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 about the u.s. military course

of action and how many people they have evacuated out of afghanistan. plus the addition of civilian airlines to assist to henri and the path of destruction. from power outages to flooding and more our janessa webb is tracking it all for us our jacob soboroff with a new warning about america's need for speed as highway drivers are putting the pedal to the metal and will today be the day the fda grants full approval to pfizer's covid vaccine it is monday august 23rd "early today" starts right now good morning and thanks for joining us i'm vinita nair in for frances >> and i'm phillip mena. we begin with the breaking news out of tennessee where flash flooding has turned tragic the rushing water from a storm on saturday has been linked to at least 21 deaths and at least 20 more people are unaccounted for. most of the devastation hit the small town of waverly. it's about 75 miles west of

nashville. the humphrey county sheriff told our nashville affiliate that two of the victims appear to be twin toddlers who were swept away from their father. the national guard and local emergency services are now working through back roads to assess the damage and search for the missing. flooding is also a major concern this morning in new england. tropical depression henri is expected to keep dumping more heavy rain today after already creating hazardous conditions over the weekend nbc's jennifer johnson has more. >> reporter: millions were told to evacuate their coastal homes or shelter in place as henri made landfall near westerly, rhode island heavy winds battering new england's coastline. there was flash flooding and the waer rescues even before the brunt of the storm hit new york city is under a state of emergency >> stay off the road stay indoors there's going to be heavy winds, a lot of rain. we could definitely be seeing some trees falling down. we need people to be safe. >> reporter: homeowners boarded up others got out

rain is pouring down in inches winds hitting up to 75 miles per hour >> we saw a few trees come down across the street. his carport got destroyed. by a big tree. >> reporter: meanwhile, remnants of tropical storm fred have left at least 21 people dead and dozens of others missing in humphries county, just west of nashville, after record--shattering rainfall washed away roads and homes. families frantically trying to find their loved one >> they just went and got one of my best friends. recovered him. when he was -- he drowned in this >> reporter: volunteers have come from other counties to join the search effort in waverly, shocked at the devastation >> there's houses moved off their foundation, cars and trees. i mean, this is almost a biblical proportions here. >> reporter: officials fear the death toll will rise as the flood waters recede. with more danger ahead from a storm just beginning its destruction in new england jennifer johnson, nbc news, washington >> to see where henri is headed

at this hour, nbc meteorologist janessa webb, she's been tracking the storm all weekend for us she joins us now from montauk. that is on new york's long island janessa, good morning. >> reporter: hi. good morning we're seeing pretty calm conditions here. but that is not the case we are not done with this storm system as we're seeing rotation across new jersey into parts of philadelphia yes, it has been downgraded to a depression, but the impacts are still the same i do have flash flood watches across the northeast into southern new england, and then we will not be done with this tropical system until about tuesday afternoon. so we do have hurricane warnings that have expired, but still tropical alerts that still expand across this area. from portland, maine all the way down to point pleasant today is not the day for cleanup. we really won't be seeing that until tuesday. gusty winds still in the forecast at least 40 to 50 miles per hour guys >> still not out of the woods

just yet janessa, thank you facing the biggest foreign policy crisis of his administration, president biden once again defended his decision to withdraw from afghanistan a recent cbs/yougov poll found that while 63% of americans supported the withdrawal just 47% approved of the way mr. biden was handling it. joining us now from d.c. with the latest is jay gray jay, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, vinita for the first time yesterday president biden talked about two things on the ground in afghanistan, something we hadn't heard before publicly. first that we could bring more troops into the region to help with this evacuation effort. secondly, that those troops could stay past the end of the month deadline that he set for u.s. forces to be completely out of the country all of that while continuing to defend his decision to withdraw. >> 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 or your daughter to fight in afghanistan. i don't see where that is in our interest >> the pace of evacuations has stepped up dramatically. in a 36-hour period over the weekend the president says 11,000 people were flown out of the country. there are, though, remember, still tens of thousands that are desperate to leave also 18 commercial airliners now part of the evacuation taking evacuation wiese from third-party transfer countries to the u.s >> jay, thank you. the crisis in afghanistan is having all sorts of effects on u.s. relationships with our allies and adversaries some european nations now trying to play a bigger part in security matters while countries like china and russia are recoring their relationships with the taliban here to break it all down for us is janis mackey frayer live in beijing.

janis, how is this affecting america's role on the global stage? >> reporter: phillip, china is already claiming to have friendly relations with the taliban. it doesn't mean it's celebrating a taliban victory and having afghanistan taking over. but it also wasn't so happy about having a big u.s. military engagement there even though it kept a degree of stability and it also kept the u.s. in a costly occupation. in reaching out to the taliban china says it wants stability. primarily it's looking to keep extremism at bay here on its own soil and to do that they sought security assurances from the taliban in exchange for the prospect of economic support it's unlikely we're going to see a huge chinese military presence in afghanistan an influential military scholar here who wrote an opinion piece for the "new york times" says that china is now looking to capitalize on being the most influential outside player in an

afghanistan that has been all but abandoned from the u.s china received a real propaganda boost from that here meanwhile, in kabul the taliban is consolidating control, going door to door looking for who collaborated with the coalition for years, primarily security and intelligence services. the full expectation is it's going to get a lot worse in afghanistan once the last americans leave. phillip? >> and that is our biggest fear after seeing all of that chaos play out publicly. j janis, thank you just over 51% of americans are fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. and there's still lots of hesitancy. even as the delta variant sweeps through the u.s. according to a recent survey conducted by the u.s. census bureau, more than 25 million americans say they will either probably or definitely not get vaccinated here's nbc's emily oqueda. >> reporter: exhaustion setting in as health care workers battle

a fourth covid wave in a relentless pandemic. >> we're trying to do our best, but something has to give. >> reporter: florida topping 3 million cases. the third state to do so jesse jackson and his wife hospitalized after testing positive for covid-19. the reverend vaccinated back in january. meanwhile, icu beds filling fast five states within 10% of reaching capacity. mississippi experiencing the most hospitalizations since the start of the pandemic. state health officials ordering people to home isolate on first knowledge of infection with covid-19 failure to do so could result in a $500 fine or even six months behind bars. mississippi's only second to alabama for lowest inoculation rates. for many on the front lines of this pandemic their patience is wearing thin >> it's especially hard right now because you look at it and you say this is preventable. >> reporter: but vaccine

hesitancy there runs deep, even at the recommendation of former president trump at a rally >> i recommend take the vaccines i did it it's good. take the vaccines. but you've got -- no, that's okay >> reporter: still, vaccination rates nationwide are ticking up. a trend that could see another boost by the fda's first full approval of a vaccine. >> full approval by the fda would mean that some of the things that have been holding people back from getting vaccinated will hopefully be reduced or removed >> reporter: a rare glimmer of hope in an unforgiving pandemic. emily ikeda, nbc news. let's get more on today's weather. janessa webb is live for us in montauk, new york this morning hello again, janessa >> hi, phillip, vinita we are seeing really great conditions right now, but this is not the case across philadelphia to the washington, d.c. area. national weather service of new york city has just issued flash

flood advisories and they're going to stay in place until 5:00 a.m possibility of a flash flood emergency going into place across sections of jersey. you can see the spin on henri still making its way across this area it will head out to seas wa wae deep south upper 90s for new orleans. happy to report we'll see a lull in the weather pattern no storms in the forecast. hurricanes, anyway in the next five days. guys >> nice to hear. so much rain in the northeast. janessa, thank you >> no news is good news these days the nhl's new york rangers are mourning the death of legend rod gilbert. gilbert played 18 seasons in the big apple in the '60s and '70s,

appearing in over 1,000 games for the rangers. he finished his career with 406 goals and 615 assists and was inducted into the hockey hall of fame in 1982 mr. ranger was 80 years old. is the honeymoon over? we have got the latest nbc news polls on president biden's job approval and we'll take you to california where they're still battling wildfires that's why doctors recommend tylenol®. it won't raise blood pressure the way that advil® aleve® or motrin® sometimes can. for trusted relief, trust tylenol®. i thought i was getting my floors clean. and then i learned my mop could be loaded with bacteria.® or motrin® sometimes can. so, i got a swiffer wetjet to get a cleaner... clean the spray breaks down dirt and the pad absorbs it deep inside. buh bye. try wetjet with a money-back guarantee. these fudge brownie m&m's are really fudgey yes they are. to put a fudge brownie center in an m&m's is... genius! i know. i was going to say hard! why won't you... ughhhh... ahhh! why won't you go in... fudge brownie m&m's.

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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 fafrnl weather patterns expected this week may help firefighters wrangle the blaze, which is about 37% contained. by midnight tonight new york governor andrew cuomo's resignation will be official during a press conference on sunday he said tropical depression henri would not stop his planned resignation. cuomo is wrapping up 10 1/2 years in office amid several scandals including sexual harassment allegations and claims of attempting to conceal nursing home deaths during the height of the pandemic over the weekend a moving truck was parked at the new york state governor's mansion lieutenant governor kathy hochul will take over his role. france will soon make history as it honors one of its heroes the remains of singer and dancer

josephine baker will be reinterred at the pantheon monument in paris, making her the first black woman to get the country's highest honor. baker was born in the u.s. but moved to france in 1925. during world war ii she was part of the french resistance, secretly carrying messages to other countries. lgbtq athletes are making history on the world's biggest sports stage at least 182 lgbtq athletes from about 30 countries competed in the 2020 summer olympics in tokyo. at least 55 of those athletes won medals according to out sports, there will be at least 27 openly lgbtq athletes from eight countries competing in the 2020 paralympics, which starts on tuesday. only 12 queer athletes competed in the 2016 paralympic games in rio. we've got a lot more news. still to come, 007 figures how daniel craig became hollywood's highest-paid actor

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what's your emergency? >> my name is liberty. we need your help. humdinger is going to destroy the city >> come on, pups adventure city's in trouble. >> this weekend's box office update, "free guy" held its spot at the top of the list, bringing in $18.8 million, making it the

best second weekend hold during this pandemic. coming in second was paramount's debut of "paw patrol: the movie. plus disney's "jungle cruise" still lingering at the top of the charts sitting in third place with $6.2 million. while "don't breathe 2" brought in over 5 million. >> my 4-year-old cannot wait to see paw patrol >> how long can he last? >> i don't flow. we'll find out it's official. daniel craig is the highest paid at actor at the moment, securing over $100 million since he is set to star in the next two "knives out" sequels which will live on netflix. netflix bought the rights to "knives out 2 and 3" back at the end of of march for a whopping $450 moll. and coming in right behind him is dwayne the rock johnson who is projected to bring in $50 million for starring in the upcoming amazon studios film "red one." >> it's no wonder, then, that daniel craig's done playing bond after this next one that's coming out he's cashing in everywhere else.

>> it's interesting, netflix and amazon too what a change it is. >> that's where it's at these days, right? now for some very bizarre traffic on a highway in indiana. drivers driving by, they were passed up -- like what was that? did you see that that was a race horse. bucked her jockey, just made a break for it the horse named bold and bossy, you can see why, ran away from a nearby race park she was eventually reunited with her owner. one of her legs was injured but officials say she is doing well. that's what a race horse does. they're born to run. don't be surprised >> i'm always surprised when somebody has the wherewithal in their car to turn on the phone and start recording. >> most people at this point just are quick on the draw with it there it is. >> already recording something >> because of that now we have that video janessa will be your weather for the week ahead, next and life in the fast lane. not talking about horses this time this is a realerus sry sioto here a new warning for drivers about the dangers of speeding. ate far. after you saved me so much dough on insurance

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2020 was the highest in a decade despite fewer cars on the road jacob soboroff explains. >> reporter: as the pandemic emptied out city streets, drivers took to the open roads at blazing speeds. fred ashmore set a record for the fastest solo drive from new york to california last year, topping out at 159 miles an hour >> you drove from new york to los angeles in 26 hours? >> actually, it was a little less than 26 hours it was -- >> come on

>> -- 25 hours and 55 minutes. but who's counting >> reporter: and all across the country no signs of slowing down from texas -- >> watch out, watch out. >> reporter: to new york and in nebraska where state troopers saw an over 70% increase in speeding since the pandemic began >> as drivers we're so used to being in areas that are congested. all of a sudden when we're able to go fast we're like oh, wow, i'm going to put the pedal to the metal because there's no one around >> making 2020 one of the deadliest on the roads highway deaths were the greatest in more than i adecade, up 11% from the year before but experts say it's all preventable. >> this isn't a mystery. we already have the vaccine. it's slow down, it's wear your seat belt. don't drink and drive. >> reporter: at the beginning of the pandemic it was no secret that people were driving a little faster than normal on the freeways when they were wide open the question is are they still and there's really only one way to find out. can i borrow that? is that all right?

>> oh, yeah. >> reporter: with this thing they're still going 81 haven't even slowed down california highway patrol issued double the number of tickets this year alone to drivers going over 100 miles per hour, compared to pre-pandemic levels. are you still seeing more people than normal at higher speeds >> absolutely. we have a five-lane freeway wide open, people going 80, 90 miles an hour. >> reporter: and experts fear pandemic speeding may be here to stay >> the longer this pandemic goes and the longer we don't have as much traffic enforcement that we need, this becomes our new normal >> reporter: drivers putting the pedal to the metal with deadly consequences jacob soboroff, nbc news, los angeles. >> that really is a mind-blowing stat i mean, less people were driving. i kind of get it especially living in a crowded city you're used to traffic and all of a sudden there's not much traffic. you just want to go. but it is dangerous clearly. >> we have to relearn all new ways after we've all been off the road for so long >> even that

>> well, thank you for starting your monday with us here on "early today." i'm vinita nair. >> and i'm phillip mena. coming up on "today" harry smith heads to tacoma, washington. he'll be talking to a couple about their mission to share oftold stories about the history

tragedy in tennessee torrential rains cause massive flash flooding taking at least 21 lives with many still accounted for this morning. henri slams the northeast. high tides -- high winds, surging tides and knocking out power to tens of thousands this hour and it's not done yet. to an nbc news investigation. the extreme scams to steal your identity and your money. criminals even wearing disguises. overnight bitcoin soars above $50,000 with the