That attack and 20 others wounded. All that made it such a difficult day here all the way into friday. Thats when we began to learn, not only the names and ages, but the lives and the stories of these Service Members. That made it all that much harder. This is all part of that process in dover, delaware, at Dover Air force base, watching this final journey home, just part of it with the dignified transfers here. Its never easy to see this. Certainly, its even harder to see that many of them, one after another. I suspect even with the Secretary Of Defense there, there are many Service Members, officials, enlisted officers watching this happen around the country realizing what it means to have lost a brother, sister, colleague, service member, somebody who was part of the family here in the pentagon. Theyre so young. Some of them were just babies 20 years ago when 9 11 occurred. Now theyre being brought back to the united states in these Transfer Cases. It must be so difficult. Kaitlan, youre covering this as well, for the president and First Lady to have met with the families already. Theyre going through a very, very painful experience. Reporter probably the most painful experience, wolf. You see the president and the First Lady there. The president has bowed his head several times, places his hand over his heart as they bring these Transfer Cases that are draped with the american flag out. He spent several hours Behind Closed Doors before this dignified transfer with these families of these 13 Service Members who were killed who, as you noted, were so young. The oldest one is 31 years old. Several of them five of them were 20 years old, born shortly before the September 11th attacks. The president is known for being able to strike an empathetic tone. Hes, unfortunately, no stranger to grief. He spent several hours Behind Closed Doors with the families. There they stand as the dignified transfer. Youll see 13 of them come out. There are 13 in total that will come out of that plane. 11 marines, one Navy Sailor and one Army Soldier who were killed in this attack. This has caused the president and his top aides to monitor his intelligence closely and try to thwart any other future potential attacks. As they said, in is the level of danger of the mission in this Evacuation Youve seen Going On in the last several days. The president has seen these transfers before. He saw them as vice president. This is his first time as president participating in one of them. 13 fallen Service Members, 11 of them men, two of them women. Lets watch. Lieutenant general mark hertling, retired u. S. Military is joining us again, cnn analyst. Its so painful. Once again, you participated in these moments, these dignified transfers as theyre called. Give us a sense of how painful this is for you personally to watch this, general. Ive got to tell you, wolf, its choking me up, because i not only participated in a couple of these as a one Star General when i was assigned to the pentagon, they would ask Flag Officers to volunteer to go to dover to meet the transfers at the height, at the early stages of both the war in Afghanistan And Iraq. Several of us went up. Its not only tough from the standpoint of just seeing this because these great patriots sacrificed their lives for our country doing the job that they were asked to do, but in this case you also have and in many cases, the Family Members are there. I believe all the Family Members are there. The president spoke with them. And i can tell you from my experience in combat, either talking to parents or loved ones, spouses of soldiers who died in combat, oftentimes theyre very thankful for the call, for the letter that they receive, for the sharing of grief of the loss of a teammate. But sometimes theyre in those stages of grief where they want to vent. They want their anger rightfully so, some of them will have anger come out. Im sure the president in speaking with the Family Members, had all sorts of emotions in those couple of hours that he was with Family Members in the Meeting Hall they have there at dover. Thats the toughest part, because when youre a commander or in some cases the commanderinchief, you understand the great loss, what will be an empty chair at the Dinner Table or the missing person at a Family Event in the future. All of these marine, soldier and sailor, will forever remain young. Kaitlan just mentioned the ages of all of them. Its just tragic that all of these young military folks lost their life at such a young age, but they will always remain at that age to the Family Members and to the friends. Thats one of the harshest parts, just the loss and the grievance and the starting of the phases of grief. Im sure the president probably had some emotionally distraught parents and spouses at those meetings hes been attending the last couple hours. Coming home from this event again, when i was in the pentagon and came back home, it was numbing. When i went up there, it was only one individual. It was numbing to come home and think about it. We know inherently that war unfortunately causes the loss of life and the sacrifices, but a ceremony like this just really drives all that home. Its tough for a soldier or a commander, as we see so many of the general and Flag Officers standing there with the president. Its tough for them. They understand it a little bit more than the civilians, but you see the Secretary Of Defense. He certainly understands it. I think you see the Secretary Of State standing behind the president , as the civilian leaders, they know their actions contribute to our nations going to war and that, in fact, when they ask the military forces to do what they ask them to do, that this is sometimes the result. When Military Personnel take that oath of office saying that they will protect and defend the Constitution Of The United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, theres an inherent danger that this could be the result. It is the only profession, the profession of arms, is the only profession that pledges to give their life in the defense of the nation. So all of these things play a role when youre talking about these dignified transfer of remains. The Span And Spectrum of emotions and thoughts as each Transfer Case passes, and they always have the guard of the service of the person that is in that case. So youre seeing the majority of the bearers being marines right now. But im sure there may be a Transfer Case soon with sailors surrounding it and one soldiers surrounding it as Sergeant Krauss and corps man soviak, the Navy Corpsman that was kid, come off the plane. Even in the teamwork of the individuals carrying the Transfer Cases, i dont know if you noticed, but as they place it in the vehicle, theyre helping each other, theyre placing their hands on each others back. Thats also a reinforcement of how individuals become Team Members as they even treat their comrades to their final departure. What well see in the next couple days, wolf, im sure there will be people on United Airlines or American Airlines where theyll see the continuation of this process as these Military Personnel are prepared and then transferred to caskets and carried across the country on commercial airliners. Im sure many of your viewers have watched that out the window as everyone is asked to stay on board when those caskets are pulled out of the hull of the aircraft. That in itself continues the emotion and brings it home to the american people who might be traveling somewhere. It is such a moving such a powerful moment that were watching right now. As a former Pentagon Correspondent myself and having dealt with these kinds of issues covering them for cnn, it just brings back a lot, a lot of especially painful moments knowing how young these men and women were, in their early 20s. So many of them only 20 years old. The oldest only 31 years old and knowing the pain their families, these Gold Star families are going through right now. Lets watch. Oren liebermann, its only recently that the pentagon allowed the media to cover these dignified transfers. Some Family Members dont want the media actually to cover the transfer of their fallen loved one. Tell us a little bit about that. 13 fallen troops are being honored today, but well only s see 11 of the transfers. Two families didnt want the media to cover it. Its an intensely personal and private decision. Basically to the entire world, some families have decided to do that in private. Theyd rather it not be seen and deal with this internally in their own way. Of course, that decision is entirely up to them. Its one they make based on either their own conclusions. Others have chosen to make this public. Others want a chance for the country and the world to see their loved one, brother, sister, son, daughter, honored in such a way, for the world to see them being honored in front of the president , in front of military officers. That, too, is an intensely private and personal decision. Both decisions are made. My Reporting Job actually started in dover, delaware, years ago. Ive seen both decisions made, both public and private. Wolf, if i may just review the names of 13 Service Members, 11 marines, a sailor and a soldier. 31yearold Staff Sergeant darin hoover, johanny rosariopichardo, nicole gee, hunter lopez, daegan page, humberto sanchez, david espinoza, jared schmitz, rylee mccollum, kareem nicu, Dylan Merola and ryan knauss. A part of what makes this so incredibly difficult. They were at the beginning of their lives, the beginning of their adventures and they chose with their bravery to go out there and not only help their fellow citizens, but citizens of another country to try to escape afghanistan, to come to the u. S. And have a better life. Its part of that mission that they paid the ultimate sacrifice. May their memory be a blessing as we watched these dignified transfers continue. Our deepest condolences to their loving families and their friends. Kaitlan, i know youre getting information. Theres a pool of Media Correspondents who are will. What are you learning . Reporter obviously staying out of the way, out of respect for the families. I just want to note one thing. If youre watching this, you notice it is silent, there is no audio. Thats obviously the respect for the transfer. You can see the doors closing when theyve loaded the 13 remains of the 13 Service Members. Wolf, i just want to note how quiet it is. Its as quiet almost there as well for those reporters on the ground who say essentially barely any sound has been made. You saw the president and the Defense Secretary and First Lady go up into the belly of the aircraft earlier. A small prayer was said in there. Of course, the reporters werent present for that. Even on the tarmac, its incredibly quiet as well. You heard them keeping time as they were putting the Transfer Cases in the back of these vans. Ear th other than that, almost as quiet there as it is without the audio. Youre absolutely right. The unspoken words, the silence. They are so incredibly powerful. Lets watch a little bit more as this transfer, this Dying Fied Transfer continues. [ Audio Silence ]. The president of the united states, First Lady of the united states, Defense Secretary, Secretary Of State, top military brass, the commander of the Dover Air force base, colonel hughes man, colonel chip holland, a very powerful, moving moment as this dignified transfer is wrapping up right now. We see the president , First Lady, Secretary Of Defense Moving On. Very powerful moment. Let me get some final thoughts as we watch from lieutenant general mark hertling. Give us some final thoughts, general. Wolf, its tough. Its just tough to see this. I mentioned before that this was an ongoing event at dover over the last 20 years both from those who had sacrificed in Afghanistan And Iraq and several other places around the world. These ceremonies have gone on sometimes almost daily during the surge in different countries, but you never get used to them. I would suspect that now today because were seeing hopefully the last casualties coming out of afghanistan, that this is especially gripping. The names of anyone in a conflict that ais the last to give their life is always the toughest. When you think something is over, and we have as we conducted this evacuation, the end of this 20year war, to have more casualties, more sacrifice, it rips you apart. All of us who have served, and some of us who havent, have been thinking about this for a long time. Today really puts an Exclamation Point on the fact that we have still lost a lot of great lives, a lot of people who are willing to stand up and put on the cloth of their country and serve somewhere thats sometimes difficult, sometimes painful, but oftentimes very rewarding. Theres going to be a lot of veterans who probably watch this programming, who watch this transfer of remains and who observed those caskets who will be crushed by this. So many veterans who dedicated so much blood, sweat and tears to this conflict over the last 20 years who are going to be hurting right now. What Id Kind of like to say to all of them, if there is hurt, make sure you reach out to a battle buddy, that you share that hurt with someone who understands and that you take these emotions and really understand that you contributed to an attempt to make a part of the world better. And thats what certainly these 13 young people did. They need to know they were responsible for the evacuation of over 100,000 families 120,000 individuals. Because of that, those people are going to have a better life. Certainly there will be questions about those who didnt get out, who werent evacuated. 120,000 people who were going to have a better life somewhere in the world than in afghanistan under the taliban, are certainly grateful for the sacrifice that these 13 made. We are so grateful, and we honor these 13 fallen Service Members who have now returned to the united states in these flaggeddraped Transfer Case, as the u. S. Military calls them. Lets honor the 13 right now as we go to a quick break. Get ready our most popular battery is even more powerful. The stronger, lastslonger energizer max. You need an ecolab scientific clean here. And here. Which is why the scientific expertise that helps Operating Rooms stay clean now helps the places you go too. Look for the Ecolab Science certified seal. Life is full of surprises when you least expect it. woman laughs and open. What happened to all your things . I know you needed a place to study, so. And other times, it pays off knowing what to expect. At university of phoenix, you can count on fixed, affordable tuition from the moment you enroll to the day you graduate from your program. Learn more about our Tuition Guarantee at phoenix. Edu you dont know how much pressure you put on your septic system. 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Ayy, ayy, ayy yeah, we fancy like applebees on a Date Night got that Bourbon Street Steak with the Oreo Shake get some whipped cream on the top too two straws, one check, girl, I Got You bougie like natty in the Styrofoam Squeaksqueakin in the Truck Bed All The Way Home some alabamajamma, she my dixieland delight ayy, thats how we do, how we do, fancy like, Oh Visible is wireless that doesnt play games. Its powered by verizon for as little as 25 a month. But it gets crazier. Bring a friend every month and get every month for 5. Boom 12 months of 5 wireless. Visible, wireless that gets better with friends. Welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. This is a Special Edition of the situation room. Hurricane ida made landfall moments ago as a category 4 storm with 150mileanhour winds. Were just now starting to see some incredible pictures. Intense winds in grand isle. Clearly the worst is yet to come. The national Hurricane Center is reporting already catastrophic Storm Surge, very damaging winds are Moving Onshore across the Gulf Coast. Lets get straight to cnn Meteorologist Chad myers. Chad, 150mileanhour winds. Just six more miles per hour this would be a Category 5 storm. Right. You cant really separate 150 from 160 or 157 except that theres obviously more extensive damage the higher the number goes. Its log rhythmic. Taking a 75mileperhour storm, compared to what we have here, 150mileperhour storm, that seems like its two times greater. No. Actually its 256 times more powerful when it comes to doing damage because its not a linear extrapolation, its a log rhythmic extrapolation. Port fourchon got the center of The Eye, but the problem would be grand isle. Grand isle got the right side of The Eyewall, not the middle of The Eye. You only got The Eyewall itself. 150mileperhour storm, thats almost where we were with michael that made landfall on mexico beach. I can probably see similar results. Some areas will pick up 115mileperhour winds or higher. Everywhere where you see pink, thats a possibility. Weve seen grand isle, 136 was the highest gust until the anemometer broke. So we dont know exactly what that highest number would have been. If youve ever taken a Cruise Ship out of New Orleans and gone down the Mississippi River, the last two things you see would be the Pilot Station and southwest pass. Thats 128 miles per hour. Those winds are pushing all that water up into the bayous, into the ditches and possibly over the back levees. We have to watch that for people down South And West of the Mississippi River. All those pink areas could be 115 or better. That would be kenner, metairie, laplace. A 150mileperhour storm. People expect its made landfall, its going to die now. No, theres not much land down there. Its going to take sometimes. The Storm Surge could be 15, 16 feet. If you get wind on top of these 15foot surges, some of the waves will be ten feet on top of the surge itself, wolf. Probably the worst that some people have ever seen even though we had katrina down there and had other storms. For many people across the south part of louisiana, this is the worst Storm Theyve ever seen. I was going to say, chad, hovering over this, exactly to the day 16 years ago katrina hit that area, and we all know what happened then. Were worried about the people on the other side of the river this time. When you push this surge to the west or south, if you will, because the river bends, this is where the surge is going to be, not so up many for the north side. Weve seen a lot of water on the roadways from pill lux xi, to pensacola, bay st. Louis, the surge is already here. Some of the surge is already six feet. Its still going up in some spots. We are going to see that, as the water continues to get pushed this way, one more thing to worry about, this Pink Box right there, thats a tornado warning. Remember, talking about katrina, katrina had 59 tornadoes associated with it. This is just coming onshore. Keep an eye out for tornadoes. Lets not forget more than 1,800 people died during katrina. Chad, well get back to you. Thank you very much. Were already getting stunning video captured by a Surveillance Camera earlier today. Take a look at this. This is the Storm Surge in grand isle, louisiana, expected to rise to as much as 16 feet. I want to bring in Meteorologist Derek Van dam in houma, louisiana, west of Pwhere Ida made landfall. I want to remind our viewers, youre being very careful, you and your crew. Yeah. Weve got reinforced concrete building with Hurricane Windows where we can vacate to very quickly. Listen, in houma, louisiana, conditions are deteriorating, as one would expect. As The Eyewall progresses through southeastern louisiana, i think its important for people to understand that they may get the strong major Hurricane Force Wind gusts in excess of 110 miles per hour. Its coming here. Were under an extreme wind warning. We know that. There will also be a few break for certain individuals in southeast louisiana, where The Eyewall of Hurricane Ida moves over. It is likely you will see The Sun come out. It is likely you will see the birds fly around in confusion. Things will go eerily quiet. Thats not the time to get outdoors and inspect your property. That is the time to shelter inside because what will happen is once the Back Side of The Eye crosses over a particular area, the winds will change from a different direction, the debris and all the damage that has taken place will move in opposite directions and literally become missiles and projectiles. Within the past hour specifically, every minute that clocks by, we experience strong gusty winds. Its getting harder to be here, its pemting our faces as well. We do have a sturdy structure to evacuate to. People ask why are we out here in these conditions. We are here to tell the stories about why you evacuated from your home. Wolf. I know its getting worse and worse. Derek, i know you and your crew, the photo journalists will all be very, very careful. Well get back to you shortly. New orleans is facing a very high risk for Flash Flooding with ida expected to dump get this as much as 20 inches of rain across that beautiful city. Conditions are already beginning to deteriorate. Cnns Nadia Romero is along the riverfront for us. Last hour when we spoke, a meter there clocked wind gusts close to 50 miles an hour already. Tell our viewers what youre experiencing. Reporter wolf, the wind has definitely picked up since the last time we spoke. 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. So right there behind me, thats the Mississippi River. This way is the city of New Orleans, you hit the french quarter, cafe du monde, jackson square. We know that area could flood. It has flooded in the past from much milder thunderstorms, not a hurricane like ida. Thats why we saw people boarding up and putting up the sandbags. This city is pretty much shaped like a bowl. Around that bowl is the Mississippi River and a giant lake, and its low lying. Thats why we had those issues from Hurricane Katrina. The city spent some 20 Billion on levees to try to keep the water out of the city and away from peoples homes and neighborhoods. Now, the water right now the rain and the water coming from the mississippi feels like little pins as it whips against you, as it picks up in the wind coming towards the city right now, making its way. We can tell the difference, wolf, the moment irma made landfall about a half hour ago, everything changed. Earlier today it was sunny. People were outside walking their dogs. No one is doing that right now. Next to me is a casino river boat. This is where people come on vacation to do a little gambling, to go to a brunch, listen to jazz music. Obviously thats not happening now as irma is already here all around us in the city of New Orleans. Hopefully most people evacuated. We met plenty of tourists, wolf, who were not able to do so. Some people as well who were not able to evacuate either. And you told us the last time we spoke, nadia, youre very close to the heart of New Orleans over there in the french quarter, for example. I wonder if you can show us whats Going On over there, at least give us a sense how close you are to that area. Reporter ill swing over and show you as much as we can. You have the Mississippi River, then you have the railroad. Right across the street thats jackson square. On the other side of that is basically the french quarter. Were not far at all from what most people consider to be the iconic part of New Orleans. Were not far from that area at all. Thats why so many people were preparing this time. We spoke with a Shop Owner who said ive never seen it like this, not before katrina, never. Hes been there for 20 years. Its a place where you can do Swamp Tours and Ghost Tours at night. He said he never saw so many people from the city of New Orleans panicked about this storm, knowing it would be a lot larger, ida would be, than katrina. Be careful over there, nadia. Tell the crew to be careful as well. Well stay in very close touch with you, Nadia Romero on the scene in New Orleans. Joining us on the phone is the top medical official in louisiana, dr. Joseph kanter, the State Health Officer and medical director for louisiana. Dr. Kanter, thank you for joining us. The storm could not hitality a worse time as your states hospital, icus are already overwhelmed due to covid19 and the very transmissible, very dangerous delta variant. How will this storm impact louisianas hospitals and medical centers . Thanks, wolf. Its nice to be with you. Youre right. Its an inopportune time and the covid situation complicates our storm response. Hospitals are already very full, busier than weve been at any point during our prior three surges. Governor edwards issued a statewide Mask Mandate about three weeks ago. Since that time weve had a 20 reduction in the number of covid patients being hospitalized. Thats important, because it gives us a little bit of Breathing Room. We know any evacuation of any major hospital is going to be complicated by the situation. We have a great team here. Weve done a lot of preparedness. At this point with the storm just making landfall now, all you can do is hunker down and be prepared to respond as best as possible. What a huge difference between katrina 16 years ago exactly today and now Ida Katrina was awful, more than 1,800 people were killed, but there was no covid at the time. Now theres covid. That clearly complicates the evacuation and potentially the treatment that people will need in various hospitals, right . Theres no question about that. Even to compare it to Hurricane Laura just over a year ago today, when laura hit we had about 900 hospitalized covid patients. Right now we have just over 3,000. So it does complicate it. The other part of this is, we do our best to remind folks that they do need to evacuate, that they do need to shelter. They have to do so cognizant of the covid environment, which means masking and distancing. We have testing in shelters, vaccines in shelters. Were doing all we can to prevent the evacuation, in terms of exacerbating transmission of covid. Its not going to help at all and well have to deal with it on the Back End of this. What steps are you taking, dr. Kanter, to make sure the hospitals in louisiana have power, have staff, have supplies in the aftermath of this catastrophic storm . Hospitals down here have been significantly hardened since Hurricane Katrina and the 16 years since. All of them have active generators. Many of them are switched the Generator Power so they can do so under controlled environment. They all have a core medical staff that is staying put inhouse and theyre essentially on lockdown now. These type of drills are nothing new. Hospitals down here do it better than ever. The only complication now is theyre so much busier than before. Theres not a lot of Breathing Room in hospitals. I will say, if you have to evacuate a large hospital, which we clearly dont, its going to be a complicated experience. Very complicated and dangerous. I know, dr. Kanter, youre also an emergency physician. Can you tell us what its like inside Emergency Rooms right now . Well, theres a lot of triaging Going On. There really has been through out the past few weeks its been so busy with covid. Weve done a lot of broadcasting to the public to try to avoid hospitals and Emergency Departments unless you really need it. I do think over the past couple days people have heeded that, thankfully. We dont want any extra traffic going into hospitals. The teams in Emergency Departments right now, like they always do, doing the best job they can under sometimes difficult circumstances. This is not their first rodeo, so to say. Theyre the best in the world at this. We have every amount of faith in them. We see Hurricane Ida impacting not only louisiana, but alabama and mississippi as well. There you see The Eye of the storm. Dr. Kanter, good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in louisiana right now. Well stay in very close touch. Thanks for joining us. Thank you, wolf. Were continuing to follow the Breaking News on Hurricane Ida. It just made landfall moments ago, a category 4 storm with 1003mileanhour winds. Stay with us. Our coverage continues right here on the situation room. I always had a connection to my grandfather. I always wanted to learn more about him. I discovered some very interesting documents on ancestry. This is the uh Registration Card for the draft for World War two. And this is his signature which blew me away. Being able to. Make my grandfather real. Not just a memory. Is priceless. His legacy. Lives on. I booked our hotel on kayak. Its flexible if we need to cancel. Cancel. I havent left the house in a year. Nothing will stop me from vacation. No canceling. Flexible cancellation. Kayak. Search one and done. Not touching is still touching protection. Adding Lysol Laundry Sanitizer kills 99. 9 of bacteria. Detergent alone, cant. Lysol. What it takes to protect. For people who could use a lift new neutrogena® rapid firming. A Triplelift Serum with pure collagen. 92 saw visibly firmer skin in just 4 weeks. Neutrogena® for people with skin. Introducing xfinity rewards. Our very own way of thanking you just for being with us. Enjoy rewards like Movie Night specials. Xfinity mobile benefits. And exclusive experiences, like the chance to win tickets to see watch what happens live. Hey its me. The longer youve been with us. The more rewards you can get. Like sharpening your Cooking Skills with a top chef. Join for free on the Xfinity App and watch all the rewards float in. Our thanks. Your rewards. Were back with Breaking News. Hurricane ida has made Land Fall in louisiana. Right now its punishing the Gulf Coast with sustained 150 miles per hour winds. Officials are warning people to stay indoors as ida moves further inland. The Ininational Hurricane Centes reporting it Moving On shore. This is one of the most powerful to ever hit louisiana. Right now more than 100,000 people are already without power across louisiana. And its only expected to get a whole lot worse as ida pummels the state. Ed is in french Settlement Louisiana near a river where flooding is expected once the Hurricane Rolls through, Amite River. How are people preparing where youre at . Reporter well, wolf, residents here along the Amite River are bracing for a days long weather event. This is the river. Weve been talking to the owners of this property, phil and sheryl. They say this water has already come up two feet. Theyre handing here. You guys are scrambling to get ready for everything. What are you most concerned about right now . Probably the wind. The high winds. More so than the water. I dont think we have enough time for a big surge to build up, but probably more windrelated issues. And sheryl, you were telling me youve been through this before. Yes. Reporter you guys are going to ride it out . Yeah. Its called life on the river. You know . I mean, you either like it or you dont. When its good, its wonderful. When its bad, its bad. Reporter your house is probably six feet off the ground . Yes. In fact, we elevated after hurricane isaac, but yes, about six feet. Reporter your neighbors around here, are they leaving or staying . This time a lot of them have left. Most of them are gone. We told them we would watch out for them or whatever, but weve never left, so were here. Reporter i meet a lot of folks like you guys. Weve never left. Does this feel different from other storms youve been through . Not really. I dont really stress about it. The only thing that worries me right now is its going to be a lot more wind, i think, so it does worry me with the trees. And no joke. Reporter look straight up, 175 foot trees they have in the yard. With the high winds and the initial bands of this hurricane are starting to approach this area, so here in the next couple hours, the scene here is going to dramatically change. Just tell everyone to be careful over there. And ed, thank you very much. You be careful as well. Joining us now on the phone is John Ram junior from louisiana. We spoke yesterday. You gave us a little sense of what was Going On. Whats the situation where you are right now . Right now were situated we border New Orleans on their eastern side. Were getting some of the fringe effects of the storm that made Land Fall. Currently up in the northern part of the perish. Were getting gusts up to about 65 miles per hour. And down in lower st. Ber nand in the fishing communities, were getting Power Outages down there were getting gusts up to about 75, 80 miles per hour. We have about 3100 customers out of power. Everybody has been told to hunker down, because theres nowhere to go. Nobody to come out and do rescues right now. Were just watching this move in, getting ready to get it to clear and assess the damage. I know the hurricane came too quickly for a mandatory evacuation for your perish. What advice do you have for resident who is are still there trying to ride out the storm right now . Well, just tell them to stay inside. Dont go outside into the weather with this type of wind. Thats what we fear most. It can cause damage to a person trying to move around in this weather. It will blow cars off the highway. Were also expecting some flooding from the rainfall. Thats going to be minimal, but just stay inside. Dont go outside. When this is all over, well look for you. Well make Welfare Checks and check on people that have called us. When Hurricane Katrina hit some 16 years ago, exactly 16 years ago today, the Storm Surge overwhelmed the Lev Ies where youre flooded. Much of the perish, more than 100 residents died in st. Bernard perish. It was 167 residents. The Levy System is in place. The one was built in The 50s And 60s and was not maintained properly. The new system is a 14. 5 billion one that runs the perish, and people need to realize when you hear people say ive been through this before. You have not been through a Category 5 hurricane like this. What i was going to say, its an awful situation. But quickly, before i let you go, what steps are you taking to prepare for possible Rez Cues if residents who stay put, they get trapped by flood waters from their homes . Zblerve who has called us to be evacuated, which we cant do in this weather, we have a list with phone numbers, medical conditions, we have Rescue Equipment in lower st. Bernard and the Louisiana National Guard staged with high Water Rescue vehicles, personnel, and boats to do the rescue once this thing is cleared so we can go out and assess the Damage And Rescue anybody if necessary. Well, good luck, john. Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone in your perish. Well stay in close touch with you. Were watching this hurricane explode over that entire region. John ram, appreciate it very much. Thank you. Thank you. Well have more ahead on Hurricane Ida. Just made Land Fall as a category 4 storm. Stay with us. Youre in the situation room. When our daughter and her kids moved in with us. Our Bargain Detergent Couldnt keep up. Turns out its mostly water. So, we switched back to tide. One wash, stains are gone. [daughter] slurping dont pay for water. Pay for clean. Its got to be tide. Hey lily, i need a new Wireless Plan for my business, but all my employees need something different. Oh, we can help with that. Okay, imagine this. Your mover, rob, hes on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. We cut to downtown, your Sales Rep Lisa has to send some files, asap so basically i can pick the right plan for each employee. Yeah i shouldve just led with that. With at t business. You can pick the best plan for each employee and only pay for the features they need. Were here theyre finally here. 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[relaxed summer themed music playing] summer is a state of mind, you can visit anytime. Savor your summer with lincoln. Its an important time to save. With priceline, you can get up to 60 off amazing hotels. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. Welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. Im wolf blitzer. This is a Special Edition of the situation room. Were following Breaking News. Hurricane ida now wreaking havoc in louisiana, alabama, mississippi after making Land Fall just a little over an hour or so ago. Conditions are rapidly deteriorating as this extremely dangerous Storm Moves inland. Ida is packing a heavy punch with sustained winds right now of 150 miles per hour. The national Hurricane Center is warning of catastrophic Storm Surge. The levies holding much of louisiana are holding for you. But Power Outages are starting to become a huge major problem. Cnn has a team of reporters on the ground in louisiana covering this inc