Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Ida Churns Inland with Devastating Force; U.S. Neutralizes ISIS-K Bomber Suspect Posing Imminent Threat; Hurricane Ida Could Leave Parts of Louisiana Uninhabitable. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired August 29, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:16]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: I'm Pamela Brown in Washington. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Welcome to our breaking news coverage.

Hurricane Ida slams into Louisiana just shy of category 5. But every bit the monster that was feared. With sustained winds at landfall of 150 miles an hour, Ida is officially tied for the strongest storm ever to hit the state, even stronger than Katrina, which, in a cruel irony, devastated the state 16 years ago today.

It's too early to assess Ida's huge swath of damage, but the wrecking power is obvious. Just look at this video right here. Flooding is widespread in Ida's path and some areas could see up to 20 inches of rain. More than a half million homes and businesses are without power, and that number is sure to climb. And officials say it could take weeks to restore power.

The levee system in New Orleans vastly upgraded after Katrina is holding so far. The state's governor says Hurricane Ida will be the levee's most severe test.

Let's go to the CNN Weather Center and meteorologist Tom Sater.

Tom, are you surprised this is still a category 4 storm hours after it made landfall?

TOM SATER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Very surprised really. We knew it was going to hit with a punch, and we knew because it was kind of small and compact in its size that it would really act as a cannonball and shoot inward. Just moments ago, however, we can now say it's weakened to a category 3. That's still amazing to me. To see the outline in a well-defined storm, well inland like this on an infrared satellite imagery, I can tell you really very rarely ever see this.

Maybe in parts of China with massive typhoons in the Western Pacific. But again in the U.S., a well-defined eye. So the winds are still quite strong. Currently it's about 30 miles just to the southwest of New Orleans, looking like it's making its way toward Baton Rouge but it may kind of just thread the needle here.

Now a new product from the National Hurricane Center a couple of years ago has come out with this extreme wind warning. It's extremely rare. You just don't see this. But this is when winds are in excess of 115 miles per hour. That's massive for a very large area. Now they've been able to reduce the coverage of this somewhat to the south but they've added it earlier today now to include parts of western New Orleans.

But, Pamela, this is amazing. Not only is it making its way well inland as we talked about last night together, that it most likely would slow down. And that's the last thing that anybody wants to see with anything tropical in nature because it's going to wring out more and more moisture. Take a look at the bright banding. Notice these little bright colors. So we're seeing this banding. This is what we also call with normal thunderstorm activity training, like the boxcars of a train. One boxcar after another, thunderstorms riding over the same location.

We saw the terrifying pictures in Waverly in west central Tennessee, Centerville as well. It's a different dynamic with that. The moisture content was high but it is now. Climate change is changing things. There was more moisture for these storms to work with. So they're squeezing out incredible amount of rainfall.

When you look in and you get a little bit closer, a little concerned about a few areas. Plaquemines Parish up into Saint Bernard Parish, this band is quite intense and it's going to continue for a while. And this is where we've seen in Plaquemines Parish the overtopping of a levee in the east bank. So therefore they're calling for -- they've already been evacuated anyway. But that's a big concern.

Then you've got this well-concentrated eyewall. Not only was it an eyewall where it's more intense in the center eyewall, we almost have what we look at as an outer eye band. So these areas that are seeing these outer eye band are getting hit with intense winds, continue for quite some time. They weaken, and then they get hit with a stronger band when it gets closer to the core.

So, again, what you're seeing now in red, these are flash flood warnings. Where you would expect to find them, where you have some of the banding, this is Escambia County in western Florida. South central coastal area of Mississippi, I believe Harrison County. And then on both sides of the eye. Again, when we always talk about that northeast quadrant where the winds are the strongest, where the rain is the heaviest, you don't look at it just as you would north and south.

Look in the direction it's moving. It's only moving about nine, 10 miles an hour. Yesterday at this time it was 16, so it has slowed up. But start to the southwest from around Grand Isle. Which by the way I'm interested to see what Grand Isle looks like tomorrow. I think they were closest to this eyewall and battered by some time. But picture that line from the southeast up into areas toward, let's say, Baton Rouge. That is that quadrant where the rain is the heaviest.

Therefore, we've got problems. And of course that includes parts of New Orleans sitting in that bowl as its pumping system go to work. It pumps a good inch in that first hour. We've already seen that. Then it drops down to about a half inch for several hours after that. And there was some pump problems earlier in sewage pumps earlier before the storm even moved in. This is estimated rainfall totals now. We're already seeing this six, 10 inches and the forecast calls for another 10 to 20 at least.

[19:05:06]

Tornado watch, this is in effect for some time. Let's check it out and see if we've it. We've had a few. Look for the bright red square. Nothing. Good news, but we will have more as the day goes on. Now, when it comes to the amount of rainfall, there's that purple. This is additional 10 to 20 inches of rain on top of what already has fallen. We can now add another 64,000 power outages. So just for the state of Louisiana, over 560,000.

But I want to end with this, Pamela. And this is interesting. Records go back to 1851. Of all the letters in the alphabet, of all the named storms that we have had, the worst, the strongest, the most powerful, the ones that provide the most destruction get retired. The names are never to be used again. There is not a letter in the alphabet that has more retired names than the letter I. Some of these obviously you'll know. Isabel, Irene, Irma, Ivan, Ike, Isador. We're going to -- most likely, there's no doubt, Ida is going to be on this storm.

They started naming the storms in 1953. The first official list. It was all men at the time. Sorry, ladies. You're always waiting. It was 1979 before they started adding the women's names to it as well. But a very interesting fact. We're going to add Ida to the list.

BROWN: We're adding Ida to the list on the 16th anniversary of Katrina. And you mentioned, Tom, that it slowed down to nine to 10 miles per hour. Explain to us why that is significant.

SATER: When a storm puts on the brakes, you have a longer duration of just this banding of course not only the winds, you've got a longer duration, so the winds will push, you know, the power poles. They'll push the trees. They'll start working with the roof soffits and some of the shingles. They're also not only with the winds in one direction for a long period of time, you have a longer surge. And again we're going to talk -- probably talk about this a little bit later on. We'll talk about the Mississippi having problems.

But we have a longer area of surge, so it allows that water to build hour after hour after hour. That's why we like to see these systems move in and get out. The problem with faster-moving storms is you have to add that forward speed with the maximum wind speed for destruction. So, again, slower storms, it doesn't really matter when you have a cat 4, which is down to a cat 3 now. But really it's about the rainfall.

And we saw this slow-moving system with Harvey a couple years ago. After it made landfall as a category 4 in Rockport, it was a rapid intensification, it pretty much surprised Rockport. Then it slowed to two to three miles per hour, and it did that for 18 to 20 hours, and we received 40, 50 inches. So this is a big concern. We need to get this in and out of here, or these rainfall totals will be extended to amounts that we just don't want to see.

BROWN: All of this just mind-blowing seeing these images. Tom Sater, thank you.

And let's go to CNN's Jason Carroll. He's in Houma, Louisiana, not far from where the storm made landfall. What are you seeing there, Jason?

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's not just what we're seeing, Pamela. It's what we're feeling. It's this incredible wind that's been barreling down on Houma for the past few hours and continues to do so. We're on the backside of Hurricane Ida, and we're expected to have these types of sustained winds for the next hour and a half, perhaps even two hours.

We're told at some point out here we'd experience winds topping 100 miles per hour. What we've had to do is move back toward a safer location next to a brick structure, and all around us what we've seen, Pamela, are these trees that you've seen here. All the trees around us, many of them have been uprooted. Power lines have been downed. We've received reports from emergency crews that they've received structural damage to buildings and homes out there.

But it's tough to see, if you look out there, you can see a number of the trees that have come down. But you can see what the visibility is like. The roads are too treacherous at this point for emergency crews to get out there and assess the damage. They won't be able to do that for another few hours or so. And so at this point all the folks in Houma can do at this point is just do what we've been doing the past several hours and just hunker down and wait for this to pass.

It's been unlike anything I've ever experienced, and I've covered, you know, several hurricanes in the past. These sustained winds that have just been barreling down on Houma for the past several hours, it's been -- it's been incredible to experience. Unfortunately, the longer this happens, the weaker the trees become here in the area, the more damage is what we're going to be seeing in the area.

But, again, Pamela, it's going to be impossible to assess the amount of damage until all these winds die down and emergency crews can get from where they are to out there to see what sort of damage has been left behind -- Pamela.

BROWN: We want to get you out of there, Jason. But just quickly, I just want to listen to how it is where you are right now, so let's just listen to it.

[19:10:06]

Unbelievable, Jason. Get to safety. Thank you for bringing us the latest there. I know earlier you said that you had to move, and then a tree fell down just after. So just get to safety. Thank you.

CARROLL: Can't hear.

BROWN: Next stop now, New Orleans, a city that bears the scars of many hurricanes. CNN's Brian Todd is there. What are you experiencing there, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, getting more intense here on the streets of New Orleans. Getting pounded with stronger winds, stronger rain. Look at the rain band that you can see down Dauphine Street here in New Orleans. You can see some of the wind just swirling around here as the storm intensifies here. It's starting to get some flooding here on Dauphine Street. The water has gone up above my ankles. So flooding not too bad just yet. And this is a rain -- this is kind of a rainfall flood.

It's not a storm surge flood here in the French Quarter. The French Quarter is on higher ground than a lot of other sections of New Orleans. I just talked to some emergency management officials here. They say what they're worried about is that the storm is slow-moving and that New Orleans has not gotten the brunt of it just yet as far as what it's going to get later on today.

Check out down here. You can see look down St. Louis Street over here. You can barely see just a few yards down the street there. There's a light, and some of these hanging lights that were hanging off this building, one of them just crashed down right over there. So you've got flying debris all over the streets here in New Orleans, some down here. And, again, visibility declining by the minute. Wind and rain getting worse.

My team was just at the river area, the riverfront area, and we really couldn't transmit because the wind was so intense and we were getting knocked over pretty much. So we decided to fade inland a little bit into the streets of the French Quarter, and we caught up with some of this flooding that's going on right here.

We've also been speaking to the southeast Louisiana flood protection agency, and they're telling us that they're very confident, as we get another pretty intense swipe of wind coming down the street here, so bear with me. They're telling us they are very confident that the system of levees, floodgates, and surge gates is going to work very well, that it's going to withstand this storm, because they have spent between the Army Corps of Engineers and other agencies, spent between $14 billion and $20 billion to fortify the levees, the storm gates and everything since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

They say that it's one of the most technologically advanced coastal protection systems in the world. The concrete walls and floodgates are about more than 30 feet high. The concrete walls and the levees extend several miles around New Orleans, so they are very confident that it's going to perform and withstand the storm. But as you can see as we see an emergency vehicle coming down the street here, again, emergency teams not able to rove around as much. And as it gets worse, fewer of them are going to be out.

We were out a short time ago roving around down to my left here, and we came across several fire trucks and firefighters coming out of a building. I went up to them and asked them what happened. They said that a short in an elevator shaft caused some smoke to come out of the building, but no one was injured. They took care of the problem. So some emergency crews are still able to rove around, but that's not going to be the case for much longer because the storm is getting more intense here, Pamela, as you can see

BROWN: Yes.

TODD: Visibility, rainfall just really pounding us right here at the moment.

BROWN: Yes. And as you said, the worst is yet to come. And that is the belief there where you are.

Brian Todd, thank you so much.

People in Louisiana may have to wait until daylight to see just how destructive Hurricane Ida is. Coming up, the president of Plaquemines Parish, Kirk Lepine, on his parish is handling the powerful storm.

Plus President Biden meets the families of the 13 U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan last week as their bodies are returned home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:18:17]

BROWN: Just listen to that. You're looking at video now from Louisiana as Hurricane Ida rips through the state. You can see and hear the force of the wind tearing off roofs and tipping over power lines. The storm is maintaining strength as it moves inland, knocking out power for more than 500,000 customers. We expect that number to go up. Emergency services are for the most part suspended across the state. And for those residents who didn't evacuate, the governor says it may be days before help arrives.

Joining me now is the president of Plaquemines Parish, Kirk Lepine.

Kirk, let's get right to it. The National Weather Service is reporting the water has gone over at least one levee. What can you tell us about that?

KIRK LEPINE, PRESIDENT, PLAQUEMINES PARISH: Yes. We are separated by the Mississippi River, so we have an east bank and a west bank of our parish. If you notice our parish is 58 miles long from the tip of the top to the bottom. And we're the parish that sticks out in the Gulf of Mexico where if you look at the boot of Louisiana, we're that last parish that sticks out. And on the east bank of our parish, there has been some overtopping of the levee by our Scarsdale Pumping Station.

And that has been a little concerning. We had ordered a mandatory evacuation for the whole side of the east bank. I had spoken to some of the sheriff's deputies. They have assured me that they will try to go door to door. We sent out an automatic robocall for anybody left in those areas. We have not received a 911 distress call from anyone. But it hasn't -- it's almost to the highway, but it's getting closer. So we want the residents to know that it could be a problem.

[19:20:03]

BROWN: Tell us overall what the conditions are like where you are.

LEPINE: Well, we were set up to go on the first time, and we just lost power at our EOC. And we were switching over to generator power. So conditions have deteriorated today, and it seems like it's getting a little worse. It's constant wind, rain, and it looks like the storm has slowed somewhat, and that concerns us.

BROWN: Right. Tom Sater, our meteorologist, said it has slowed to nine to 10 miles per hour. And as we know, that just makes it more dangerous. So help us understand. You know that this was coming your way. There was a lot of talk about this hurricane, how dangerous it could be. And it is, if not meeting, exceeding expectations. Why did you decide to stay and ride out the storm?

LEPINE: Well, we have to stay at the EOC. You know, I have a contingency of workers who are here with me, and as soon as it lets up, we're going to get out there and make an assessment of what we're going to do. We have probably some problems when we say on the west bank of our parish from the back levees. The water inundates some of those levees and pushes on which is Highway 23, which is my only highway for commerce up and down, you know, to ingress and egress in my parish.

So we're going to have some logistical challenges from these days. We know the power's out. About 7400 of our residents are out of power. We just lost power at the EOC. So I would say that's the last leg of power up here. So I'm sure that number will increase. So we told our residents to be prepared to be without power for days and weeks.

BROWN: And what are you hearing from other people in your community who stayed? How concerned are people right now where you are?

LEPINE: Well, where I'm located, it's what's called the HISTA (PH) system. It's a 100-year levee protection that the Corps has done some updates. Those are some floodgates that we have closed. We have closed off some of the sections of our levee on our highway. So we ordered a mandatory evacuation on Friday, and then we increased that mandatory evacuation on Saturday, moving it up north.

And so we thought we were pretty successful in getting people out. We saw a steady line of string people heading north and evacuating to safe ground. So we hope that people heeded our warning and got out.

BROWN: Kirk Lepine, thank you and best of luck to you.

LEPINE: Thank you.

BROWN: As Hurricane Ida rips across the Louisiana coast, we will talk to a doctor who is riding out the storm at a hospital overwhelmed with COVID patients.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:20]

BROWN: Before and after video paints a vivid picture of the damage Hurricane Ida is doing to Louisiana right now. This is footage from fire station number 12 in Saint Bernard Parish southeast of New Orleans. And you could see the astonishing volume of water that Ida pushed ashore. And in Houma, category 3 winds continue to pummel the area. Many trees are already down, and this is not over yet. The storm has slowed down. It's only moving to the northwest at 10 miles per hour. This increases the flooding potential as well as the length of the winds will last inland.

Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards warned people to evacuate, but some decided to hunker down and ride it out, and that includes Holly Beeson in Houma.

Holly, you're joining us now. How are you feeling?

HOLLY BEESON, HOUMA, LOUISIANA RESIDENT: Hi, Pam. I will tell you, I am absolutely terrified, and I have -- I have lived in, you know, (INAUDIBLE), and I've lived through the blizzards, earthquakes in L.A., a hurricane once on a cruise, but I have never dealt with something like this. And I live alone, and I've just had a right hip replacement. So I'm walking around with a walker. I have a pretty big house.

And here in Louisiana, everybody pretty much has their house lifted up in the air because we have so many floods. And, you know, I was going to talk to my neighbor. And they're usually the ones that tell me, are we going to evacuate or are we not during all these storms, the 11 years that I've lived here. And you know, he was saying to me, no, I think you're going to be OK. You've got a sturdy house. You're above ground. You're going to be fine.

And I kept thinking, well, I don't know about that. I said, well, he knows better than I do because he's from here. So, but, you know, Pam, I hear this huge crackling noise about 45 minutes ago, and I walked to one of the windows, and one of my trees in my backyard had split in half, and it has crushed the top of my garage. So I'm going to have to have a whole new garage put on. And other branches are laying on top of where my master bedroom is.

I have three huge oak trees in my front yard that are just old. They're old trees. I'm scared to death. I mean, they can easily -- I mean, it's a big front yard, but they could easily fall over on my house. I have no power. I can't make phone calls out. This is terrifying. I -- I don't even -- I can't even explain this. I mean my pets are absolutely -- I mean they're all underneath the bed. I'm not going to get under the bed, but, you know, it's just unbelievable.

BROWN: Yes, where are you hunkering down in your house?

19:00

[19:30:00]

BEESON: Well, right now, I'm in my master bedroom. I'm here and I'm trying to stay away from the windows and stuff. And if I need be, you know, it's -- you know, we're going to the bathroom and hunker down, you know, in the bathtub.

BROWN: Gosh, you're alone, you're on a walker, you're seeing trees down. Is this more of a wind event or water event where you are?

BEESON: It is both. It's both. I mean, for a while it was just the wind. And then about -- maybe an hour ago, Pam, the water came in with it. And now we're still getting the water and the wind, and these are 89 -- excuse me -- 80 miles an hour winds. These are strong winds.

I mean, like patio furniture that I have, they then -- just fallen off the patio. That's gone. I have no idea what those are. So, I mean, this is just -- it's terrifying. And I do --

BROWN: And it is worse than you thought. Right? If you had to do it all over again, would you evacuate?

BEESON: Oh, my gosh. I wish, I would have evacuated, I kid you not. It's not worth it. It's not worth it. It's very scary. And I can't tell people enough whoever is listening that, you know, when you do have the opportunity to evacuate, you should do it. And you know, especially here in Louisiana, because you know, when I first moved here 11 years ago, you know, hurricane season ended in October and now, it ends in November.

So I mean, just one thing after another, and this is very, very scary. Very scary.

BROWN: Well, listen, Holly Beeson, we wish you the best. Let us know if you need anything. I imagine, like you said, what you described, that is absolutely terrifying. And we just hope that you get through this safely. Holly, thanks for sharing your story with us.

BEESON: Thank you so much for your time. Take care and God bless.

BROWN: You too. And now to Baton Rouge. In Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Dr. Christopher Thomas joins me now. He is a critical care physician. Dr. Thomas, thanks for joining us what's going on where you are right now?

DR. CHRISTOPHER THOMAS, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: Good evening. Where we are right now is we're preparing for what we believe will be a very significant event in Baton Rouge. We believe it will probably be the most significant event of our lifetime.

We currently have a full hospital, but we're the Regional Medical Center. And so, we are essentially acting that role. We have over 700 providers in the hospital, 50 of those are physicians, 400 are nurses, 300 are non-clinical. We're split into two staffs.

We will do one shift during the day, one shift at night and we will alternate until we are able to get through this.

We're also becoming very concerned about our southern-most neighbors. The hospitals that are already in the path here of Ida are demonstrating some failures, whether that's roofs or whether it's generators.

We thankfully prepared for this after Gustav. We have a natural gas generator that can do the entire hospital. And we have a diesel generator to back up the natural gas generator. We also put two heliports on in order for evacuation that can handle Blackhawk helicopters.

But we are concerned at what we're hearing for our brethren in Louisiana, and that's already on top of a really full hospital. But this is our job and we will do it well.

BROWN: To your point. I mean, how will you handle a new wave of medical emergencies during the storm?

THOMAS: We've become very adept at creating room, at creating space, sometimes you just have to get creative. We currently have 157 COVID patients in hospital of which those 75 are in the ICU. But we will make room.

We will use every bed available that we can to help those who are in the storm, and we will take our cues from the state when necessary. Over the next several hours and through the night, however, we're going to be concerned about the patients who are in our hospital, as we expect now really significant winds and we would have liked for the storm to pick up in pace and to move quickly through our area, but this is not clear that it will happen.

BROWN: I mean, you have a hospital packed with COVID-19 patients. What is the feeling like in the hospital among staff and among the patients?

THOMAS: I think the patients have normal trepidation as it is a hurricane. I think the staff here in Louisiana particularly in this hospital, we know hurricanes and so this part actually may feel a little bit more normal although scary, and that we prepare every year for this. It's a drill we do.

So, it is odd to say that maybe the hurricane part of it feels a little bit more like normal business in August and September than COVID does, but adding the two together is definitely stressful and we worry about our oxygen supply and others, but like I said, we've done a really good job of preparing for an event like this.

[19:35:15]

BROWN: And as you said, it could be the most significant event of your lifetime. You mentioned the backup plans you have, the generator and so forth. Many of your patients are on ventilators or other machines requiring electricity. How many days will you be okay with generator power? And what happens after that?

THOMAS: Yes, one of the good news is, is that our supply being natural gas and then moving over to a backup of diesel provides us with a very long runway in and so we can tolerate a lack of electricity for a significant period of time.

And our contingency plans have set up for that, that's why we have a double backup system. But what that does mean is other facilities that are smaller will not have that kind of contingency, and we will have be able to help them.

BROWN: Dr. Christopher Thomas, thank you for all you and your colleagues are doing right now riding out the storm in the hospital during a pandemic. Thank you so much.

THOMAS: Yes, ma'am. Thank you. BROWN: We'll continue to follow the track of Hurricane Ida, but

we're also watching the situation in Afghanistan tonight.

Today, the U.S. launched a new strike in Kabul hours before President Biden attended the dignified transfer of 13 fallen us service members.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:41:08]

BROWN: We're going to get back to our storm coverage in just a moment, but we want to turn to Afghanistan right now and the evacuations in Kabul that are in the final phase ahead of the August 31st deadline to leave Afghanistan.

Earlier today, the U.S. carried out an airstrike against a suspected ISIS-K suicide bomber in a vehicle near the airport in a residential neighborhood. This video you see on your screen shows the aftermath of the drone strike, which the Pentagon says was a defensive effort to avoid more scenes like the one we saw this afternoon. Thirteen fallen service members returning home in flag-draped transfer cases, each of them losing their lives at last Thursday's deadly attack at the Kabul Airport.

We are covering this from every angle. CNN's Sam Kiley is in Doha, Qatar; Alex Marquardt is at the Pentagon; Jeremy Diamond is at the White House. Sam, first to you. What more can you tell us about the U.S. air strike?

SAM KILEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we understand that this air strike was conducted in a residential area effectively into a compound, at least one vehicle was destroyed. The Pentagon is saying that they understand that there was a secondary explosion. In other words, there was not just the impact of the missile strike, but then it set off some other kind of explosive, which they're saying is an indication that this was indeed some kind of bombing apparatus ready for use against Kabul International Airport.

And we know independently from our own colleagues, Afghan colleagues on the ground who have been reporting now, for some hours, a number of civilian casualties. The details of this remain very difficult to pin down with any kind of forensic detail. But this is a kind of disastrous moment for the American forces. But their justification will inevitably be that something much worse has been prevented.

But nonetheless, this has been already condemned by the Taliban, not in and of itself, but because of the lack of permission sought and information given ahead of the airstrike. They made the same complaint following the airstrike of yesterday near on the outskirts of Jalalabad, which according to The Pentagon killed two, and injured one, both of those allegedly are people involved in these bomb plots -- Pamela. BROWN: All right, Sam. I want to turn now to Alex Marquardt who is

at The Pentagon for us. Alex, we're hearing that CENTCOM, the United States Central Command has put out a new statement about the strike.

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Pam. It is quite the change in tone from Central Command, which does oversee this war in Afghanistan. Not long after we learned about the strike earlier today, they put out a statement full of confidence saying that they were confident that they had hit their target, that they were still assessing the possibility of civilian casualties, though they did not at the time have any indications that there are any.

Of course, now, we are reporting that at least nine members of a single family were killed in this strike. And as Sam alluded to, one possibility that CENTCOM is raising is that it was the explosives in the car that could have led to the deaths of these civilians.

I want to read to you part of the statement that we just did receive moments ago from CENTCOM. It says, "We are still assessing the results of this strike. We know that there were substantial and powerful subsequent explosions resulting from the destruction of the vehicle, indicating a large amount of explosive material inside that may have caused additional casualties. It is unclear what may have happened and we are investigating further. We would be deeply saddened by any potential loss of life."

That line, Pamela, "it is unclear what may have happened" really quite remarkable. This is going to be yet another blow for the Biden administration because they have obviously been pointing to these two strikes now against ISIS-K as proof that they will go after this terrorist group in response to that attack on Thursday at abbey gate that left scores of Afghans killed, as well as 13 American service members.

[19:45:25]

MARQUARDT: But also the fact that the military has been pointing to these strikes as the kind of capability that they will be relying on in the future, this over the horizon capability, as they call it, meaning that it's coming from countries outside of Afghanistan to continue to go after these terrorists.

Now, this latest strike, this latest over the horizon operation has left civilians dead -- Pamela.

BROWN: With children as young as two years old. Thank you, Alex Marquardt.

Now, on to Jeremy Diamond at the White House. The President today stood by for the dignified transfer of those 13 fallen U.S. service members and met with their family members. What's the mood inside the White House tonight -- Jeremy.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, Pam, since Thursday, since that terrorist attack that left those 13 service members dead, the mood inside the White House has been somber, it has been heavy. You have seen it on the face of the President as he has talked about the deaths of these service members.

And you certainly saw it today, as the President stood in silence as these 13 transfer cases carrying the remains of these service members were carried off of this C-17 aircraft and into these mortuary vehicles.

Families of these service members were also in attendance, and you could -- you know, there was almost no sound as this was all going on other than cries of one woman at one point. The President for his part holding his hand over his heart, as each of these transfer cases was taken off of the C-17 plane and bowing his head as if in prayer.

This is the first -- these are the first combat deaths under President Biden's watch as Commander-in-Chief, the first dignified transfer that President Biden has attended as Commander-in-Chief, and certainly we know that this has been weighing on him. It is the reason why he has said he is planning to stick with that August 31st deadline.

And of course, the White House, including the President have made very clear that there is still the possibility of additional terrorist attacks at Kabul, and that this is the most dangerous phase, frankly, of this entire mission.

So the President certainly mindful of that, and again, planning to stick with that deadline because he does not want to see any more service members serving right now in Afghanistan to come home in these transfer cases in the way that he witnessed this movement today -- Pam.

BROWN: Just a heartbreaking scene there. Jeremy Diamond, Alex Marquardt, and Sam Kiley, thank you.

Well, Louisiana's coastal parishes are bearing the brunt of Hurricane Ida right now. Coming up, we are going to talk to a Sheriff who is riding out the powerful storm.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:22]

BROWN: You're looking right now at surveillance video from the Grand Isle Marina and Grand Isle, Louisiana showing flooding from Ida as the powerful Category 4 hurricane made landfall with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. Just listen to this. Rainfall and a storm surge from Ida are causing a levee to overtop in Plaquemines Parish.

And tonight, more than half a million people are without power. That number is expected to go up as Ida's winds are still thrashing the Gulf Coast knocking down trees and power lines as it blows inland. One person I spoke to earlier in Houma said she is terrified right now.

Timothy Soignet is the Sheriff of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, and he joins us now from the phone from home. As I just said, I spoke to someone earlier said they were so scared right now, Sheriff. Your parish has been feeling the brunt of Ida for hours now. What is your biggest concern as night falls?

TIMOTHY SOIGNET, SHERIFF, TERREBONNE PARISH, LOUISIANA (via phone): Well, right now, the wind still continues. I know, we had we issued a mandatory evacuation a couple of days ago. There are still a lot of people back there, a lot of people back and we're getting calls of some roofs blown off of a lot of homes.

What we've been able to do is do a little bit of assessment in between some of the gaps in wind, but it hasn't led it much and it is still getting just pretty hard right now. Once this lets up, I guess my biggest fear is going to be probably in a darker hours of the night and I'm trying to get my guys out there so we can assess where visibility is going to be rather difficult and we've got a lot of downed power lines. So, it's just the safety.

So we need to clear some of these paths so we can start, you know, search and rescue and helping as many people out as we can.

BROWN: And are you receiving many calls for help from people who didn't evacuate?

SOIGNET: Well, yes, we've received a lot of calls. And some of them -- some of them were close by, we were able to get to them; some of them are -- the roadways are blocked, and we can't really get to them because of obstruction on some roadways.

BROWN: And what is your message to those who decided to weather this storm?

SOIGNET: Well, you know, when the mandatory evacuation is issued, it's highly recommend you leave because the problem as we always explain to people is, it's very difficult for us to get to you right away and everybody watching now, it's hard for us to get to them because roadways blocked and trees are down so it's very difficult for us to maneuver and get to these areas.

BROWN: Just quickly, Sheriff, is this what you thought it would be? Or is it even more powerful?

SOIGNET: Well, we knew it was going to be a powerful hurricane when we were looking -- when we looked in the last couple of days as this thing to developed and that's why we -- between the Parish President, we made a decision to issue a mandatory evacuation.

But things started developing pretty fast in the last couple of days and we've seen it.

[19:55:10]

SOIGNET: Initially, we ordered two zones in the parish to evacuate, and in a matter of four hours when we see how this thing developed, we went ahead and issued a mandatory evacuation for the whole parish.

BROWN: All right, Sheriff Timothy Soignet, you've got a big job ahead of you. Thank you for joining us.

SOIGNET: Well, I can say this, my people are out there working hard and we're trying to get out there to the people to help them.

BROWN: They are incredible for doing so in these dangerous conditions. Thank you so much, Sheriff.

SOIGNET: All right, thank you.

BROWN: And at any moment now we're going to get a new update from the National Hurricane Center as Ida moves across Louisiana, we have reporters spread out across the state.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:00]

y