see that full moon or see these tides as they rise. >> uh-huh. >> reporter: what we might see is the impact it has on the city's streets if this water floods out into the community, richard. >> all right. rehema, well, if this morning is any indication of what you were standing out there in the wind we hope it doesn't get as bad as it was about eight, nine hours ago. rehema ellis, thank you so much in point pleasant, new jersey. we're awaiting comments from new york city mayor de blasio coming to the microphones in the next couple of minutes. as we speak, a travel ban in effect in the city on the streets. this is an example of what's happening even an emergency vehicle needing emergency help. a live look at a stuck ambulance in central park. i have asthma... ...one of many pieces in my life. so when my asthma symptoms kept coming back on my long-term control medicine, i talked to my doctor and found a missing piece in my asthma treatment. once-daily breo prevents asthma symptoms.

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we continue our breaking coverage of blizzard of 2016. and we're just learning as we go

to dylan dreyer who is in our blue mobile, that means you can broadcast as you're driving, but, dylan, before i get to you directly i want to share with you we're learning here at msnbc that uber has suspended service in new jersey and new york. and as you know, the number of uber drivers just in new york city itself is some 30,000 to 35,000. that is more than there are yellow taxis. so a lot of folks now will not be able to get around as the streets have been cleared. dylan, what are you seeing? are you seeing a lot of cars out there yellow cab drivers or otherwise? >> hey, richard. you know, we've seen a few cars. you know, every once in a while a minivan goes by and you wonder if they're some essential vehicle and probably not and someone just taking their chances. we've seen a couple of taxis. one was stuck and actually a group of people was pushing the taxi out of one of the turns he was trying to go through. so we really haven't seen many vehicles on the roads.

been many more pedestrians. you know, it's always a big walking city to begin with, but on a day like today it's very surreal to see more pedestrians. i don't know if you can see this guy right off the front. he's got some skis on too. so we've seen snowboarders on the street. we've seen skiers. we've seen cross country skiers. we've seen lots of pedestrians. we've seen people trying to push baby carriages through the snow. i think everyone's just really reveling in what's all going on right now. it's a very surreal thing in new york city to not see many cars on the roads. and everyone is just sort of taking it all in. you know what could be ending up as a historic storm for this city for sure, the snow still coming down very hard. and everyone's out and about just trying to enjoy it. we're about to drive through times square. you can see it straight ahead of us -- or maybe you can't because visibility is so low, but there are a lot of people walking in the streets because the sidewalks aren't really that passable right now, richard. >> dylan, we had a report from adam reese in central park as

one woman was hurt she was reck creating shall we say and an ambulance tried to get her and then got stuck. for you there and what you've seen so far in new york city, have you seen any lines? i was out on the streets about three hours ago right before they had the curfew, if you will, and there were people lining up to go to a supermarket. i counted maybe 30 or 40 people because they're all trying to get food. are restaurants open? do you see people lining up at those restaurants or places, or supermarkets or minimarts? >> you know, nobody looks like they're in a state of, you know, despair trying to get food or anything. because after all this is new york city. we're driving by a restaurant right now. they seem to have people inside. they're open. the bodega seem to be open. the dwayne reeds of new york city seem to be open. there's a souvenir shop. i think new york is still up and running, not everything is running, a friend of mine had

dinner reservations tonight and that restaurant closed. but it's new york city, i don't think people will starve because of this storm. there are plenty of things still open. i think people are more enjoying it than anything else. >> dylan dreyer has been in the blue mobile for what two days or so and been following the storm as it's moved north. check back with you a little later. thank you, dylan. we now want to get to washington, d.c. where dylan actually started the day today. some locations there already reporting nearly 30 inches on the ground. another person who's been out there on the ground and watching that snow accumulate is luke russert. the good thing at this hour, luke, is you don't have to turn away from the snow. i saw your report last hour and it was hitting right in the face and you had to turn the other way. i would do the same. >> reporter: yeah. the wind is died down a little bit. but it's actually still considerably stronger, richard, than it was when the day started. from the meteorologist we have on staff at nbc, this is kind of the last punch if you will --

>> luke, i apologize. we have to jump over to new york city's mayor, bill de blasio. we'll get back to you. you're fot going anywhere. let's go to bill de blasio with the latest on the ground here in new york city and what he has to say. >> -- in the rockaways and in other parts of queens and staten island. let me emphasize the sanitation department is doing an extraordinary job. i had an opportunity to talk to some of the sanitation workers as i drove around. and i thanked them on behalf of the people of this city for the great job they're doing. they got ahead of this storm. and they have stuck with it every step of the way. now, the fact is sanitation is dealing with a very tough situation. this moment sort of fighting an uphill battle because the precipitation keeps coming down. they keep plowing, but the rate of this snowstorm continues to

be intense between one and three inches per hour depending on where you are in the city. so recognize that this is a storm that's got a lot -- packing a punch and continuing very forcefully and will do so into the evening. that just emphasizes how important it is to get out of the way of our sanitation workers and let them do their jobs. i'll say again travel ban is in effect. the nypd will enforce the travel ban. it's very important that people clear the roads so sanitation can do its work and get this city back on its feet over the next day or two. of course we need our roads clear for our first responders so they have the freedom to get to anyone who is in danger. nypd made clear by chief o'neil before, no one wants to have to arrest people, but nypd will take any measures necessary to

keep our roads clear in the middle of this emergency. you'll see some images that are starting to go out on social media of nypd enforcement actions. we want new yorkers to know that this is warning being given very clearly. if you want to avoid these enforcement actions, get off the streets now. it's also hard to realize because of what's happened with our mass transit it's all the more reason someone needs to get to where they need to go immediately of course now not only are msa buses no longer running but subways that have routes aboveground have thousand been suspended. underground subways continue, the state and mta made the decision we're very happy about that decision to keep the underground subway operations going. so there is a way to get around in much of the city. but, again, the smartest thing

to do given that this is a storm that continues to grow. it's getting colder. it's obviously getting dark. smart thing to do is to get away from any place that you're at work, at home from work, if you're out for any reason doing errands, get home, get home, get safe. national weather service has given us an update now that's quite striking. you know, we said earlier in the day that if we broke 20 inches, it was more than 20 inches of snow it would rank as one of the top five storms in terms of accumulation in the history of new york city since these records were first kept in 1869. the last exact reading i have is from 4:00 p.m. at central park. central park has always been the recognized location that is used to measure snowfall in the city. if you're going to have one location, that's been the go-to location over many, many decades. as of 4:00 p.m. in central park

19.3 inches. so that was well over an hour ago. at this point very likely that we've passed the 20-inch mark right there. but certainly in other parts of the city even more snowfall has occurred. the current scenario from the national weather service has us expecting 24 to 28 inches of snow. 24 to 28 inches before the storm is over, so this is a forecast that in the last 24 hours has jumped up several times. and now as high as 28 inches again from the point of view of this city we have to prepare for an even worse case scenario than that and be ready if it goes even farther. so, again, our sanitation crews out doing an extraordinary job. they're working very long shi s shifts, working very hard, plenty of salt, plenty of vehicles ready, very pleased in what i saw earlier in terms of the works of the parks

department to protect against coastal flooding that i mentioned. so far the indications on the kind of tidal levels we'll have, no more than three or four feet above tial levels which are manageable especially given the precautions put in place. again, our agencies will be ready to respond if we see anything happen that might cause a danger to people. want to emphasize how important it is for folks to help our first responders. one of the simplest things you can do if you have a fire hydrant in front of your house, when you're shoveling, keep that fire hydrant clear. the life you save could be your own or your families or your neighbor's. so please keep the fire hydrants clear. as chief o'neil indicate we have unfortunately already seen situations where people overextended themselves and in some cases with tragic results. please be aware of your own

limitations. if you're in good enough shape to be shoveling, great. if you're not in good enough shape, let someone else do it, another family member or some of folks who go around neighborhoods offering to help shovel. better to spend a few bucks for someone to shovel than to do something that might present a danger to yourself. again, any problems with heat and hot water we need to know about them. call 311 if your building management is not dealing with them. any situation where someone's life is in danger, please call 911 immediately so we can get there and help them. quickly in spanish, [ speaking spanish ] [ speaking spanish ] >> and that is midnight.

and that time range is going to be extended. i'll speak about that in a moment. [ speaking spanish ] before i bring up first deputy commissioner of the office of emergency management just emphasizing that our travel ban will continue into the early morning hours. we'll have an update before the evening is over with the exact time. but originally we have projected to at least midnight. we're going to continue that -- >> mayor bill de blasio of new york city. if we see 20 inches, it's going to be one of those top five storms in new york city history. and he's saying 24 to 28 inches.

again, pushing very close to the top of that top five. also saying that they've got over 300,000 tons of rock salt at the salt dome as it is called in the new york city area. that salt very important to melt the snow to keep the ice away. and right now temperatures will allow that salt to be effective. because if it gets below 15 degrees, that is when that 303,000 tons of rock salt loses its efficacy. 4,800 sanitation workers. and as we saw earlier some of them are working hard. some of those members from the fire department of new york city out there. and also getting stuck themselves. so it is a tough day right now for new york city. now about 30 minutes into the sunset there. now, the storm it has left behind some dangerous conditions in north carolina as well as the storm has moved north. roads there are covered in black ice, as i was alluding to

earlier. and there are power outages in many parts of the state. there joining us now on the phone dara demi communications director for wake county, north carolina. thanks for joining us. earlier today reporting earlier 100,000 people without power. do you have any understanding of where that stands as now the sun has set? >> that's right. earlier today across the state there was more than 100,000 people without power. now, here in wake county, which is where raleigh is, we have about 42,000 people without power. which is a pretty vast improvement when you consider that about 80,000 people at 10:00 this morning were without power. so duke energy crews are out and about doipg a great job trying to get the power lines that have snapped and fallen down into our roadways repaired and getting the lights back on in homes around our county. >> as you know so well here, dara, as the sun goes down, so does the temperatures. and then the concern about ice and black ice as it forms

overnight. what are you seeing right now on the roads there in your part of north carolina? >> absolutely. black ice is a big concern here for us in wake county. the problem that we've had is over the past 24 hours we have seen almost relentless sleet and freezing rain in our area combined with a little bit of snow. and we have not had temperatures that have gone above freezing. and we're not expected to until some time later tomorrow. so everything that's fallen has frozen and there's been no melting. so our roads are really like ice rinks out there, especially the bridges and overpasses. so we're urging people if they can stay at home to please do so. not only are the roads treacherous, but the ice has coated our trees and our power lines. and we are seeing many, many instances across wake county of downed tree limbs and also downed power lines, both of which can be very dangerous. we're urging all people in this area to stay home. >> so what you're saying is

there still could be yet more power outages because you're getting more sleet and snow which forms on those trees which forms on the leaves rngs forms on the power lines. we know if that happens the trees sometimes fall and they cause more power lines to be disconnected. how are your utilities being able to keep up with that? and is it too cold for as i was mentioning earlier, rock salt to work? because, again, if it gets below 15 degrees windchill, it's going to be tough. >> well, we are looking at temperatures in the low 20s tonlt. and that windchill will make it feel like it's in the teens. so the state department of transportation which in conjunction with local municipalities handle our roads here in wake county. that is something that's going to be a big issue for them overnight. you know, the utility crews from duke energy and others are out and about bringing in crews from other states trying as hard as they can to get to all the impacted areas as quickly as possible to get lights back on. >> dara, we will be with you

ased hours move by there in your state. we'll be watching it from here in new york city. and we hope for the best. all of your utility crews and repair crews that are out tonight and that electricity does get reconnected for many of the residents. thank you so much. we're going to go for a short break. when we come back we'll look at more yet the concerns over the next two or three hours on the coast, on the east, we will see high tide. high tides that will be exacerbated by a full moon, which means flooding. our cosmetics line was a hit. the orders were rushing in. i could feel our deadlines racing towards us. we didn't need a loan. we needed short-term funding fast. building 18 homes in 4 ½ months? that was a leap. but i knew i could rely on american express to help me buy those building materials. amex helped me buy the inventory i needed. our amex helped us fill the orders. just like that. another step on the journey. will you be ready when growth presents itself? realize your buying power at open.com

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there's concern tonight that there are cars that now have been on the roads stuck 24 hours from last night, yet another night they could be there on several freeways or turnpikes in the country. we saw kentucky where there were almost 35 miles worth of cars piled up overnight. this also happened in pennsylvania and the turnpike

there overnight. on the phone with me now is maria with the green bay, wisconsin catholic diocese who's been stuck on the pennsylvania turnpike since 10:00 p.m. last night. we hope, maria, you canet help at this moment. because you are still there now almost 20 hours later. >> we are. it's looking rather hopeful though. the car in front of us is actually being pushed out. and they're removing the cement median dividers so that we can actually go what would usually be going eastbound on the turnpike but they're going to turn it going westbound so we can go to the other side and hopefully get out of here pretty soon. it's looking pretty hopeful. >> you were headed to green bay, wisconsin, is that correct? >> yes, we headed to washington, d.c. for the annual march for life. a celebration of life and protest against abortion. and we have a group here from green bay diocese. we left on tuesday. and then marched for life in the name of jesus.

>> is it 150 kids that are stuck on the buses with you there? >> yep. we have three buses. >> how are things? the concern obviously from all the parents as well as you do you have enough food? how are you finding help when it comes to facilities? were there any concerns about health along the way because we're hitting again almost that 20th hour? >> absolutely. we actually have some donations from our parents. they brought a lot of the food themselves. so we have bathrooms on our buses and our buses are heated. so what we actually did is after a few hours of realizing we're going to be here for quite some time, our kids went out and started knocking on the doors of some of the cars that were surrounding our bus and gave them water and food and then actually welcomed them into our bus. so we met a lot of awesome people on the turnpike. >> good on you. and tell me about the amount of gas that your buses had. did you run out of gas over 20 hour sns have they kept on running to keep you warm? >> they have, but that's not actually been an issue at all. our bus drivers haven't been

worried about gas. but the gas has been brought to local cars that are surrounding the buses as well. so we've just been, you know, try to be charitable and try to, you know, live out our mission of marching for life and go on here in the name of jesus on the way to the march. >> so, mae radioya, did you run out of gas and then did get some gas, is that what your telling me? >> no, the bus didn't but local cars surrounding us did, yes. >> did you see any emergency vehicles over the last 20 hours helping individuals or groups that needed help? >> yeah. we actually have. the national guard just brought us all food. so we had a bunch of food and sandwiches and packages that they brought us. and then they've been distributing water and gas to the especially the people in the cars. so they've been really great as of late. >> have you heard from officials there that you'll be able to move out? i know you said you saw some cars being pushed out of the way which may mean your buses then can move. have you heard anything from

officials that say you and your group of three buses, 150 kids or so will be allowed to move forwa forward, help you in the next few hours, anything like that? >> they didn't give us a timeframe just because of the snow. but the snow has since let up a lot and it actually looks like it's stopping a good amount. so hopefully we'll get out pretty soon. >> i'm with you, maria schuette, thank you so much stuck on the pennsylvania turnpike now for as i was saying at the beginning of this segment 20 hours. thoughts with you and get home safely please. thank you. >> thank you so much. god bless you. >> you as well. people have been posting incredible photos about incidents like that about what maria's been going through and more. msnbc's cal perry is joining us with what viewers have been posting. >> yeah, a lot of authorities and officials and police departments are putting information out on social media now. we're hearing from the new york city mayor. he wants everyone to know that

the travel ban will extend past midnight into sunday morning. so something to be aware of. let me also show you what the fire department of new york, the fdny put out, if you have 15 minutes now before you go home, before you go inside, try to clear the snow away from your fire hydrant. that will potentially save lives. same goes for d.c., same goes for philadelphia. and this just in from the nypd. they're setting up checkpoints around manhattan. so it's probably not worth the risk. they are saying that they will arrest people and they've set up checkpoints to keep people from moving around the city as best they can. as you mentioned a lot of people putting out the best of the storm. this was put out by noaa a few hours ago. this shows you the power of this storm and why it is we're seeing continuing to see snowfall across the new york city area, across philadelphia. the storm is almost backing over the city again, which is why we're seeing this really high snow totals. a bit of bad news on the flight front, richard. we understand that over 4,000 flights were canceled yesterday. over 2,000 flights -- over 2,000

flights have already been canceled for tomorrow. a lot of them out of d.c. a lot of them out of new york as well. i will end with something a little positive. this is from the national zoo in washington, d.c. this is the panda -- this has broken the internet. this is your undisputed winner of the winter storm, wicrichard. this has been retweeted over 100,000 times. >> i'm with tintin the panda because in breaking news situation i often put my foot in my mouth as well. >> it's pandemonium. >> we can keep ongoing here. we can go all night. not asked to come back tomorrow. thank you so much, cal perry. we appreciate that. we'll of course continue our kovrmg of blizzard 2016 across the northeast as was mentioned by cal, flights grounded, roads a mess, updates on all of that straight ahead. across america, people... ...are taking charge of their type 2 diabetes... ...with non-insulin victoza®. for a while, i took a pill to lower my blood sugar. but it didn't get me to my goal.

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in the midst of all today's news about the blizzard of 2016, word that the race for the white house may be about to get more crowded. mayor michael bloomberg now considering launching a third-party bid for the white house. he reportedly would only run if either donald trump or ted cruz won the republican nomination, and bernie sanders was the democratic nominee. bloomberg is said to have set a march deadline to decide on whether to mount a campaign, and is willing to spend as much as $1 billion. donald trump, the new york billionaire, who is also a candidate, does not appear to be concerned about a possible challenge. take a listen. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters, okay? it's like incredible. >> joining us now on the phone, the host of "meet the press," chuck todd. when we saw the information

coming in this morning, like, wow, michael bloomberg considering this. you probably heard the rumblings way before we did. >> well, right, he's -- look, he wants to be president. he has been looking for a way to run for president for almost a decade now. but he's not been comfortable in either political party. he's always been intrigued by the idea of a third party, but he's also not a don quixote type. he will only do it if he thinks he can win. which is why he's not doing this if clinton's going to be the nominee, period. he's not doing this if jeb bush or marco rubio would be the republican nominee. right now, he's throwing his name out there, because if sanders and trump and cruz look likes that's where it's headed, then he sees a viable path. this is the actual and maybe only path that an independent, a moderate independent like bloomberg could have and that's why he's looking at it and

thinking, well, maybe lightning will strike. >> he set that march deadline out there, so we're hearing. would that be too late? i mean, we look back to ross perot in a third-party candidacy, wasn't it like the third week of february that he started? >> well, this is the drop dead date, to be honest. and it is involving texas. getting to the ballot, there's two states in particular, very difficult very early in the process, that's texas and north carolina. and the reason they have to set an early march deadline is, you got to have a pretty sophisticated operation to get on the texas ballot. you only have a few weeks to get it done. and they've concluded, people that are advising bloomberg, that basically march 2nd is when you would need to begin this effort and be serious about it. he's said, okay, let's see where the race is on march 1st and he'll make the decision that way. >> you're quite the wonk here

when it comes to the numbers and polls, and has anything been polled -- he's done some polling evidently, but is there anything done by anybody else that shows that he is in contention, theoretically? >> not yet. there's been a couple of polls and right now he doesn't have the name i.d. to get more than 13 or 14%, but if he does this, here's all you need to know. 45 of the 50 states would be in play. if you had a serious three-way contest, my first presidential election i covered was in '92 and it was a real three-way race, and every state was in play for everybody except for about four or five. utah, vermont, hawaii -- and that's about it. every state's in play. there's a path to 34% for a democrat, a republican, or an independent in just about 45 of the 50 states. so that's what you would need to know. a candidacy like bloomberg's

coupled with sanders versus trump, in that, you would have truly one of the most unprecedented type of campaigns we've ever seen. >> so bloomberg as a former republican, now an independent, he's running in the scenario that has been described. who would he hurt more, the democrats or the republicans in this case? >> it really would depend on the state. in the south, he would hurt republicans. because he would take probably very moderate republican white voters, allowing the democratic nominee in that case to have a base of african american voters, and you could see bernie sanders being able to win places like mississippi and alabama, because of that. then you look at new york, illinois, or ohio, and he may hurt the democrat more and give them more opportunity for a republican or himself. the point is, the dynamics of this, you'll hear the cliche, it's three-dimensional chess. it really is that way. nothing becomes a straight line. there is no a to b in how to win

a state. because bloomberg would have to figure out how to tick off a lot of hispanic voters. i don't think he would do well with african american voters as much. but i think he would find moderate republican votes. so, it really is -- would depend on the state who he hurts more under that scenario. >> all that happening, "meet the press" tomorrow, who do you have on? >> well, i got all those players. clinton, sanders, trump. the three players that would determine michael bloomberg's fate. so it won't be all about bloomberg, but we have a lot to talk about, and can't think of three better guests right now. >> always great stuff. chuck todd, thanks so much. we're going to take a short break. when we come back at the top of the hour, the very latest out of new york city and the blizzard of 2016. we've got a lot ahead of us, including high tides that could

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most common side effect is nausea. being a non-smoker feels great. ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. >> very good saturday to you. i'm richard lui at msnbc headquarters covering the latest developments on the snowstorm. 16 fatalities have been confirmed as a result of the storm. that's up from the 13 we had at the last hour. now 16 fatalities associated with the blizzard of 2016. major cities have been brought to a standstill as public transportation in new york city, philadelphia, baltimore, and washington, d.c., just some of the places where it's been shut down. new york city mayor bill de blasio has warned, the nypd will arrest anyone who breaks the city wide travel ban. >> no one wants to have to arrest people, but the nypd will take any measures necessary to keep our roads clear. >>