safe. it is beautiful to be here. we are the luckiest people, you know. >> reporter: housed at fort lee military base virginia while his s.i.v. is processed rashid was reunited with a s.e.a.l. team member who he hadn't seen for nine years. a second chance at life for an eternally grateful family. whose hearts may remain in afghanistan but his future now lies a world away. anna coren, cnn, hong kong. >> an incredible story. thank you for joining us. anderson starts now. good evening. we have two breaking stories tonight, each with considerable impact now and certainly for years to come. there's the aftermath of hurricane ida and rescue operations under way right now. first, though, this country's 20-year war in afghanistan is over. a four-star general making the

announcement this afternoon which came suddenly and sooner than expected with the last c-17 transport lifting off just one minute before the president's self-imposed august 31st deadline arrived in kabul. he'll be addressing the nation tomorrow. the secretary of state spoke just a short time ago and addressed the issue of americans remaining in afghanistan. >> we believe there are still a small number of americans, under 200, and likely closer to 100, who remain in afghanistan and want to leave. we're trying to determine exactly how many. we're going through manifests and calling and texting through our lists. and we'll have more details to share as soon as possible. our commitment to them and to all americans in afghanistan and everywhere in the world continues. the protection and welfare of americans abroad remains the state department's most vital and enduring mission. >> he said the state department would help americans leave no matter when they decide that they wish to depart. meantime, celebratory gunfire from the taliban was heard in parts of kabul.

according to a local reporter working with cnn. certainly not the ending anyone anticipated 20 years, $2 trillion and nearly 2,000 american lives ago. including the 13 final american troops who gave their lives helping others get out safely. it's a lot. it is history. and the effects will be felt for generations. cnn's clarissa ward was in afghanistan throughout the war including the final american chapter. she joins us now. clarissa, as someone who spent a lot of time in afghanistan covering the war, what is it like to know the u.s. has finally left? >> reporter: i think it's such a mixture of emotions and it's such an extraordinary moment to be thinking that 20 years ago today the taliban was in control and all these decades and lives lost and money spent and efforts put in later the taliban is back in control. you heard secretary of state blinken talk about tough lessons to be learned. and i definitely think that you can't feel anything other than

humbled on a day like today. i think definitely there are questions about how this can affect america's standing in the world. the fact that even with the world's most powerful army and all that money and all that effort that still the u.s. was defeated by an insurgency. that is a bitter pill to swallow for a lot of people. i know that my phone has been inund inun inundated since the news broke that this is really truly over, anderson, from servicemen, special forces, former intelligence, who are heartbroken, who feel angry, who feel america has betrayed the afghan people and has abandoned people. and on the other hand, though, i hear from a lot of americans who simply say at least this was done in the most remarkable way it could have been in terms of managing to evacuate well over 100,000 people and now it's time to draw a line under it. so i think the history books will ultimately be the ones to

decide which narrative is closer to the truth, but certainly afghanistan has many challenges ahead. >> right now it seems there's probably no air traffic controllers in the airport in kabul. we've seen obviously taliban taking over the airport already. but there's not commercial flights in and out of afghanistan. is it clear to you what happens now with kabul in terms of aid going to the country? obviously the economy is in freefall. so much foreign aid has been propping up the country for the last 20 years. even getting the remaining american citizens out and possibly other allied afghan citizens who may want to if the taliban would allow them to leave will only be possible if the airport is up and running. >> reporter: right. i mean, secretary of state blinken really wanted to emphasize that any americans will be able to leave, even if they decide they want to leave in a month, and talked about this agreement that's been

hashed out with turkey and qatar potentially to allow charter flights in. but as you say, all of this really will be contingent on a very major factor here, which is whether the taliban can adequately and sufficiently secure and staff that airport. and i think they are desperate to make it happen. so there's every chance that they will. but there are certain challenges that they will be facing as well, security being a primary one. cnn spoke to a taliban source earlier who said that the problem they have at the moment is that isis-k fighters have, quote, melted into the taliban, meaning that it's impossible for taliban leadership and taliban fighters on the ground to distinguish isis-k militants who are perhaps poised to carry out an attack, from ordinary taliban fighters. so they have quite a mission on their hand now, on their hands now, to try to sustain security, not just in kabul but across the country, open up a major

international airport, get those flights up in the air again, and it just isn't clear to any of us, anderson, how quickly they'll be able to pull it off. >> there had been a report a couple of days ago the taliban had had reached out to turkey to see if they would once again take control of security at the airport or control of the airport. do you know anything about that, whether that's something turkey would agree to? >> i think turkey and qatar, because they have close relationships with the muslim brotherhood or are affiliated directly with the muslim brotherhood, these are two countries that the taliban feel they can work with and that they feel that they understand the taliban and know how to work with them as well. so if anyone is going to be able to do this, then it likely would be a country like turkey. and of course they've been running security at that airport in their nato role for many years now. but again, there are still so many questions as to the mechanisms of what that would look like.

perhaps they've hammered out a deal behind the scenes. we've seen the images now of taliban special forces kind of storming into that airport hangar, looking at those u.s. military planes that remain even though they're not functional anymore. that's a powerful symbolic moment for the taliban, but now the really hard work begins, anderson. >> the other thing that seems unclear is whether the taliban will actually help or let american citizens safely leave the country now. i know you've been speaking to taliban individuals. do you have a sense of how they plan to rule in kabul, maintain security, especially with threats from isis-k and their ideology? >> reporter: so they say and they keep repeating this, particularly to other sort of nations in the international community, that all foreign nationals will be allowed to travel freely, will be allowed to leave the country.

i think that probably the between 100 and 200 americans that secretary blinken alluded to will have an easier time getting out than certainly u.s. allies in the form of afghan citizens, some of whom may have green cards, some of whom may have those s.i.v., those special immigration visas, but who have the sort of stigma aevident soed with having worked with the u.s. military or the u.s. embassy in some capacity. and while the taliban has said there's a blanket amnesty here and no one will be punished, privately when i talk to people who are sort of ideologically aligned with the taliban i hear something very different, which is that people who collaborated with the occupiers and the invaders need to face some kind of punishment. and it's important to remember that the whole reason the taliban has really been able to get this far is by the fact that they can create a secure situation through really draconian rule.

and so in order to continue to secure -- and we're talking thousands, tens of thousands potentially, anderson, are deeply fearful tonight. now that those last u.s. planes have left, does that mean their chance of getting out of the country has now gone forever? >> clarissa ward, i appreciate it. thank you. from pakistan tonight. the end of the war will bring a lot of questions, a lot of study and analysis including what happens to all the u.s. military hardware left behind. clarissa just mentioned a video that provides a stark answer tonight. it was short reportedly just after the last u.s. flight left. l.a. times journalist nabi bulos took the video walking behind taliban fighters who were wearing clearly what seems to be u.s.-supplied gear carrying american m-4 weapons, walking toward what was just before a u.s. helicopter, is now in the taliban hands. i spoke with nabi bulos just a

few minutes before air time. >> explain when you shot this video and what it is we're seeing. what happened here? >> so i took this video minutes after the last american plane had left. at that point you had the taliban sort of massing around the sides of the airport. and then when they saw there were no more planes, they waited a bit and then went inside en masse. and you know, i think with the first wave we were able to go to the gate, until a few minutes before manned by the americans. and they went in. they were able to go in the hangars. the tarmac, of course. they were doing a full sweep of what they had been basically able now to commandeer. now the airport is fully in their hands. they've taken the entire area now. >> this is a hangar -- is it your understanding this was a hangar that was up until a short time ago occupied by u.s. forces? that looks like a chinook

helicopter that was used to ferry embassy employees and others. >> exactly so, yeah. and those have been i think partially dismantled. but you also had other helicopters as well and there was even an mrap as well. we saw app mrap as well. though i think it had been disabled. a lot of things have been disabled it seems. >> oh, so you think that helicopter has been disabled? >> i mean, i'm no expert, to be clear. so i don't want to pretend to know what i don't know. but it seems like it has been dismantled. and this isn't easy, right? it's not just a matter of grabbing a screwdriver and putting it together. it does need some skill and knowledge. >> the uniforms the taliban soldiers appear to be -- that the taliban soldiers are wearing, those look like american uniforms. do you know where they come from? >> i mean, surely they're u.s. supplied. i can't tell you where they came from exactly. they also had night vision goggles, their rifles, m-4, m-16s. and all those were supplied by

the u.s. and the uniforms of course are the same. >> what's the situation between reporters and the taliban now? what's the feeling like in kabul? >> i mean, at the moment it's been calm for us reporters. but again i want to stress that i'm in a very privileged position in the sense that i'm not a local. and i don't want to sort of compare myself to a local afghan journalist who doesn't have the same protection, doesn't have the foreign passports. they face much higher dangers. so with that being said, we were able to get permission to work with the taliban. just to see what was going on with the gates. we got to know this one commander who was able to bring us into the airport when they took it over. >> it's startling to see taliban fighters dress fld what seem to be american-supplied uniforms perhaps supplied to the afghan military with american weapons and nightvision goggles. do you see a lot of that now?

>> yes. i mean, of course throughout kabul you see the -- i mean, you see taliban atop the ford f-150s -- i mean the ford ranger. all these various pickups. i mean, you're talking about all the stuff supplied by the u.s. u.s. materiel. and of course it's surreal to see taliban on the streets of kabul to begin with and then to see them with these weapons is even more surreal. >> nabih bulos, i appreciate you talking with us. be careful. thank you. >> thank you for having me. let's get some perspective now on what's really a historic night from cnn's fareed zakaria, host of "fareed zakaria gps," author of "10 lessons for a post-pandemic world." fareed, what do you make of this?

for all what we have witnessed over the last week or more it was still startling to see the news today that the last plane left. >> it was startling. it was historic, anderson. and i think all the feelings of frustration and anger all come down to one very simple thing, which is that the united states was not able to achieve its mission in afghanistan. the mission in afghanistan was to defeat the taliban and to establish a democratic government that could command the legitimacy of the afghan people and control the country and i think it would be very hard to make the case on either front. the taliban over the last ten years has kept gaining ground. even after the surge. you remember there were at one point 130,000, 140,000 coalition troops in afghanistan. by 2015 the taliban had made gains, they were controlling almost 30%, 40% of the country. if you look at the government,

there were some good things without any question but at the end of the day in the last election 1.8 afghans voted. that's in a country of 39 million. >> 1.8 million. >> the army turned out to be nothing like what it had been advertised to be. it's really because this was a failure. and there's no easy way to say that and there's no easy way to lose a war. >> is there any way to know what the end of this war, which is america's longest war, means both in the short term and the long term for afghanistan? there are so many unknowns of what sort of rule the taliban will have. their abilities to actually rule the country. and what happens next. >> you put it exactly right, anderson. i think anyone who claims they can foresee this, it's incredibly complicated. what we can say is historically

afghans have been able to come together or create some sense of national unity only when there is a foreign presence. you know, when there are foreigners there, there is a degree to which you can play with the -- that nationalist feeling. left to their own devices, it's a very tribal society. many different ethnic groups. many of them don't like each other much. and there have been long periods of either kind of you run your part of afghanistan we run our part or actual civil war. so the taliban are pashtuns. pashtuns make up 50% of afghanistan. but there are a lot of tajiks and uzbeks and hazaras and they don't like the pashtuns much. so history would suggest the taliban is going to have a tough time. and add to it the afghanistan of today is very different from the afghanistan of 20 years ago. there were no cell phones in afghanistan 20 years ago. i think something like 70% of the population have cell phones.

women are educated and they've been working. the population is much younger. people have gotten used to a certain level of economic standards of living and activity. will they be able to just shut that all back? remember, the last time they came in it was the end of a 10-year civil war, soviet withdrawal. it was very different. this is -- this is going to be tougher for the taliban. they have no money. they have no expertise. they can't pay government salaries. so i suspect we will see a period of a great deal of ambi ambiguity, certain amount of contestation. all of which, by the way, gives america some leverage. in asking afghan allies get -- be allowed to leave, whatever americans want to leave can leave. we have leverage with the taliban. >> this is a country which is -- obviously there's the potential for huge drug trade continuing.

there's -- but this is a country which has existed through foreign money for a very long time. the reason there are mcmansions that have popped up in kabul over the last 20 years is all the u.s. dollars we have poured into this country and have been i assume siphoned off and gone into people's houses and they've built nice houses or big houses at the very least. what does this country do unless they're able to continue to get foreign aid? >> another very good question. afghanistan is one of the rare countries where its defense budget was larger than its gdp. the amount the americans were putting in was just massive. and what we were doing was trying to win a war. so money was no expense. it went out fast. there was little accountability. as you say, it got sloshed around the country. now there's none of of that. so what do they do. >> well, as you say, opium has been a big long-standing business. it is mineral-rich. and there's one possibility that

you end up -- afghanistan through pakistan, which has essentially become a chinese satellite state now moves toward china, the chinese demand mineral rights and they get some kind of foreign aid in that form. but again, it won't be -- at least historically it won't be that easy because one of the reasons minerals have been tough to extract in afghanistan is because there's often a lot of political instability. there are often people firing at you while you're trying to mine those minerals. so will all that go away? will the taliban be able as clarissa was saying to impose a kind of draconian rule on afghanistan? if they can then this china angle perhaps becomes a viable one. >> fareed zakaria, appreciate it. thank you. coming up next, the wife of one of the 13 americans who died defending the kabul airport, died doing what she said her husband loved the most, which

was helping other people. and that he certainly did. helping others to get out of kabul. and later, live report from louisiana where the governor says hurricane ida's death toll could rise considerably. impressive! aveeno® healthy. it's our nature.™ try the body wash, too. as your business changes, the united states postal service is changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide, and returns right from the doorstep. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. 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, he's on the scene and needs a plan with a mobile hotspot. we cut to downtown,

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wreaking news tonight, america's ended its 20-year war in afghanistan. the last c-17 left kabul just before midnight there. one of the last american soldiers to die was the only member of the army to be killed in last week's suicide attack outside the kabul airport. staff sergeant ryan knauss was 23 years old when he died along with 12 other american service members. he was assigned to the army special operations forces, psychological operations unit. the barest of brief biographical details of course don't tell you nearly enough about who he was and what he was like. just before air time i spoke to his wife, alina, about ryan's life and service. >> alina, thank you so much for joining us. i am so sorry for your loss. how are you holding up? >> i know grieving is a

different process for everyone. so as well as i can be at the moment. >> what was ryan like? >> i think the word that has been most commonly used these past few days is very charismatic. there's not -- we don't have the time, you know, to talk about every little thing about him, and i wish we did because i wish i could give that little bit of him to people because he was just wonderful. through and through. he was one of those people you could not hate and when you met him you thought about him until, you know, one day you're like why am i thinking about this person? he was just one of those people that he could have the smallest interaction with and truly touch them. >> now, i understand that you went to -- you kind of went to rival high schools, didn't you? >> in a way, yeah. it's going to sound bad. but he went to gibbs, which was like the local high schools, and i went to -- i didn't want to go to gibbs.

i wanted to go to the l & m stem academy, which is science, technology, engineering and mathematics downtown. and so he always gave me so much, you know, flak for not going to the local one. he's like you just really thought you were above everyone. i was like no, i wanted to break out, you know. >> but you were high school sweethearts. how did you meet? >> we will worked at a very small pizza shop in felton city, tennessee together. his brother was actually the manager at the time. and i'd worked with his brother and we were really good friends, and then one day this kid showed up and i was like, god, he thinks he owns the place. like who is this guy? i was just like who -- and he's like oh, that's my brother. and i was like, oops. okay. he has the confidence, he needs to be knocked down a little. and i've been doing it ever since. >> he was obviously -- he was

very good-looking. i've heard you say that. i've heard that you actually didn't do much work when he was around because you were kind of smitten with him. is that true? >> yeah. he would get frequently annoyed. i would tell people i was his pr. he would be trying to talk to me or -- i mean, just even eat in peace and i would just be over there with like my phone like look that way, look that way. you know, just -- i was smitten. people say that the cupcake phase or the honeymoon phase ends, and it did not for us. which i am so grateful for. >> october 7th was going to be your fifth wedding anniversary. it is going to be your fifth wedding anniversary. >> yes. >> when did you know you were going to marry him? when did you know he was the one? >> the second -- but also not

the second. he was -- i think i told someone else earlier, he really hounded me those first few years for a date. and it's like i knew the second i met him that, one, he drove me crazy and, two, i was going to marry him. >> i heard your mom is the one who actually got you to go on a date with him. >> she did. she would come in for pizzas. because you know, we worked there, so we had a discount. and he was just so nice. that's who he was. and it was genuine, you know, but of course my mom was like oh, this nice young man. so she was like, alena, if you do not at least give him a chance, he will be the one you always wonder about. and she just -- she hounded me just as much as he did and finally i gave him the chance and i was like, okay, so we're getting married. i get it. yeah. >> moms always know. and he always -- and ryan always wanted to be in the military. >> absolutely. i mean, i think something recently surfaced where in second grade he had written, "i want to be a marine." poorly, you know, but he had

written it. >> i love that you point out poorly. >> like i said, i've always -- it's been my job to keep him humble, just as much as it was to be smitten with him. that was our dynamic. >> so he was living his dream, not only his dream with you but also being in the military. >> 100%. i thought he should have been a history professor. i thought he should have done, you know -- he was one of those people, he was just so brilliant. he could have done whatever he wanted. but he wanted to serve his country. and he did. and it was so fulfilling for him. and you know, he went through so many different mls changes and finding out his niche, and he really did in the end in with psy ops, psychological operations, because he was fulfilling his role in its fullest capacity. he was brilliant and he was using every capability he had to

help people. >> when you heard that there had been an attack, initially the reporting was that it was marines and a navy corpsman. did you feel -- you didn't know initially that he had been in the attack. >> correct. his mom called and she said, alena, i'm worried about ryan, have you heard anything from him? and i was like, no, i haven't. you know, but he's working and i will -- i'll reach out to him. but i was like don't be worried because you know, we'll know before the media, god forbid, anything happened. so i sent him a text, and it was the last text i sent him, and it was along the lines of, you know, "hey, i love you. i know you're busy but when you get the chance everybody's worried, so just let me know you're okay." and we know now he wasn't okay,

unfortunately. >> what do you want people to know about him? i read an article i think -- i don't know if it was you or your mom, but this is what he -- this is what he loved to do. i mean, service was something that was -- the need to serve ran very deep in him. >> it did. and i think it takes very unique people to do something in that field, something very, very selfless. you know, you serve regardless of the president who's in position. you do it not for politics but for helping people, you know? and i want people to know he was doing what he wanted to be doing. and i keep saying it, and i will always say it. but you know, if it had been one person over there who needed him, he would have been there. and if he would have known the

outcome he would have still done it because it was the ultimate sacrifice that he could give for his country. >> he sounds like just a really remarkable guy. and i think we're all poorer for not having known him and for not having him still with us. thank you so much -- >> absolutely. >> -- for talking to us about him and letting us know him a little bit. >> of course. thank you for having me. and thank you for letting me give you all a little bit about him. >> he just sounds remarkable. coming up next, the very latest live reporting from southeastern louisiana where a full accounting of hurricane ida's destruction may not be known for days.

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as of now two people are known to have lost their lives in the wake of hurricane ida. no one pretends that that will be the final number. louisiana's governor saying he expects it to rise, quote, considerably. when it came ashore yesterday as a strong category 4 storm, ida tied hurricane laura last year and another storm as the strongest storm to ever hit the state. which means the damage is extensive. power's out for about 1.1 million people across the area. trees were down, roads blocked, access obviously difficult. in -- west of new orleans and elsewhere outside the city members of the volunteer cajun navy are conducting rescue operations along with other volunteer and other official agencies. one fleet captain telling us he believes there are hundreds of people, possibly more, stranded in their homes. but again, hard numbers are still very difficult to come by. in lower laffite south of new

orleans flooding reportedly sent some people to their rooftops. same in another town nearby. levee overtopping being blamed for some of it as well. however, unlike during katrina which hit 16 years ago to the day before hurricane ida the big levees protecting new orleans did not give way. so there is a lot to be thankful for. not seeing anything like what transpired back then. >> there's been a preliminary damage assessment of levees today, people getting eyes on those levees. we don't believe there was a single levee anywhere now that actually breached, that failed. >> and that is no small thing. cnn's ed lavandera joins us now from gonzalez, lieu ewe on the road between new orleans and baton rouge. what kind of damage have you seen, ed? >> reporter: well, anderson, the amount of damage we've seen this far inland from where hurricane ida came ashore is rather quite impressive. decent amount of structural damage, downed power lines everywhere we've been, and people having to be rescued and taken out of neighborhoods all

through this region. essentially the eye of this storm thread the needle coming ashore between baton rouge and new orleans. and we saw, you know, dozens of people being rescued from residential neighborhoods in the town of laplace just west of new orleans throughout much of the day today. >> and how are residents in the area describing what it was like? >> reporter: it was really staggering to see people coming out of these neighborhoods after they had just been pulled out. you know, this dazed kind of bewildered look on their face. and these are people who to a person told us we are used to dealing with storms, living through storms all the time, it's just the way of life down here. but they all felt like this one was different. the intensity of this hurricane and its ability to withhold and withstand the intensity of the storm this far inland really rattled a lot of people. they described their walls shaking. one woman said she was sleeping

on her kitchen island as flood waters were coming into their home. other people escaping into their attics. they knew it was going to be bad but they didn't think it was going to be this bad. >> what was it like for you last night? >> a nightmare. it was horrible. it was -- the wind -- i've never had wind shake the house the way it did. the only way we survived the night was we went upstairs on the landing -- >> between the two bedrooms. >> between the two bedrooms because that was the only place that didn't have where the ceiling looked like it was weak. >> i've lived here all my life. we've been through all the storms. they expected it to come and be bad but we didn't expect it to get this close to laplace. >> we didn't know it would be this bad. >> wasn't supposed to be this close. so i'm not going to take that chance again. not with a family. >> reporter: and anderson, one family we talked to said that last night they described it as enduring hours of agony, living through all of this.

and this far inland, really the amount of rooftop structural damage that we've seen in various communities, it really stands out in this storm. >> and are search and rescue efforts going on throughout the night? >> it's hard to say, and i think it kind of depends on where you are. for example, we spent the day in laplace, and that is st. john the baptist parish. there are 800 people we're told by parish officials there that were rescued out of neighborhoods. officials there say that into the evening hours it's going into more of a recovery mode. kind of depends on where you are in terms of just how much access crews were able to get to various neighborhoods. i think the further south you are it's been much more treacherous throughout the day. up here along interstate 10 they've been able to clear out some roads and they've made i think a pretty decent amount of progress in terms of search and rescue efforts throughout the day today. >> ed lavandera, appreciate it, ed. thank you. joining us now in laffite is mike foster, president of the

non-profit search and rescue team tidewater disaster response. mike, you appreciate you being with us. i know you've been out on boats since 6:00 a.m. what's it been like? >> you know, when we started this morning we actually got the call last night to head down to laffite around 12:30 in the morning. we were up in slide'll trying to ride the storm out. once we got the call we started heading that way. arrived there around 2:30 in the morning and had a few other guys there that were kind of giving us what info they had in laf imt tte and they said all they know is they were guessing upwards of 50 to 100 people trapped. we assessed the situation and decided that with the winds still going on we couldn't get boats in the water quite yet. so we waited it out until sunrise came. and right around 6:00 a.m. we got boats in the water and working with the jefferson parish sheriff's office and the

lafitte fire department as well with national guard started working into the area. >> and what did you see? we're seeing some video that you took. obviously, there's extensive flooding. did a lot of folks need to be brought out of their homes? ? yeah, so when we got there there was flooding up to be windows in houses. we had some areas down there it was all the way up to the roofs. it was mostly a lot of the folks had come out already and they were making their way down to the fire department when we got there. there was a lot of people on their upper balconies, at their front doors, just hollering, asking for help. so we kind of worked our way through. street by street. and picked them up aas they came. and once that wrapped up it was a lot of wellness checks in the area of people they hadn't heard from. but it was pretty bad down

there. i mean, the wind damage was like nothing i've ever seen. and the flooding just was unreal. >> what's been the biggest challenge? first of all, you've all got to be exhausted. but what's been the biggest challenge so far? >> the biggest challenge for this was really access. when we got there, we were still probably around six to seven miles from lafitte, from the first drop-in point we could even get close to. so in the morning once we kind of figured a game plan out, we actually had to go i would think around five, six miles through highways, taking the boats on highways, side roads, through the marshes there, and then had to cross over the river to lafitte to finally get into the area and start working our way through the neighborhoods. >> mike foster, i appreciate talking to you, and i appreciate all you're doing. thank you so much. >> yeah, definitely. thank you for having me on. >> coming up next you'll meet a remarkably optimistic man who survived ida even though his

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woman: 5, 6, 7, 8. [band playing] a new school year begins. in the classrooms we've prepared... with the students we are devoted to. in concert with the parents and families we partner with every day. we can't do it without you. we're ready to teach. our number one priority is student safety. we're determined to keep everyone safe. and excited to help all students succeed. woman: because we know quality public schools make a better california... before the break we got to see a smaum sampling of what hurricane ida has done to southeastern louisiana. now a closer look at why it was so destructive there and why others elsewhere could still be in harm's way. joining us now with that cnn meteorologist tom sater. what kind of danger does the

storm still pose? >> mainly it's flooding, anderson but there's two types, there's flash flooding and river flooding. this looks a lot different than it did yesterday when it was a giant buzzsaw, comma shaped, dryer moving into the center north of jackson, it will leave the state of mississippi by morning. but the brighter colors on infrared tell us where the flash flooding problems are and again, it's been these bands throughout the day. we have a couple of warnings here for flooding. it was peppered earlier tailed, even tornadoes, numerous tornado warnings and small spinups. but for the most part we're watching the river flooding. everything in red is eight to ten inches of rain but you get into purple areas, this is 10 to 17. it takes a while for all this water to get into the tributaries, larger tributaries, rivers and then the mississippi. so that could pose a threat for even a rescue and, again, crews that are trying to get those boats and the barges that become unmoored. so again, that's going to be a problem for days ahead. could cause some big problems for again those recovery crews. >> in terms of the hardest-hit areas i'm wondering what you make of the damage we've seen so far. >> well, if you go back and look at the forecast this is amazing.

the men and women of the national hurricane center nailed it, 72 hours out had a bead on it, they knew it was going to be in louisiana. they even had the intensity up to a major hurricane and a category 4. but look at the areas in red. this is the track. it made a turn to the east. that's good news for baton rouge but it was terrible for houma. put them pretty much in the eye wall. they were expecting the eye to move over them. that would have given them lightened winds for several hours. but unfortunately they were into the winds. it was also bad news for new orleans and points to the west. that's why we had those flash flood emergencies, which is a big concern without power for 30 hospitals or so running on generator power, wondering if those kind of flood waters would hamper that and shut them down with that as well. >> so what happens now going forward? >> well, now what we have is more flood problems. we've got a swath of three to five inches that will make its way into the tennessee valley. really worried west of tennessee where we had those problems in waverly and up into areas of new england, 19 states under flood watches right now. this will be moving off the northeastern coast on thursday.

the other concern with over a million customers without power, that's actually millions of people. a customer is a home or it's a business. now, anderson, take a look at this. day after day temperatures rg going to be near 90, but with all of this water on the ground the humidity levels will be through the roof. that gives us heat index values in the upper 90s, near 100, day after day after day. that in itself is going to be a life-threatening situation. so again, it's unfortunately this is still unfolding and it's just going to guess worse for some until we can get power restored and we can get some supplies and the help that they need. >> tom sater, appreciate it. tom, thanks. i want to go next to cnn's gary tuchman in new orleans with two people who he has met. gary? >> reporter: well, anderson, first what i'll tell you is what happened to this house in uptown new orleans exactly 25 hours ago, it's a very sad story. but it's also an incredible and amazing story. 49-year-old dart stovall lives here and dart was inside the house when it was destroyed,

when it collapsed. he was on the second floor of the house and plunged 10 feet into the bottom of the house. he wasn't seriously hurt. he hurt his ankle. he hurt his hand. he hurt his foot but he will be okay. this very same house he lived in in 2005 when katrina came the roof was damaged back then. he wasn't in the house back then he was out town but he came back and over the last 16 years he's been fixing up this house. that's why there's scaffolding here. he's been rebuilding things. he just got a new lighting system a couple of and next to dart is daniel. daniel is a neighbor. i'm going to tell you why daniel is with us in a minute. first of all, i want to ask you, dart, and tell you i'm very sorry for what's happened to you, that you lost your home. i want to ask how you're feeling physically amenally. >> my ankle is a little sore. i have a pinched nerve in my back, but other than that, the worst feeling i have is probably a splinter in my finger.

>> you were on the second floor. did you hear something or see something first that made you know something that was going to happen? >> the fireplace completely -- the storm blew it off. and so there was a hole in the house where the fireplace was. and then i went over to see it because i had decided to hincker down in the hallway. i came over to see it and the wind was blowing. i thought, okay, maybe i better get away from here. so i walked back toward the hallway and i felt myself drop. i had no idea i had dropped to what was the ground. >> you landed on your feet? >> yes, so i -- >> like a cat. nine lives. >> well, hopefully i have only used one so far. but yeah, so i felt that. then i just went and sat in the hallway. and daniel texted me. >> your neighbor. >> yeah. >> i'm going to ask dan about that. you were in the house. firefighters came to see, and they were amazed you were alive.

>> they didn't actually come until after i sat and talked via text with daniel. i dialed 911. i had bad reception so they couldn't hear me. i gave up on that. i looked back and i realized because i thought i would come down the stairs and come out the front door. again, i had no idea how far i had fallen. i looked up and i realized i could see the roof. so i realized the attic wasn't there. so i thought, okay, this is more serious than i'm thinking. then i could see the ground outside. i thought that's hi i'm going down. i saturda for a second and gath myself and i responded when it was safe, when the weather would let down a little bit, i would come out. >> let me ask you this, can you believe now, now that you're thinking about it, you fell from the second story to the first, your house is destroyed, sadly. any of these things could have landed on your head and killed you. are you amazed you're okay? >> yes, absolutely. but with it being my house, you just -- i felt at home.

i just felt like, sure, looking at it from outside and seeing the damage, yeah. >> it is your home. that's why i wanted to leave the surprise about the story to daniel over here. daniel was in his house right next door with his wife. >> girlfriend. >> girlfriend, sorry. are you ready to propose? >> got him there. we're trying to have a good time while we're here. but here's what i want to ask you. he saw his house collapse. you texted him. >> i sent him a picture and said, hey, man, i got bad news. your house has serious damage. he responded with i'm in the house. >> did you freak? >> well, dude, he's in the house. like, me and my girlfriend heard the sound of scraping metal. and then i find out he's in the house. and i'm asking if he's okay. and instead of being like, i'm fine, but i can come over, he tells me to stay in my house because there's a hurricane outside. he actually was worried about me. >> you're a good man.

the final thing i want to ask you is this. do you have insurance for your home? >> unfortunately, i don't. i was paying for repairs out of pocket and it put me in a position where i couldn't afford it. quite honestly, i'm up for a promotion at work that's really significant. i have been underemployed because the house was in code enforcement with the city. i had some fines and fees to take care of, some back taxes, so i figured if high house is in code enforcement, i would work with them and be there with it, and to answer your question, no. >> darn it. i'm sorry about that. >> a lot more to that story, but sure. >> i'm sorry about that, but i want to wish you the best. we're all grateful you're okay. >> absolutely appreciate it. >> we're grateful you have a good friend next door, daniel, who may propose to his girlfriend soon. putting him on the spot. but we're happy this man is doing okay. >> you can edit that part out. >> but we are live, gentlemen. >> okay. >> you can't edit that out. >> a good sense of humor despite

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we end tonight with this image. the last american soldier leaving afghanistan. it was tweeted out by the defense department a few minutes ago. it shows major general chris donohue, commanding general of the 82nd airborne, the last soldier boarding the last c-17 departing kabul, which took off one minute before midnight on august 30th. it is a striking image. america leaving afghanistan after two decades. four presidents, and 2,461 u.s. service members dying. let me say that again because tonight, we also want to remember the soldiers and their families and the marines who gave more than anyone during this war, including the 13 service members who gave their lives last week so that more americans and afghans could leave. this war cost the united states 2,461 american lives, more than 20,000 americans wounded in the

fight. tonight, we remember their sacrifice. the news continues. i want to hand it over to chris for cuomo primetime. >> thank you. i'm chris cuomo, and welcome to primetime. let's look again at that picture of the last service member to leave afghanistan earlier today. this will be in history books. the pentagon just put it out. they say the war has ended. army major general chris donohue, commanding general of the 82nd airborne, boarding a c-17 to depart kabul, lifted off at 11:59 p.m. local, just before the clock struck midnight. so that means it's august 31st in afghanistan right now. right? remember that date. arbitrary. set by the biden administration. it's about 5:30 in the morning there now. the taliban knows the united states is gone and is celebrating with gunfire. >>