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Ida, Now a Depression, Leaves Behind Untold Devastation; Storm Carves Path of Destruction Across Louisiana; Interview with Mandie Landry, Louisiana State Representative, New Orleans, Power Outages; Pullout From Afghanistan Ends America's Longest War; China Limits Kids to Three Hours of Video Games Per Week. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 31, 2021 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, we're going to stand with you and the people in the Gulf as long as it takes for you to recover.

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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. President Joe Biden there promising help to those impacted by hurricane Ida. The storm now just a tropical depression, thrashed the Gulf coast before moving north. It left behind downed trees, power lines and millions of people without electricity. At least two people were killed in the storm, but officials are expecting that number to rise.

Right now, search and rescue efforts are under way as Louisiana braces for a lengthy recovery. The mayor of New Orleans says she's grateful in her words that we didn't have another Katrina. But like that epic storm 16 years ago, there is no quick fix for the damage Ida left behind. CNN's Brian Todd reports from just outside of New Orleans.

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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Louisiana reeling tonight from hurricane Ida's brutal impact. Officials are warning the danger is not over.

JEFF LANDRY, LOUISIANA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Stay where you are. Don't try to come home today. Everyone who comes back only puts more pressure on government services.

TODD (voice-over): Buildings and homes destroyed. Roadways blocked, trees and power lines down that continue to cause dangerous conditions throughout the state.

MIKE COOPER, ST. TAMMANY PARISH PRESIDENT: We've just been through horrendous night with winds, rain, gusts, water coming up, rivers rising, power outages and it's incredible.

TODD (voice-over): The category 4 storm brought pounding winds and devastating flooding that topped roofs in some places.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They say it was 185 mile-per-hour winds and I believe it.

TODD (voice-over): The storm so powerful it temporarily reversed the flow of the Mississippi River, desperate search and rescues under way today.

JOHN BELL EDWARDS, LOUISIANA GOVERNOR: I don't want to mislead anyone. Robust search and rescue is happening right now and I fully expect that the death count will go up considerably throughout the day.

TODD (voice-over): Local officials deployed boats throughout the day to conduct water rescues for people caught in the quickly rising water. The city of Slidell hit hard by flooding that officials expect to continue.

GREG CROMER, SLIDELL, LOUISIANA MAYOR: In about a three-hour period we had probably 5-to-6-foot rise in the bayou.

[04:35:00]

TODD (voice-over): Ida's path of destruction widespread, U.S. Coast Guard aerials show the storms severe impact in Grand Isle, Louisiana.

EDWARDS: This is going to be very long ordeal in terms of getting everything cleaned up and certainly getting everything repaired.

TODD (voice-over): More than 1 million people across Louisiana are now without power after the storm including the entire city of New Orleans.

DEANNE CRISWELL, FEMA ADMINISTRATOR: We're already seeing the power outages across the area. And the threat isn't over.

TODD (voice-over): Overnight the city experienced an outage in its 911 emergency call system as the storm crossed the state. One major electrical transmission tower in Jefferson Parish that supplies power to New Orleans collapsed in to the Mississippi River. Entergy Louisiana reported that all eight major transmission lines providing power to the New Orleans area are down. City officials are bracing themselves for what could be weeks without power.

JOE GIARRUSSO, NEW ORLEANS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER I think we have to be realistic at the same time and prepare people for a worst case scenario just like hurricane Laura in Lake Charles where it took weeks.

TODD (voice-over): Hospitals now battered by COVID-19 in Louisiana, now battered by Ida. One clinic lost part of its roof and generator power in the storm.

Another health care system had to evacuate 165 patients from facilities damaged in the storm.

TODD: Another sign of the desperate straits that people are in for pourer, for gasoline, other services, check out this line here in Chalmette, Louisiana. A line here to get gas at a Shell station, it stretches way, way down the block down here. People have been waiting in line 2 1/2, 3 hours to get gas. We talked to the owner a short time ago, he may run out of gas in the coming hours. But people here desperate for gasoline and power and no end to the crisis in sight.

Brian Todd, CNN, Chalmette, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Representative Mandie Landry of New Orleans is joins me now on the phone. She is a Democratic member of Louisiana's House of Representatives. Thank you so much for talking with us.

MANDIE LANDRY, LOUISIANA STATE REP. NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA (via phone): Appreciate you inviting me on.

CHURCH: So, the worst of hurricane Ida is over, but for some residents a new nightmare begins now. Those trapped in attics. Those who lost everything. Let's start with the most important part of this, the search and rescue efforts. How are they progressing?

LANDRY: That has been going well. Luckily, we had most of our people who were in particularly dangerous areas, they did evacuate. But our people who lived Lafitte and LaPlace and in lower lying areas who did stay, that has been moving along. You know, luckily it wasn't that many people and what we're dealing with now is just a massive electrical infrastructure problem.

CHURCH: Yes, that is the big one, isn't it? So, talk to us about that because for a lot of people of course when you haven't got power and we're talking about a million people in New Orleans and surrounding areas without power, when there is no power, there is no clean water. So, is there any timeline for when that power may be returned?

LANDRY: We don't have an estimate yet. So, you're right, there's around a million people without electricity. And for anyone who has ever been to Louisiana or to southeast Louisiana, New Orleans, you know that August right now is the hottest time of the year. It's extremely warm right now. So not having any electricity is terrible right now.

Some of my city, New Orleans, does have -- we have running water and safe water, so that is fine, but other outline Parishes, including Jefferson Parish and other parishes are having some issues with water and that makes it just not habitable. We're lucky in New Orleans that we can drink water from the tap and flush toilets right now. But you know, when you don't have any electricity in the worst days of August, you really feel what modern life is like in particular for our elderly. They just really can't survive for very long in this sort of heat.

CHURCH: So, that is your greatest need of course, but what else do you need from the state and federal governments right now? Especially for those who have no homes to return to and they're struggling to get access to clean water, food and shelter. LANDRY: Right, so for our worse off people who cannot go back to their

homes, they are obviously going to need shelter for an indefinite amount of time as well as food, utilities, necessities. But for most people in the New Orleans, Jefferson Parish, St. Bernard area, it really comes down to electricity and when we can get that back up. And we just don't know yet. We've never had a hurricane of this magnitude hit the city and do this sort of damage. So, we're still a little uncertain how long that may be.

[04:40:00]

But like I said, anyone who has ever been to New Orleans, it's hot. It's a city that you just can't really walk around in August or early September like for too long without getting a little bit of a potential heat stroke. So, we're waiting for Entergy to give us a little more guidance on that.

CHURCH: All right, Representative Mandie Landry, thank you so much for talking with us and to stay safe.

LANDRY: Thanks for having me and I hope everyone keeps Louisiana in their thoughts tonight.

CHURCH: Absolutely. Thank you.

LANDRY: You're welcome.

CHURCH: And for more information on how you can help those affected by hurricane Ida, just go to CNN.com/impact and you will find a list of verified organizations already making a difference.

Still to come, for many Afghan evacuees, escaping the country was only the first step. Now many are facing an agonizing wait for what comes next. We'll have a live report coming up.

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GEN. KENNETH MCKENZIE, COMMANDER, U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND: We did not get everybody out that we wanted to get out. But I think if we'd stayed another ten days, we wouldn't have gotten everybody out that we wanted to get out and there still would be people who had been disappointed with that.

JOHN KIRBY, PENTAGON PRESS SECRETARY: We're going to continue to pursue a variety of means to help those Americans who want to get out after we are gone get out.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Our commitment to working with not just any American citizen who has not yet decided to leave but others who stood by our side, fought by our side, that's enduring. That will continue.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CHURCH: America's longest war is over, but the Biden administration says the U.S. remains committed to helping Afghans and Americans who still want to leave Afghanistan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says the U.S. and its allies are working to reopen the Kabul airport as quickly as possible to facilitate more departures. He says between 100 and 200 Americans remain in the country.

[04:45:00]

And U.S. President Joe Biden will address the nation on Afghanistan later today.

Well, for thousands of Afghans who were able to make it out of the country, one of their first stops is Ramstein Air Base in Germany. And many there are now living in tents waiting for the next leg of their journey.

Atika Shubert is at Ramstein Air Base now and she joins us live. Good to see you, Atika. So, what is the situation at the air base right now for these evacuees waiting for the next leg of their journey?

ATIKA SHUBERT, JOURNALIST: Well, for the base itself, it means that they don't have any more arrivals coming in now that the military evacuation has wrapped up. But what it does mean is that you still have roughly 10,000 to 15,000 people in this enormous tent city that has been built on the air base. It just stretches right across the tarmac. And what's happening is that, you know, all of these people were supposed to be here for 48 hours and then moved on.

But there has been a backlog and the delays in processing a lot of these evacuees mean that they have been stuck there for anywhere between, you know, 4 to 7 days. The maximum that they can stay is 10 days. That is per the agreement between the U.S. and Germany. Evacuees can only be here in transit for a maximum of 10 days before they have to be moved on to their final destinations.

Now the good news is that lot of the flights have now started, so what we're seeing is up to nine flights a day, that's what we saw leave yesterday. So, we've seen thousands leaving, for the United States mostly. But the problem is there are still a lot of people being processed here at the camps. So, it is frustrating for evacuees. It's frustrating for the base as well because they are trying to provide the best care they can, but you know, more than a few days in a tent very basic conditions is difficult for anyone -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Understood. Atika Shubert bringing us the very latest from Ramstein Air Base in Germany, many thanks.

Well, some call it a hobby. Beijing calls it an addiction. The Chinese government cracks down on the time kids can spend playing video games. We'll have the latest.

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[04:50:00] CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, kids in China will have their video game time greatly reduced. Not by mom and dad, but by the Chinese government. Anyone under 18 is now limited to just an hour of online gaming per day, on weekends and holidays between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m.

It's all part of Beijing's crackdown on gaming addiction. CNN's senior producer Steven Jiang is in Beijing. He joins us now live. Good to see you, Steven. So how will the government in China enforce this and just how bad is gaming addiction in the country?

STEVEN JIANG, CNN SENIOR PRODUCER: Well, Rosemary, the enforcement will mostly be carried out by gaming companies which have pledged to strictly implement these new rules. But they also added a minors account for only very tiny fraction of their user base and revenues. But of course, we kind of saw this coming, because just a few weeks ago a major media outlet described video games as spiritual opium and as a result, wiping out billions of dollars in market value for many of the country's biggest gaming companies.

So, these latest rules are almost the other shoe dropping. And this is not even the first time that the Chinese development has tried to limit playtime for minors. Back in 2019, they actually already limited playtime for people under 18 to just 90 minutes per day and three hours at most during public holidays. They have also long required real name registration and log-in for all video game.

But apparently not enough according to officials because they have received so many complaints from parents who say gaming addiction has severely impacted the ability of their children to learn, to study, their physical and mental health and even causing social problems. So, they're trying to frame it as addressing people's concerns and protecting people's welfare. But of course, there are cheering and the supported voices online, but this is also controversial because its effectiveness is not proven. And also, some say that this is yet another example of the ruling Communist Party trying to really intrude into every aspect of people's private life especially for the younger generation for political and ideological purposes -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Right, and what is the reaction from the kids and from the parents, do you know?

JIANG: Well, you know, I think that they are divided. The kids themselves are already the target of many recent government campaigns. They have already been after school private tutoring and now cracking down on celebrity worshipping culture especially among the youth. And now of course, these gaming rules leaving some asking sarcastically what are young Chinese people supposed to do now during their spare time -- Rosemary.

CHURCH: Steven Jiang, many thanks, joining us live from Beijing, appreciate it.

Well, a group of heavily armed bank robbers terrorized a small city in Brazil on Monday. Strapping people to the tops of their getaway cars after raiding several banks. At least one suspect and two locals were killed in shoot-outs with police. Officials say the group also left a trail of explosives across the city and residents were warned to stay inside until they could be deactivated. This is the latest in a series of increasingly violence bank heists in Brazil.

And it appears the political divide over mask mandates in U.S. schools is not going away anytime soon.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, as you can see, fists are now flying all of this on live television. Fists are flying. Unbelievable what we are seeing here today unfold live.

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CHURCH: Parents behaving badly, police in Florida stepped in to break up scuffles outside the Lee County school district's headquarters after a 30-day mask mandate was announced on Monday. More than half of all public-school students in Florida are now required to mask up. Statewide nearly 22,000 students and more than 4,000 school employees have tested positive for COVID in just the past few weeks. And not all districts are reporting their data. On Friday, a court struck down the governor's executive order banning mask mandates in schools.

And before we go, here is something you don't see every day. A dolphin was spotted swimming down the street in a neighborhood on the Louisiana coast. Flash flooding conditions have been severe as a result of hurricane Ida and a woman saw the dolphin's fin while returning home to check on the damage from the storm.

Thank you so much for your company. I'm Rosemary Church. Be sure to connect with me on Twitter anytime @rosemaryCNN. "EARLY START" is coming up next. You're watching CNN, have a wonderful day.

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LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning everyone, it's Tuesday, August 31. It's 5:00 a.m. here in New York. Thanks so much for getting an EARLY START with us. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Christine Romans. Welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world.

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