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. >> cynthia lee sheng. >>> i want to update you now for the u.s. exit from afghanistan.efensive air strike. you are looking at the aftermath here as we're going to show you in this video in a residential neighborhood. the u.s. says the drone strike targeted a suspected isis-k suicide bomber who posed a major threat to the kabul airport. the threat level has remained high after a suicide bomber carried out an attack at the airport, killing 13 u.s. service members and at least 170 others. cnn national security correspondent alex marquardt is at the pentagon for us tonight. so, alex, we're learning new information about the strike? >> reporter: pam, that's right. central command says that this strike on an isis-k target did disrupt what they say is an imminent threat to the kabul airport. we've heard repeated warnings from the biden administration, including from the president himself over the last several days, that there was a high likelihood that another attack could come. so at least part of that threat has been neutralized, but we don't have any sense, of course, that

if you are stranded, it may be difficult to help to you for quite jefferson parish president cynthia lee shengpoke this morning about the desperate effort to reach trapped residents. >> our water system is down, our electricity is down. we have roads that are impassable because of water. we have roads that electrical poles are down, trees are down so the first level of business is trying to get through to communications, so we can work as efficiently as possible and >> yang: the u.s. army corps of engineers said the storm surge was so powerful it temporarily reversed the flow of the mississippi river. louisiana governor john bell edwards told nbc's “today” this morning that the human toll may not be clear for a while. >> i'm certain that as the day goes on we will have more deaths. we were getting calls for help. we know that for example some apartment buildings collapsed partially in certain areas. this happened during the height of the storm and there was no way to go out d respond to those calls. >> yang: president biden met with officials from the federal emergency management agency this a

. >> all right, cynthia lee sheng and nic hunter. we appreciate you taking the time.e're thinking of both of your communities right. our >> good luck, today. >> coming up, double emergencies. a natural disaster and a pandemic habit happening simultaneously, means that hospitals in louisiana are bracing for an unprecedented influx. how they are preparing next. >> and later in the show, we're going live to the gulf. we've been talking about this. we are going to talk to a hurricane hunter who is flying through the hurricane this morning. on a data gathering mission. yy, ayy, ayy ♪ ♪ yeah, we fancy like applebee's on a date night ♪ ♪ got that bourbon street steak with the oreo shake ♪ ♪ get some whipped cream on the top too ♪ ♪ two straws, one check, girl, i got you ♪ ♪ bougie like natty in the styrofoam ♪ ♪ squeak-squeakin' in the truck bed all the way home ♪ ♪ some alabama-jamma, she my dixieland delight ♪ ♪ ayy, that's how we do, ♪ ♪ how we do, fancy like, oh ♪ ♪ music playing. ♪ there's an america we build ♪ ♪ and one we explore one that's been paved and one that's f

cynthia lee sheng is the president of jefferson parish. she's joining us now. know? first, let's start at home. how are you? how is your family? is everybody okay? >> thank you. thanks for asking, chris. yeah, i got my family out early. i was warning and telling everybody to get their families out, and my family got out as well. it's good to be able to work knowing your family is safe and everybody here who is working got their family out. >> what are you seeing? >> so two things. you know, well, lots of things going on. i was able to get to the lafitte area, the area where the mayor called me and said i think water is rising. we knew people were stuck all night in their attics, as the water was rising. so our teams, i'm so proud of our first responder teams, our jefferson parish's office, they went out as soon as day break happened. i mean, as soon as they had any light, they had a strategy. last night, they rescued 27 people. tonight, over 100 people. and it's not an easy rescue. it's way into liken it to a swamp. you have to go in way deep. the water comes o

to account for everybody and start rescuing them this morning the jefferson parish president cynthia lee sheng said this morning unfortunately the worst case scenario seems to have happened she says that some houses are flooded with water that is up to chest high, though some of it is receding at this point and high water rescues are under way. port fourchon of specific interest to viewers. this video was taken sunday 6:00 local time, yesterday evening, and not a lot of contact in there since. highest wind gusts there, 172 miles an hour where ida came ashore port fourchon is a critical hub for u.s. oil and gas infrastructure 9 we just got an update from royal dutch shell saying they're assessing the damage to their norco refinery and chemical refinery chemical plant and the gieseman chemical plant. no word on how bad it was. in new orleans, the levee system upgraded since katrina more than $12 billion in taxpayer money, the levee system held. the flood protection system in tact but the entire city now with no power from the entergy electric company. let's get to liz mclaughlin live in new orle

cynthia lee sheng, i appreciate you making time for us.ch. >>> let's get back to new orleans and ali velshi joining us from downtown. how is it looking where you are right now? what's going on? >> reporter: yeah, this is a conversation you were having, because one of the things that's happened around here is that new orleans has created a number of things to prevent the flooding we saw 16 years ago. some of them are levies, some are gates, drainage and pumping systems. it's a multifaceted system. some is new, some of it is old. some are dependant on electricity, which is problematic. but here is an interesting thing, joshua. because you protect a certain area, sometimes means that other areas are less protected. so there are some places looking to do some of these upgrades to prevent the flooding. this is a low-lying area, and those things haven't been approved or completed, some won't be done until 2024. so a lot of people hoping there wouldn't be a major rain event or major hurricane. but in fact, we've had so many of them. i want you to

. >>> let's bring in cynthia lee sheng, the president of jefferson parish.hank you for joining us this morning. can we start out with an update on where things stand in your parish right now? >> so, i'll talk about our most vulnerable areas, we have not made contact with grand isle, and that's the island that is the furthest south. that's the island right at the gulf of mexico. certainly we have lost contact with them since yesterday afternoon. it is still dark outside right now. so we are waiting for sunlight to come up. we have first responder teams that are out there. they have been planning their strategy for today, ready to go out. our next concern is with lafitte an area north of that but outside the hurricane protection system. we know there's standing water and we're hearing reports of very high water. people trapped in their attics. we could not go out last night because it was just absolute pitch dark last night. this is an area if you want to think of it like swamp land there's alligators out there. conditions, just could not go out in the dark wi

earlier, we spoke with the elected president of jefferson parish, that's cynthia lee sheng, she saidave just, the sunlight is just coming up, so they will get an assessment, and our priority up here is trying to get into lafitte and do a search and rescue there. we know people whose waters ng there, we were getting a lot of rescue calls for high water, so i'm told people were in their attics, i've talked to the mayor, probably late afternoon and he was getting reports that the water was rising in that area, so that is critical for us. grand isle is further south. we've lost contact with them. probably late afternoon. we have not made contact with them. so these are the things that we have to deal with today. but now, that the sun is out, we're finally getting an assessment of what is there, but it's search and rescue, our water system is down, we have a lot of water main breaks, so we need to make those repairs as soon as possible, obviously that is our ability to fight fires, we need water, hospitals need today, on today's list is, to address these needs. i just issued a mandatory c

but we have cynthia lee sheng, the parish president from jefferson parish, which includes places that>> president biden: you are hit, were new? >> we wear. thank you. we have not had contact with grand isle. you know the mayor, i talked with him yesterday evening. he thought 40 people were on the island, couldn't get them off, including firefighters. we have not had contact with them since yesterday. i'm told that the mayor is in galliano and i heard he was on a helicopter with state police to get him to the island. it's very hard to not have any word from that island and the people on it since that time. in the feet, the lot it was very high to the roofs of houses. our first responder the sheriff, and our firefighters, louisiana national guard, some coast guard, are they are doing. they are having to get votes in it out. we have -- i believe the state is going to coordinate for pick up and move them to alexandria, is my understanding. of course our systems are down, we have no electricity, no communication. our water systems are down, they are losing pressure. we had to do a boil wat