we are following two major breaking stories this hour. i'm alicia mendez. one a tropical storm wreaking havoc for many here at home. the other an increasingly perilous situation for americans and our allies trying to flee afghanistan. tropical storm henri slammed into southwestern rhode island just a few hours ago and is now making its way inland. the storm lashing residents with heavy rain and 50-mile-per-hour winds. as of this hour more than 135,000 homes without power from new jersey to maine. we'll get the latest live report in just a moment. we're also tracking the latest developments out of afghanistan. where the u.s. is doing everything in it power including enlisting the help of commercial flights to ferry americans and our allies out of harm's way. president biden spoke a short time ago about how and why he made the hard decision to pull u.s. troops out of the country.