0 helicopter with the state police to get him on the island and as long as there is communication, we will communicate with him to see what is going on there, the but it is hard to have no word from the island and the people on it. in lafitte, the water is very high, and from the louisiana national guard and others are there doing the search and rescue. they are having to get the boats in and out, and we are sheltering the people at the park playground, and then the state is going to coordinate the pickup and move them out to alexandria is the plan. and our systems are down and we have no communication and the water systems are down, and we are losing pressure and we had to do the boil advisory, and we will have the backup systems there with the sewage, and that is a hygiene problem, and encouraging the residents who are out of the area, not to come back, and to stay out, because we don't have the modern amenities to take care of them. and the people who stayed there in the storm who are okay, they may want to get out, and it is the best idea for them to get out, because it is going to be difficult life for quite some time. >> thank you, madam president. >> thank you. >> cedric, what about the oil port? >> well, the governor or president sheng could talk about that. the president is inquiring about the oil port in port fuchon. >> i don't get any information on that and i only get information if it is on the national -- and we have been listening to president biden detail the federal response to hurricane ida and getting an update from the leaders and governors and mayors along the affected region, and it appears that the comms there went south. so now, we will go to digital reporter shannon pettypiece, and how is the white house dealing with the confluence of challenges. it is testing and taxing the white house, and we are less than 24 hours away from the fall of kabul, the self-imposed biden deadline the drawdown the troops there, and now clearly dealing with this storm where you have more than 1 million people left without power in new orleans and the president saying one confirmed death, and he expects that number to grow. >> absolutely. this is really the first two dualing crises of the administration and the test to see if they can respond to it simultaneously. and getting an update of the damage with the meeting of the governors and the catastrophic situation unfolding on the ground there in louisiana and more damage to come in mississippiment at the same time, we anticipate a few hours from now, we will hear from the administration that they have completed the evacuation efforts in afghanistan. you know, the administration has been trying to, you know, tout the number of people that they have been able to get out of the country and change the narrative to show it as an effort and operation that has succeeded in getting people out, but of course, we will continue to see likely, very difficult scenes from that country, and in a way, both of the stories are at the beginning, too, and the governor saying that the recovery effort going to take months. we are really only at the very, very beginning stages of this, and the story in afghanistan really only at the beginning as well, and while this is the end of the u.s. operations there, at least at the foreseeable future, it is a new chapter in afghanistan as the taliban is to take sole control of the country within hours, geoff. >> and shannon, focusing back to the storm, i was particularly struck to hear the president tell the mayors or governors to reach out to cedric richmond, and tell us who he is and why he is important? >> he is one of the top senior advisers in the administration, and one of president biden's close tight inner circle, and he happens to be a former congressman from louisiana. he knows the people of that state well. he knows the region, the geography, and the dynamics of that state. he has really been focused on the president's domestic policy issue, and particularly on issues like voting rights, and gun control legislation, and police reform legislation, and those issues obviously have kind of fallen to the back burner as there is a focus on the infrastructure and the foreign affairs and international issues that have been dominating the agenda lately, so now having cedric richmond step into that is quite good timing and a good person to have in the white house when it comes to dealing with louisiana and this recovery. >> absolutely. shannon pettypiece, thank you for starting us off. now to the reporters covering, from the phones, sam brock, and from new orleans, ali velshi, and meteorologist michelle grossman. and ali, you are between new orleans and baton rouge, and that portion there, the rushing waters have turned into rivers. ongoing rescues, there and what is the status of the rescue mission right now? we have lost sam, so over to you, ali velshi. what is the scene in new orleans, and folks still without power? sorry, ali. >> well, geoff, the power is the big deal here. okay. >> ali, go ahead, and finish the thought. >> yeah, the issue here is the power, right. we have got, and we have managed not to flood new orleans which is a very, very big deal compared to hurricane katrina and we have structural damage around the city, and trees down and power lines down, and entergy is the major energy companied and they have had failure across eight of the transmission line, and so there is no power in new orleans at all, and the only power running here is with anybody who has a generator, and we are hearing though that they don't have to repair all eight immediately, because some of them were redundancies, but they have none at the time, so no transmission of electricity coming into new orleans, and now we are trying to get to the bottom of how long it will take to fix that, and we have heard an estimate of ceo of 7 to 10 days for most customers, and 7 to 10 for most customers and those hardest hit, and the structural problems for them to be prevented from getting in, so if you don't have any damage on your property, and entergy can start power up again, it will be about 7 to 10 days. and last night, they thought it would be last night, and some people thought it was a relatively quick fix and do whatever they wanted to do and the day or the next day it will be going back, but it is not true. so until we hear otherwise from entergy, and we are reaching out to them to find out what specific repairs have to take place for them to get energy back, and there are most people here without power 7 to 10 day, and that is not going into effect, geoff, because the power is cleaning for the water, so right now, people are talking about boiling water even here in new orleans. we have not heard that we have a problem with the water and sewage system, because energy said they could route the power to the water and sewage system, but generator systems work for so long and they work off of fuel and tend not to be a long-term situation. so businesses around here with the generators may be running out of fuel, and without the power, you can't pump the fuel. so this a new turn this morning as we learn that the energy, the power may not be restored to the area for 7 to 10 days at the least, and three weeks on the outside which has people scrambling and concerned about what is going on. the point is, geoff, if you stayed here and your house did not flood, and you have food, now you learn it is 7 to 10 days, it is going to change the dynamics, because do people have enough gas to get out of town, and can they do that and infrastructure or things blocking the road. new layer of problems for new orleans and the surrounding areas this morning based on when they are expecting to get the power restored in the area. >> yes, 7 to 10 days without power is unbelievable. sam brock, you are back with us, and the comms are dodgey and the cells are unreliable, and if you can tell us what is the situation there. >> yes, the communication is terrible here especially for those areas stricken by the floo floods, and you can't get through. the 911 systems are talking about being spotty or nonfunctional at the time. that played into the area this morn where there were rescues and initially reported hundreds or thousands of calls that people made in la plaz, again, about 30 miles or so from new orleans on the western edge of lake pontchartrain, and it turns out hundreds of calls and after the water had receded the national guard and the cajun navy went in, and using high water boats to take people out. and we spoke to folks, geoff, who said that when the water was coming in, it was at the ankles and the waist, and when it was closer for the chest, they would go up to the attic to wait and not knowing the fate. several of the individuals were rescued this morning, and so that is the reality, and also, i would add that driving through the area of grammercy and paulina, i would say that this is a pool of water here in st. james boating park, and this is a day after all of the water came down, and there is still all of the water, and i watched as ali was talking about trying to get the gasoline, and you want to get out, because you don't have electricity, and a line of cars down the highway for 30 to 45 minutes for a single gas pump as a transformer from a power pole was dangling over them, and that is speaking to the level of desperation that people are experiencing in new orleans, without gas or electricity and strain on the water as well, and all of these things are coming together. it is devastating to see it on the ground in person. facades of the buildings are ripped off. so many people's lives are uprooted and changed because of this event, and it is vast. the breadth is vast and how many miles we have driven through today and seen the roadblocks and the homes of water still in the front lawn and families whose lives will never be the same. >> and sam, i imagine a number of people who have evacuated and they want to come back to see what is left of their homes, and what are officials saying for people who are inclined to do that? >> the mayor of new orleans said do not do so, and for the reasons that ali just ute lined, because they don't know how long it is going to be before the power is restored. at one point, we were about 1 million customers without power, and at one point, you could see a parking lot full of the bucket trucks to try to restore the power and talking about a transmission line in the mississippi river, it is not a quick fix. the warning is weeks if not longer for some of the areas to receive power. that is deeply problematic, and no doubt people want to return to the homes, but it is coming with considerable logistical problems if you try to return now. >> i cannot imagine. sam broc and ali velshi, thank you. and michelle, ida made land as a category 4 storm with 160-mile-an-hour winds and since turned into a tropical storm, and where is this storm headed now? >> it is now in mississippi, and hi, there, geoff, and this is going to be five days worth of ida. so we will talk about this until friday. it exploded into a category 4 storm, and almost a high strung one, and almost category 5, but now in mississippi, and we will see a big wind event now, and it is all about the flooding rains. let's talk about the history of ida, and the name is going to be retired and not in terms of renaming it, but in terms of the history. so it is the fifth strongest landfalling, landfall on the continental u.s. tied with laura about this time last year. and it went through the rapid intensification of 65-mile-per-hour in 24 hours, and that is a lot. to have that classification, it has to have 35. so geoff, that is where you will see the darker colors which is the rain, and heavy rain in mississippi and alabama and looking in the severe weather threat which is story through friday, and moving very, very slow at 9 miles per hour, and that is not good news, because tropical systems are like sponges, a hold a lot of water, and squeezed out, and when it is moving slowly, and that is swr we get the flash flooding. and again, the wind story is over, and becoming a rain and flash flooding story, and still life threatening, and when you have flash flooding, that a dangerous system, and when ida slowly moves over mississippi, you are seeing a tornado watch until 5:00, and then it is moving into the tennessee valley, and a week ago, we had 17 inches of rain in one spot in tennessee. so we are going to see, and add to that places that don't need to see the rain. we had henri and fred that came through, and then thursday and friday it is into the mid-atlantic, and this started last week in terms of history-making with the landfall, and now we will follow it. >> and we go to the press briefing where jen psaki is talking about the afghanistan exit. >> we are coordinating with the local officials every step of the way. today, the response efforts of the gulf coast where the conditions allow on the ground, and first responders are focusing on the immediate priorities, search, and rescue operations and medical evacuations for those in distress, and electrical restoration where over 1 million are without electricity and communications where they are down, and providing emergency food, water and shelter to those in need, and in new orleans, energy companies have reported catastrophic damage to their systems, and we don't know how long for the utilities to repair, but it is a big priority for everyone involve and it could take weeks to get everything back up and running. and officials are engaged with the leadership to ensure that all available resources are brought to bear as quickly as possible. as you saw, the president spoke with the governors and the mayors in the louisiana communities and he was also receiving the latest responses from the communications at fema and he went to thank them for their local and state response efforts. you may have seen this, but last night, he signed an emergency declaration to allow individuals to apply for assistance, and also approved a pre-landfall emergency declaration to direct federal assistance. i want to give you a quick overview of the federal resources to support the state and local efforts as of now, and many of which are prepositioned before the storm. fema is working with the federal, state and local partners as well as nongovernmental areas to support the needs affected by ida. the agencies position supply meals, water and shelter and generators. and fema employees are deployed to louisiana, florida, alabama and texas and ready to supply what is needed. they have supplied over 34,000 meals and 37,000 tarps and generators and additional ambulances and air ambulances have been moved into the area. and seven assistance fema teams, and search and rescue teams have been activated with debris and subject matter experts. and health and human services is deploying a 250-bed shelter to alexandria, and the rotary wing aircraft positioned to help with rescue efforts. shelters are open in affected areas throughout the gulf coast across the states and they are implementing steps to prevent the spread of covid-19. the national guard has activated 200 personnel in mississippi, alabama and texas and louisiana to aid. and also, the army corps of engineers has deployed to provide temporary housing. and the storm has been down graded to tropical storm, and that is going to also result in more downed trees and power lines as it moves east. and ida is going to produce more flash flooding and tornadoes remain a threat. the secretary of homeland security mayorkas will travel to baton rouge to meet the governor to survey the damage, and the fema administrator will travel to jackson, mississippi, that evening and meet with the governor and tour the damage. the last update that i wanted to provide to all of you is that it is part of all of the across government approach to prevent evictions, today, mayor garrick garland is asking for immediate action to prevent immediate evictions in this emergency. asking major law firms and law schools and individual lawyers to work with the providers with pro bono services to work with tenants. and so far, 40 law school students and deans from harvard, howard and ucla and more have committed the students and law clerks to prevent evictions is and several legal services corporation, and the american bar association and the national law housing project have joined the commitment to immediate action and thursday we will have a emergency rental training program held by the pro bono alliance to help. with that, darlene, why don't you kick us off. >> in afghanistan, there were at least 300 citizens looking to get out, and can you tell us about the numbers waiting to get out, and down to 150 or down to zero? >> yes, i know my state department colleagues will have a more specific up to date number, but let me give you an upto date number. of those self-identify as americans wanting to leave the country since august 14th, we have confirmation that 6,000 have been evacuated or otherwise departed. this number is going to likely grow as the outreach and the arrivals continue, and we have continued to provide updates on the assessments. in august 14th, there were 6,000 americans in afghanistan who wanted to get out. so as we knew at the time, there could be an option of the people who registered had already departed or the people who had registered had not de-registered or additional people coming forward. i believe there are a small number and you are asking for the exact number who remain and we are trying to figure out exactly how many, and we are going through the manifests, and we will have a more concrete number as soon as possible. part of the challenge with the fixed numbers is long-time citizens is of afghanistan and the dual passports and majority who are trying to determine if they want to leave or not, or have been in the last couple of days and in many instances it is because they have many family members there, and they have a range of reasons, and we are working to assess that. >> one other question on afghanistan, the deadline is tomorrow, obviously, and what can you tell us about what the president will do tomorrow. how will he mark this moment? should the public expect to hear from him tomorrow after this is all wrapped up? >> yes, darlene. without getting into the specific operational details, and i know you are not asking me about that, but to preface, the public can expect to hear from the president in the coming days, but i don't have anything to outline for the specific date and time at this time. >> and president biden said that i do not regret my decision to withdraw from afghanistan, and after watching the heart wrench ing ceremony yesterday, does he not regret that decision? >> with the men and women who gave their lives to honor their service and sacrifice and had the opportunity to meet a number of the family members yesterday, we can't, and that doesn't take the place of all of the progress that we have, all of the work that has been done to evacuate people, but i will tell you something that has been said time and time again by the brave men and women of the military leading this effort. these 13 individuals sacrificed their lives to save tens of thousands of people, and this is something that is, should be honored, should be valued, and we will continue to look for ways to do that. >> and meeting with the families of the fallen service members, does the president still stick by the decision and he does not regret at all how this has played out the last couple of weeks? >> of course, for any president as i said last week, a day or a week where you lose 13 service members is the worst day or the worst week of your presidency. that remains case, and yesterday and i have seen him since he has of course went to dover yesterda