power and no prospects of power anytime soon, but in many cases, also no running water, no working sewage system, no working emergency response system, and in some cases, no passable roads because of the storm damage. louisiana s governor john bel edwards today telling residents of his state, if you have already evacuated, do not return until the office of emergency preparedness tells you it is ready to receive you. the parish president from one hard-hit county in louisiana, st. john the baptist parish, told residents today, quote, the parish is without power, and we re without water. so where you currently are now, if you re in a safe place with water and power, that s probably the best place for you to stay. st. john the baptist parish, orleans parish, which is the city of new orleans, lafourche parish, st. tammany parish, terrebonne parish, which is where houma is, which has been very hard-hit, jefferson parish, which is immediately just west and south of new orleans, that
dana: it was not at a time and a place of our choosing. bill: p pentagon admitting it did not meet its goal of evacuating every last american or ally despite president biden s promise to leave no one behind. president biden: we won t conduct a hasty rush to the exit. we ll do it responsibly, deliberately and safely. there is a home for you in the united states if you so choose and we ll stand with you just as you stood with us. president biden: if there are american citizens left we ll stay until we get them all out. any american who wants to come home, we will get you home. our first priority in kabul is getting american citizens out of the country as quickly and safely as possible. dana: yet the taliban are now in full control of that airport. the group marching triumphantly across the tarmac hours after the last plane took off. republicans calling it a shameful display of american weakness. he promised the taliban would be out august 31st. promised the american
carrying the last troops to leave the country, ending america s two decade long war in afghanistan and ushering in a period of uncertainty for the afghan people. civilians were flown safely out of the country. this despite an attack at a gate that killed 13 u.s. service members and 100 afghan civilians. tony blinken says diplomatic efforts are underway to get 200 americans and afghans with special immigrant visas out of the country still. mean time, in a very rare move, vice president kamala harris presided over a brief senate session today as the chamber increased payments to american citizens returning from afghanistan to help with transportation, housing, and other costs. that bill now heads to president biden for his signature. joining us is the senior white house correspondent and nbc news correspondent courtney kube and raf sanchez in doha, qatar and matt bradley. so shannon, we re expecting to hear from the president. his remarks are already a little delayed. what do w
huge path of damage, but the wrecking power is obvious. just look at this video. listen to the winds. flooding is widespread. some areas could get 20 inches of rain. more than a half million homes and businesses are without power. that number is sure to climb, and officials say it could take weeks to fully restore power. the levee system in new orleans was vastly upgraded after katrina and is holding as of now. south of new orleans, the rainfall and storm surge have pushed water over a levee in plaquemines parish. a flash flood emergency is in effect, and residents are urged to seek higher ground. let s begin our coverage with cnn s jason carroll. he s in houma, louisiana, not far from where the storm made landfall. what are you experiencing, jason? reporter: well, pamela, just within the past hour, we ve seen emergency crews for the first time make their way through the parking lot beside me. so that s some indication that perhaps, you know, this storm the eye of the sto
category 5 status as we give you a look at new orleans, one of many areas in the state where forecasters are warning of life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic wind damage, major flooding and even tornadoes. the new orleans mayor will be giving us an update in a few minutes. we ll bring that to you live. earlier today here on msnbc the mayor of baton rouge expressed the serious nature of this threat for the 14 million people in its path. we have become more resilient, but my greatest concern is making sure that people are safe and sound and listening to the messages that we ve been communicating with them. so that s my greatest concern. in terms of evacuation, everyone, just moments ago officials have shut down the interstate 10 causeway over lake pontchartrain. that s what we ve been showing you there as the winds are definitely picking up. earlier today officials closed the floodgates to protect the area south of new orleans from flooding. louisiana, in fact, bracing