Lets go back to Hurricane Ida. Our Meteorologist Tom Sater is in the Cnn Weather Center tracking the path. Were supposed to get an update from the national weather service. Just moments ago, the 11 00 p. M. Advisory is giving us interesting information. There is no change in the sustained winds that have been holding at 105. Its quite interesting because this has been over very warm waters, what we call the gulf of mexico loop, a stream of very warm waters. It hasnt changed its intensity. However, its moving into much warmer waters. Thats fuel and its going to create intensification. The pressure, however, is dropping 2 millibars an hour. It takes a while for the winds to react to the dropping pressure. So it is strengthening. Still a category 2. The new track has come out and it jumps from a category 3 to a category 4 by morning. Theres your intensification. Still looks to have landfall around midday, roughly a 1 00 p. M. Hour central daylight time, local time. After it makes landfall as a category 4, right at that 130 sustained wind, just barely a cat 4, youre not going to know the difference if its a strong cat 3 or barely a cat 4, but it does lose a little strength when it makes its landfall and interacts with land. But again, still a category 2, and you keep it a tropical storm in the northern part of the state here. So again, its that forward momentum and that surge of energy that continues to pound this region for hours. Notice how the icons really spread out when you get into the Tennessee And Ohio valley. That means its picking up speed. That also means this moving at a Turtles Pace throughout the Day Tomorrow and toward tomorrow night. Were now able to pick this up on radar, and you can see the welldefined eye. Were seeing Thunderstorm Development surrounding the eye wall, which means, yes, intensification is going on. You also look for lightning strikes. Not only around the center, which were seeing, but now these bands, poppy, are starting to produce Feeder Bands that will be amusing in towards the parishes of louisiana in a matter of hours. You dont need to be in the center to feel the effects of this. Early this morning we had a Wind Gust of 76 miles per hour in key west quite some distance away. We will have tornado watches. They can create some damage. Now well see landfall at midday, conditions are going to go downhill. Tropical storm winds will move in around 4 00, 5 00 in the morning, and continue their track into the north. This is, of course, what we have as our Storm Surge Warning. Earlier today they extended it all the way to the florida border. So again, mobile, dont let your guard down with this. Still concerned about a couple of things, not just the winds in that corridor, creating a bad approach on an angle, moving to the northwest at 16. But from new orleans northward to baton rouge. Not only the winds, poppy, but that Storm Surge. Theyre not katrina levels, 20, 24 feet, but enough inundation well inland and miles. Not to mention the Pumping System can only handle so much in new orleans. 1 inch an hour, half an inch after that. They could see 10 to 15 inches in some cases. Its going to be a long day. Tom sater, thank you for the update. Lets get to Jason Carroll in louisiana close to where Ida May Make Laughlin tomorrow. Whats the latest, jason . Reporter if you look behind me, poppy, you can see there are boarded up buildings, Sandbagged Building as well. L that is ghost town. A number of folks have left down. Thats exactly what Emergency Officials want to see and want to hear, basically when you think of homa, think of this. Again, as ive said, it could be Ground Zero for this hurricane. Its also under a mandatory evacuation. Spoke to the sheriff out here who says that he predicts anywhere between 60 to 80 of residents here and the surrounding parish have basically left town. Weve also heard from the States Governor who says, look, if youre planning to leave, time has all but run out. Even after hearing all of that, there are still, poppy, a number of folks, mostly longtime residents who say, look, they feel as though their best course of action is to stay where they are. So youre not going to evacuate. Do you have any concerns about staying . Tornadoes and the wind damage. Im more worried about what were going to come home to going down that way because if they have damage here, we have zeroing is there anything that anyone can say to convince you to evacuate . You drive me now. Because i aint getting on no interstate. Im scared. Youre more scared im more scared of the interstate than staying in the house right here. Reporter and shes not alone, poppy. Two of the folks who live here on this street, the man who lives in a house next to this building and across the street there, jason and his wife, they all say they plan to stay here, right here on this street and wait out the storm. Poppy . Jason, i mean, on top of hearing all of that, the Louisiana Flood Protection authority says theyve closed nearly all the floodgates ahead of this storm, part of the Protection System built after katrina, right . And so that infrastructure hopefully will protect people a whole lot more. Reporter a little bit more about that, poppy. About 30 minutes or so from where we are right now in a place called chauvin, there is a massive Flood Gate there built after katrina. It stands about 15 feet high. They are really banking on that doing its job to keep the water at bay. Just to give you a comparison, the surrounding levees in and around the parish stand at about 12 feet. When you look at the dire predictions, the Storm Surge could be anywhere between 10 and 15 feet. You do the math and you can see why theres so much concern. Again, Emergency Officials say that even for those 12foot levees that are backup levees that are in place that werent in place before that they are hoping do the job. We hope so. Jason carroll, thank you very much to you and your team on the ground for all of this reporting. Well get back to you soon. Earlier Tonight President biden approved an Emergency Declaration for the state of mississippi. Officials across the state bracing for the impact of Hurricane Ida once the powerful storm moves inland tomorrow. Joining me now is the mayor of jackson, mississippi. Thank you very much for being here, especially On A Night Like This with everything consuming your time and your energy. If you could just update us on your outlook now after issuing that State Of Emergency earlier today. Well, thank you, poppy. I know that our residents depend on all News Outlets in order to provide them information. As it stands today, were sending not only our public works crews, our Police Department and fire department, making sure that theyre in place to provide assistance in preparation for the storm, were advising residents that in floodprone areas to seek higher ground and shelter. Were providing sandbags to residents in preparation. We are closely adhering to the advice provided to us by our Emergency Management operations with the county and waiting for direction from the mema, from the state. As it stands today, that i believe our greatest threat is high winds and the effects of those high winds and the associated storms that come with the hurricane. Our latest modeling, cnn storm tracker, mayor, is showing jackson set to get hit the hardest around 2 00 on monday. Is that what youre expecting at this point . That seems to be consistent with the information that has been provided to me most recently. And so were trying to do everything that we can to gear up. Of course, some of the threats that were always concerned with is how it will impact our infrastructure that residents rely on. How it will impact our water distribution, how it will impact electricity. And so were trying to do our best to prepare residents, communicate early and often, and make certain that we bunker down. What about your hospitals . They are already being hit so hard constantly from the covid crisis, the delta variant surge, and now this, and now the potential for prolonged Power Outages. I mean, how concerned are you about the Hospital System there . Extremely, extremely concerned. I think that you hit on a very important point. Theyre already stretched beyond capacity. This storm could not come at a worse time, not only for jackson residents, but, you know, people across this nation. And so we will be looking for direction from the state. Well be looking for direction from our medical personnel to see how we can best support the residents. And so its just another challenge for our residents to endure. Of course it is. The fact that this is hitting, you know, to the day, 16 years after Hurricane Katrina is just i mean, its very sad irony. The situation, though, as we just heard Jason Reporting and our experts in the previous hours is theres a whole lot more investment, a whole lot of new infrastructure that wasnt there in the wake of katrina. I wonder how much more confident that makes you. When you look in and around new orleans, very different there. But what is different for you guys . We try our best to be as prepared as possible and hopefully we can be overprepared and the effects, you know, prayerfully wont be as bad as we anticipate. But, you know, well be making certain that we give our very best to the last moment. You know, you never know how the infrastructure will hold up. And so i dont just simply rely on all of that. We troy to put the appropriate personnel in place and rely on the support we can get from the state of mississippi. Is there a concern that you have that i know theres not a mandatory evacuation order, but, you know, there will come a point where people who have not taken the necessary precautions will not be able to get the Emergency Aid because it gets so bad. Well, because we live in areas just being a coastal state, not so much as jackson is more inland than some other cities, sometimes we take the advisement, the precautions as soundly as we should. And so it is important that we reiterate the message of just how severe this storm is, that we reiterate the message of turn around, dont drown. If you see standing water, dont walk in it, dont swim in it, dont ride in it. And those are things that we have to continue to speak to our residents about. Were concerned about downed power lines. Were concerned about all the associated effects of a storm of this magnitude. And so it is important that we speak early and often to our residents as much as possible. Once we get notification if that becomes necessary for the need for evacuation, we want to speak. To date, at this point, that has not been the advice we have received. Okay. Mayor lumumba, thank you very much. Good luck now. Thank you, poppy. Of course. Breaking tonight out of afghanistan, a new Security Alert from the u. S. Embassy In Kabul warning all u. S. Citizens to leave the Kabul Airport immediately due to a, quote, specific and credible threat. Were live from the pentagon with more. Just days before the Breakaway Terror Group isisk claimed responsibility for an attack on american Service Members and hundreds of afghan civilians, our Clarissa Ward sat down for an exclusive interview with a commander of isisk. Youll see that ahead. 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What more can you tell us about is there a commitment to all 350 of these americans who want to get out of afghanistan that theyre going to be on planes in the next 72 hours. We heard that from president Joe Biden multiple times that he would get every u. S. Citizen who wants to leave out. Its worth noting the administration said there are several hundred american citizens who decided to stay at this time. Until that last second, if they change their mind, the administration will do what it can to get them out. But obviously the situation has become far more dangerous, with not only the terror attack, but a new specific and credible threat, specific enough that the warning from the u. S. Embassy In Kabul mentions three specific gates, the the south gate, the Ministry Of The Interior and the petrol station. Thats the kind of Intelligence And Information thats leading to this new warning. Weve seen over the course of the past two weeks that the u. S. Used Helicopter Missions to bring americans into the airport. Those were of short distance and duration, but perhaps it will be something like that or a covert operation instead of bringing them through gates. There is some time left in this evacuation, but a very little bit. Theres essentially sunday, its early Sunday Morning already in afghanistan, monday, and at least part of tuesday. But as is obvious from the declining numbers were seeing in the people getting on these flights, this is no longer fully an evacuation. Its a withdrawal of forces as well. All at the same time, incredibly implicated and dangerous. Oren, thank you for the report. At the pentagon, im happy to bring in New York Times white House And Nationality correspondent, david sanger, wishing it was under better circumstances, but david you know this stuff inside and out. Thank you for staying up late with us tonight. How do we do this, david . How does the u. S. Get those americans out, get our afghan allies out, keep these troops safe in the face of these new specific credible threats . Poppy, its going to be really hard, and i think these next 72 hours before the deadline of August 31st are going to be particularly fraught. You had three separate problems. First is this specific threat that the White House and the Defense Department talked about tonight. That is very reminiscent of just a few days ago, the night before the Suicide Bomb that killed those 13 american marines. And so it feels like weve got a moment of Deja Vu here. As a result, theyre not going to let marines, im sure, be on the outside of these gates trying to sort through people. The second problem are the 350 americans who say they want to get out. From the people that weve been talking to, it sounds like some of them were already inside the base or on the way. I think the question is what about the americans we dont know about or those who might change their mind . And how you get them out once the u. S. No longer has a presence. Thats an issue. And then the third issue, of course, are the afghans, of which there are tens, maybe hundreds of thousands. The president has promised to get them out too, those who helped the united states. But when the british left today, poppy, their commander said its a tragedy, but we werent able to get all of them. Id be surprised if the american experience is any different. What did we learn from this, david . In all youve reported on in all of your years, as you look at this and i know were still in the middle of it, but what is the lesson here . There are so many, poppy, and they come at different parts of the war. During the bush administration, we basically learned that the initial mission to get Al Qaeda then bled into a number of other missions, did he mockitiesization, sending girls to school, reforming the economy. That was a mistake. Naming this a War On Terror as if that was something that would ever have a defined beginning and end. I think that was a mistake. During the obama administration, doing the surge and then counting on the afghans to fill in for the Retreating Americans and they couldnt. Shouldve been a warning to us. During the trump administration, making a deal with the taliban that basically called for us to leave whether the taliban complied or not. That was a mistake. And during the biden administration, not moving faster to get people out after the president s announcement in april, thinking we had the luxury of time. Can we talk about that last point, david . Because, i mean, youve spoken to the president , youve interviewed him in the past, and he was and the administration was warned by so many, especially in their own party, so many members of congress saying we need a plan, we need to make this commitment to get our allies out, those interpreters, their families, for so long. And i wonder specifically what the lesson is in that given that many, it appears, may not make it out. Thats absolutely right. We needed to be pulling those people out with the same kind of urgency starting in may that weve shown in the last two weeks. The administrations done a remarkable job in two weeks. We got 109,000 people out of the country and another few thousand today, we heard. Thats way above what the pentagon thought they could do. But in the months before, we only got 2,000 of those afghans out. And thats really something weve got to go look at. Some of the fault belongs to congress which did change the law just a few weeks ago to make it a little bit faster and a little bit easier to process them. But weve learned from this we could have gotten them out much faster. We could have done this Air Lift months ago. The problem is, none of us really believe the afghan government would collapse. The government didnt believe it, the Intelligence Community didnt believe it, the military didnt believe it. And poppy, frankly, none of us really did too. I mean, i didnt think it would collapse that sfast and i dont know many of our jiournalistic colleagues who did. Could kabul really fall, could that really happen . Thats right. In fact, i asked the president about this in early july, july 2nd, and he described a plan for american backup of the afghan forces in Kabul And None of that happened. David sanger, thank you. Your reporting has been extraordinary. Glad youre with us. Thank you, poppy. Great to be with you. Of course. Minutes ago we did get an update on the other breaking News Story were covering tonight that of course is Hurricane Ida and the path of the storm. Well give you that update next. excited Laughter Ahhh Ohhhh Fridge Closing Crowd Noises cheering laughter i strip on public transit. I strip with the guys. I strip all by myself. 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Hurricane ida expected to intensify over the next few hours as It Barrels toward the Gulf Coast. A live look now at new orleans. This is Bourbon Street in the french quarter. You know what that normally looks like, so you can tell how prepared people are for this storm, people trying to get inside. This is a saturday night, i should note. Tyler, we are just got this update at 11 00. Still a cat 2, right . But expected to be a cat 4 by the morning . Hey, poppy. This system, Hurricane Ida, is Poise Today rapidly intensify in the coming hours and it will go from a category 2 with 105mileperhour winds, which it has right now, to a healthy category 4 as it narrows in on the coastline of louisiana. It will become a 130mileperhour Hurricane but we are gusts will be way stronger than 130 miles per hour. At the Moment Landfall looks to be somewhere around Grand Isle to houma, louisiana. The impacts are way out from the Center And Way out from the cone. Were already seeing bands of showers and thunderstorms move through the north of the Gulf Coast into portions of alabama, mississippi, and louisiana, despite Hurricane Ida being about 230 miles to the South And East of houma, louisiana. All the bands are a foreshadow of things to come. Things go downhill quickly in the coming hours. All this rain will spread to the north and across Southeastern Louisiana and across mississippi and alabama. This area right here is not in the cone. Youre going to be impact really, really hard. Where we see the center come ashore, thats where we could see up to 10, maybe 15 inches of rain. Some areas isolated up to 20 inches of rain. And then we see a wide swath of 6 to 10 inches all the way up through mississippi and into the tennessee valley. On the right side of the system were going to see tornadoes. Those tornadoes are going to come ashore here in new orleans going Into Biloxi and possibly mobile too. Of course youre going to see the category 4 hurricaneforce winds come ashore as well. One of the worst hazards, i believe, with ida is going to be the flooding and the Storm Surge. We have a Storm Surge Warning up for the areas in pink. That goes from Morgan City all the way to mobile. Around the mouth of the mississippi river, Grand Isle, you could see a maximum Storm Surge of 15 feet. This is going to cause structures to become uninhabitable near the coastline. When you factor in the flooding, the Storm Surge, and the wind, poppy, were looking at widespread Power Outages near the coastline. Thats why we have Power Crews coming in from 22 different states and d. C. To help restore power. Wow. Our thanks to them for helping. But it looks like a long road ahead for those communities. Joining me on the phone is the director of the new orleans Health Department. Doctor, good evening. Can you hear me . Yes, good evening, poppy. Thank you very much for staying up late, especially with all you have on your hands right now. The key issue here on top of this storm, hurricane, that is headed straight for you guys is the situation your hospitals are already in, full of covid patients. So what does this mean for them . Hi. Well, were no stranger to having two disasters at once. Last year also during covid we lived through, i think, eight storm activations. Though our hospitals werent quite as full. You know, we are trying to prepare as best we can. Our hospitals are doing their absolute best to make sure they have staffing in place to care for everyone whos there, to Discharge Anyone Block safely discharged. And were really telling residents, you know, now is not the time to go to the hospital unless you have a true lifethreatening emergency. I hope people listen to that because you need every single resource you can on the folks that need it most. Today the governor said hospitals in the state are maxed out. Are you getting any extra support for the hospitals from other states . Is there any call you would like to make to people that could be of help in the wake of the storm . Well, i know that our state and our governor have asked for federal resources and, you know, as always, were sure that we will get some. But, you know, quite frankly, there are very few resources anywhere in our region and as the Delta Surge grows across the country, more and more medical facilities are just as strained as we are. So we understand the limitations, were going to do the best we can with the resources. Weve asked for help and whatever help is available has been provided. Earlier this week the federal government did provide some help to one of our childrens hospitals in the region due to the increase in pediatric cases they were seeing. And were very appreciative for that. So we know that help will be coming, but were quite realistic about what to expect. One thing that is obvious, but i dont think a lot of us think about it or talk about it enough is even when, you know, towns and communities are told to evacuate, that doesnt really mean you guys, right . Right. The hospitals stay, you stay, the doctors, the nurses, the support staff, you guys stay. And i wonder what that is like in a moment like this. Well, Thats Part of the calling of being a Health Care Worker in an area that has its share of disasters. Thats anywhere in a coastal area or a place with wildfires. Were here because we want to serve our community, we want to care for patients. And that absolutely means being here for them in the worst of times and often at great sacrifice to our own personal lives and our families. And so everybody goes into that knowing it. Im just really proud to have so many colleagues who want to do this work and really even today as i was in the hospital and certainly with our team at the Health Department at the city, everybody was united in the mission, was energized. We know whats coming. We know what the worst could be, but were working really well together to make it as safe as possible for our residents. And that really carries us through, i think. Were also grateful for the work you do, especially in times like this. Doctor, thank you to you and your team. Thank you so much. Up next, back to afghanistan and an extraordinary interview you need to hear and youll only hear on cnn. Our own Clarissa Ward sits down for an interview with an Isisk Commander, the Terror Group that carried out that attack on u. S. Service members on thursday. The interview came just days before that attack. Stay right here. 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Its one way were making a difference. Because we believe how you handle overdrafts should be in your control, not just your banks. Low Cash Mode on virtual wallet from pnc bank. You need an ecolab scientific clean here. And you need it here. And here. And here. Which is why the scientific expertise that helps Operating Rooms stay clean is now helping the places you go every day too. Seek a commitment to clean. Look for the Ecolab Science certified seal. Our Clarissa Ward spoke with an Isisk Commander before the Carting Twags attack. Why he turned against the taliban and what happen his group is hoping to do once other nations pull out of afghanistan. Reporter two weeks before the attack, just days before kabul fell to the taliban, we were in touch with a senior Isisk Commander who said the group was lying low and waiting for its moment to strike. Words that turned out to be eerily prophetic. So this commander has said that hell do an interview with us at a hotel here In Kabul, and he says its no problem for him to get through checkpoints and come right into the capital. To prove his point, he let us film his arrival into the city. Abdul maneer, as he asked to be called, is an Isisk Commander from kunar, the heart of the terrorist groups operations. He agreed to talk on the condition that we disguise his identity. In a kabul hotel, he told us hes had up to 600 men under his command. Among them, indians, pakistanis, and central asians. Like many of his foot soldiers, he used to fight with the taliban but says theyve fallen under the influence of foreign powers. Translator we were operating in talibans ranks. However, these people were not aligned with us in terms of belief, so we went to isis. Reporter do you think theyre not strict enough with their implementation of sharia . Translator you see, they cant present one example where they have been islamic law punishments, where they have cut off a thiefs hand, have stoned to death an adulter, have stoned to death a murderer. They cannot enforce Islamic Law Epitomes because theyre under other Peoples Control and implement their plans. We do not want to implement someone elses plans and only want top enforce sharia. If anyone gets along with us, he is a brother. Otherwise we declare war whether hes taliban or anyone else. Reporter have you covered executions, Suicide Bombings . Things of that nature . Translator yes, i have too many memories where i was present at these scenes. One memory is that the Pakistani Taliban had come to the district and during the fighting we captured five people. Our fighters became over excited, and we struck them with axes. Reporter its that chilling brutality that made isisk a primary target for u. S. Forces. In recent years, Air Strikes and Special Forces operations have ruthlessly targeted the group in kunar and nangahar. Has your group engaged in any fighting with u. S. Special forces . Translator yes, we have faced them on many occasions. We had close combat with them, too. They used to land in kunar they carried out Air Strikes. We have faced them a lot in fire fights. Reporter are you interested ultimately in carrying out international attacks . Translator this point is higher than my level. I can only give you information about afghanistan. Reporter with u. S. Forces out of the country and the taliban potentially in control, do you think that will make it easier for you to expand . Translator yes, this exists in our plan. Instead of currently operating, we have turned to recruiting only to utilize the opportunity and to do our recruitment. But when the foreign and the people of the world leave afghanistan, we can restart our operations. Reporter that moment has now come as the world saw all too clearly on thursday. A brutal attack on an alreadybattered country, and a threat that is not going away as u. S. Forces complete their withdrawal. He would not comment on whether the group was interested in pursuing transnational attacks, but he did say that he hopes with the withdrawal of u. S. Forces that potentially they might be able to try to establish a caliphate like the one Al Bagdadi established in syria and iraq. Now, most Terrorism Analysts say isisk is said to be five years away from potentially being able to launch international attacks. But this bloody attack on the airport certainly raises very real questions about the Talibans Ability to control groups like isisk and whether afghanistan could once again become a Safe Haven for terrorists. Clarissa ward, cnn, doha. Joining me now is mike baker, former cia covert operations. Thank you very much for being here. I want your take. First of all, an extraordinary interview. Remarkable access. Remember, that was just days before the attack that killed 13 u. S. Service members, 170 plus others that isisk claims responsibility for. I think a lot of people right now are watching and saying what is isisk . So what is it . Right. Its essentially most people understand what islamic state was because we went through a great deal of exposure to isis during the 2014, 2015, 2016 period of time. Isisk is a disaffected group, an offshoot that is comprised of individuals coming out of pakistan and individuals coming from the taliban themselves who felt that the taliban, as bizarre as this sounds, isnt extremist enough. And so they you know, if youre looking in terms of the relationships that exist out there, think of the taliban think of the Haqqani Network and the Al Qaeda network joined at the hip. On the other side of the spectrum is isisk, which considers the taliban a sworn enemy, as they consider the u. S. As well. I was most struck, i think, in the interview, mike, by one of clarissas last questions, which is will it be easier for you to operate in afghanistan now that the u. S. Is gone and everyone else is pulling out, right . And he said, unequivocally yes, and, by the way, were so focused on recruitment. You know, the u. S. Went into afghanistan to take down Al Qaeda on the War On Terror. And now youve got what seems to be burgeoning newer Terror Threat in the country. Right. Its frustration to a lot of people who dont spend a lot of time watching the area. Its absolutely no surprise to those who have spent any time dealing with counterterrorism out there. But in a sense, anytime theres chaos, theres an opportunity, whether its Al Qaeda, isis, or isisk, han ah canny network, to expand their reach, to expand their reach. Chaos provides that opportunity. Now, in a sense this is going to sound very odd. But if you think about the united states and say whats in our best national Security Interests, well, our national Security Interest right now for afghanistan is not to allow the country to be used as a Training And Testing facility for extremist groups to carry out attacks against the u. S. And our allies. If thats the case then with taliban now in charge, we have to look at this in a different way than we have over the past 20 years. We have to be very pragmatic in understanding whats in our best national Security Interests. So right now we should be looking at this and saying, well, we better hope that the taliban can gain control of afghanistan and actually from a Security Point of view, minimize the opportunity for groups like isisk and, frankly, Al Qaeda, which, again, unfortunately is Hand In hand with the taliban, to expand their reach and to once again start targeting, whether its the u. S. Or our allies. And so its counterintuitive, but we have to pivot at a certain point and say, again, based on our national Security Interests, what do we hope for that region . And we have to look at the taliban now in very realistic terms as the best way to control whats going on inside of afghanistan. And so, i mean, i hear your point completely and its striking for people to hear. Yeah. But to what extent can the u. S. Operate with the taliban in a protracted fight against isisk . How do you even work with an entity you Cant Trust . Its not as if we havent done that in the past with other nations. Sure. You have to be very realistic here. You dont trust them. Thats the bottom line. You have to be realistic about who youre dealing and where we are. We are withdrawing. The previous administration put the idea of withdrawal on the table and opened this up. And president biden said im perfectly on board, i agree we should be getting out. That now sets the table for going forward. And so we have very limited options, right . One of the things that we have to be able to do is have this over the horizon ability, which is very difficult now because we dont have the access on the ground for intel collection. But we have to be able to reach in whenever theres a problem and take action. As we did over the past couple of days against the isisk target. Thats a heavy lift because we dont have that Intel Access that we used to have. But we have to be able to do that, but we also have to understand in a very difficult to assimilate but pragmatic way that the environment has changed. The Operating Area has changed. The taliban is in control and, again, assuming we have to think whats in the best interests of the united states. We have to make some pivots here and thats a very difficult thing to do because we have been engaged in the war now for 20 years against the taliban. Mike baker, thank you for your analysis, your expertise tonight. We appreciate it. Thank you. All right. We are also on top of the other breaking News Story this evening. And that is Hurricane Ida likely to hit louisiana as a category 4 storm tomorrow. The 16th anniversary of when Hurricane Katrina hit the state. An update, next. New dove men, plant based Body Wash is different. With plant based cleansers. And moisturizers for healthy and hydrated men, skin, relax your body and mind, shower with new dove men. Boost mobile is all about giving you more power. And now, we give you more power over your health. Boost is the only mobile carrier to give you free 24 7 access to live doctors from your phone. Switch and get a free Samsung Galaxy A32 5g. Only on americas largest fastest 5g network. Now thats powerful. More power to stay healthy. Boost mobile tums vs. Mozzarella stick when heartburn hits, fight back fast with Tums Chewy Bites. Fast Heartburn Relief in every bite. Crunchy outside, chewy inside. 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You have towns in Jefferson Parish that are outside of the levee Protection System. Are under mandatory evacuation orders. And you have called on everyone who can leave, warning that youre expecting a Storm Surge that is unsurvivable. Thats a quote. What is your message to any of those people listening tonight . Well, you know, thats where my concern is. In Jefferson Parish, were a very unique parish in that we have dense living in urban areas. But a couple hours away from us is also part of our parish is our most vulnerable communities in Grand Isle um that road has been closed. The people that are there are stuck there but i know we have a Couple Dozen people down there. So that is truly our concern right now because that Storm Surge is gonna be so strong for such a long period of time, that it will be unsurvivable. Thats what we believe. I mean, you are warning them. I hope they are heeding these warnings before it gets too late. You have experts saying that customers in the direct path of the storm, as intense and as powerful as what Hurricane Ida is looking to be, should expect to face Power Outages for three weeks. And that customers in the hardesthit areas should plan for the possibility of of extended Power Outages, even past that. I mean, does there does there come a point, especially in the immediate aftermath of this storm, that you are unable to go in and help those people . Well, that is certainly a concern. Look, our community is very vulnerable right now. Um, we are very vulnerable with covid. We are dealing with our fourth surge. So we were coming in at kind of full hospital capacity, already. And thats why its just so heartbreaking on this anniversary of katrina that we are dealing with this now. But we are prepared. We prepositioned a lot of assets ahead of time. The state has assets here. We had Louisiana National Guard here to help with our firefighters, our police. We are ready to do Search And Rescue after this but, of course, it is hot in august down here in louisiana. And being without Air Condition for our vulnerable people is going to be very, very difficult. So i think even after the storm, you are going to see people wanting to leave. We are wishing all of them safety overnight, as this storm makes landfall. Thank you, all, for joining us for our special coverage tonight. Im poppy harlow. I will see you soon. My colleague, michael holmes, picks up our coverage after the break. Argan Oil Plus Kerasystem 97 Humidity Protection up to 3 days sleek fructis sleek Shine Number one on sleek by garnier, naturally this is the tempurpedic breeze. And its mission is to make sleep feel cool. So, no more night sweats. No more nocturnal baking. Or polar Ice Cap Airconditioner mode. Because the tempurpedic breeze delivers superior cooling. From cover to core. Helping you sleep cool, all night long. Dont miss our best offer of the year, and experience your best sleep of the summer. All tempurpedic mattresses are on sale, with savings up to 700 on adjustable mattress sets. Learn more at tempurpedic. Com baaam. Internet that doesnt Miss A beat. Thats cute, but my internet streams to my ride. Adorable, but does yours Block Malware . Nope. It crushes it. Pshh, mines so fast, No One can catch me. Big Whoop Mine gives me a 4k streaming box. For free thats because you all have the same internet. Xfinity xfi. So powerful, it keeps oneupping itself. Can your internet do that . Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the united states and all around the world. Im michael holmes. This is cnn newsroom. Appreciate your company. And we do begin with the breaking news. Right now, Hurricane Ida is making its dangerous trek towards the u. S. Gulf coast as a category 2 storm. But expected to rapidly gain