get your booster shots. top u.s. officials say all four vaccines are losing their steam against omicron variant and there will be breakthrough covid cases. and a policing expert and sergeant testified in kim potter trial. one thing he said he never had a police officer, accidentally drawing a gun. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. welcome, everyone. it is thursday, december 16th, and we begin this hour with breaking news in the united states. now powerful storm system terror in parts of the midwest and great plains 80 million people under wind alert. right now more than 400,000 customers across eight states as you can see on your map, are without power. there were more than 55 reports of hurricane-force winds across the central u.s. on wednesday, breaking the national record for the most in one day. some of the gusts top 100 miles per hour, 160 kilometers per hour. now, this system is also caused nearly 20 tornadoes. minnesota report
from new mexico to wisconsin, tornadoes, howling winds, you can hear it. even wildfires. folks, it s mid december. the central u.s. experienced the highest number of reports of hurricane-force wind in a single day ever. 55 reports across nine states. yeah, there were more than 350 reports of severe weather from the central plains to the upper midwest. 20 tornadoes were reported, including the first december twister on record minnesota. winds toppled tractor-trailers, ripped the roofs off homes. more than 450,000 customers and climbing this morning remain in the dark. across eight states, including iowa where wind gusts topped 70 miles per hour at the des moines airport. we were in the basement. my mom was heating up some left over ravioli when it happened. the power went out, so we had to run downstairs. it was really it was really fast. i was on my front porch and cleaning up some water that was coming in. and i looked across the street and there was a big glowing or
A record number of hurricane-force winds, parts of the u.s. blasted by another round of damaging storms. omicron, delta and the flu. the trio that has doctors facing a long winter. he s out, urban myers rocky tenure of the jacksonville jaguars ends after less than a year. it is thursday, december 16th. it s 5:00 a.m. in new york. thanks for getting an early start with us. i m christine romans. i m laura jarrett. welcome to our viewers in the united states and all around the world. we begin this morning with this wild weather, really historic weather blasting a broad swath of the u.s. heartland for the second time in a week.