City of houma, louisiana. Ida now considered one of the most powerful storms to ever hit the u. S. Wind of 150 miles per hour. Thats like an F3 Tornado hitting for hours. Now, on the left side of your screen, whats left . We know at least one person has died. But Louisianas Governor says he expects the Death Toll to climb considerably in the coming hours. And were getting reports of people trapped in attics and on roofs and the water is not done rising. A couple of people behind me have a lot of friends and family out there. I got a fairly decent sized boat. If i can get a couple people to ride with me, well get out there. No one has any Cell Phone service. Its just a waiting game. Lets begin our live Team Coverage of ida first with Brian Todd Outside of New Orleans. I understand the entire city is right now without power and entire buildings are gone . Reporter thats right. Were just outside New Orleans in st. Bernard parish just outside of New Orleans. We can show you one of the buildings that was flattened by the storm. Look at this house, the damage. Taken down by the storm. This is one of the bracing periods after a major hurricane when local residents, local officials are just trying to get their minds around some of the damage that theyre dealing with, and we can kind of we have to dodge cars trying to move around this. We can show you a little bit more of a scope of the house here that collapsed. Louisiana State Police just sent out an alert saying if youre stranded, they cant get to you right away. It may be some time before they can get to you. This is just one of those, again, daunting initial periods right after a hurricane where people are assessing damage like this, and trying to get help. We were told by neighbors that regarding this house, they dont believe there was anybody inside this house when the hurricane hit. Thats good news. This is completely flattened, whatever they had is lost. You can see down here, lets move to the right a little bit. You can see the massive tree down here. Vehicles are trying to get around the downed trees in st. Bernard parish. This is just the initial assessment. We also heard one of the main companies providing power to all of louisiana, they said its going to take several days just to assess the damage that theyre dealing with as far as the power grid. Then its going to take several more days to restore service. Theyre warning about something i can show you over here with the downed Power Lines. You can see some of them right here. Theyre warning that a lot of the Power Lines are still energized. So, again, officials are telling people do not go out of your home if you unless you have to. But even you really have to make a hard assessment. Try not to go out of your home, because they dont want you number one to get in the way of the first responders. But also its things like this. Youre going to run into downed Power Lines all over the place. Regarding the main outages of New Orleans and elsewhere, they also said theres a massive power a tower that collapsed and much of it is in the Mississippi River along with Power Lines there. That gives you a sense of what people throughout this area are trying to deal with. The damage that theyre assessing right now and the fact that theyre going to be without power probably for several days. And obviously with the conditions calming down there, theres still so much moisture in the air. Were seeing condensation on brians lens. But Thank You for hustling for us to give us a look at whats happening right now in New Orleans. Thank you, brian. Rescues are ongoing Forr Trappe residents in a town with massive Flash Flooding. Ed, what are you seeing and what are you hearing from people there . Reporter anyone you go up to, the first words out of their mouth is describing what they endured overnight as horrible. And the Rescue And Search efforts continue here this afternoon in la place, louisiana, a small town just west of New Orleans along interstate 10. You have local Law Enforcement crews about to launch a tanklike high Water Vehicle into these subdivisions. And were along the highway. Theres water on both sides of where were at. And here you can see people starting to emerge out. There are some places that are shallow enough where people can walk and either get into it with a boat like that, but as you go deeper into the neighborhoods, there is water that is 6 feet to 8 feet high. Some residents said they escaped into their attics Last Night in the overnight hours. The Flood Waters started pouring into their homes. One woman slept on her kitchen island. Several others escaped to their attics waiting for the water to keep going up. We spoke to one family after they were pulled out from a boat on their home that was a couple blocks away from this High Point on this highway. They described what a horrific night they spent inside their home. If they went past that, god take me. We were afraid for a little while. It was coming up the stairs. I wasnt afraid of the Water C but the wind kept going, and i felt the walls in the house move, the exterior walls. They described it as hours of agony, everything they endured Last Night inside their home. They said watching that Water Rise up along the staircase, leading up to the second floor of their home was just really frightening. And what many of the people in the area say is that one of the things that was so difficult for them is theyre used to Flood Waters. Theyre used to Gulf Storms coming in through this part of louisiana. But it was the intensity of the winds and just how long Hurricane Ida remained a strong hurricane. That was the part that really shocked them throughout the night in this storm. Yeah. Those 150 miles per Hour Wind gusts at times. Like an eF3 Tornado just bearing down for such a long time. Ed, Thank You, and your team for being there and please stay safe. Ida is now a tropical storm, but still a major threat to millions. Deadly Flash Flooding is still a big concern. Also tornadoes. Our meteorologist is tracking it all. Tom, whats going on . Its still a tropical storm. That means it still has a center core. It still is circulating and still has enough power to funnel up moisture from the south. And Theres Plenty of moisture here to the south. So what we are seeing the difference from yesterday, which is about Land Fall 24 hours ago. It stayed as a category 4 for six hours. Thats tremendous. Now it has to release the k kinetic energy. What were seeing, remember yesterday it was a large circular Red Pattern on an infrared imagery, you look for the brighter colors. Thats the higher, colder cloud tops. Theyre on the feeder bans. With the flooding, if you look at this, these bans mean business. We had another heavy ban through Grand Isle. Now it extends into the panhandle of florida. Weve got numerous Flash Flood warnings. Not only back in the areas of the core and around areas of New Orleans but around the center of the storm and the bands will funnel clouds moving on shore, well see if theres any tornado warnings. We have a watch until 4 00 p. M. Starting to see the tropical Storm Warnings get whittled down. The center is now about 25 Miles Southwest of jackson, mississippi. They havent seen the Center Move through. Now look for mississippi to possibly have more Power Outages as the thunderstorms can create still some problems not only with the flooding but the tornadoes. This is going to be slow in the pace for another several hours here. So we have to really start to see it kick up in the speed by later on tonight. That will help but theyre looking at Heavy Rain there as well. And theres still so much we dont know about what happened overnight and this morning. The rescues are just getting underway. Tom, Thank You for keeping track of where the storm is. Lets turn to todd tarell. You are in denim springs, louisiana, east of baton rouge. You have teams all across the region. Where is the situation most dire right now . Houma, louisiana and la place. Theres a ton of debris down everywhere, houses just smashed up. A lot of people hunker down in the houses since Last Night. Theyre just getting pulled out of the houses today. La place is a Flooding Situation that looks like its going to be bad for two or three days. Wow. Were told again more than 1 Million people are without power and it could be weeks to get everybody back on their feet essentially. How many rescues have your teams done so far . Theyve clocked over 300 rescues today. A lot of those are coming in from houses in houma where theres 10 or 15 people in the house. Some of the neighbors and family went to a house because their House Roof come off. They were hunkered down. Its a little different this time rather than rescuing one or two people, its more like 8 to 12 people in a house. What are the biggest concerns at this point, the biggest challenges . The biggest challenges are we have numerous challenges. First, Cell Phone services is nonexistent right now. We have very, very little phone service. The other thing is the Power Lines are down. In louisiana, you got water 3 or 4 foot and a situation where its no its completely ground. The airboats have to go across the roads and stuff. We also have no place to bring people. Water is real tight. Theres no water anywhere. So supplies are going to be a really challenge here coming up in the next 24 hours. And so where are you taking people . Thats a good question. We happen to have volunteers coming behind us in cars and bring them. Just wherever. We are trying to find churches and parking lots. One of the biggest problems are the people were rescuing, their phones are either dead because the batteries are dead. Theres no phone service. They cant get in touch with relatives or anything to pick them up. We have a major Problem Today with volunteers taking people we rescued and trying to get them to where they need to go. Do you get a sense that people were prepared for this storm . I dont get a sense that people were repaired for the intensity of the storm. I think that none of us expected this storm, especially to be such a strong category 4 for six hours. The original forecasts was it was going to be a four and weaken to a one. Almost as immediate Land Fall. That was a way different situation than what we are dealing with right now. So people werent expecting it. Well, Thank You for all you and your teams are doing. Thank you for taking the time to share with us about your efforts and what youre seeing. Youre our eyes own ears on the ground. Best of luck to you. Stay safe. Thank you. Now, to a different kind of challenge. Rockets fired at the Kabul Airport. An Isisk Target destroyed. Tropical Storm Ida in a quest of unvaccinated patients putting hospitals in the south at a breaking point. Now a shortage of oxygen threatening to make matters even worse. Your Shipping Manager left to find themself. leaving you lost. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. Indeed instant match instantly delivers quality candidates matching your job description. Visit indeed. Com hire is olay better than your clean beauty . Olay has 99 pure niacinamide. Its dermtested. And now, its cleanest formula with hydration that beats the 400 cream. Tried. Tested. Never bested. Shop at olay. Com ive never slept like this before. We gave New Zzzquil pure zzzs Restorative Herbal Sleep to people who were tired of being tired. What is even in this . Clinicallystudied Plant Based Ingredients passion flower, valerian root, and hops. New Zzzquil Pure Zzzs Restorative Herbal Sleep. 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Managed to evacuate 1200 more people in the last 24 hours. Lets bring in our senior international correspondent Sam Kylie in qatar. Sam, what do we know about this ongoing threat to troops at the airport . Its very real and imminent, even though, and this is according to The Pentagon, even though there was this attack of five rockets from a Sixbarrel Rocket Launcher mounted in the back of a saloon car, firing out through the rear window. Knocked out rear window. Hopelessly inaccurate and easily shot down by the antimissile system that the united states has as part of their defense capabilities there at the international airport. Its not the only attempt by isisk, and in all probability, its unlikely to be the last. They are, according to The Pentagon, a dedicated continuing source of the attacks. And may well have been plotting what they call flex attacks. Attacks in multiple locations or involving different sorts of weapons such as rockets, bombs and personnel with guns. This comes after the killing of ten civilians in what The Pentagon seems to be hinting may have been the secondary blast after a Drone Strike against another suspected isisk team. Notably in a vehicle. Theyre saying the secondary blast which they are pretty convinced has killed these civilians, the secondary blast being the explosion of explosives inside the vehicle that was, of course, detonated by the Drone Strike. A tragedy of pretty terrible proportions. Six of those dead were children. Two of them were twoyearolds. And The Pentagon is saying theyre going to continue to investigate that as they continue their withdrawal of u. S. Troops and the very last of evacuees essentially over the next 24 hours. Theyve got until midnight Tuesday Night local time in afghanistan to have ended this withdrawal. It may end sooner than that. But this is the most vulnerable period, because, of course, it is during that period that some states, the defensive systems are going to be taken down and put on aircraft and flown out. But that presumably would be among the very last things that the military do before they pull out altogether. Okay. Sam kylie, Thank You. Joining us now is joe felter, a former u. S. Deputy secretary of defense. He was a Senior Adviser to Generals Crystal and petraeus. You have a unique Perspective And Expertise in this area. The threat is real as the evacuations continue. Pentagon spokesman called the situation on the ground particularly dangerous. What makes this final phase dangerous and vulnerable for our troops. Let me offer Con Dolences to the Gold Star families and amazing work our Special Operations and others are doing right now in this difficult time. You nailed it. This is a very, very dangerous part of the mission. Moving out, when security is deteriorating. Were going to see it play out in realtime. Theres no right way to do the wrong thing. The wrong thing is to leave american citizens behind. Green card holders, special visa holders. We have the opportunity to do the right thing going forward. It doesnt end tomorrow. People are going to need to move over land to other countries and need to get out. Theyll need the help of the u. S. Government. Theres private organizations that are trying to fill the gap that exists currently. Lets give the u. S. Government its not helpful to point fingers and put blame. We need to pull together and get our americans out and get all those that helped us along the way. We need to honor that promise. I hope we can do it going forward. Exact numbers of how many remain in afghanistan are fuzzy right now. At last check we were told in the realm of 300 american citizens that wanted to evacuate were there and working with officials here in the u. S. To try to do that. When the u. S. , though, is gone, were told these evacuations will continue. And especially including those afghan allies who may remain in the thousands. We dont know exactly how many are there. But the president s national Security Adviser says the u. S. Does have leverage over the taliban to make sure that they hold up their commitment and they allow u. S. Citizens and other afghan allies to leave after the u. S. Is out. What do you see as that leverage . What is that . Im skeptical. We had leverage when we had some presence on the ground. We have leverage now. Our leverage now is working wiwith allies to work together to try to pressure the new government to call it that, to cooperate and allow us to get our american citizens, nato and allies out and the afghans that help us to honor the promise. Its going to require work at P Pakistan and places that need to make it as easy for people to get back to safety if they can get out over land. What or who do you view as the largest national Security Threat to the u. S. Right now . The same threat that brought us 9 11. Its these terrorist with global reach. Al qaeda, isisk, a range of other organizations. We cant just decide to leave a war. Were not leaving the war in afghanistan. Were leaving at a more disadvantageous position. I would say over the Horizon Counterterrorism is an oxymoron. We do it great. Theres no one better than the united states we cant bring in allies and partners. Its too difficult. We cannot choose not to fight this fight. Thats the Terrorist Threat to the united states and our allies and partners around the world. Bottom line, after the u. S. Leaves tomorrow, is the u. S. Less safe than its been since 9 11 . I would argue we are. We are going to be less capable in posture to interdict Terrorist Threats. But theres no right way to do the wrong thing. The wrong thing is to leave but we have an opportunity to stay and do everything we can to get our americans and the afghans that helped americans out and to help this is a threat to not just the united states but all humanity. Were not going to see the end of this. Weve take an hit. We have to reconstitute and get back in the fight. The fight is not leaving us. The majority of americans believe it is time for u. S. Troops to come home. They dont want Boots On The Ground there in afghanistan. So what im hearing you say, though, is thats the alter alternative. You stay. You have Boots On The Ground. Is there a way to have enough security there to ensure that the Terrorists Threat Isnt growing without Boots On The Ground . Its going to be more difficult. I was aft camp a couple thousand tr troops. I dont think Theres Anyone who would say were going to zero the right way. Theres a lot of missteps. I think were going to have to work with our allies and partners across the region. This threat threatens every country and were going to need to work together given that the u. S. Wont be present, we have to work with allies and partners and pool our resources and cooperate and do the best we can. We may have to go back in. It may not be our choice. It may be a requirement. Lets hope we can address this threat short of that. But personally, im skeptical. Is isisk now the biggest Terror Threat there on the ground . Well, youve seen the attacks recently. They certainly demonstrate their capability to inflict the great attacks. Thats their trademark. Theyre not the only group in town. Theres others that will manifest itself. And afghanistan is the land of revolutions and insurrections. Were going to see a lot of instability and the conditions that allow these types of Terrorist Groups to operate freely. Colonel, Thank You very much for your time. I appreciate it. Thank you. Out of icu beds. Scrambling to keep air in lungs. Hospitals in the south were already pushed to the brink. The latest surge in covid patients. But now they have Hurricane Ida which made things worse. Tech every customer has their own safelite story. This couple was on a camping trip. When their windshield got a chip. They drove to safelite for a sameday repair. And with their insurance, it was no cost to them. Woman really . Tech thats service you can trust. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. Ive been telling everyone. The secret to great teeth is having healthy gums. Crest advanced gum restore. Detoxifies below the gumline. And restores by helping heal gums in as little as 7 days. Crest. The 1 Toothpaste Brand in america. With Directv Stream, i can get live tv and on demand. Together. Watch serena williams. Wonder woman. Serena. Wonder woman. Serena. Wonder woman. Ace. Advantage you cannot be serious. Get your tv together with the best of live and on demand. Introducing Directv Stream with no annual contract. 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Now lets look at this neighborhood. This is the backside of Armond Estates. Right now the only way you can get into it, look over here. The only way you can get into it is a high Water Vehicle like this Sheriffs Deputy Truck right there. They are going in. They have been looking for people. Im told that everyone who needed to get out of our Armond Estates in st. Charles parish has been able to get out. You saw what the wind did, and then The Rain bringing all of that water. Daniel served as the Deputy Fema Administrator from 2017 to early to 2020. He deals with Risk Mitigation now. You were also an adviser to President Bush during katrina. Whats your response to the response to the hurricane so far . So far so far. This is a catastrophic hurricane much like the ones where i was at fema in 2017 and before that in 2005 with katrina. With anything this catastrophic, all bets are off on whether this is going to end up being successful Response Or One that is a challenge. Do you think we have a full grasp on how bad it is at this point . I think were getting a better handle on that. That will only come with time. Response and Recovery Operations began at first daybreak this morning. And im sure that theres overhead imagery and other types of assets in the air whether its helicopters or airplanes looking to see what the scope of the damage is, but i can tell based on your own reporting its heavy. What is the biggest danger currently . Id say right now its to make sure we get people out of harms way. I mean, out of the Flood Waters and unsafe buildings. Response and recovery begins with Search And Rescue. And at last check theres been one stormrelated death. You talk about how huge this storm was. Do you expect that number to go up . I assume it will rise significantly, yes. As those Response And Recovery operations continue, unfortunately, what we havent heard is some of the hardest Hit Communities where you likely have collapsed buildings and other types of damage, high Flood Waters, that Storm Surge that came in was devastating, im sure. Unfortunately, there probably be will additional casualties . Talk to me about how Social Media has helped with response efforts. You pointed out how so much has changed technologically since Hurricane Katrina and that may be an advantage for search rens cuers. Thats right. One of the things we lacked in 2005 was something we called situational awareness. Thats a fancy way of saying knowing whats going on on the ground. We lacked that at the White House and fema, even state and local responders had little idea of what devastation was out there. Now with Social Media, frankly, twitter came around in 2006 and revolutionized how Response Agencies gather information. This all happened on the 16th Anniversary of katrina which still haunts all of us here in the u. S. Was ida a test of the improvements that were made since katrina and based on what were seeing right now, does it give you confidence that our infrastructure is in a much better place . It was a best, but then again, Fema And Response agencies have been tested basically every year since 2005. Theres been devastating hurricanes and wildfires, tornadoes, floods, you name it over the past 16 years that have tested the Response Agencies over and over again, specifically with regard to New Orleans, it tested the Flood Control systems and seems to have met the test. I would expect it with the 14 . 5 million. Unfortunately the rest of the Nations Infrastructure is not in such good shape and may not be able to withstand disasters of this scale. That includes areas outside of New Orleans. That infrastructure likely was badly damaged by this storm. And things are only going to get worse because of climate crisis. This is the first time weve had one area see back to back Hurricanes Year to area with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. The level, the strength of this hurricane. We talked about how much locker it lasted. And you talked about some of the other Natural Disasters weve been covering. All the wildfires that are getting worse and more devastating as well. Daniel, appreciate your expertise. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Thank you. Hurricane ida causing major damage, knocking out power to hospitals already filled with covid patients. In one Louisiana Facility where generators failed, staff have had to bag patients on ventilators by hand. That means manually pushing air in and out of their lungs. And to make matters worse, theres a critical shortage of oxygen across the south. Elizabeth cohen is joining us now. Tell us more about this oxygen shortage. Elizabeth, whats causing it . Reporter part of whats going on is theres so much more of a demand for oxygen because there are so many covid patients and many end up in the icu needing oxygen. On top of that, lets look at other places that need oxygen that are putting even more of a strain on the system. So some businesses have reopened that Use Oxygen. For example, restaurants, or types of businesses that Use Oxygen have reopened. Also theres a shortage of drives in the same way theres a shortage of workers in many rears. Theres a shortage of drivers. All of this is adding up to a lack of oxygen in many of these places. Yet another reason that people need to get vaccinated if we can take some of the demand off oxygen as far as covid patients go, it will make it better for everyone else. And theres new information on when kids ages 5 to 11 might be eligible for shots . Fill us in. Thats right. Its interesting. The former head of the fda, dr. Scott gottlieb has interesting thoughts about the availability of the shots for kids who are 5 to 11. Those children are being studied right now. Theyve already finished up their clinical Trial And Pfizer is going through the data. Lets take a listen to what he had to say. Pfizer is going to be in a position to file data with the fda at some point in september. And then file the application potentially as early as october. So that will put us on a time frame where the vaccine could be available at some point late fall, more likely early winter. So if he is thinking, say, late november, decemberish, that lines up with how things went with the Adult Trial that was done last year. Children are even a little bit trickier. Theyre giving the same dose to 5yearolds and 11yearolds. You have to be careful a dose that works for a 5yearold is strong enough to work for an 11yearold, and that you dont see any Side Effects. The Bottom Line is you dont want to rush this. It takes months to sift through the data and thats what theyre doing. Elizabeth, Thank You as always. Get ready for a major legal fight. The House Committee investigating the deadly insurrection on capitol hill. Its about to target the Phone Records of key people who attended the stop and steal rally that day. That means key republican lawmakers. Former president trump, and members of the trump family. Details when we come back. 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 i dont just play someone brainy on tv im an actual neuroscientist. And i love the science behind Neuriva Plus. 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Certified dishwashers use less than 4 gallons of water per cycle. And you can also save up to 130 dollars per year on your energy bill. Cascade platinum right now the President Meeting with fema over Hurricane Ida. Lets listen. And im hear with my Senior Adviser. Lets hear from all of you if thats okay. I know youre busy as the devil. I know you got a lot to manage in your states. The fact is that i want to hear from you. We both want to hear from you. And we know Hurricane Ida had a potential to cause massive, massive damage, and thats exactly what we saw. We already know theres at least one confirmed death and that number is likely to grow. Weve got A Million people in louisiana without power. And for a time, Ie A Da caused the Mississippi River to literally change its direction. And some folks are still dealing with a Storm Surge and Flash Flooding, and there are roads that are impassable due to debris and downed Power Lines. We need people to continue to shelter in place if its safe for them to do so. For those who have lost their homes, you know, states working with the American Red Cross have already opened 50 shelters in the affected areas across the gulf coast. Weve already begun Search And Rescue efforts and we get folks who out there who need assistance. And were doing our best we can. More than 5,000 members of your national guard have been activated from Louisiana And Mississippi, alabama, and texas to support Search And Rescue. And recovery efforts. And fema has prepositioned literally millions of meals and liters of water. Theyre already prepositioned as well as other resources in the immediate area. And weve deployed more than 200 generators and we already moved into the region. Theyve been moved in ahead of time. And the administrator and her Team And Fema is working, getting more of those into the area. Were in close contact with local electric providers to see what they need. Theyre all prieft providers. We dont control that. But were doing all we can to minimize the amount of time its going to take to get power back up for everyone in the region. Weve been working with Electric Sector throughout the night, and all Day Today to assess and understand the full extent of the damage. To accelerate the process, ive asked the federal Aviation Administration to work today with Louisiana And Mississippi electric companies to authorize the use of surveillance drones to assess idas damage, to energy infrastructure. While ensuring those flights do not disrupt aerial Search And Rescue operations. And ive also asked The Pentagon and the department of Homeland Security to immediately make available any Satellite Imagery that can assist in assessing the damage in your states and cities. Local utilities are going to soon begin Restoration Work including prioritizing getting Transmission Lines into New Orleans. Get them back up and running. A lot of them have been taken down. More than 25,000 Debris Crews and lineman from at least 30 states are rolling in to support you. Some are already prepositioned and close and hopefully are already underway. But we need to be prepared and were about as prepared as ubsd be for the early stage of this. Theres a lot more to do. We also know a lot of people lost their Cell Phone service. If their particularly Carrier Tower is down or damaged. This morning the federal Communications Commission has worked with a cellular providers to initiate the cooperative framework agreement. That agreement allows customers on one line with one provider to go to another provider if that provider is down. It allows customers to use Roaming Access carriers to any of the carriers up and running. That means you should be able to get a signal no matter who your carrier was or is. The main thing i want to make clear to all of you is were providing any help you need. As i said, ive got my Senior Adviser Cedric Richmond with me. Hes a New Orleans native, was a congressman of louisianas second district for ten years. He knows the area. He knows the people. And he who have been affected by ida, and he knows how to get things done in the government. While fema is our lead for on the ground response, if Theres Something you need, that needs my attention, cedric is your direct line. Direct line in the White House throughout this recovery. And i mean that. Whatever you need, go to cedric. Hell get to me. Well get you what you need if we can. The people of Louisiana And Mississippi are resilient, and but its in moments like these that we can see the power of government responding to the needs of the people if the government is prepared and if they respond. Thats our job, if we work together. The folks get knocked down, were there to help you get back down your feet. The most important element is coordinating all the branches of government. State, local, and federal. And thats what were trying to make sure what we Tree Y to before the hurricane hit. Were going to stand with you and the people of the gulf as long as it takes for you to recover. And so im ngoing to turn this over to governor edwards of louisiana. Governor, give us your assessment of what you have, what youre seeing out there. Tell me what youre hearing and what your team on the Ground And Anything you need that we havent gotten to yet. Thank you very much, mr. President. You couldnt have picked a better person than Cedric Richmond. And we look forward to working with him as well. First of all, let me Thank You for signing my request for a preLand Fall declaration and Last Night signing the major disaster declaration. Thats going to be very helpful. Hurricane ida came on shore with everything that was advertised. Yep. The surge, The Rain, the wind. The good news first is all of our Levy Systems, particularly our federal Levy Systems and Hurricane Risk Reduction systems performed magnificently. They were not overtopped. None of them were breached. Even our Levy Systems that were paid for with state and local funding performed extremely ex well. It would be a different story altogether had any of those Levee Systems failed. Having said that, the damage is still catastrophic. But it was primarily wind driven, but we know that there were some areas that received tremendous rainfall as well, but were going to be dealing with this damage for quite a while and you mentioned the power outage. That is critical for us. And its really A Million homes and businesses that are out, and my best guess is youre getting closer to 2 Million people without electricity right now, and of course were trying to prioritize the restoration so that our hospitals come back up first because while theyre all on generator power, generators typically, you know, failed after some period of time. So we want to get them back up first and in the meantime, we already have the Corps Of Engineers on the ground identifying additional generators that we can bring to these Hospital Locations so that should we have a failure before power is restored, were going to be able to switch them over. Theyre working extremely hard on that, and we have fema embedded with us here since before the storm. Is truth of the matter is, they havent left because of one Disaster Or Emergency after another. But theyre doing really well. We look forward to visiting with administrator griswold, who i think is going to be able to come down tomorrow, mr. President , but this is going to be a long haul, and we know that were going to need assistance with the housing program. Were putting together preliminary information this week that can potentially drive an appropriation for a cvbg. Well be getting with you all and ill work through Cedric Richmond on that, mr. President , to make sure that we can get a Program Up and running just as soon as possible. But i want to finish with really the most important thing. We are still in a lifesaving mode here, doing Search And Rescue. The roads, the highways into the most affected area were completely clogged with debris, downed Power Lines, trees. Were making really good progress. We actually started our ground Search And Rescue this morning at daylight. We dispatched those forces, and by the way, we already had Search And Rescue teams from 16 states in louisiana as of yesterday. They started moving to the affected areas at 3 00 this morning. At 6 00, they were actually doing Search And Rescues from 911 calls that came in over the night that couldnt be responded to, and then by 6 00 this morning, we actually were effecting rescues out of the air as well. And the last thing i want to say is that the very first rescues occurred at a hospital down in Labuche Parish by the u. S. Coast guard because they were able to fly before any other assets could, and they were able to move about seven patients from a hospital down there. You probably saw the hospital that had the roof just completely taken off. Yeah. Yesterday. Your Coast Guard rescued and relocated those patients first thing this morning, and we are very appreciative of that. Thank you. We worked real hard with you to get the Search And Rescue teams in place, but you say they have been able to respond . Yes, sir. In a timely way . Yes, sir. And i cant tell you theyre everywhere we want them but they started responding first thing this morning and those 16 teams, that doesnt include the national guard or the officers here. You know, ive got all 5,000 of my national guardsmen activated. Were going to end up with about 5,000 more coming in from out of state through an Emac Request and one of the reasons this is important, mr. President , is weve got 2,400 of our soldiers in our 256 Brigade Infantry Combat team, theyre deployed to the middle east, and so were going to have Emac Request for, i think, as early as tomorrow. Were going to have additional soldiers coming from national guards, from sister states and thats going to be very helpful as well. Good. Well, look, if Theres Anything else you need, you know just call. I mean, you got the team at the table there. A lot of them. And so just holler. In now cedric, who are we going to next . Governor reese. Oh, you are i understand, gov, youre not only video, but you are on the telephone, so gov, fire away. Well, Thank You, mr. President. When we spoke on friday, you assured me that when we asked for the Prelandfall Declaration that you would immediately sign it and you did exactly that and i want to Thank You for doing so. Were in a little bit of a different position right now, obviously, than our friends in louisiana. The storm is the the eye of the storm is west of jackson so we have between 18 to 22 more hours of the eye of the storm being in the state of mississippi. We also have, because its such a large storm, our largest threat in terms of tornadic activity remains on the coastline and the counties just north of there. The storm, which really is challenging, has slowed down to about 8 miles an hour and so thats the reason its going to stay in the state for so long, which leads to more and more rainfall, so the Bad News for us is that were going to get even more rainfall than maybe we orig originally anticipated. The good news is because its moving so slow, the Wind Speeds have not reached where we thought they would be in the 65, 75mileanhour range here in central mississippi. Theyre really closer to 30 to 40 miles an hour. Certainly, still providing some significant challenges, but not to the extent that it otherwise could have been. Because of that, we know that our greatest threats here in mississippi are with respect to rising Water And Power outages. The storm has been in the state for about 8 to 10 hours now. Weve got 135,000plus mississippi dwellings that have not and cannot receive power right now. Were working on that, but we anticipate that number to significantly increase over the next 20 hours as the storm continues to move more, to move north. We have determined in meeting with our team, mr. President , as well as your team at fema earlier today, that the sars assets, the Search And Rescue teams from fema are not currently needed in our state. We believe our state and local assets can meet the needs, so we have encouraged our fema counterparts to release those individuals over to louisiana to help with those Search And Rescue. Good. As well as i have directed my general, as we progress over the next 8 to 10 hours, he has already reached out to his counterpart in louisiana, and were going to be sending Men And Women In Uniform from mississippi to help in louisiana. Ba because thats who we are. Weve got, again, about 20 hours ahead of us of lots and lots of rain, but all things considered, because the storm slowed up so considerably, were seeing more rain, more water but a lot less wind, which is certainly helpful. Well, thanks an awful lot, gov, and again, thanks for your generosity and sending some of those Search And Rescue teams to louisiana. And is Mayor Cantrell on . Mayor cantrell, are you on . I dont think she was able to get connected. I dont think so, mr. President. But we have cynthia lee. Oh, okay. Parish president from jefferson parish, which includes Grand Isle and other places hard hit. You were hard hit, werent you, Madam President . Yes, we were. Thank you, mr. President , congressman, governor, Thank You. We have not had contact with Grand Isle, congressman. You know the mayor. I talked to him yesterday evening. He thought 40 people were on the island, couldnt get them off, including some firefighters. We have not had contact with them since yesterday. Im told that the mayor is in galiano and governor, i think hes on a helicopter by the State Police is what i heard to get him to the island and as long as theres communication, well be able to communicate with him and see whats going on there. But its very hard to not have any word from that island and the people on it since that time. In lafite, the water was very high. Our first responders, the sheriff, firefighters, louisiana national guard, some Coast Guard are there doing Search And Rescue. Theyre having to get boats in and out. We are sheltering those people at a playground and then i believe the state is going to coordinate, governor, for a pickup and move them out to alexandria is my understanding. And then of course our systems are down. We have no electricity, no communication. Our Water Systems are down. Were losing pressure. We had to do a boil water advisory. Our sewer system, as you know, is based on electricity, so were going to start having backups there, so thats going to be a hygiene problem, and were encouraging residents who are out of the area to stay out because we