Monday morning news: August 21, 2023

California storm » Powerful winds and torrential rain are battering Southern California and Nevada this morning after Tropical Storm Hillary roared ashore on Sunday.

Mike Brennan with the National Hurricane Center warned residents in the region.

BRENNAN: You do not want to be out driving around trying to cross flooded roads in a vehicle or on foot. Rainfall flooding has been the biggest killer in tropical storms and hurricanes in the last 10 years.

Brennan said isolated areas could see as much as 10 inches of rain. And in some places, they might get an entire year’s worth of rain in just a matter of hours.

Officials wan of flash floods, mudslides, power outages and possible tornadoes.

Hillary is the first tropical storm to hit Southern California in 84 years.

Hawaii » Meantime in Hawaii, search and recover teams continued to sift through ash and rubble over the weekend. At least 114 people are confirmed dead in wildfires that ravaged the island of Maui. Hundreds more remain missing.

Gov. Josh Green says finding all of those who perished in the flames may be an impossible task.

GREEN: We do have extreme concerns that because of the temperature of the fire, the remains of those who have died, in some cases may be impossible to recover meaningfully. So there are going to be people that are lost forever.

President Biden is visiting the fire-ravaged island of Maui today.

FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said the president will survey the damage.

CRISWELL: But he’s also going to be able to talk with people and hear their stories and provide a sense of hope and assurance that the federal government is going to be with them.

Criswell said search efforts in the devastated town of Lahaina are 78% complete.

GOP politics » Republican candidates are gearing up for this week’s presidential debate in Milwaukee.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said he’s ready to seize the opportunity on Wednesday.

RAMASWAMMY: I’m looking to introduce myself to the country. Six month ago, many people in this country did not even know who i was. I was polling at 0.0% in March.

An average of recent polls now has him in third place among GOP candidates with 7 percent of voter support.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday:

PENCE: I’m just going to be me. I mean, I feel like I’ve been preparing for this first Republican presidential debate my whole life.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson just announced that he has met the party’s requirements to join the debate stage. At least nine candidates have qualified.

But former President Donald Trump says he will skip the first debate and possibly future debates.

Niger » The military leader of Niger’s coup, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, says the country will return to civilian rule in three years. WORLD’s Josh Schumacher has more.

JOSH SCHUMACHER: Many leaders in West Africa are skeptical that military leaders will fulfill that promise. They also call it unacceptable.

Soldiers from the bloc of West African nations known as ECOWAS are poised to intervene in Niger. But leaders from the bloc recently met with both Tchiani and ousted president Mohamed Bazoum in hopes of finding a peaceful solution.

While many in the country oppose the military takeover. Thousands supporters of the coup have signed up to fight foreign forces if necessary.

POPE FRANCIS: [Speaking Italian]

Pope Francis at the Vatican yesterday asking the world to pray for peace in Niger and for the people there.

For WORLD, I’m Josh Schumacher

Russian spacecraft » Russia's Luna-25 spacecraft was supposed to land on the moon today. Instead, it crashed into the lunar surface after spinning out of control.

The unmanned robot would have been the first ever to land on the south pole of the moon.

Scientists believe there could be important reserves of frozen water and precious elements there that future explorers could transform into air and rocket fuel.

This was Russia’s first moon launch since a Soviet lunar mission in 1976.

Ukrainian F-16 training » Ukrainian pilots have started training to fly American-made F-16 fighter jets, according to leaders in Kyiv.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan:

SULLIVAN: Upon the completion of that training, the United States would be prepared in consultation with Congress to approve third party transfer of F 16 aircraft to Ukraine.

Denmark and the Netherlands have pledged F-16s to Ukraine.

That will bring Ukraine one step closer to being able to counter Russia’s air superiority.

I'm Kent Covington.

Straight ahead: A man who served on a federal jury trial involving ISIS tells what that was like. That’s ahead on Legal Docket. Plus, the World History Book.

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