Today's CNN 10 Transcript

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COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: What's up, sunshine? I'm Coy Wire. This is CNN 10, and here is something worth remembering today. You don't have to know everything. Just stay curious enough to keep learning something. Let's get smarter. Ten minutes, big world, let's rise up.

We begin in the Northeast. We're in early-season Nor'easter. Spent the weekend reminding everybody Mother Nature does not need an invitation. Powerful winds, soaking rain, coastal flooding, enormous waves battering parts of the region. At one point, more than 100,000 customers were without electricity.

And New York City saw flooded streets and subway stations again. Conditions are now improving as the storm weakens.

Here's your knowledge bomb. A Nor'easter isn't named for where the storm goes, it's named for where its strongest winds come from. These storms typically spin counterclockwise, bringing powerful winds from the Northeast along the coast.

As for New York, much of the city's drainage infrastructure is roughly a century old, built for a totally different-looking city and different climate. CNN's Gloria Pazmino takes us underground to see why a storm above the city can become a problem below it.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's become a common sight in New York City, stranded cars, waterfalls inside train stations, and pedestrians wading through flooded streets. The Big Apple was soaked by more than eight inches of rain in August, a record for the past five years.

Why is that happening?

LILSA F. GARCIA, COMMISSIONER: NYC ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION: Yes. It has been a bit of a crazy summer. We had to kind of activate our emergency flashflood plan almost like 30 percent more this summer than any other year. And what we believe is happening is it's climate change the intensity of the rainstorms.

PAZMINO: A massive amount of rain in a short amount of time, and America's largest city can barely keep up. The city sewer system is designed to handle up to 1.75 inches of rain per hour.

GARCIA: If you think about New York City's system, built over 100 years ago, we're seeing storms that are at two inches, two and a half inches, three inches, so it's really overwhelming the system. It's crazy.

PAZMINO: That means water is going up into the streets and down into the subways.

New York City's annual precipitation has increased about 20 percent since 1960, and as the planet warms, the atmosphere holds more moisture, fueling heavier, more frequent downpours.

Five years after the remnants of Hurricane Ida dropped a record amount of rain, flooding basements and killing more than a dozen people, some New Yorkers are still dealing with constant flooding.

NADIA FERRARO, QUEENS RESIDENT: I thought, oh, this is just a great city, you know, a concrete jungle. We don't have flooding here.

MICHAEL FERRARO, QUEENS RESIDENT: We've been trying to make sure we have everything we need off the floor, but also all the supplies to make sure we can barricade the doors.

PAZMINO: Since Ida, the city has invested billions in flood protection, upgraded sewers, expanded storm water systems, and improved emergency alerts. But officials say fully addressing the city's flood risk could take decades.

NICK NYHAN, FOUNDER, THE CITY SPONGE: You're doing good work.

PAZMINO: In a race against the clock, the city continues to upgrade storm water infrastructure and protections against coastal flooding.

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NEW YORK CITY, NY): New York, we're readying our coastlines.

PAZMINO: This $43 million investment will help oversight of more than 100 flood gates along South Street in lower Manhattan.

MAMDANI: When a major storm is on the way, flood gates will flip up into place, creating one continuous barrier that helps keep water out.

PAZMINO: And there's green infrastructure, thousands of rain gardens to collect storm water runoff, and massive underground tanks to capture millions of gallons of storm water and sewage during heavy rains.

GARCIA: This is helping to capture the waters.

PAZMINO: As the city tries to make progress, more extreme weather is likely on its way.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: All right, Atlanta, time to get bamboozled, because after nearly two years without them, giant pandas are back. Meet Ping Ping and Fu Shuang. The pair arrived from China aboard the -- and I promise this is really what they called it, the FedEx Panda Express.

The two six-year-olds traveled with plenty of bamboo and snacks, and they will spend about a month in quarantine before meeting the public at Zoo Atlanta.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the loan during his recent U.S. visit, calling giant pandas envoys of friendship. And Atlanta now becomes just one of three U.S. zoos with giant pandas. I'd keep going with the panda puns, but I'd hate to bury the lead. Here's our David Culver with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, it might have felt like a last-minute overnight operation, but the arrival of this giant panda pair was months in the making. Officially, these are envoys of friendship. That's the phrase both governments tend to use.

But neither side tends to highlight that these pandas are on loan. China owns them. Any cubs born here eventually go back.

And zoos pay about a million dollars a year. Obviously, part of this is part of the science. They help with conservation. And that's what some of the money goes towards. But there's also politics here. Pandas are one of the few things that China can actually insert into a tense relationship. And it tends to generate usually a warmer response.

I've seen folks on both sides of the Pacific stand in front of these creatures. And you look at their faces and they sense the unhurriedness. They sense the quiet, the stillness. And in a relationship that's often defined by competition and tension, perhaps that's what still tends to be relevant. That folks are drawn towards the tranquility, maybe even the peace. That's rarer these days than even giant pandas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WIRE: It's time for a "Did You Know?" Even though giant pandas eat a prolific amount of bamboo, they can only digest about 17 percent of it. That is because despite evolving to be herbivores, they've retained a short digestive track normally seen in carnivores.

This, combined with a fiber rich diet, means pandas are prodigious producers of excrement. An adult panda can go number two up to 100 times a day, producing dozens of pounds of waste. Talk about Kung Fu Panda.

And that's not their only bizarre bathroom habit. But get this, pandas are also known to urinate while doing a handstand. Yes, this is true.

Scientists say the unusual act is actually a technique to mark their territory. The higher the mark, the bigger the panda. Do not try this at home.

Paw-sitively and lightning stuff. And teachers, I am sorry for any pandemonium the potty talk have caused.

Next up, sports and politics collide. Ireland beat Israel in the UEFA Nations League on Sunday after Ireland's players spent hours debating whether they should play at all. The match had faced boycott calls in Ireland over Israel's military actions in Gaza. Ireland's players wore black armbands, which the federation said honored all lives lost in the conflict.

Ireland's reserve goalkeeper chose not to play at all, saying he believed participating would be wrong because of the killing of innocent people. He also stressed that his decision was not directed at Israeli people or the Jewish community. Israel's football association welcomed Ireland's decision to play, saying that football and politics should remain separate.

Ireland's federation says its players also intend to make a significant charitable contribution from their player earnings.

Tick, tick, tick, ten second trivia.

Why do some launch pads dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of water underneath a rocket during liftoff?

To make steam for extra thrust, to suppress sound, to wash away rocket fuel or to cool the astronaut?

If you said suppress the sound, you totally rocket. Rocket launches can create sound waves so powerful they can actually damage the rocket and launch pad.

So, massive water deluge systems absorb some of that acoustic energy. History happened yesterday morning in Texas. SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket system ever built, reached Earth's orbit for the first time.

Starship blasted off from Starbase, Texas, on its 14th test flight. One engine shut down during the climb, but the spacecraft still successfully reached orbit. And this mission is a big step up from the previous tests.

The rocket successfully deployed 26 operational Starlink satellites, which they say will improve network capacity and internet speeds for Starlink users all over the world.

SpaceX opted to cut this test flight short, bringing Starship home after about three hours rather than the planned 10-hour flight. Before a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, the ship caused a massive ball of fire and did not land as softly as it had during the last mission in July. But it appeared to remain at least partially intact atop the water.

Today's story, getting a 10 out of 10, is asking us to try something that in 2026 might feel absolutely bonkers. Put the phone down.

At Texas A&M University, Central Texas, Professor Drs. Christine Alvarez-Jones (ph) and Amber Dunay (ph) created a going analog initiative, inviting students to step away from screens and make something with their hands. One workshop, bookbinding. The old school art of putting together loose pages inside a cover.

For some students, disconnecting from screen time is exactly what they needed, realizing there's a difference between consuming something and creating something.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VICTORIA COMPTON, PSYCHOLOGY STUDENT, TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-CENTRAL TEXAS: I want to be able to show this off to my friends, to my family, that look, look what I can create without the influence of technology, but rather through my mind and my power of my brain.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Sometimes the best way to recharge yourself is to unplug the charger. That is our 10. But before I go, shout out to Dr. Ajarae, Stadium View High School in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Thank you for your kind email. And thank you for allowing CNN 10 to create a bridge between the classroom and the wider world. Rise up.

Also, this shout out goes to Miss Spell at the Vocational Transition Center in Lubbock, Texas. Student Sierra designed this really cool T-shirt, made one for her teddy too. And then she sent me one.

How cool is this? High five to 10. You guys really are some busy bees. Thank you for making our day. Shine on, sunshine. You're more powerful than you know.

I'm Coy Wire and we are CNN 10.

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