Tuesday morning news - August 31, 2021

For WORLD Radio, I'm Kent Covington. 

Pentagon announces end of evacuation mission in Afghanistan » Taliban militants fired their rifles into the sky above Kabul on Monday in celebration after receiving word that the last U.S. military planes had departed the airport.

Hours later, General Frank McKenzie confirmed that report.

MCKENZIE: I’m here to announce the completion of our withdrawal from Afghanistan and the end to the military mission to evacuate American citizens, third country nationals, and vulnerable Afghans. The last C-17 lifted off from Hamid Karzai International Airport on August 30th, this afternoon, at 3:29 p.m. East Coast time.

Earlier on Monday, ISIS militants fired a volley of rockets at the Kabul airport.

The Pentagon said anti-rocket defense systems were able to take out the rockets before they struck the airport. But some of the rockets landed across town, reportedly striking residential apartment blocks.

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Monday that the evacuation mission now over—officials aren’t yet sure how many Americans were left behind.

PSAKI: We believe there are still a small number. I understand you’re asking for the exact number who remain. We’re trying to determine exactly how many.

But House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy said the exact number hardly matters.

MCCARTHY: They’re making a conscious decision that they’re leaving Americans behind. Why would you do that?

The two-week airlift has brought scenes of desperation and horror. In the early days, people desperate to flee Taliban rule flooded onto the tarmac and some fell to their deaths after clinging to a departing plane.

On Thursday, an ISIS suicide attack at an airport gate killed nearly 200 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members.

Remnants of Ida spin inland leaving destruction in its wake » The storm that was Hurricane Ida is spilling into northern Alabama and eastern Tennessee today. It’s still packing heavy rain and 30 mile per hour winds.

The storm has already carved a path of destruction from the Louisiana coast through northern Mississippi.

President Biden said Monday that the federal government will help any way it can.

BIDEN: We’ve got a million people in Louisiana without power. And for a time, Ida caused the Mississippi River to literally change its direction. And some folks are still dealing with the storm surge and flash flooding.

Rescuers set out in hundreds of boats and helicopters to reach people trapped by floodwaters Monday. That as residents living amid the maze of rivers and bayous along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast retreated desperately to their attics or roofs.

The storm is blamed for at least two deaths—a motorist who drowned in New Orleans, and a person hit by a falling tree outside Baton Rouge.

New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell said the good news is that the city’s levee system passed a major test.

CANTRELL: The worst case scenario, it did not happen. We did not have another Katrina. And that is something, again, we should all be grateful for. However, the impact is absolutely significant.

She said the city and the state are only beginning to survey the destruction.

The damage to the power grid was so extensive that officials warned it could be weeks before it’s repaired.

Wildfire threatens Lake Tahoe, forces evacuations » Fire officials have ordered more evacuations near Lake Tahoe as the Caldor Fire roared through forests southwest of the lake along the California-Nevada state line.

The fire destroyed multiple homes on Sunday along Highway 50, one of the main routes to the south end of the lake. The fire also roared through the Sierra-at-Tahoe ski resort, destroying multiple buildings.

And the weather does not appear to be cooperating. Forecasters say extreme heat and triple-digit temperatures could last for several days.

The blaze that broke out August 14 has already burned roughly 250 square miles. That’s an area larger than Chicago.

COVID cases reach January levels » New COVID-19 infections have risen to levels not seen since January of this year, the peak month of the pandemic so far. WORLD’s Kristen Flavin reports.

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: About 150,000 Americans are testing positive each day, according to a rolling 7-day average. That is a return to January levels, though not yet near the mid-January peak of a quarter of a million daily infections.

Those are, of course, just the recorded numbers. Experts say the actual case count is likely much higher as many who contract the virus never take a test.

And deaths for COVID-19 are also still on the rise—quadrupling since early July. Almost a thousand Americans are once again dying from COVID-19 each day. Officials estimate that about 98 percent of those deaths are among unvaccinated patients.

But vaccinations are also on the rise. About 450,000 Americans are now getting their first shot each day. That’s an increase of 73 percent since late July.

Reporting for WORLD, I’m Kristen Flavin.

I’m Kent Covington. For more news, features, and analysis, visit us at wng.org. 

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