Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Darkness Envelopes Louisiana; People Waiting to be Rescued; Cajun Navy on the Move; U.S. Launched Rockets in Kabul; Refugees Brought to Kosovo. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 30, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

Germany>

[03:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR (on camera): Hello, and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States, and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

And we are following breaking news on Hurricane Ida. The monster storm slowly moving north through Louisiana leaving behind widespread damage, power outages, and life-threatening floods. Ida made landfall Sunday as one of the strongest storms to ever hit the state.

And right now, one of the big concerns is how well the state levees will hold up. Some residents of the Plaquemine Parish are being told to evacuate immediately because one levee has failed, leading to flash flooding.

And this is what it looked like when this deadly storm moved ashore. The storm surge and winds was so strong on Sunday, it partially reverse the flow of the Mississippi River. Something experts say is extremely uncommon.

And right now, all of Orleans parish, which includes the city of New Orleans, of course, is without power. Statewide, more than a million homes and businesses have no electricity, and at least one person has died in the storm so far.

Well, people who have evacuated are staying in shelters right now, but many decided to ride it out at home. And Louisiana's governor says rescue efforts will begin soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JOHN BEL EDWARDS (D-LA): We're better prepared now in terms of that protection system, but when you have mother nature threw at you a storm this strong with the surge, the wind, the rain that we're talking about with Hurricane Ida, there's going to be devastating impact, and we have to do everything we can to save lives in the immediate response.

And we'll get to the property repairs later. But I can tell you for several days we're going to be engaged in search and rescue, both the primary search, the secondary searches, and so forth. And we're going to be in this for the long haul. But the people of Louisiana are good and resilient and I can tell you, we're going to get through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): Very positive words there. Let's turn to meteorologist Pedram Javaheri, he's been tracking Hurricane Ida, and joins us now for more on what we can expect in the coming hours.

And Pedram, even though Hurricane Ida has been downgraded to a category one, the damage already has been just immense and extensive. We're yet to see of course the full impact when sun comes up.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, exactly. Within the next couple of hours, I think we'll learn quite a bit more, already seeing reports, as you noted, Plaquemine Parish where a levee has failed. This is across southern portions of Louisiana. This is of course 12 hours after the storm has already moved out of that region. The damage now the scope of it are beginning to be realized.

And we know across portions of the city of Kenner, which is about a 10-minute drive from the New Orleans International Airport. At least a dozen fire is being reported across that region. I've seen a video in an area where water -- water cover a lot of these roadways. Officials are not even able to get to some of these fires because of the incoming weather conditions and the lack of water pressure.

So, an incredible scenario playing out here with not only fires but flooding, and this is going to continue here with the amount of damage potentially left in place with the system now in the last couple of hours transitioning and the center of it crossing into the state of Mississippi.

Now, notice the radar estimated rainfall totals, that's near at the top of the charts. The pink contours not something you see every single day, that is an excess of 12 inches that has come down across this region in the past 12 to 13 hours.

And again, when you look at the levee system here, we know in areas across say Plaquemine Parish, the levee system itself has expanded -- expands quite a bit. But in the state of Louisiana there is some 293 levee systems spanning some 230 miles worth of levees hat protect the state.

You put that in the levee system in New York City, you can stretch it all the way to Los Angeles, and it speaks to the amount of coverage here and protection that has been set in place to try to protect the city against hurricane-driven storm surge and floods.

But unfortunately, the intensity of the storm and the incredible ferocity of it coming to shore already causing levee failures. One of which is right here in the southeastern corner there in Plaquemine Parish where 13 levee systems are in this particular parish. And we know one of them has failed now according to local authority in that region. The winds, they were 150 miles per hour at landfall, which is right

around noon and local time in that area. Notice gust, gust observed at 153 miles per hour, Grand Aisle. The astros (Ph) indicate, Rosemary, that the anemometer, the wind measuring device stop reporting at 148 miles per hour.

[03:04:59]

These are historic values on back to back here. Just remember, Rosemary, Hurricane Laura this time last year also came ashore with 150 miles per hour in the state, so an incredible scenario playing out.

CHURCH: Yes. Just extraordinary, isn't it? Pedram Javaheri bringing us the details there. Many thanks.

Let's turn now to meteorologist Derek van Dam. He is on the phone with me from Houma in Louisiana near where the storm made landfall.

Derek, I know we had trouble getting your signal up so we're happy to have you on the phone. You've been in Louisiana, of course since Ida hit as a category four. What's the situation there now, and how bad has it been from the time it made landfall to this moment?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Rosemary, you can imagine that communications are virtually impossible down here. We took a direct hit from this hurricane in Houma, Louisiana. I'm in Terrebonne Parish. So, if you look it in a map, kind of southeastern Louisiana, the eyewall, the strongest part of the storm went directly over us.

And Rosemary, I don't know how else to say it other than it was a nightmare. It unfolded in front of our eyes. It was a relentless, never ending fury of category four hurricane winds.

When we thought that we would go into the center of the storm, Pedram probably talked about that a moment ago, the eye of the storm where you got calm, you get a bit of a respite from the storm before things pick up again. We did not get that.

The storm moves to our north and east, and so it kept us in the eyewall of the hurricane for the entire duration and literally pivoted at our points. So that means it was like taking winds from -- I'm just going to use this as comparison, taking winds from an EF3 tornado, 136 to 160 miles per hour over a large area for a long period of time.

And when I'm talking a long period of time, it was three, four, even five hours of this relentless wind. My producer's rooms on the third floor were shaking. And we are in a very heavily reinforced concrete building that was built post Katrina. It was about 13 years old, so post Katrina so it had different hurricane specifications that it was built to stand, and it was still shaking.

At the moment, we are hearing the hum of generators in the background. We do not have electricity. Helicopters are flying around the area, the only cars that we have being on the roadways are courtesy vehicles and that has been very few. The emergency operation center we go down in St. Charles Parish. I

know we've been discussing this morning as the levee failure that are taking place in the Plaquemine Parish region but that immediate evacuation of certain parts of the parish needs to be heeded and taken extremely serious.

And the situation without power in New Orleans at the moment, this is going to be catastrophic because the potential for this to last for days, if not weeks is real. And let me tell you, that is hugely impactful. As just someone, as a meteorologist, someone personally who is just (Inaudible) not only the storm, but (Inaudible) last week has knocked out powers from my home for four days. That seem to be minimum amount of time compared to what's possible here.

But it is hugely impactful. You start talking about where you cool yourself when the temperatures get hot, we know New Orleans one of the hottest cities, one of the more humid cities in the United States. So, that is going to be a very big consideration.

And we've got reports of a local affiliate for CNN, they have damage to their buildings in New Orleans. I mean, there is just so much to report on, but we're going to fully see the extent of the damage once we get first light here in a couple of hours. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Yes. As you say, just a few hours from sunrise. And of course, the first point of call will be search and rescue. We're hearing these terrifying stories about people being caught in attics and other rooms in their homes. Their -- the water is rising. I mean, that is a real terrifying situation for those people. But really, they can't expect any help for a few hours here.

VAN DAM: You know, Rosemary, it's hard to fathom the scope of the storm because what we experienced at our particular location in Houma, Louisiana was in a sense catastrophic wind event. But what people are facing is a flood and surge event.

And so, you can imagine both of those rescue operations are going to have their own complexities behind them. But we are certainly dealing with heavy wind damage where I'm located.

CHURCH: All right. Derek van Dam joining us from Houma, Louisiana. take good care of yourself, Derek. Thank you so much for your reporting. We appreciate you always.

Well the one death that's been confirmed from Ida so far was in the Baton Rouge area. And CNN's Ed Lavandera is there with more now on the danger from Ida's heavy rain and powerful winds.

[03:10:04]

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Ida continues to push its way north. It is now finding itself between Baton Rouge where we are and New Orleans. And there are dozens of low-lying communities in these areas that are going to be spending a long night.

These are low-lying communities, very susceptible to flooding. We spent the day traveling through many of those communities talking to people and trying to figure out how they were preparing for this moment. Many folks said that they were planning on waiting out the storm in their homes and then getting ready to pack up their belongings and escape once the floodwaters started in the next day or so.

So, as the storm passes to the north and the rain continues to fall. And then that water needs somewhere to go and it's going to go rush back south and through a lot of these low-lying communities.

And the other thing that many residents told us is, that they never really experienced a storm of this magnitude so strong this far inland. Hurricane Ida came ashore as a category four, usually a lot of these storms lose much of its strength by the time it reaches this far inland but many residents told us they are they are extremely worried about the wind damage that this storm can bring.

A lot of tall trees and some of the neighborhoods that we're in, so many people inside their homes were telling us that they are worried about trees collapsing on to their homes. Those are the kind of things that residents are dealing with here in these overnight hours.

And on top of that, these types of hurricanes that pass in the darkness just add another terrifying level of experience to what is already a horrible experience to have to endure.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

CHURCH: And for the latest on the conditions let's turn now to Jordy Bloodsworth. He is the fleet captain for the volunteer rescue group Cajun Navy. Thank you so much for talking with us, captain.

JORDY BLOODSWORTH, FLEET CAPTAIN, CAJUN NAVY: Yes, ma'am.

CHURCH: So, what are you able to tell us about conditions right now in Baton Rouge, and what are your concerns and challenges in the hour ahead?

BLOODSWORTH: Conditions are better than I anticipated than the big right now in Baton Rouge. The storm moved east a little bit a few hours ago and kind of saved a lot of Baton Rouge, I think, especially my house. Luckily, I still have power.

So, it's much better than I anticipated. Still, a lot of tree damage and things like that, still pretty strong up here and some winds. But now I was expecting and that's going to be probably the big thing I want to try get out of here and get to start helping some people in areas that were more affected than we have been. Just trying to get around those trees and power lines and things like that that might be down.

CHURCH: yes, absolutely. I mean, you are very lucky to be sitting there with your power. And of course the residents were told to evacuate the area but some did not. So, they will need to be rescued in the morning. And that is part of your task ahead. So how do you decide who to go to first and what is the whole process

involved with rescue operations and how you work in with other groups that are doing the same?

BLOODSWORTH: So, I have my teams ready and, you know, on standby as this storm approach and I just monitor or we monitor, as a group really, where the storm is coming and what's being affected. We figured out pretty quickly on where we're going to be needed most just by people reaching out and asking for our help.

And then from there we see what areas we might actually be able to get to and where other people are helping as well so that we can kind of best concentrate where we are going to be going.

And from there, we just start compiling the list of addresses and things like that we get and requests and team up with local authorities and the EOC's and kind of compare notes and try to work with those guys to best assist them and, you know, make us an asset in any kind of interference.

CHURCH: Right.

BLOODSWORTH: And we just work with law enforcement and things like that and go from there.

CHURCH: Because, I mean, the nightmare stories that we've been hearing just awful, people caught in attics or parts of their home where the water level is rising. I mean, that's just a devastating situation. And then they know that they are going to have wait hours, perhaps hours and hours before someone comes and helps them. What happens when you confront a situation like that?

BLOODSWORTH: It's pretty tough getting calls from, you know, family members of people that are trapped in their homes whether it's you know, first floor, second floor, attics, crawl spaces and things like that. It's tough to tell them yes, I'll put the address down but I can't go right now because then I could be a problem out there as well and need to be rescued myself.

So, it's pretty tough but once we get out there and the conditions, I don't know. We just kind of go through it. It becomes like a second nature.

[03:15:00]

And first person you come to, that's who we start rescuing and send out everybody we have and get to as many people as quickly and as safely as possible.

CHURCH: How prepared do you think people in Baton Rouge were for this and what are you expecting to find at daybreak?

BLOODSWORTH: I think people were somewhat prepared, especially after how bad Laura was just over in Lake Charles last year. They were somewhat cautious on this one, maybe more so than other storms. I know a lot of people left. And usually people come to Baton Rouge for storms or, you know, ride them out of here.

So, I think people took it pretty seriously this time, at least in Baton Rouge. There are always going to be people that stay, I guess. Some you can't fault. Some don't have the assets or resources to go anywhere.

CHURCH: Yes.

BLOODSWORTH: And that's just the situation and this is the result.

CHURCH: Yes. That is a very important point of course. Jordy Bloodsworth, thank you so much for talking with us and do take care when you start your rescue search and rescue operations in just a matter of hours. I appreciate talking with you.

BLOODSWORTH: Yes, ma'am. We will. First thing in daylight we'll be out there.

CHURCH: Absolutely. Thank you so much.

We are tracking breaking news out of Kabul. Just one day before the U.S. is set to meet its withdrawal deadline. The latest in a live report, that's next.

Plus, we will go inside operations at Ramstein Air Base in Germany which turned into a temporary home for thousands of Afghan evacuees hoping for a new life in the United States. We are back in a moment.

[03:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH (on camera): Hurricane Ida is slowly weakening as it turns northward as a category one storm. But since making landfall at a category four in Louisiana it has killed at least one person and left more than a million homes and businesses without power.

It has also flooded home, ripped off roofs and trapped people in dangerous floodwaters. And this is video from a military hurricane hunter teams as they flew directly into the eyewall of the storm. They are gathering data that helps forecasters know what's going on with the storm in real time.

And as President Biden explains the gulf region needs every resource possible right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The storm is a life-threatening storm. Governor Edwards, an old friend, has categorized it as one of the strongest hurricanes, the strongest in Louisiana history since 1850. Ad its devastation is likely to be immense. We shouldn't kid ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH (on camera): And the White House says President Joe Biden has been briefed after a rocket attack at the Kabul airport. A U.S. official says as many as five rockets were fired but no casualties have been reported. Video obtained by CNN shows a vehicle apparently used as an improvised launcher in flames on the street in the Afghan capital.

Now this comes one day after the U.S. said an air strike took out an imminent threat to the airport. And this video from social media shows people gathered at the aftermath of Sunday's air strike.

A U.S. official says the vehicle targeted contained at least one suicide bomber. The U.S. military says secondary explosions from the vehicle may have caused civilian casualties.

And CNN's Coren is following developments for us from Hong Kong. She joins us now live. Good to see you, Anna.

So, what more are you learning about these five rockets fired at the Kabul airport?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, you showed pictures of that vehicle on fire which this was this improvised rocket launcher. It had the launcher in the back of the trunk of the Sedan and fired those rockets at around 6.45 a.m. local time in Kabul.

They were intercepted by this missile defense system, its rocket defense system known as C-RAM by the U.S. military. So, obviously, these rockets did not reach their targets. One of the rockets however ended up in a civilian area outside somebody's home. We are not getting any reports of casualties at this stage.

But obviously, as you said, President Biden he has been briefed. He has called on his commanders to double down on efforts to ensure the safety of the U.S. troops remaining at Hamid Karzai International Airport. He is hoping that there are no further incidents as they wrap up this drawdown. There are no more Afghans being evacuated.

And we are learning perhaps no more Americans, American citizens being evacuated as well. This is purely a military mission now. As U.S. forces on the ground wrap up what is essentially the end of America's 20-year war in Afghanistan. Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Anna, the U.S. military says that a secondary explosion after a U.S. strike against an imminent ISIS-K threat on Sunday may have caused civilian casualties. What more are you learning about that?

COREN: Yes. Look, we are getting reports that nine civilians were killed in that attack. Obviously, the Pentagon was after ISIS-K members. They said it was an imminent threat on the airport. Remember, too, that this comes just days after that horrific attack outside the airport where an ISIS-K suicide bomber blew himself up killing more than 180 people including 13 U.S. servicemembers.

So, the Pentagon is saying this was another threat. They had been warning of it for days. But with that drone strike, which is carried out from the UAE, this is more than 1,000 miles away. This is also the future of American warfare in Afghanistan.

[03:25:04]

That by taking out their car and as you said, at least one of the people in that car had a suicide vest. There are reports it could have been as many as three with suicide vests that the explosives then hit another vehicle where nine members were killed, including, Rosemary, six children.

CHURCH: That is tragic. Anna Coren, bringing us the very latest on that. I appreciate it.

Well, the first group of Afghan evacuees to arrive in Kosovo landed on Sunday. More than 100 people, mostly women and children could be seen on the tarmac.

Kosovo has agreed to accept 2,000 Afghan evacuees awaiting relocation to the U.S. They will be housed near a U.S. army base outside Kosovo's capital.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of evacuees have passed through Ramstein Air Base in Germany over the last few weeks as they wait for the next step in their journey.

Hurricane Ida has cut the power throughout New Orleans, and while their levees may be holding the same cannot be said in other parts of Louisiana. We will have the latest on the storm. Back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: Back to our top story now. Hurricane Ida is slowly makings its way north through Louisiana leaving widespread destruction behind. The storm may be weakening but now flash flooding now is one of the most pressing concerns.

[03:29:57]

At least two towns reported levee failures prompting emergency evacuations. And across the state more than a million homes and businesses are without power. And there is no telling when it will be restored.

[03:30:00]

CNN's Brian Todd is in New Orleans with more.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As we headed into the overnight hours from Sunday into Monday, all of New Orleans was plunged into darkness.

We are here on Bourbon Street. It is very, very dark out here. The only reason you can see some light on this building behind me is because our photojournalist, Jake Scheuer (ph), who is going to zoom into this area of Bourbon Street, is throwing a light on that house there from an independent power source.

There are some lights on in a taller building behind it but that is because of generator power. The only buildings that have any kind of power in New Orleans right now are running on generator power.

That presents yet another possible danger here because according to Louisiana State officials, last year, when Hurricane Laura came through here, of the 25 deaths recorded from Hurricane Laura, nine of that were due to carbon monoxide poisoning from people misusing their generators, bringing them inside and just operating them in a dangerous way, maybe not following the manufacturer's recommendations for how to operate those things.

So people are being warned, be very, very careful about using your generators, especially as we get into some darkness here in New Orleans. That is also, you know, just putting another point of danger here because it is hard to see any water levels rising in your given neighborhood. We do know that there was a flash flood emergency issued for about 20 different areas of New Orleans in the south shore area. So people were asked to seek higher ground there very, very late on Sunday night.

The levees though and the flood gates seem to be holding. This was not necessarily an issue of storm surge causing flooding here in the New Orleans area. This is just relentless rainfall that is causing flooding in some areas.

But the good news is, according to the Flood Risk and Flood Management Authority here in Louisiana, the flood gates, the surge gates, those have been closed. But those are holding the levees which have been heavily fortified since Hurricane Katrina 16 years ago, including making them taller and extending them further out. Those levees have been holding and they expected them to hold indefinitely and will be able to ride out the storm.

But, again, power outages throughout New Orleans and throughout the state of Louisiana, a huge issue now as crews will start to fan out in the coming hours to try to not only assess damage but see when and where they can restore power to some of these areas, including the whole city of New Orleans.

Brian Todd, CNN, New Orleans.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

CHURCH (on camera): Joining me now on the phone is New Orleans City Councilman Joe Giarrusso. Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

JOE GIARRUSSO, CITY COUNCILMAN, NEW ORLEANS (via telephone): Thank you.

CHURCH: Talk to us about the power because we understand it is completely out across New Orleans. We are those lucky enough, of course, to have generators relying on them for power. But how long, do you think, it will take to restore electricity across the city once morning comes and in the days and the weeks ahead?

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): We just got off of the phone with the energy provider not too long ago. They told us essentially that they don't know the answer. The problem has been there are eight transmission lines that are down. They fell in cascading series of events throughout the day. And apparently, earlier in the evening, a number of them all went down at the same time. So, it became for a lack of a better term a perfect storm of events that led to the (INAUDIBLE).

Because of the inclement weather, there are still the high winds and the rain. The energy company does not feel it is in the best interest to go touch those lines right now not knowing what is happening and, in fact, trying not to make the situation worse. They are hoping that some of the lines can be restored in shorter order and then advising us that maybe it will be a few days but it could be a matter of weeks, too.

So we are crossing our fingers and hoping that things move as quickly as possible. And soon as the rain and the wind abate --

CHURCH: Right.

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): -- they can go and check out and we have a better sense of what the damage is.

CHURCH: And councilman, for those people that are using generators, the big fear always is carbon monoxide poisoning. How are you making sure that people are careful while using their generators and has there been an effort to educate the public about the dangers involved?

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): That is a great question. The answer is yes. I really have to give our local media outlets in particular a great deal of credit about that. They reemphasized and almost did PSA throughout the day about it. At one point as I was watching one of them, they specifically said that there were more deaths in one of the recent hurricanes post-storm than there were pre-storm.

[03:35:02]

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): So you are 100 percent right that we want to make sure that people are safe and using their equipment safely. The last thing we want is to lose people just because they are trying to maintain their power or do something that they should.

I appreciate the fact that you're asking the questions. So if anybody happens to be watching us who are in the area or listening to us later offline, that they take the necessary precautions.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And councilman, what are you expecting to find across New Orleans when the sun comes up in just a few hours, and how extensive, do you think, the damage will likely be? Of course, your first challenge will be search and rescue.

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): That will be the first thing. So far, knock on wood, we have not heard too much about search and rescue. As the hours are passing, the reports are that the winds here will start dying down at 8:00 a.m. They expect those are the sustained winds and the rain throughout the night.

The best case scenario is sort of by noon tomorrow that you start to get to a point where things should really be in much better position. What we are going to do as soon as it is safe is go throughout our district from top to bottom and start live tweeting and letting our neighborhood leaders know what we are seeing and what we are finding.

At this point, what we are hearing the most is obviously downed tree limbs, some trees, some roofs. And hopefully, as we look in the morning, we know this has been a significant wind event but that hasn't been so bad that people have lost too much roofs or too much property or hopefully nobody else is hurt.

CHURCH: And councilman, of course, the horror and indeed the irony of the story is that Hurricane Ida comes on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. How does that make you and others feel as you tackle this?

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): Well, it is extraordinarily hard. I think a couple of extraordinary significant things are rolled into this at this moment. The first is that obviously not only it is the anniversary, but I think so many of us who were evacuated for Katrina were thinking, all right, we are going to pack our bags and we will be home tomorrow, the levees broke during the middle of the night and you weren't able to return.

So I think a lot of people are watching to see what happens with that to make sure that they are able to come back. The levees are built much stronger as $14.5 billion were spent on this in the last period of time.

And look, there is just so much (ph) pain from having all through this. Hurricane season causes anxiety for all sorts of folks throughout the region and the area. You know that you are going to be without power and you know that you're going to have to spend extra money on resources. A lot of people don't have those. Your ability to get places becomes much more difficult.

So, it can be a challenge. We want to make sure that as we emerge from this, we make the challenge as easy as possible for our residents.

CHURCH: New Orleans City Councilman Joe Giarrusso, thank you so much for talking with us and do take care. Thank you.

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, the bodies of U.S. service members killed in Afghanistan returned home on Sunday, while in Kabul, their comrades remained to finish the mission. We will have a live report from Washington, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHURCH: The bodies of 13 U.S. service members killed in the Kabul airport attack have returned home. President Joe Biden attended the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Sunday. This was his first time watching the return of fallen U.S. troops since becoming commander-in-chief. The deadline for U.S. troops to leave Afghanistan is tomorrow, while Mr. Biden faces fierce criticism for his handling of the withdrawal.

And CNN White House reporter Jasmine Wright is joining us now live from Washington. Good to see you, Jasmine. So, it was, of course, a dignified but tragic transfer for the loved ones of these 13 U.S. service members. And with one day to go before the evacuation mission ends, President Biden has some tense hours ahead of him. What is the latest on the mood at the White House right now?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, it was a solemn day on Sunday, Rosemary. We just saw President Biden really reacting with sadness and anguish. Even though he has mask on, you can kind of tell it in his movements as he stood for the first time as commander-in- chief for that dignified transfer.

We saw him putting his hand over his heart, sometimes closing his eyes as those service members transferred -- excuse me, transferred -- walked down with those transferred cases. We saw him really react solemnly.

You know, the solemnness and anguish that you see, Rosemary, is something that has kind of permeated around the White House ever since Thursday when we first learned of the attack that killed 13 U.S. service members along with scores of others.

It is that reason that President Biden is so stuck to that August 31st withdrawal date because he does not want to see more U.S. service members return to the U.S. in those transfer cases.

But you are right, this was a sad day, and we know, really, that this is the first time that he has presided over this or attended this solemn movement as president. We know that he went at least once as vice president in the last few years.

But this is really a moment of reflection it seemed like for him as the country barrels towards the August 31st date that comes tomorrow when we have -- when he has designated that withdrawal date. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Jasmine Wright, thank you so much.

Joining me now is CNN political analyst Toluse Olorunnipa. He is also a national politics reporter for "The Washington Post." Thank you so much for being with us.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST: Great to be here.

CHURCH: So, the challenges facing President Biden right now are immense: the pandemic, the deadly withdrawal from Afghanistan, Hurricane Ida, resulting in Biden's plunging approval ratings and perhaps putting his leadership in jeopardy. How likely is it that he can recover from all of this?

OLORUNNIPA: It is kind of incredibly difficult summer for President Biden. He expected this to be a time of victory lap over infrastructure and all of his domestic legislation. We have seen a resurgence of COVID. We have seen what is happening in Afghanistan. Now, he has a hurricane to deal with as well as a number of different international crises.

As a result, his poll numbers are starting to go down. It is really difficult to not only get out of one of these crisis but multiple crises at the same time.

[03:45:02]

OLORUNNIPA: So he does face a very big uphill battle in trying to figure out he can get himself back to where he was just a few months ago where it seemed like things are going very well with his administration.

CHURCH: Yes. So, how bad could all this perhaps prove to be the Biden in the 2022 midterms or could his fortunes be turned around once the U.S. is out of Afghanistan, the pandemic is in the rear view mirror with more people vaccinated by November 2022?

OLORUNNIPA: Well, the best thing he has going for him is that there is a lot of time between now and November 2022 and the American public tends to have a pretty short attention span and, you know, changes his mind quickly when things change. So he does have some time to get things back together.

But it is difficult. It is always difficult for incumbent presidents here when it comes to their first midterm elections. There is a tradition of them losing dozens of seats, especially in the House and potentially losing control of Congress. So it is an uphill battle for him. But he does have time on his side.

If he can get things better and if he can show that this is the worst of it and things will only be getting better from here and people can put Afghanistan in the rear view mirror and COVID gets better and things like hurricanes are no longer part of the picture, then he might be able to convince Americans in 2022 that things are not as bad as they were before.

That may be his best shot at trying to get some kind of political backing going into not only 2022 but his own re-election two years later.

CHURCH: And Toluse, we know, of course, that the American public, they really did want the United States out of Afghanistan. Of course, no one expected ISIS-K would attack in the way they have and, of course, U.S. casualties as a result. What do polls reveal in terms of what people might be voting for by the midterms and how reliable are numbers like that anyway this far out?

OLORUNNIPA: Yeah, the American people were ready to leave Afghanistan. They were not ready to leave the way that we left in which there was a lot of chaos, chaos around the airport, and now a terrorist attack that led to the deaths of several U.S. service members.

So, that is something that is difficult for Biden to explain away, not only leaving, but leaving the way that the exit has gone. It has been a very difficult thing for him politically because Americans are showing in these polls that they are not happy with the embarrassment of the chaos of the exit.

But, you know, that being said, Americans still want U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and Biden can campaign on that. He can say, I was the successful president that ended this war after 20 years and got our American troops home.

I expect to be hearing a lot about that over the next couple of years. He will talk about being the president that finally did what other presidents were not able to do, which is to end the war, to get the U.S. out of this country of Afghanistan and move on away from the wars in the Middle East that have been so soured upon by the American public.

CHURCH: And as far as the pandemic goes, President Biden started his term well, as you pointed out, pledging to get as many Americans vaccinated as possible. But then along came the delta variant and the anti-vaxxers have made his task a whole lot harder. Do people blame Biden for the problems when it comes to COVID or do they understand the challenges he faces with it?

OLORUNNIPA: There is a small segment of the public that blames Biden specifically for what is happening with COVID. I think the vast majority of the public, they see that the Biden administration did its job in terms of getting the vaccine across far the country and making it available and accessible to people.

Now, convincing people to actually take the vaccine has been a completely different story. The majority of Americans have taken the vaccine but there are is large portion who have just said that they don't want the vaccine.

I think that, you know, for the most part, Americans realize that this is situation where Biden and the Biden administration have made the vaccine accessible.

They've done a less of a good job of making people convinced that they need to take the vaccine. And so a lot of Americans say that there is a personal responsibility aspect of this. You can lead a cow to water but you can't make them drink, so to speak.

So, I think Biden and his administration have done their job in getting the vaccine out across the community but getting people to be convinced to take it, a completely different story.

And now, we have seen the numbers of COVID cases go up. That is going to make it much harder for him to put COVID and the virus and the pandemic in the rear view mirror as he wanted to do at the beginning of summer.

CHURCH: Toluse Olorunnipa, thank you so much. Always good to get your perspective.

OLORUNNIPA: Thank you.

CHURCH: Well, conditions remain extremely dangerous as Hurricane Ida tears through Louisiana. A look back at its initial impact on the U.S. when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (voice-over): You can hear there the howling wind and rushing water as Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana. In parts of the state, roads are impassable and hospitals damaged. Some parishes are without drinking water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): It is early morning in Louisiana right now. Those affected by Hurricane Ida are anxiously waiting for the sun to rise so they can see the true extent of the storm's destruction. Here is the impact the hurricane made in its first hours after making landfall.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): We have breaking news on Hurricane Ida. This extremely dangerous storm just made landfall only moments ago as a Category 4 storm with 150 mile an hour winds.

UNKNOWN: My weather vane registered 160 miles an hour wind and then it broke.

NADIA ROMERO, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It almost feels like someone with giant hands has taken the wind and the water from behind me and is pushing it towards the city of New Orleans.

[03:54:59]

UNKNOWN: This is the time to stay inside. Do not venture out.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There is flying debris all over the place. You will see my eyes dart back and forth because I've got to constantly watch out for me and my team.

JASON CARROLL, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You can see these bands of wind and rain that steadily have been coming through here and it makes it very difficult at this point to stand up.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Wow.

CARROLL: Just let these visuals play out.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Unbelievable.

CARROLL: The reason I can stand here is only because of this concrete wall to my left.

UNKNOWN: You've got to be prepared to stay for the first 72 hours on your own. Nobody should be expecting that tonight a first responder is going to be able to answer a call for help.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are praying for the best and planning and preparing for the worse. Soon as the storm passes, we are going to put the country's full might behind the rescue and recovery.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH (on camera): And for more information on how you can help those affected by Hurricane Ida, just go to cnn.com/impact. You will find a list of verified organizations already making a difference.

Thank you so much for your company. I am Rosemary Church. Our breaking news coverage of Hurricane Ida continues on "Early Start." Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)