COY WIRE: Hello, everyone.
It's your boy, Coy, wishing you a wonderful Wednesday.
We're halfway through the week, so let's lock in
and keep aiming to be a little better
today than we were yesterday.
Time now for the best 10 minutes in news.
And we start today with what is being
called a triple threat of winter weather in the United States.
More than 40 million people from New Mexico to West Virginia
are under various forms of winter weather alerts.
Roads in many of these places were considered very dangerous.
And one person has already lost their life in a 10-car pileup
in Austin, Texas.
Since Monday, EMS crews in the Dallas Fort Worth area
have responded to at least 142 traffic accidents.
While the forecast shows there will be periods of reprieve
over the next two days, roads will likely
be dangerously slick throughout the storm,
as temperatures remain low.
Millions of people across the southern and central parts
of the nation are bracing for an ice storm, which
could pose a triple threat--
ice, sleet, and snow.
Officials have already closed schools and roads in
anticipation of the conditions.
In fact, driving in certain areas
is already so dangerous, in large part
because many cities and towns are just not equipped to handle
this kind of weather.
So please tell your family and friends to be careful.
Now, let's talk about a different type
of storm-- hurricanes.
Today, we're highlighting a community
that's built to withstand them.
Babcock Ranch in coastal Florida calls itself America's
first solar-powered town, and it never lost any power
during the devastating Hurricane Ian, which wreaked havoc
on communities all around it.
The town, which is located 12 miles inland from Fort Myers,
has streets that are specifically designed to funnel
floodwaters away from houses.
And landscaping-- well, that's designed
to guard against storm surge.
Many of us have either been directly impacted
or know somebody who's seen their home or business
destroyed by hurricanes, but could the way we design cities
be the answer?
CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir
traveled to Babcock Ranch, which is designed
to weather the weather.
BILL WEIR: When Hurricane Ian brought gusts over 150 miles
an hour, much of the power grid in its path
did not stand a chance.
Look at that.
And thanks to two feet of rain, even communities miles
from the storm surge could not escape life-altering floods.
But even as whitecaps ripped across the lake
in Anthony Grande's backyard, he was
chilled out in front of the TV.
ANTHONY GRANDE: You know, that's one
of the things I said to my wife when we
were sitting there watching TV.
I'm like, I don't have any fear right now.
BILL WEIR: Anthony and the 2,000 families around him
never lost power and did not flood, because they live
in Babcock Ranch, a community about 15 miles from Fort Myers,
which is 100% solar-powered.
ANTHONY GRANDE: I even held on to my generator,
not knowing what was really going to happen.
My wife was like, get rid of it.
I'm like, no, I'm not getting rid of it.
I'm not doing it.
That's how we go through the test, and this was the test.
BILL WEIR: This was a test.
ANTHONY GRANDE: This was a big test.
BILL WEIR: Now, you can let go of the generator.
ANTHONY GRANDE: I did. I gave it to a friend.
BILL WEIR: Jennifer Lang was nervous during the storm,
because with a PhD in civil engineering,
she helped design this place.
JENNIFER LANG: I literally got my construction drawings out,
and I looked at the wind load that my house was designed to.
And I looked at my finished floor elevation,
and I looked at the road elevation,
and I just mentally was crunching numbers.
Because I was like, this is going to be bad.
BILL WEIR: And it was.
But their interconnected lakes and protected wetlands
saved them from flooding, and the 700,000 solar panels
in their 150-megawatt array all held solid.
I always assume that solar panels
and hurricanes don't mix.
[LAUGHTER]
That it would turn them into projectiles.
But you didn't lose any, or--
JENNIFER LANG: No.
That's the beautiful thing about engineering, right?
Is that you understand the wind loads,
and you understand the stress and the strain,
and you design to that.
BILL WEIR: This place is the brainchild of Syd Kitson,
an NFL offensive lineman-turned-developer, who
bought a massive cattle ranch, sold most of it
to Florida as a nature preserve, and set
out to build the cleanest, most resilient town in America.
SYD KITSON: Here's the elementary school.
We have a field house over there,
which is now housing people.
There's the shelter.
I guess it's fitting that the mascot of Babcock High
are the trailblazers.
[LAUGHTER]
Everything's very well thought-out here.
BILL WEIR: I got to say, my heart still breaks.
I feel a little guilty leaving the damage,
but it's a relief to come to a place unscathed like that.
SYD KITSON: Yeah, we're feeling the guilt, too.
BILL WEIR: Oh, yeah? SYD KITSON: Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah.
We've certainly got it really good out here.
JENNIFER LANG: It's unfortunate to feel guilty about it.
I feel relieved that we're not adding to what first-responders
have to deal with, and that we're
able to help the community.
So we have people here making meals or taking
in laundry from sheriffs and firefighters
that are in from out of town.
Because we were resilient, because we were durable,
we're able to help in that way.
COY WIRE: 10-second trivia-- which
of these sports invented in 1965 is the official state
sport of Washington?
Tennis, squash, pickleball, or badminton?
Pickleball was created on Bainbridge Island, Washington,
by Joel Pritchard and some friends
as a backyard game for kids.
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10--
Aunt Nora, a passionate, prize-winning,
pickleball-playing prodigy giving us
some tips on how to dominate in the fastest-growing sport
in America, via her niece, CNN senior producer, Janelle Davis.
JANELLE DAVIS: Pickleball is the fastest-growing us sport
with about 5 million players.
This addicting game is a mashup of tennis,
ping-pong, and badminton.
I even got hooked, and I'm looking to take
my game to the next level.
Lucky for me, I have a national competitor in my family.
That's my Aunt Nora in the white skirt.
We go way back.
Clearly, she's going easy on me here, but at just under 5 feet,
she dominates on the court and has won countless trophies.
NORA DAVIS: I will play five days a week, anywhere
from two to five hours a day.
I am truly an addict.
JANELLE DAVIS: She lives in Washington State,
the birthplace of pickleball.
And here are her three tips to take
your game to the next level.
Number one, add spin to your dink.
OK, let's back up for the newbies watching.
This part of the court is the non-volley zone,
known as the kitchen.
Experienced players keep the ball low
and get in an offensive position near the kitchen,
giving your opponent less time to react.
[YELLING]
One of the best shots for this is
called the dink, a short, soft hit
into your opponent's kitchen.
Here's how it's done.
NORA DAVIS: You're going to get low,
and then you're going to come up and lift it like you would.
But instead of stopping right there,
you're going to roll your hand forward.
JANELLE DAVIS: That spin makes your shots lethal.
To practice, play a game starting near the kitchen,
hitting dinks back and forth.
Keep it low and slow.
You'll learn accuracy and patience.
NORA DAVIS: You need to have a lot of patience
with your dink shots.
Your opponent will make a mistake before you
do if you have patience.
JANELLE DAVIS: Number two, master the drop shot,
one of the hardest shots.
The drop is a soft hit from deep in the court that
drops into your opponent's kitchen,
allowing you to explode towards the net and go on the attack.
NORA DAVIS: To do the drop shot, you want to get low
and lift just to your chest.
JANELLE DAVIS: You'll need a loose grip, controlled swing,
and to get low.
Being short like my aunt helps, too.
Number three, time your split step.
That's the ready position.
You don't want to be moving as you hit the ball.
You want to be stabilized.
The best players can predict where the ball is going
and quickly position themselves for the return.
Now, you're ready to play.
COY WIRE: All right, today, it's officially Black History Month,
and February 1 is National Freedom Day,
honoring the signing of the 13th Amendment
by President Abraham Lincoln, which
abolished slavery in the US.
Today is also #yourwordWednesday.
Follow me, Coy Wire, on Insta, Snapchat, and TikTok,
and put your challenge words in the comment section of my most
recent post, and we'll choose one fun one
to work into tomorrow's show.
The last word was "pulchritudinous," meaning,
beautiful.
Shout-out to the pulchritudinous people
at James Madison Middle School in Roanoke, Virginia.
Thanks for subscribing and commenting
on our CNN 10 YouTube channel.
I'm Coy Wire.
This is CNN 10, and I'll see you tomorrow.
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