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Henri Makes Landfall In Rhode Island; U.S. Coast Guard Prepares For Rescues As Henry Makes Landfall; Rescue Efforts Are Underway After Severe Flash Floods In Tennessee; Source: Families Are Separated, Conditions Worsen At Kabul Airport; Soon: Biden Is To Speak On Worsening Situation In Afghanistan & Henri; The Pace Of Child Hospitalizations Are On The Rise Across The U.S. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired August 22, 2021 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:31]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Hello again, everyone.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield in Atlanta along with my colleague Chris Cuomo on Long Island. This is a special CNN live coverage of tropical storm Henri.

Henri is now hitting parts of the northeast after making landfall in Rhode Island less than two hours ago. Take a look at some of these images out of Newport, Rhode Island.

Henri is already dropping a staggering amount of rain in many parts. Winds are also beginning to whip up, threatening to down trees and power lines.

Our Chris Cuomo is on Long Island. What are you experiencing there?

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: So here we are in East Hampton on Long Island, Fred. Happy to be working for you today.

And the story here is going to be duration, all right. First, the headline is New York got lucky here. We were worried about another superstorm Sandy. The hurricane that was a category one that hit New Jersey and then bounced into New York. It was such a massive storm with so much flood surge that came along with a tidal surge from a moon tide.

So here we were, again, seeing the track of Henri coming in basically the same direction and a moon tide once again in the lunar cycle. So that's why there was so much concern.

But Henri, if it's going to be remembered for something, it will be remembered for being confusing. And it's been shifting its track, and as it came close, it bounced east. Missed us in any real way.

This morning it was pretty frisky out here at 5:00, 6:00 in the morning when we were checking things out. Since then it's been bands of rain.

Now, here's the problem. One, it hit Block Island, part of Rhode Island about ten nautical miles off the eastern tip of the southern shore of Long Island.

Montauk ten miles away is Block Island, ok. Small place, a thousand -- 2,500 residents maybe in peak season. What happened on that island? We don't know yet. Those reports will start coming out.

Then the storm tracked to the west. And now it is slowing down.

Now, what does that mean? The wet part of a storm -- one step backwards -- most dangerous part of a storm, northeast quadrant. You never want to be there. If that's where you're getting hit, you're going to get hit the hardest. It's the whip of the centrifugal force of the wind. Ok? It's like a turbo around there.

Now, the western part, better. Southern and western, wet. That's what we're dealing with now.

So July was a record rain month in this area of the country. What does that mean if you have 6, 12, 15 hours of steady rainfall? Now, this is pretty spitty. But if it gets heavier like it was earlier this morning, that will give you pockets of flooding. We're already seeing that up Island and towards Manhattan.

Remember from last night, New York City in Central Park got the most rain in a single hour it's had since the 1800s. Ok? Random, weird, outer band of this storm before it was even anywhere close. And that happened.

So will we see pockets of flooding? Will that mean that areas will get cut off? That there will be some power outages? Yes, yes, and yes. So we have to keep watching it.

Now the main story of this storm was that it made landfall in Newport, Rhode Island. You're seeing 50, 60 mile-an-hour winds. Gusts, enough to take down power lines and especially with trees being at full foliage.

Now it starts to move west in Connecticut. And you have Groton, Connecticut.

Brian Todd is there monitoring the situation. Been landfall for a while. What are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Chris, you mentioned it's confusing the storm and the way it's tracking. Right now here in Groton and New London across the Thames River from us, this is a crucial part of the storm, a crucial juncture in the storm.

We've already gotten hit with one band of it. We're expecting another band to come soon. The tides and the storm surges are critical here. High tide was a few hours ago this morning.

There's going to be another high tide in about eight hours from now. Storm surge about 3 to 5 feet expected here. And that's crucial. You can see come powerful storm surge behind me. This is the point where the Thames River intersects with Long Island Sound.

So you've got a lot of bodies of water around here in low-lying areas. I'm going to show you one of them over here in Groton, Connecticut over to my left, your right.

Photojournalist Jake Shire (ph) is going to pan over there. This neighborhood over here in Groton was ordered to be evacuated. Mandatory evacuation for Shore Avenue over there in Groton and it's adjacent neighborhood a little bit further inland.

[14:04:53]

TODD: Of course, they could not force people from their homes. You can't go around and pull people out, but they had police knocking on doors there, asking people to get to higher ground or get to another place further inland to get away from some of the storm surge because they did expect some flooding.

Did we dodge that bullet here? We're not sure because again we're expecting another band. There's some ominous clouds over in the distance over here to my right.

So again, a crucial juncture of this storm, and you mentioned downed power lines. I did talk to the police chief of New London just across the river. He said they've got some downed trees on houses. Our team is going to check that out as soon as I'm done with you here and see what the damage is over in New London.

A big part of that problem, Chris, is that this area was already saturated. New England, southern New England where we are had had a lot of rain in recent weeks anyway. The ground is saturated. That means any wind is going to kick up some vulnerable trees. Those trees are going to bring down power lines. That may be what we're dealing with in the coming hours. And you've got another high tide about eight hours -- about eight hours from now.

So again, we're not out of the woods here yet here in Connecticut. And we're going to be checking out some of the damage across the river, Chris.

CUOMO: Yes. Look, a very important aspect of this is, of course, the water table. You have saturated ground. It makes the trees and the root systems weak. It's easier for them to come down. You're going to have pooling of water.

And then for the power guys, the men and women who go out there to fix it as first responders, you've got to get the trees out of the way. So this gets complicated and it gets complicated quickly.

So let's go east of where we are to the eastern most point of Long Island which is Montauk. Miguel is there.

So Miguel, we are now starting to deal with what Tom Sater was explaining earlier from the weather center. This southern band that's bringing some wind, I would say it's gusting about 15, maybe 20 here. And bringing rain with it.

This could sustain for 6, 12 hours. It had been slightly more intense this morning where you are. How is it now?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We probably didn't see gusts over 30 or 35, but now it's come down substantially. And then we're seeing everything from sort of blue skies starting to open up to what we're seeing now which is more and more rain.

We're on the north end of the very end of Long Island, on the northern part of Montauk where they've had some of the worst weather because of the way that storm whips around. Let's have Steve (INAUDIBLE) go over toward the left here.

If we went straight out that way, this is the sound. If we went straight out that way, you would hit Connecticut or Rhode Island. And then if you come along the beach here, Steve, you can see how much debris has washed up on the beach.

We've been driving around this area for much of the morning. We didn't see a lot of damage anywhere. There's a lot of -- some branches down. A lot of leaves down.

But for the most part, no damage in this area. Certainly they dodged a massive concern that they had for about how bad this storm could be in this area.

And right now we're just getting one of those bands back through now with a little bit of rain, a little bit of wind. But not terrible.

One thing that really helped this area is that as the worst of the storm came in, it was low tide. It was moving toward low tide. And then by the time another tide comes in, it's going to be -- the storm is going to be far beyond here.

So it looks like the worst for this area is over. Chris?

CUOMO: All right. Miguel, thank you very much.

Now, about ten nautical miles offshore from where Miguel Marquez is, that's where Henri made landfall directly. That's Block Island. We're going to be hearing stories coming out of that. It's a hard place to get to.

I don't know that people were set up there to report. And you got to worry about them there. A thousand -- 2,500 in peak season. So they're cut off and we'll see what happens there. And obviously the mayor of Rhode Island has been on with us and is monitoring the situation.

Let's go to Tom Sater in the weather center. So Tom, once again you were spot on.

We're having now as the southern bands start to come down, I'll give you 15, 20 miles an hour. I think it's coming with, with some spitting rain. And the question is, how long, what does it do to already soaked land? And what will that create instead of local flooding? TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right.

Well, we're getting to a story now where it's the haves and the have- nots. The have-nots are wondering where is the storm? I mean it's not raining. We don't have a surge.

But then you have the haves that are going to have too much rain. And those are power outages. This is basically getting to be a story, Chris of individual communities.

To the north and northeast, it's going to be more of a wind maker. To the south and southwest, it's still a heavy rainmaker.

Now, the last couple images here on this radar, look this infrared satellite that is, you'll see a little eruption in south central Connecticut. The system is still breathing. We also now can add another 10,000 without power in Massachusetts.

So again, what we're finding here is there's a lot of people that haven't been through something like this. This is the first named storm to make landfall in Rhode Island in 30 years. I got to go back to Bob in 1991.

[14:09:57]

SATER: You had the mayor of East Hampton on with you, Chris. And it's good to hear things are better there. But also when you talk about the comparison to superstorm Sandy, we all remember those images in Battery Park and everything.

The difference is Henri here did make it up to a category one. It was weakened in the advisory at 7:00 a.m. this morning. Superstorm Sandy got up to a category 3. So it had much, much more energy to bring with it.

But it's about the wind field. The wind field with Henri here, outward tropical storm force winds, 125 miles. The radius with superstorm Sandy was 420, almost four times that. So a much broader pattern of possible destruction.

The rain is the big issue. The tropical storm warnings here are just that. All of these storm surge warnings have been discontinued. That's good news. What this does not show you is where the rain is. This is for surge and this is for wind. But the rain is the big concern.

Now, when you look at the flash flood watches in your darker green, embedded in that are flash flood warnings. There's a couple of areas here in Connecticut. That will be expanded today.

But also the light green in central New Jersey. That's flood warnings. That means rivers and streams are already at their banks, and they do look at the possibility of more widespread tributary flooding.

When you look at the rain totals here, and this is something here. This just came in to us just a moment ago. Haven't even been able to update it. Central Park has now exceeded 5 inches for two days. That is the wettest two-day period in Central Park since Irene ten years ago -- ten years ago. I even remember some terrible flooding in Vermont. So that is something to take note.

Urban flooding is much worse than rural flooding. I mean, west central Tennessee, west of Nashville, 17 inches yesterday. It's the greatest 24 hour rainfall for the state of Tennessee. 15 fatalities and 30 are missing.

Can you imagine with 7, 8, 9 inches already, now they have fallen -- on top of the last month. And then you toss in another 6 or 7 inches on top of that. The urban flooding in the cities where it funnels down through, of course, the streets and the avenues on concrete and asphalt could be much, much worse.

To the north and northeastern, the winds are still going to remain strong enough where we could see some more power outages. Very interesting though. All the rain is in that western flank.

And as I pointed out earlier, I just want to remind everyone, down to the south of this line here, you see where this rain is converging. It has started last night during the concert. And it's going to stay there all day long.

We've got a system to our south that's preventing it from moving any farther to the south. And it's enhancing the rain. So we've got problems here in that southern flank with heavy rainfall. You've got the core of the storm still with more rain, and the winds to go along with it.

It's going to be a long day. Just because this is, you know, weakening, it's not over with yet. Slow-moving storms are record breakers.

CUOMO: Look, I think it is a point well made. You and I have been doing this a long time. We've been doing it too long to ever hype these situations. But everything's got its own character aspect that you have to think about.

And I'll tell you these gusts that are 15 to 20 miles an hour in full foliage, you'll take out some old trees. And then you're going to take out power and then you're going to have people with localized power outages. You got to get the trees out of the way to get the power back. You're going to have all that heat and humidity on the backside.

That's where the elderly are vulnerable without air conditioning and not access to get them.

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CUOMO: So we're going to have to keep an eye on it.

SATER: Yes.

CUOMO: Last word to you, brother. SATER: Sustained winds are still at 50 and we're getting gusts over 50. That's still possible. That's more than enough.

CUOMO: Yes. And, you know, right here, right now, we're not feeling it. You know, you and I always have some fun when I'm standing in the wind. Because 220 pounds, sometimes I'm not moving around the way other correspondents are. But it doesn't mean the wind isn't here.

I'm feeling about 20 miles an hour, 25. We were looking at reports. We'll keep an eye on it.

Tom, thank you very much.

I'm going to take it back to Fred right now. Again, look, Tom's point is it gets really frustrating for people. You want things to end. And we did seem to get lucky here, but the story is not over.

WHITFIELD: That's right. You got to be patient.

Chris, thank you so much. Tom Sater, I mean, he's one of the best. I'm in total agreement. That's why he's one of my faves. All right.

All right. Joining me right now to talk further about the conditions, particularly in the northeast, U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thomas Allen, Jr. in Boston. You oversee all Coast Guard missions across eight states in the northeast from New Jersey to Maine.

So you've got quite the territory to keep a close watch on. So tell me right now, what is the situation? What are you seeing?

ADMIRAL THOMAS ALLEN, JR., U.S. COAST GUARD: Well, I think as you guys have been talking and describing, there was a lot of uncertainty with the storm. We watched it kind of move from Cape Cod all the way to New York City.

And when you look at our marine transportation system and how much our citizens rely on that, and the commerce it brings it made us really take time to prepare our ports, work with the pilots to bring in the vessels, work with the ferries, work with fishing vessels and recreational vessels.

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[14:14:57]

WHITFIELD: Oh I'm sorry. Go ahead.

ALLEN: What we saw as it came ashore was it's a little bit lighter than expected. But as you keep talking about, we still got a lot of rain, we got a lot of winds. And we're asking people to stay off the water until this thing clears.

Right. And while it is lighter than expected, I wonder, I mean, some people, you know, still want to, you know, test the conditions. Have you received any requests for rescues? ALLEN: So no, not yet. But what we're doing is as you guys talk about,

Block Island, that's one of our concerns. Certainly Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and all the ferries are starting to move a little bit this afternoon.

So right now people are being good. They're staying in their house. The commercial fishing vessel fleet came in yesterday to get prepared for this.

So we are sitting ready. We're bringing the assets in from Atlantic City so we're coming behind the storm. We're bringing assets in from Cape Cod and all of our ships and boats that were taking refuge during the heaviest winds. They're starting to move everywhere from New York all the way to Long Island Sound and soon up here to the north shore of south (ph) Boston.

WHITFIELD: Interesting. So even though the storm is still ongoing, you're seeing some of those ferries are already now in movement -- Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Block Island?

ALLEN: So Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket are not moving yet. But the ones in Long Island Sound and those (ph) from New York to Connecticut are doing that.

But we expect to hopefully get those ferries running -- they'll evaluating the weather, I would imagine that they will be up tomorrow, to tell you the truth. As they take prudent action that makes sure passengers are safe, we're ready to go.

WHITFIELD: Ok. All right. Obviously rescues we know U.S. Coast Guard is there and at the ready. But what are the other means in which you're ready to assist if and when that time comes because of this storm?

ALLEN: So I think as you guys talked about, we're worried about coastal flooding. So we brought in some special assets that are sitting on the west side of Connecticut that will be able to go in and help our partners with urban search and rescue so they will be able to do that.

We're taking runs into the port right now to evaluate the age (ph) navigation to make sure those container vessels and (INAUDIBLE) vessels and ferries can get in safely as they start to move again and bring in the vital supplies we need to function for 23 million people up here.

So those are some of the things we're doing and then we'll be ready to -- those islands that are out there provide the ability to help people there at those hospitals get to greater care they need from the mainland. So we'll be ready to respond however our partners and state agencies require.

WHITFIELD: Very good. The ports you just mentioned -- this is the first time in a very long time that they have been closed. When might they potentially reopen? ALLEN: So I think what we're going to start to see is this afternoon,

New York is already starting to move. Staten Ferry is going. As we start to work a little bit east from there, we're seeing more and more.

I think New Haven will be open tomorrow. The recreational ports down on Long Island Sound probably tomorrow. And I think as we get into Providence and New Port and -- we'll open those this evening. Boston is open. Portland, Portsmouth (ph) are open and continue to function normally right now.

WHITFIELD: All right. Steady as she goes as they say. Admiral, thank you so much. Thomas Allen Jr. Appreciate it.

ALLEN: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. All the best.

All right. Coming up, 15 people dead. More than 30 still missing after devastating flooding in Tennessee. The latest from Humphreys County, straight ahead.

[14:18:27]

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WHITFIELD: All right this breaking news out of Tennessee. At least 16 people are dead. 51 missing following catastrophic flash flooding in Humphreys County which is about 60 miles from Nashville.

The National Weather Service reports that 17 inches of rainfall took place yesterday in the City of McEwen. And that is expected to set a new one-day record for rainfall in that state.

The Tennessee National Guard deployed a Black Hawk helicopter to help with water rescues. And officials say at least five of the missing people are children. The county sheriff says he lost one of his closest friends.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS DAVIS, HUMPHREYS COUNTY SHERIFF: You know, they just went and got one of my best friends. Recovered him. When he was -- he drowned in this. And it's -- sitting here thinking about that. Yes, it's tough. But we're going to move forward.

Yes, it's the hard part. You know, the small towns, small community, we know each other. We love each other, you know. And I've always said one of our biggest assets in this county is when bad things happen, our people -- when rubber meets the road, our people are going to come out, and they're out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Maggie LaMere from our affiliate WZTV in Nashville filed this report yesterday on the ongoing rescue efforts. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAGGIE LAMERE, WZTV: The sound of helicopters and sirens surrounding homes in Waverly while first responders worked to get people out of their homes to safety. Humphreys county sheriff Chris Davis says he woke up this morning to a thunderstorm and that's when things took a turn.

DAVIS: It hit hard and it hit fast. It's notorious for Waverly, this area, not just Waverly but the whole county has been impacted.

LAMERE: Rushing water -- cars and trees and homes destroyed. It's just a sliver of the day people in Waverly had. For Chris Rawlings, today started when he heard people screaming outside.

CHRIS RAWLINGS, WAVERLY RESIDENT: I just stepped on the last step. I stepped into maybe two feet of water. And I was just -- I didn't know -- I was like somehow I knew God would get us through this.

LAMERE: Rawlings has seen firsthand what it's like for his neighbors to lose everything in a day.

RAWLINGS: I saw some people -- there were some people here. They couldn't sit in the lower level no more and some helicopters were lifting them out. Some helicopters were lifting them out. And they went -- there's a church out here, Compassion churches and some other ones up there. They're letting people go to those churches.

[14:24:54]

LAMERE: As people in Waverly seek a dry place to spend Saturday evening, Sheriff Davis says more than 20 agencies helped with what the National Weather Service called a very dire situation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Maggie LaMere, from our affiliate in Nashville. Thanks so much for that report.

All right. So FEMA is closely monitoring the situation in both Tennessee and of course, along the East Coast with tropical storm Henri.

Joining me right now, Deanne Criswell the administrator for FEMA. Deanne, so good to see you.

So Let's start with this deadly situation in Tennessee. What are the main concerns? And what is being deployed to help?

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: Thank you, Fredricka.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families that have been impacted by these devastating floods in Tennessee right now. I did talk with the state director earlier this morning. I know that they are out in the communities assessing. And we are in close communication with them. If they need additional federal assistance, we're prepared to help.

WHITFIELD: And what kind of assistance, are you anticipating they would need?

CRISWELL: You know, I think they need to get through where they're assessing the damages and the impacts right now. And then we can provide assistance based on their needs.

WHITFIELD: Ok. So now let's talk about Henri. It continues to be a threat, even though we're hearing from our meteorologist right now. It doesn't seem to have hit the northeast as hard as at first anticipated. But what are you preparing for?

CRISWELL: You know, I don't want people to let their guard down just yet. While the eye of the storm didn't hit Connecticut, the bands of the rain and the wind are still going from New York to Massachusetts.

We're going to continue to see rain, maybe even into Vermont and New Hampshire. There still is some threat from flash flooding in an area that's been saturated over the last few weeks from tropical storm Fred. People still need to stay vigilant.

WHITFIELD: Right. The threats don't always come on the front end. But oftentimes, some of these problems come as the storm -- you know, the back end of the storm hits the coastline, and even when it's well inland.

So what are you asking people to do? Because especially when the eye of the storm, they're starting to see some sun, and they're thinking oh, it's ok. Let me go outside. What are you asking people to do?

CRISWELL: People still need to stay cautious. You know, one of the things I'm concerned about, again, is the tree stability where we've had this massive amount of rain over the last few weeks and more rain coming.

It means they're really unstable. People need to be aware of their surroundings. They need to watch where the flooded roadways are. Don't drive in them. Don't walk in them. That water can be moving faster than they think. People need to stay aware, keep themselves out of harm's way.

WHITFIELD: Thank you so much. Deanne Criswell, appreciate that.

CRISWELL: Thank you for having me.

WHITFIELD: All right. Let me bring in now Steve Smith. He's a program director and storm spotter, WZYP. Steve, tell us the situation in Tennessee.

Was this an issue of flash flooding that has caused such havoc from, you know, long periods of rain, but to have the death toll thus far and counting, I mean, it's extraordinary. Were people caught by surprise?

STEVE SMITH, STORM SPOTTER: Most definitely, yes. I woke up yesterday morning. We knew there was a flash flood watch in the (INAUDIBLE) area. So I woke up and saw a lot of storms in the area. They were training. You know, storms moving over the same area.

And when I got there, I expected to see normal flooding situations. You know, homes with some water in them. Roads covered by water. Things like that. The water had mostly receded at that point. But what I wasn't expecting was just the damage that you saw.

I mean, it looked more like a hurricane or tornado had gone through the area with the damage. So many cars flipped over. Just the power of the water when it came through Trace Creek through that area.

WHITFIELD: It sure does. I'm looking at the images right now, and to see some of those structures toppled and moved and heavy things like vehicles, like this shot right here that looked like it's now in a ditch. And we're looking at this red car, a blue car. I mean, they seem mangled and have been pushed together.

So you also talked to a woman who survived the storm near McEwen. What did she say?

SMITH: Yes. She's the first person I came across. And she was in her home. It was early in the morning. It started raining in the middle of the night. Probably about 6:30 water got into the house. And then the house actually started to float as she described it.

Across the street from her is a logging facility. And there was a huge trailer. You've seen the images of that. The trailer kind of pushed her house up against a tree I believe and kind of locked it into place where she was able to, you know, stop floating at least. Got to the roof and then eventually the water came down.

But I talked to her. Her son was there, you know. Her cars -- not only are people's homes destroyed, but their vehicles. You know, they were parked outside. They're also gone as well.

[14:29:50]

SMITH: She was about to sell one of them and just had it cleaned up, she's told. And that's a story now as well. Just sad. You know? She had no flood insurance. She said flood insurance was not available at that location.

[14:30:04]

So, it's really tough to see how the damage.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: I mean, it really is remarkable looking at your images here, Steve, because, you know, people have a hard time envisioning what high water can do. And when you look at the remnants, the damage left behind, and if, indeed, it's exactly what we talked about, a flash flood, the water can come in, very high. Currents are churning.

So big things like vehicles can be pushed with such great force that when the water then recedes and leaves, and you see vehicles pushed on its side or up against other structures, yes, it has the -- it looks like a tornado came through, but this is demonstrative of how destructive and how forceful the water can be.

SMITH: It is powerful. And the video and images just do not do it justice until you see the raw power of water in person. There's one shot. You may have shown it.

There was a home moved off the foundation. I saw plenty of those. It got pushed into a convenience store and then an 18-wheeler got pushed into that home into the convenience store.

Just crazy scenarios like that in the things you see just people's personal items. I saw photographs. I saw record album, a statue of Jesus that was set up nicely on a bridge. I'm not sure if someone put that out there maybe and just washed up there just that way. But little things like that. People's lives just everywhere.

WHITFIELD: Steve, is there any way of knowing initially how high the water? I mean, I'm seeing -- there was one home we just saw, and it looked like there was damage even at the top of a window sill. So is it conceivable that this flash flood, the depth of the water was as high as the rooftop, one story?

SMITH: I was not there at that point, so I can't confirm.

WHITFIELD: OK.

SMITH: It looked like it got a few feet up. You can see some water marks one some homes about halfway up.

One interesting thing, too, is it was tough to get there. There's three ways to get from the town into Waverly, and all the routes had a bridge or road washed out. I came across one. There's an ambulance that kind of drove right into a washed out bridge.

I came across that spot as the crew was out there returning it. I was able to finally get through and get into Waverly. But the longest time, as far as media, I think I was it for just a bit. It was tough.

There's no cell service. When I was there, we were unable to get the information out until I left late last night.

WHITFIELD: Wow, look at that house. It was smushed. Nearly collapsed.

SMITH: Yeah.

WHITFIELD: Gosh, Steve, I've covered a lot of floods. Flash floods as well. I haven't seen the remnants of damage to this extent before.

So, it will be interesting to know. The kind of calculations that will be made post storm now to look at the damage which is what, you know, meteorologists and scientists will use to calculate what went through here, the depths of the water. What precipitated it and, my goodness, the toll has yet to be completely calculated.

But, Steve smith, thanks to you for giving us our first view of this damage in McEwen, and Waverly, Tennessee. Of course, we're wishing the best for the families, because they're still going through so much.

SMITH: Absolutely. Thank you for covering it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, conditions are worsening at the airport in Kabul as thousands are waiting desperately to escape. Much more on the escalating situation straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:38:01]

WHITFIELD: Conditions are worsening at the airport in Kabul. Entry gates are closed and families are being separated and sent to different countries. The U.S. evacuated 38,000 people. Thousands more remain desperate to get out of the country.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is in Nearby Doha, Qatar. What are you learning?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yeah, it is an extraordinary desperate scene at the airport. As their day ended today, the 18,500 remain roughly that figure, roughly 20,000 on the airport. Because as they ship people off, and the U.S. announced today that there were 8,000 people left in the last 24 hours. When they ship them off, more come on.

I understand the gates are mostly closed there. Also that through no fault of those officials processing, because of the chaos, families do get separated and often sent to other countries. Separate countries. It must be tragic and terrifying for them.

So, I think, a distressing situation on that base. Adding to this as well, I'm also learning from a source close to the situation that there are growing concerns and anger about possibly hundreds of Afghans that were employed by the U.S. embassy.

Now, remember when the U.S. embassy evacuated, there was a pretty symbolic series of helicopters ferrying the U.S. nationals out. Left behind, sadly, were local Afghans who are part of the very many in the capital city who cannot get to the airport. They are not being told to get to the airport as well.

My source I spoke to close to that situation said nearly all of them have special immigrant visas complete or pending. So, these are not people whose possibilities to get to the United States are in doubt, but they worked face to face with them.

[14:40:00]

The State Department didn't response to that, does say they have a special interest in trying to get those Afghans through and they're working tirelessly to improve access to the airport. But it is, I'm sure, heart wrenching for U.S. diplomats who have worked there to know that the Afghans, they sat next to worked face to face with possibly the hundreds among those still stuck in Kabul. The large question here is how much longer may this go on before we

get an indication out of that from President Joe Biden in the hours ahead? I'm being told we could be talking about four to five days. If there are 20,000 on that base and that number stays at that level, even at the extraordinary fast pace of 8,000 a day, that's probably two and a half days worth of flying.

But you have to remember, there will come a point when the U.S. military realizes it has to start to withdraw the presence at the airport. And I'm sure we'll be hoping that all the refugees are off the airport by then, all the Afghans are off the airport by then, so some sort of chaos or panic aren't sparked. Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh, I wonder if you're hearing anything about whether any special measures are being considered to try to get all of that staff you just talked to me about, Afghan personnel, who already had their special immigrant visas to try to retrieve them from wherever they are, their homes, et cetera, and find some other means in which to get them to the airport since the gates have been closed for the masses to get into the airport, but that perhaps there still are plans to get them on a plane and out?

WALSH: Yeah. I mean, you know, there's obviously some difficulties, I'm sure here with U.S. officials dealing with this, because they want everyone to know they're doing things but they can't say what they are without jeopardizing those things.

As far as we know at this stage, my colleague at the Pentagon got the phrase alternate routes about what is necessarily happening. I can tell you outside of that, which details shouldn't be shared, that the separate stories I have heard of U.S. veterans doing extraordinary things, going to extraordinary lengths to find that gap in the fence, to get their Afghan colleague to that gap to try and get a warning somehow inside the base to let those people on and that is happening day after day after day, and this sort of frantic desperate move to get those people with whom they served who they saw people die, who they went through horrifying times with into safety.

But it is awful, frankly, that we're at this point of desperation, and I think it's important also to be aware of how long this special immigrant visa program has been in effect considered by a federal judge to have been torturous and untenable in 2019. So much more could have been done and right now, it's the panic to do those things fast that could have been done before.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. I think we've all run out of superlatives. Bottom line, it's a real bad situation.

All right. Nick Paton Walsh, in Doha, thank you so much.

All right. All right. Up next, President Biden is expected to address this worsening situation in Kabul later on today. We're live from the White House, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:42]

WHITFIELD: All right. This afternoon, President Biden is set to speak to the nation on both the worsening situation in Afghanistan and Tropical Storm Henri.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at the White House for us -- Arlette.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Arlette, in just a little over an hour, President Biden is expected to give updates on Henri and also that unfolding situation in Afghanistan.

Now, the president met with his national security team this morning in the Situation Room. The White House released a photo a little while ago where you see the Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and also Secretary of State Tony Blinken as they updated the president on the latest on the evacuation efforts in Afghanistan as well as the security situation at the airport.

Now, earlier today, a White House official said that over the past day, there has been about 78 00 people evacuated from Afghanistan. Half of that group was flown out on U.S. military planes and the other half was flown out on coalition flights. Additionally, the Pentagon is mobilizing 18 commercial airliners to help transport these evacuees. These flights will be taking evacuees from the third party sites and bases where they were transported to as they are moving on along their journey.

Now, this all comes as there are still questions about how many Americans remain in Afghanistan. So, we will see if the president has any further update on that or further break down of who exactly has been evacuated from the country. And we will also see if the president will speak anymore to the counterterrorism operations against that group, terror group known as ISIS-K. Defense officials say they can developed alternative routes of transports people to the Kabul airport because of the possibility of threats at that airport.

In fact, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan today said the threats are real and acute and that it is of paramount priority to this administration to try to stop and disrupt any possible threats surrounding the airport. As the situation, the security situation there is constantly evolving.

Now, the White House has said that President Biden will speak virtually with G-7 leaders on Tuesday as there are questions from allies about the U.S. response and the drawdown from Afghanistan.

[14:50:04]

Now, in addition to Afghanistan, the president will be providing an update on the federal response to Tropical Storm Henri. The president over the past day authorized and approved emergency declarations for the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York. And FEMA has also been working. They deployed resources to the area to try to prepare the region for this oncoming storm. But in just a little over an hour, we'll hear directly from President Biden himself about where evacuation efforts stand in Afghanistan as well as what else the government might be doing in response to this approaching storm.

WHITFELD: All right. A lot to address. And we'll all be acutely attuned at 4:00 Eastern time. Thank you so much, Arlette Saenz. Appreciate it.

All right. Still ahead, COVID cases are surging across the country. The CDC says the rates of hospitalizations for children and young adults are at their highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. But the debate over masks in schools, that goes on.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:55:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. Civil rights leader, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and his wife Jacqueline have been hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. Reverend Jackson's group, Rainbow Push Coalition, says doctors are monitoring their conditions, but have not yet released any further information. The 79-year-old is at least partially vaccinated. Jackson received a dose to the Pfizer vaccine in January.

The clock is ticking for two Florida school districts which had ordered mask mandates to reverse their policies. If Broward and Alachua counties don't comply, according to the state leadership in Florida, they will lose their state funding.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This Tampa 11- year-old had a strange first week of middle school.

ANA GOMEZ, STUDENT IN HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS: And two classes I had five kids quarantined.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: That seems like a lot.

GOMEZ: It is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was it scary?

GOMEZ: No, but one of my friends said everyone around her was quarantined. I'm pretty sure she was scared.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Are you worried you might be quarantined?

GOMEZ: Maybe.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: At least 15 states have now mandated universal masking inside school buildings, following CDC guidelines for safer reopening amidst the delta surge.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: The masks are uncomfortable, but it's for safety.

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: If I wear my mask, that means I get to see my friends, I'll just wear a mask.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: CDC data showing the hospitalization rate for children is 33 percent higher than in January, the previous peak.

As cases have stacked up, school systems have faced widespread quarantines and rushed to make policy changes.

Between the first and 13th of August, Mississippi reported around 6,000 cases among students, 1,500 among staff. And that's just from the counties reporting data. Mississippi leaders reinstituted hybrid learning options. Despite the urgency of the numbers, pandemic politics remain.

In Florida, the state board of education vowed to punish two school boards that passed mandates. Other boards voted in mandates, too, defying Governor Ron DeSantis, who opposes universal masking rules.

NORMA MAIZ, PARENT: Just try to wrap the education as much as possible, if you look at your guidelines, he just said if everybody wears a mask, what I understand from it, there will be less quarantine, even if you have the same positive cases.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: More than 8,000 cases among students and staff have been reported in the Florida largest school districts. More than 29,000 people have quarantined so far in just those districts. And the largest district, Miami-Dade, hasn't started school yet.

President Biden said he'll step in, vowing legal action to protect school leaders battling DeSantis over masks.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not going to sit by as governors try to block and intimate educators protecting our children.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: But DeSantis is refusing to budge on school policy, seeming to relish a fight with the White House over schools.

DESANTIS: Think seriously about if the federal government can come in and overrule the rights of the parents with COVID and force masking of kindergartners and first graders, given how COVID is such a small risk relative to past flus and other respiratory viruses, will they be able to do that every single school year?

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Evan McMorris-Santoro, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Still ahead, stunning images from Tennessee where at least 16 people are dead, and more than 50 are missing after devastating flash flooding. We'll have more on the search and rescue, next.

We've got so much more, straight ahead in the NEWSROOM.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN HOST: And you are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Acosta, joining you live from New York City. One hour from now, President Biden will again be addressing the

nation. He'll provide an update on the mass evacuation in Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing response to Tropical Storm Henri. We'll bring you that live.

And right now, we're tracking Henri. The storm made land fall a short time ago. This is the scene in Newport. Wind gusts up to 70 miles per hour bashing the coasts and heavy rains hammering the Northeast. These conditions already resulting in 100,000 people without power across the region, and that number could go way up.