henri slams the northeast with high winds, surging tides, and flooding, knocking out power to over 100,000 in & it's not done yet to tennessee where flash flooding has claimed the lives of at least 21 people, with 20 still accounted for at this hour in one 24-hour period this weekend 23 u.s. military flights including 14 c-17s, nine c-130 flights left kabul, carrying 3,900 passengers

he with see no reason why this tempo will not be kept up. >> the crisis in kabul continues with thousands still trying to leave afghanistan as military may soon get some assistance from civilian aircraft in the coming days. overnight bitcoin soars above $50,000 with the crypto market topping $2 trillion for the first time in nearly three months speaking of big numbers, you can add miguel cabrera to the list of the all-time greats. nailing his 500th career home run. we've got a lot going on on this monday august 23rd "early today" starts right now good morning i'm vinta nair in for frances today. >> and i'm phillip mena. flooding is still a major concern today after a weekend of wicked weather tropical depression henri is expected to keep dumping rain on southern new england throughout the day, bringing more risks of flash flooding to millions in connecticut some surfers, they found a fun way to ride out the storm when their streets were flooded

for more on the impact of henri here's nbc's kathy park. >> reporter: tropical storm henri tore through new england, downgraded from a category 1 hurricane but still packing a powerful punch after landfall. with heavy rains and damaging winds. >> oh, my god. >> as it blew through rhode island, it knocked out power to tens of thousands. >> i'm pleased to report the national grid has crews already out across the state working on restoration. >> reporter: president biden saying federal support is standing by. >> fema has already prepositioned resources in the region to speed our ability to respond. >> reporter: massive waves crashed the coastline, closing narragansett beach residents venturing out when it appeared the worst was over. >> we lost our power at home, so we came out to epijoy the waves here >> reporter: in connecticut more problems with power. at least 24,000 customers losing electricity. our kristen dahlgren is there. >> reporter: flooding is also an

issue even as some places begin to breathe a sigh of relief. flash flooding could be a threat overnight, especially to the west of where we are and here in connecticut four nursing homes had to be evacuated. 250 residents moved as the storm was approaching. with winds clocking over 50 miles per hour in massachusetts, trees didn't stand a chance. and further inland roads turning treacherous. a damaging blow from henri as it winds down and moves out >> all right, kathy, thank you flash flooding took a very tragic turn in tennessee a huge rainstorm there has left at least 21 people and an urgent search continues this morning for at least 20 more who are still accounted for. nbc's vaughn hillyard is in tennessee. >> reporter: heavy rains beared down in the heart of tennessee 17 inches. causing floods that turned deadly >> well, the water was -- had

such tremendous force. i mean, it looked like -- i've been whitewater rafting and i've never been down water like that. that's how the water was coming down >> reporter: at least 21 lives lost among those killed, two toddlers the national guard in other state and local emergency teams trying to account for those missing. it's knocked out cell service and mass power outages complicated loved ones' efforts to find each other >> there was a house right here. the woman and the children were on top of the roof waiting for someone to come help them. >> reporter: homes, cars, and roads wiped out. as residents clung on for life >> what did the storm look like you to >> it was just a river is what it looked like >> through the town? >> yeah. just a full flowing river straight through town. >> reporter: a community including the county sheriff reckoning with the tragedy >> they just went and got one of my best friends, recovered him when he was -- he drowned in this >> reporter: the devastation

here is immense, vinita. and these search crews are now, woulding their way through the back roads of these rural hilly tennessee communities here but this site alone is evidence of just how strong that current was on saturday. >> unbelievable. vaughn, thank you. massive wildfires continue to burn through california the caldor fire grew to 100,000 acres yesterday. one of about a dozen major blazes across the state. crews worked to push the fire across u.s. route 50 after it spread past the highway on saturday and the largest single wildfire in the state's history, the dixie fire, is still growing favorable weather patterns expected this week may help firefighters wrangle that fire, which is about 37% contained the u.s. could see some major news regarding one of three covid-19 vaccines. according to the "new york times," the fda could grant pfizer's covid-19 vaccine full approval today the move would make it the first covid vaccine to go from emergency use authorization to full fda approval.

it could also help persuade more people to get vaccinated according to cnbc, more than 203 million doses of the pfizer vaccine have been administered nationwide this as civil rights leader reverend jesse jackson sr. along with his wife are being treatmented in a chicago hospital after contracting covid-19 the two were admitted on saturday and are responding positively to medical treatment. both had been vaccinated in january. nbc's gary grunbach has more from alabama where the covid crisis pushing the state's hospitals to the brink >> reporter: hospital administrators here in alabama are focusing on three things -- stuff, staff, and space. on the stuff aspect they're good they have ventilators they need. they have the ppe they need. and there's certainly more than enough vaccine to go around. but it's the space and the staffing that is really an issue. here at uav hospital in birmingham there's a serious staffing issue where if there's a surnl plan needing to be put in place like there was this

winter they may not be able to handle it as well because the resources they had this winter simply don't exist here anymore. in terms of space there is currently more people in need of icu units and icu beds in the state of alabama than the number of icu beds that exist it doesn't mean they're not getting care what it means is beds are being pulled from other areas of the hospital so people like cancer patients or people that are coming in from car accidents may not be able to as easily get a bed when they need to. so very serious crisis happening here in alabama, phillip, and folks here i've talked to say they're tired of national political figures and national members of the media telling them to get vaccinated >> gary, thank you for that report the u.s. is doing everything in its power to help ferry americans and our allies out of afghanistan. the conditions on the ground worsened over the weekend with the capital's airport becoming the center of a chaotic scramble president biden remains steadfast, defending his effort. nbc's monica alba has the latest >> reporter: president biden conceding the evacuation from

kabul has been hard and painful. >> we have a long way to go and a lot could still go wrong >> reporter: acknowledging military discussions on whether to stay beyond the august 31st deadline >> our hope is we will not have to extend. >> reporter: and expanding the safe zone around the airport >> the security environment is changing rapidly >> reporter: as the situation outside the air field continues to deteriorate a state department memo obtained by nbc news revealing that 150 unauthorized individuals rushed through the gates whenever they're opened senior officials concerned over a possible attack on crowds from isis >> the threat is real. it is acute. it is persistent and it is something that we are focused on with every tool in our arsenal. >> reporter: there are still at least several thousands americans stranded in afghanistan. the white house not ruling out sending additional forces to help with the president seeking daily input from his military commanders on the possibility of more troops.

>> so far the answer has been no but he will ask again today. >> reporter: in a 30-hour period this weekend the u.s. military helped airlift 11,000 people from kabul the biden administration negotiating agreements with two dozen countries on four continents to serve as transit points military planes touching down regularly at ramstein air base in germany the pentagon activating emergency use of 18 commercial aircraft to fly evacuees from third-party countries to america, saying it won't impact u.s. flights once refugees arrive, many will be temporarily housed at the dulles expo center in chantilly, virginia before being transported to army bases across the country. >> a difficult situation there monica, thank you. the crisis in afghanistan is having all sorts of effects on u.s. relationships with their allies and adversaries with some european nations now trying to play a bigger part in security matters while countries like china and russia are reconsidering their

relationships with the taliban here to break it it all down for us is janis mackey frayer. janice, good morning how is this affecting america's role on the global stage >> reporter: phillip, good morning. with the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan regional players are looking to increase their influence there. russia, pakistan, and primarily china, which is already claiming to have friendly relations with the taliban, it doesn't mean that china is celebrating a taliban takeover and the expectation of chaos beijing was never happy with u.s. military engagement there, but it did see it as the lesser of two evils and it did keep the u.s. tied up in a costly occupation now china is looking for what it calls stability, mainly to keep extremism at bay here on its home soil. for that it sought security assurance frtz taliban in exchange for the prospect of economic support

it's unlikely we're going to see a huge chinese security presence in afghanistan an influential military scholar here wrote an opinion piece for the "new york times" and said that china's now looking to capital ooipize on being, quotee most influential outside player in an afghanistan now all but abandoned by the u.s now, meanwhile, in the countries women's rights, education, democracy, all of the cornerstones of the coalition over the past 20 years, there is little reason to believe the taliban is any different than it was before in wanting to safeguard anything that the u.s. has seen as progress, and there is still chaos at kabul airport with the expectation it could get much worse once the americans are out. phillip? >> we appreciate the insight janis, thank you let's head out to montauk on new york's long island, where nbc meteorologist janessa webb has been covering henri all weekend. good morning to you, janessa >> hi. good morning good to see you both good morning, everyone

man, i've been chasing this storm system all weekend along and finally it's outrun me we're seeing an area of low pressure that's kind of building across the storm system. and that's why we're still dealing with flooding. now, we do still have a tropical depression and that will continue this afternoon before we're finished with henri and it makes its way out to sea the problem is some totals across sections of the northeast are hitting about 10 to 12 inches and we're expecting an additional 12 inches possible across vermont into southern new england this afternoon so i know this storm system caused a lot of wind and rain when we dealt with that landfall in rhode island. things will start to die down for today. so the flood threat is still enhanced but the storm surge really not a threat anymore. you can see from the current radar i am concerned still about folks in new jersey where they've dealt with about nine to ten inchn of

sunshine in the mid 90s. hey, guys, i have good news. we are going through kind of a lull, no storms in the forecast for the next five days >> all right thank you so much, janessa it was a historic day for detroit tigers slugger miguel cabrera. this sixth inning swing right here in toronto, opposite field, gave the former mvp his 500th career home run, making him the 28th big leaguer to chief that feat hugs all around. cabrera is the first player since david ortiz in 2015 to hit his 500th. now it's on to the big chase for his 3,000th career hit he's now just 45 shy of that mark >> imagine, 500 celebrations >> he has been doing it for a while. he is a future hall of famer

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♪ ♪ wake up little susie ♪ ♪ wake up ♪ ♪ we both were sound asleep ♪ ♪ wake up little susie and weep ♪ ♪ the movie is over it's 4:00 and we're in trouble deep ♪ the music world is mourning the death of rocker don everly one half of the everly brothers duo, don and his brother phil cemented their names among rock and roll's greatest in the 1950s and '60s pp they're also among the rock and roll hall of faming inaugural class in 1986. his attorney and family spokesperson said he died at home in nashville. don everly was 84 years old.

a wisconsin server who received a hateful homophobic comment on a tipless check now has a reason to smile. last week a customer wrote on a receipt, "service was good you but we don't tip sinful homosexuals. the incident was posted on the do good wisconsin organization facebook page and about 250 people pitched in to give that server a $4,500 tip. >> every once in a while our faith in humanity is restored. you know, somebody does something hateful and you just see, that's just a drop in the bucket compared to those -- just an ocean of people that are giving their support and their money. >> i know. what was nace too is it came in like $5 increments, $10 increments little tidbits add up. >> it shows there are a lot of people that have their back. janessa is with us next. she'll have a look at the weather for the week ahead that's next. and the beautyf othe butterfly sparks a global movement a father's touching tribute to his daughter ugh on insurance with that "parker promo” i devised a promo for you. here's the deal parker, state farm

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welcome back well, there is some good news this morning about the power of nature to not only heal but to help remember nbc's jose balart reports. >> reporter: frank o'donnell was in his rhode island back yard just days after the death of his daughter, carrie, when he had a visitor. >> take me back to that day. >> i noticed over my right shoulder that an orange butterfly had landed on the side of our house >> reporter: it was 2010 when 15-year-old carrie died in a car accident >> did it click with you in any way that, you know, why that butterfly? >> was it carrie looking over my shoulder

i don't know but i kind of felt like she was there watching >> reporter: frank, so moved by the moment, planted a garden in her honor, filling it with dozens of milk weed plants, hoping to attract more of the bright orange butterflies. why milk weed? it's where monarchs lay their eggs, and it's vital for their survival >> and we just started having butterflies visit. it got a lot of visit, but also produced a lot of sead pods, which gave me a bunch of milkweed seeds >> reporter: those seeds sprouting an idea. >> i said you know what? people i know might want them. >> reporter: frank posted the offer on facebook in january, where it bloomed into a global movement more than 1,000 requests for the seeds so far along with words of encouragement. like this. >> we'd like your beloved daughter to be free and beautiful as is the monarch butterfly. i applaud your resiliency. thank you for sharing your story of healing >> reporter: for lucy contente, those seeds brought her joy

during a difficult time. >> especially during covid, so this is a wonderful distraction. >> reporter: an avid gardner, lucy's efforts to nurture the monarchs now has an even more special meaning. >> when i tell other people about it, i get to tell them about the story of carrie. >> reporter: sharing seeds of love to keep her memory alive. how many untold butterflies are out there flying because of carrie >> well, i suspect this is going to get a lot bigger. you know, not only is the story about the milkweed and the monarchs getting spread, so is hers it's a way for people who've never met her to know about her, which is pretty amazing. >> jose, thanks. a great way to remember his daughter and a great tip about milkweed i didn't realize that. >> i never knew that either. you see these monarch butterflies are so beautiful and now that's how you attract them. what a great way to had not carrie's legacy. >> well, thank you for starting your week with "early today. i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm phillip mena. coming up on the "today" show,

vicky nguyen will dive into the new tech scam. it's called smishing i'd never heard of it either but it's already caused millions for people in stolen money in the meantime, watch out for those scams. have a great morning be se. we hopafe

it's morning almost two dozen people remain unaccounted for and at least 21 have been killed by heavy rains and flash floods, with the small tennessee town of waverly accounting for 20 of those lives lost >> at the end of the day if we didn't leave afghanistan now when do we leave another ten years? another five years another year i'm not about to send your son and your daughter to fight in afghanistan. >> president biden speaking out abou