Month: August 2021

President Joe Biden told state and local officials in Mississippi and Louisiana on Monday that the federal government ‘will do everything in its power to help areas impacted by Hurricane Ida to recover quickly.’

Biden met with Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and others during a virtual briefing, saying that his administration is “there to help you get back on your feet” in the aftermath of flooding and destruction caused by the storm. Ida made landfall in Louisiana Sunday morning, with wind gusts of 172 mph at its peak. The Category 4 hurricane cut power to all of New Orleans, and the city issued a flash flood emergency. Ida also caused flooding in neighboring Mississippi.

The president said he has activated 5,000 National Guard troops to help with rescue and recovery efforts and joined local officials in urging those in affected areas to stay put in their homes for their safety until help arrives. Biden assured, “We’re doing all we can to minimize the amount of time it’s going to take to get power back up for everyone in the region. People in Louisiana and Mississippi are resilient, but it is in moments like these that we can see the power of government to meet the needs of people and respond to people, if government is prepared to respond — that is our job.”

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The Pentagon announced on Monday that the United States has completed its evacuation mission at the international airport in Afghanistan, officially bringing an end to the longest war in American history. Coalition forces were racing to meet the Aug. 31 deadline imposed by the Taliban to withdraw U.S. troops following a conflict that has spanned over four presidencies.

U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Kenneth McKenzie announced that the last C-17 military transport aircraft carrying U.S. citizens and eligible Afghans who assisted the country during the two-decade war had left Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul at 3:29 p.m. EDT. He added that Maj. Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, and U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ross Wilson were aboard the final flight. The departure of the last C-17 signals “the end of the nearly 20-year mission that began in Afghanistan shortly after Sept. 11, 2001,” McKenzie said.

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Ida weakened to a tropical storm early Monday over southwestern Mississippi, after battering southern Louisiana on Sunday as a Category 4 storm with winds of 150 miles per hour. In a 4 a.m. CDT update, the National Hurricane Center (“NHC”) said Ida had maximum sustained winds of 60 mph, and was located 90 miles south-southwest of Jackson, Miss., and 50 miles north-northeast of Baton Rouge, La. Ida was moving north at 13 mph.

Ida strengthened from a Category 2 to a Category 4 within two hours on Sunday morning. By late Sunday, it was back to a Category 2. Despite the drop in strength, however, the NHC said portions of southeastern Louisiana and southern Mississippi will continue to experience a “dangerous storm surge, damaging winds and flash flooding.” A storm surge warning was in effect from Grand Isle, La., to the Alabama-Florida border while a tropical storm warning was active for the same region including Lake Pontchartrain, Lake Maurepas and Metropolitan New Orleans.Ida is forecast to travel inland over portions of Louisiana and western Mississippi on Monday and Monday night. The highest rainfall total was recorded in LaPlace, Louisiana, which received 15 inches. 16 states from Mississippi to New Jersey are on alert for flash flooding, from the Gulf Coast to New Jersey. Ida is forecast to weaken more over the next day or so, becoming a tropical depression by Monday evening.

As of early Monday, more than 1 million Louisiana utility customers are without power, according to PowerOutage.us. On Sunday evening, New Orleans said the entire city lost power after “catastrophic transmission damage.” Ida made landfall on Sunday on the anniversary of Katrina, the Category 3 storm that devastated Louisiana and Mississippi 16 years ago.

On Sunday, President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden attended the dignified transfer of the 13 American service members killed in a pair of explosions near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul. The president and first lady flew in Air Force One to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware where they met with some of the families of the 13 service members killed in the attack. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley were also present for the transfer.

Biden said in a written statement: “The 13 service members that we lost were heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in service of our highest American ideals and while saving the lives of others. Their bravery and selflessness has enabled more than 117,000 people at risk to reach safety thus far. May God protect our troops and all those standing watch in these dangerous days.”

The families of 11 of the service members killed in the attack by the terror group known as Islamic State-Khorasan Province allowed media to document the event while the remains of the other two service members were transferred out of public view. The 13 service members killed included 11 Marines, one Army soldier and one Navy corpsman, ranging in age from 20 to 31.

On Sunday, the United States launched a defensive drone strike on a suspected car bomb. Biden said in a statement that the strike wouldn’t be the last and U.S. forces “will continue to hunt down any person involved in that heinous attack and make them pay.”

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