Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
U.S. Embassy Issues Security Alert At Kabul Airport Due To "Specific, Credible Threat" At Multiple Areas; Dangerous Hurricane Ida Now Category 4; Louisiana Governor Warns Of Storm Impact On Hospitals; U.S. Evacuation From Afghanistan Now In Final Phase; U.N. Reports More Children Than Ever Live As Refugees Or Migrants; Communities Come To Grips With U.S. Service Members' Deaths In Kabul Airport Attack. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired August 29, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:00:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber.
We're tracking two big stories this hour. The first, Hurricane Ida, the storm is hurtling toward the U.S. Gulf Coast and it is expected to gain more strength in the hours ahead.
The second, a new warning about a possible terror attack at the Kabul airport. It could make the final days of evacuations even more complicated.
Focusing first on Hurricane Ida, it had been forecast to strengthen rapidly. And over the past few hours it has done just that. Just a little while ago the National Hurricane Center up graded the potentially catastrophic storm to category 4.
It is forecast to slam the Louisiana coast today, hitting the state on the exact same date as Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago. The National Weather Service office in New Orleans says storm surge and high winds could leave some locations uninhabitable for even weeks or months.
Both voluntary and mandatory evacuations have been ordered for several Louisiana parishes as the National Hurricane Center warns of life threatening situations. Officials say if residents are planning to leave, do it now. Louisiana's governor is stressing the dangerous and historic nature of today's threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (R-LA): When you talk about rain totals that could be up to 15, 16 inches and -- and in isolated areas, above 20 inches, with that kind of rain, that kind of storm surge, that kind of wind, this is just a very serious storm.
It'll be one of the very strongest storms to hit Louisiana since the 1850s. And, ironically, it's scheduled to make landfall on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(WEATHER REPORT)
[04:05:00]
BRUNHUBER: We want to show you incredible video of the storm. This is a Hurricane Hunter team as it flew directly into the eyewall of Hurricane Ida on Saturday. They are part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, gathering data that helps forecasters know what is going on with the storm in real time.
The plane is named Ms. Piggy by the way.
People in the U.S. Gulf Coast states have been busy preparing for the storm. From Florida to Louisiana, they are no strangers to hurricanes and residents are making sure they are ready for when Ida makes her presence known. Michael Holmes has that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Filling up and getting out, many people in New Orleans are leaving town.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When Katrina was here, hey, I had -- I had to stand in the water and I slept on the bridge for two days, I am not about to do that again.
HOLMES (voice-over): The lines of heavy traffic leading out of the city show just how many people aren't taking their chances with the storm named Ida. Many residents have been through major hurricanes before.
But officials say this one could be a monster. There are warnings in New Orleans and the surrounding coastal regions to evacuate, if at all possible, by morning. One man says his neighborhood on a barrier island is emptying out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody packing up, getting out. I hear it's only going to be about a dozen people probably going to try to ride it out. But you know, it's going to flood.
HOLMES (voice-over): Louisiana has taken the punches of many of these walloping storms before. It's still recovering from Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall in the state last year, causing nearly $20 billion in damage.
And 16 years ago, on this very day, Hurricane Katrina unleashed its fury on New Orleans and other Gulf Coast cities. More than 1,800 people were killed in the storm and its harrowing aftermath.
The city taking early action, based on mistakes made during that disaster. It spent billions of dollars reconstructing its levee system. U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration to free up federal assistance. FEMA is moving trucks and generators to the area. And more than 200
National Guard members are already on the ground in New Orleans. Rescue teams from across the Southeast, also, gearing up to help. Some getting coronavirus tests before they deploy.
Officials and experts say the pandemic will make emergency responses more difficult. And with low vaccination rates in places in the storm's path, Ida could bring a surge not only of floodwaters but of more COVID-19 cases -- Michael Holmes, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Now earlier, CNN spoke to a New Orleans council member about how COVID and Hurricane Ida are stretching resources in his city beyond capacity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH GIARRUSSO, NEW ORLEANS COUNCIL MEMBER: I talked to the health department earlier today and while there were some beds that were available by the morning, there's pretty much going to be a full lockdown, at least in Orleans Parish of all the hospitals.
So it is critical to make sure that you've made your plans, that you're ready to be safe and that obviously COVID is another factor. We have two -- we have pandemic happening right now and you have this act of God that's coming simultaneously. It's two big issues hitting us both at the same time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Ida will hit the Louisiana coast on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall. And Ida is barreling toward a section of the state that hasn't fully recovered from two hurricanes last year. Jason Carroll has the latest from Houma.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Houma looks more like a ghost town -- boarded-up buildings, sandbags in front of buildings, as well. Houma could end up being ground zero for Hurricane Ida if some of these predictions end up being correct.
Houma, also, under a mandatory evacuation order. The sheriff out here basically saying that he estimates anywhere between 60 percent to 80 percent of the residents have, in fact, left town.
The state's governor saying, if anyone wants to leave town, time is running out.
[04:10:00]
CARROLL: But given all of that, there are still some folks that we found out here, mostly longtime residents, who say they plan to stay put.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: So you are not going -- you are not going to evacuate.
Do you have any concerns about staying?
JESSICA DUPRE, HOUMA RESIDENT: Tornadoes and wind damage. I'm more worried about what we could come home to, wanting to go down that way because probably -- if they have any bad damage here, we have nothing.
CARROLL: Is there anything that anyone can say to convince you to -- to evacuate?
DUPRE: You drive me now?
Because I ain't getting on no interstate. I'm scared.
(CROSSTALK)
DUPRE: I'm more scared of the interstate than staying in the house right here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARROLL: Meteorologists predicting that this is going to be a severe wind event. It will likely be a severe flooding event. But despite all of that, not only the woman that you just heard from there planning to stay put but two people who live right here on this very street say they plan on doing the same -- Jason Carroll, CNN, Houma, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And time is running out for those hoping to leave Louisiana by plane. At New Orleans Louis Armstrong International Airport, all flights have been canceled for Sunday.
CNN NEWSROOM affiliate WVUE spoke to a young couple visiting New Orleans, who said they are stranded and looking for bus routes out of the city. The Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport says some early morning flights are still scheduled but all flight after 10:00 am local time are canceled. Passengers are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Mandie Landry is a member of the Louisiana State House of Representatives and she joins us from New Orleans.
Thank you so much for making the time in what must be a very busy time for you. Landfall probably just less than 12 hours away from now.
What worries you most right now, the wind or the water?
MANDIE LANDRY, MEMBER, LOUISIANA STATE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: You know, living in New Orleans, water is something that always concerns us. We're below sea level, we're surrounded by water here. We all, you know, the entire city, the entire state is having memories
of Katrina right now. So it is certainly the water. But we've all done what we could to take in all our furniture, move all of our cars and do everything we can to protect ourselves from the wind as well.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, we're seeing some visuals of people sandbagging and so on.
What preparations have you made to weather this?
LANDRY: Sure, so Friday myself and my colleagues and the city council in New Orleans gave out sandbags to residents who think that that might help them. We do encourage so many people to leave town if they can.
But for those of us who are elected, we need to be here for dealing with the aftermath when it happens. And, you know, we have a lot of elderly people in New Orleans and also people who cannot afford to leave town.
So we have to be here for when they need it and we also need to be here to make sure that, when our first responders come in, there are people ready to greet them.
BRUNHUBER: From covering these, I know how many folks sometimes ignore those evacuations. You know, they say, listen, I've been through it all, I'll ride it out.
Do you get the sense that people are taking it seriously?
I'm wondering if they were on the fence; if they haven't left by now, is it too late?
LANDRY: You know, there is always going to be a little bit of that, of course. I think my grandparents were like that. But people, especially those who have been through Katrina, know to leave. The issue is a lot of people can't leave.
You know, right now, in the country, we're still dealing with the fallout of the pandemic and there is just a lot of people who just cannot afford to leave the city.
We also -- I don't know if you saw this -- but it was a little too late do a mandatory evacuation because the storm is moving so fast. And that is just something that we can't control, how fast things will happen. So I think that everyone who could did leave. And the people remaining are simply those who could not afford to.
BRUNHUBER: You've mentioned Katrina a couple of times and we all understand why, of course; this is happening on the anniversary of Katrina.
Emotionally to go through this again, how hard is that with all of those memories still fresh, even though it was, what, 16 years ago?
LANDRY: It was. But to many people, myself included, every time August comes, we get that nervous feeling again. You know, Katrina was not really -- it was not a hurricane that hit the city, it was the levees that broke. A lot of people don't realize that. It was more of a manmade disaster.
[04:15:00]
LANDRY: So we see the storm coming and we're concerned are our new levees going to work, did we prepare enough, is this going to protect us this time.
And it is something that like you can't ever really prepare for. But we have a lot of small children -- excuse me, not small children; they were small children -- we call them Katrina babies. And you know, they lived their whole life here in the city with that trauma behind them.
So it is something that we all think about. And as soon as August 1 hits, we really feel it.
BRUNHUBER: Are you confident that the changes that have been made since then will hold?
LANDRY: I have to be, right?
We had a lot of time and money put into it. I mean, we're the United States of America. We have the best science and technology available to us. So I think it will.
But it is weather. You can't predict what is going to happen. Part of the reason that we still have people in town, it was just a tropical storm a couple days ago. And it snuck up on us. It snuck up on me as well because it was moving so fast.
There is just a certain level of weather that we can't predict and that we can't prepare for. But I think that we do feel a lot better than we did prior to Katrina.
BRUNHUBER: We wish you all the best, as you try to weather this as best you can, you and all of the folks out there. Mandie Landry, thank you so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
LANDRY: Appreciate it, thank you very much.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Ahead on CNN, much more on Hurricane Ida as it barrels toward the U.S. Gulf Coast. We'll take a closer look at where the storm is expected to make landfall and other areas that will feel its wrath.
Plus warnings about a new threat around the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. We'll hear why the U.S. embassy is telling Americans to leave the area.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:20:00] (MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: You're getting a live look at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan, where time is running out for the U.S. military as it races to evacuate Americans and their allies. A deadly bombing on Thursday claimed the lives of close to 200 people, including 13 U.S. troops. And the deadline for American forces to leave is fast approaching on Tuesday.
Warnings of a new attack could be making evacuations even more complicated. The U.S. embassy is urging Americans to leave the area around the Kabul airport. And President Joe Biden warned that another attack was highly likely within 24-36 hours. This is as the U.S. hits back against the militants that it says were responsible for the blast.
The Pentagon reports two high profile ISIS-K militants were killed and one wounded in a U.S. airstrike. This video shows the aftermath of the strike. President Biden is vowing this strike against ISIS-K won't be the last.
CNN international security editor Nick Paton Walsh is joining me from Doha. And White House reporter Jasmine Wright is in Washington.
Nick, let's start with you and those warnings that another attack is likely in the next 24 to 36 hours.
What is the latest?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: There is a persistent drumbeat of what they call a threat stream against the airport, obviously tragically realized with the death toll we saw on Thursday. But President Biden clear to repeat the warnings he says he's received from his commanders, that that threat could potentially occur in the next 24 to 36 hours.
He made that warning yesterday. Now this, of course, is going to inform the pace and nature of the evacuation operation that we see, that is rapidly turning, it seems, into a withdrawal operation.
The Pentagon announced yesterday that they have begun what they call the retrograde, which is Pentagon speak for withdrawing troops from the airport. They said that they were putting equipment onto planes.
It will be I think hard to have clarity of precisely when the numbers dwindle and what number we have by tomorrow, which is the last day essentially where the agreement with the Taliban permits them to remain on the airport.
One number we did get though was that the U.S. has evacuated 1,400 people in the last 12-hour period. That is a massive reduction from the figures we were seeing of 20,000 a day over the past week or so.
Also another 600 evacuated by U.S. allies; that 1,400 is a similar figure to the 1,400 that we were told were actually on the base at the last Pentagon briefing. So it is clear the evacuation operation is significantly reduced.
They have always said that they will evacuate until the very end but it is also clear that they are now beginning withdrawal of the troops under the heightened security threat.
BRUNHUBER: And we're learning more about that retaliatory U.S. strike against ISIS-K.
What more can you tell us about that?
WALSH: Barbara Starr, my colleague, was reporting that actually these two individuals who were killed were not necessarily considered to be particularly senior but the Pentagon repeatedly saying that they were a planner and a facilitator and another person wounded as well.
Some images show I think what is fair to say is a relatively targeted strike. The Pentagon were clear that they have no reports of civilian casualties at all. It will be interesting to learn in the days ahead quite how this facilitator and planner may have related to any forthcoming threat against the U.S.
It is clear it seems that they were not directly related to the attack in question that happened on Thursday, as far as I recall from the Pentagon's briefing. They are not being specific.
But I think the concern is that they might be linked to future attacks against the airport. So we'll see the U.S. I think continually taking out targets that they consider to be ISIS-K-related in the weeks ahead, I would imagine. They have done that in the past as well.
[04:25:00]
WALSH: But I anticipate, because of the tragic awful loss of life related to that explosion at Abbey Gate on Thursday, that we'll see the tempo of the strikes increasing.
BRUNHUBER: Interesting. All right, thanks so much, Nick Paton Walsh. And Jasmine Wright is in Washington with the latest on the White House response.
Jasmine, let's pick up on what we just heard from Nick. President Biden vowing Friday's airstrike won't be the last. Obviously, they won't telegraph when the next one might be.
But what more can you tell us about his threats of retaliation?
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is a two part strategy. President Biden is attempting to message that the U.S. will defend itself and its troops on the ground in Afghanistan.
But also it is part of a prevention strategy, trying to disrupt and prevent any potential attacks on troops as they head toward this August 31 deadline. And we know that that mission is difficult, given the nature of suicide bombing attacks.
And the president, warning of another highly likely attack on the Kabul airport in the next 24 to 36 hours, makes the circumstances even more dire. So today, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby wouldn't detail any specifics of what we can expect from that threat of more strikes.
But he did say that the U.S. will leverage their ability to do over- the-horizon strikes. And that term is something that we've heard from President Biden over the course of the last few months, as he repeatedly defended his decision to withdraw from Afghanistan, saying he felt comfortable to do so because of the U.S.' ability to do the over-the-horizon drone attacks, really trying to keep their thumb on any threats in Afghanistan that would threaten the homeland of the U.S.
So the question really now going forward is how successful were these strikes in preventing anything going forward?
Now today, John Kirby, Pentagon spokesperson, he said that -- and I'll quote it for you -- that this "will have some impact on their ability going forward but we aren't thinking for a minute that what happened yesterday gets us in the clear. Not a minute."
So there is no doubt that this tool, the over-the-horizon capability, is something that the president and the administration will lean on, not only in these two days as this becomes the most dangerous part of the evacuation mission, as troops begin to draw down, but that they will use it past their August 31 deadline as they try to keep a handle on any threats inside of Afghanistan.
BRUNHUBER: All right. Thank you so much, CNN White House reporter Jasmine Wright in Washington.
Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the fallout in Afghanistan created a desperate situation for Afghan children. A new U.N. report shows just how bad it is.
Plus last minute preparations in Louisiana, ahead of a monster, hurricane forecast to pummel the state in the coming hours. We're tracking Ida next. Stay with us.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:30:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: You are looking at footage from New Orleans Saturday, as people evacuated ahead of what forecasters call a life-threatening storm.
Traffic backed up as residents fled inland from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana. States are bracing themselves for Hurricane Ida. The potentially catastrophic storm is closing in on the Gulf Coast. The National Hurricane Center recently upgraded Ida to a category 4 storm.
It is forecast to pummel the Louisiana coast Sunday, the same date Hurricane Katrina hit the state 16 years ago. Power outages are a major concern. FEMA says that it is moving supply trucks and generators into Louisiana ahead of Ida's landfall. There are 10,000 linemen in the state already and another 20,000 on standby.
And making matters worse, many hospitals in the area are already maxed out due to COVID-19. Health officials are asking residents to not go to the hospital unless it is a dire emergency.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BRUNHUBER: And even as Hurricane Ida barrels toward the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, it was already dealing with another crisis: skyrocketing COVID cases. On Saturday, the governor explained to CNN the strain the storm could put on health care resources.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (R-LA): We had four hurricanes last year during COVID-19. But we had a small fraction of the number of people in our hospitals that we currently have.
[04:35:00]
EDWARDS: We have more people in the hospital today, 2,450 with COVID, than we had at any point before this current surge.
And when Hurricane Laura hit last year, we only had about 300 in the hospitals. So evacuating hospitals is not going to be possible because there is nowhere to bring those patients to. There's no excess capacity anywhere else in the state or outside the state. And so we're really worried about prolonged power outages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: So as you heard from the governor there, Louisiana hospitals are packed with COVID patients. CNN spoke with director of the New Orleans health department and asked what they are doing to prepare for two simultaneous crises.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JENNIFER AVEGNO, DIRECTOR, NEW ORLEANS HEALTH DEPARTMENT: Our hospitals prepare for this every year. Last year we were in the cone of uncertainty for hurricanes eight times. So even then during the pandemic, we had a lot of practice, sort of understanding what we needed to do.
And they are doing the same. They are making sure they have appropriate staffing, discharging anyone that can be discharged and we're urging our residents, if you do not have an emergency and you do not need hospital care, this is not the time to come to the hospital.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, a new report details the growing number of Afghan children now at risk of being displaced. Up next, we'll talk to the head of a group dedicated to helping them.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: Those pictures there are evacuees from Afghanistan, arriving at Dulles International Airport in Virginia on Saturday. You can see a wave, a thumb's up, likely a sense of relief for those escaping Taliban rule.
Evacuees undergo thorough screening and vetting before and after arriving in the U.S. The long journey to resettlement takes many of them through countries allied with the U.S.
Meanwhile some families are still waiting to be reunited, amid the chaos of the evacuations from Kabul.
[04:40:00]
BRUNHUBER: Saskya Vandoorne is joining me from Paris.
You've looked at one family touched by this. Take us through their story.
SASKYA VANDOORNE, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, exactly, the big question now is what happens to those who have been left behind.
As the evacuation efforts draw to a close, U.K., France, Italy, Germany, they have all finished their evacuation flights. So now we're speaking to those who have been left behind, whose hopes have been dashed of ever being airlifted out.
And to those people in Europe and around the world who have those loved ones who are now stranded. I spoke to a French woman, Florence, who has been married to an Afghan for 20 years. They have been living here in France for 20 years.
And despite having a French residency permit and being on the French foreign ministry's passenger list for evacuation flights, he never made it past the airport gates.
On the very day that he was meant to leave, that he was in French care, that suicide attack happened, which prevented him from leaving. I spoke to his wife, take a listen to what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FLORENCE, FRENCH CITIZEN (from captions): My husband is completely lost. He is stressed, he's scared. He's -- doesn't know by which way he -- he will come back to France. Now he's thinking maybe to take the road.
It's horrible when you back to the same conditions than 20 years ago because when you don't know something, you don't know. You are just living the moment. And when you know exactly, who are these people, what will happen to you, it's much more terrible. And one thing that touched me is when my husband said I'm very happy
my father is dead so he doesn't see that, to not see that anymore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VANDOORNE: And she said she feels abandoned, that the French government has abandoned her husband and that she is terrified that he will take the road. She doesn't know what will happen if the Taliban find him. She fears, of course, that he will have his French identity card with him and that they would surely kill him if they found him.
So she is incredibly worried. And President Macron was speaking today and he was saying that, tomorrow, with Britain, he would put forward a resolution in order to have, you know -- to keep a safe zone in Kabul for people desperate to leave. But we don't know what that safe zone will look like.
BRUNHUBER: OK. Saskya Vandoorne, thank you so much.
Children from Afghanistan are among millions that face uncertain futures as migrants or refugees. In a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund, Afghanistan tops the list of countries of origin for migrant or refugee children.
Last year more than 35 million children lived outside their country of birth. And that number could grow significantly this year.
Hassan Noor Saadi is the regional director for Asia Save the Children and he is joining me from Singapore.
Thanks so much for being with us. As always in times of conflict it is the children who pay the heaviest price. The combination of the security crisis in Afghanistan, skyrocketing food prices, COVID, give us a sense of what the conditions are like for many Afghan kids right now on the grounds.
HASSAN NOOR SAADI, REGIONAL DIRECTOR, ASIA SAVE THE CHILDREN: Good morning, Kim. I think that we have to understand what was the situation even before this crisis started. We had 11 million people, including more than 6 million children, who didn't have enough food for the day.
We had 2 million children who were completely dependent on nutrition services for their survival. And this situation has risen because of the long drought, COVID and economic recession in Afghanistan.
And with the current situation, there is so much uncertainty about what the future holds, the situation and the plight of children will get quite worse.
So we know at the moment there is a lot of people displaced; in last two months more than 500,000 people displaced, which includes more than 50 percent children. And they are the ones who will take the heaviest brunt of this crisis.
BRUNHUBER: Many aid agencies that were in Afghanistan are leaving or have already left. I understand Save the Children is staying.
How are you planning to operate, given the security situation, given that the Taliban have often targeted foreign aid workers?
Are you working with them now?
[04:45:00]
SAADI: We have been working in Afghanistan since 1976 and we never left. And so, looking at the situation and humanity, yes, they are going to stay and they are going to deliver. So it is important to know that, even in Afghan Taliban-controlled areas, we were working for past seven years.
And we had recently got access. However, that was a different situation. Now they are in the regime and therefore we are looking into what would be the modalities to operate in Afghanistan.
How --
(AUDIO GAP)
BRUNHUBER: I think we might have lost our guest there. We'll have to say goodbye to Hassan Noor Saadi, who was in Singapore, from Save the Children. So thank you to him.
Communities across the U.S. come to grips with the deaths of service members in Kabul. Next, family members share their memories and pain after their loved ones died in the line of duty.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[04:50:00]
(MUSIC PLAYING)
BRUNHUBER: This is a live look at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan. The U.S.-led evacuation mission is in its final phase, with the deadline to leave fast approaching. The Pentagon says it still controls the airport.
And that will be crucial for evacuating the remaining foreign nationals and Afghans fleeing Taliban rule. The U.S. has released the names of its military members killed in Thursday's attack at the Kabul airport.
For their nation, they were men and women in uniform. But for people who knew them, they were sons, daughters, brothers and friends. As Natasha Chen reports, they were also a cross-section of the country they died fighting for.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): They were young, they were passionate, they believed in their mission.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, as we all know, the freedom we enjoy as Americans isn't free.
CHEN: Across the U.S., the families and hometown communities of these 13 U.S. service members are grappling with loss after a suicide bomb attack killed them and more than 170 others outside Kabul's international airport on Thursday.
A moment of silence was held for 20-year-old Marine Lance Corporal Jared Schmitz of St. Charles, Missouri.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are incredibly grateful for Jared's service to our nation.
CHEN: And a gathering of friends remembered 23-year-old Marine Corporal Daegan Page from near Omaha, Nebraska. His family says he was a longtime Boy Scout, played hockey and loved hunting in the outdoors.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was gone. He was one of the nicest persons I've ever met. I mean -- he was there for you when you needed it and he was there for you when you didn't want it. But he was the definition of best friend I've ever had.
CHEN: The father of 31-year-old Marine Staff Sergeant Taylor Hoover of Salt Lake City said his son was called to action by a defining moment of his generation.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was 11 years old, at 9/11. At that time, he decided that, hey, that's what I want to do. Best kid in the world and couldn't ask for any better. Loved his family. His sisters absolutely adore him.
CHEN: The sister of 20-year-old Marine Corporal Rylee McCollum, said he was on his first deployment and was expecting a baby due in three weeks.
Another Marine, 23-year-old Sergeant Nicole Gee of Sacramento, California, had posted a week ago on Instagram, a photo of her holding an Afghan infant.
She wrote, "I love my job."
Her friend, who served with her, posted a tribute on social media, saying, "Gee cared about people. She loved fiercely. She was a light in this dark world."
Gee was one of two female U.S. service members among those killed.
The other was 25-year-old Marine Sergeant Johanny Rosario Pichardo from Lawrence, Massachusetts.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In a conversation with her mother yesterday, she spoke of her daughter as a vibrant young person who wanted to give back to the community. And as a result of that, it is her mother's desire that Johanny will be brought back to the city of Lawrence as the hero she is.
CHEN (voice-over): In addition to the 11 Marines killed, one Army Staff Sergeant 23-year-old Ryan Knauss and one Navy Hospitalman 22- year-old Maxton Soviak were also killed.
The last time Soviak spoke to his mother, she told him to be safe. The family said Soviak's last words to her over FaceTime were, "Don't worry, mom, my guys got me. They won't let anything happen to me."
His mother said she realized they all just went together.
CHEN: The tribute written about Sergeant Nicole Gee by her friend who served with her in the Marines also talked about the fact that some of the younger generation may have only served on peaceful missions. They heard war stories from Iraq and Afghanistan veterans but may have felt removed from the combat experience.
That is until Thursday. That post talked about how the explosion made the realities of America's longest war extremely personal for them -- back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And returning to our top story, Hurricane Ida. About two hours ago, the National Hurricane Center upgraded the potentially catastrophic storm to category 4. It is forecast to slam the Louisiana coast today, on the same day as Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago.
(WEATHER REPORT)
[04:55:00]
BRUNHUBER: And that wraps this hour. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "NEW DAY" is next with the latest advisory on Hurricane Ida. Please do stay with us.
