Month: August 2021

Tropical Storm Fred weakened slightly as it moved inland through the Florida Panhandle, the National Hurricane Center said in its 11 p.m. update. By Tuesday morning, Fred will have weakened to a tropical depression, a storm with a wind speed of 38 mph or less, the hurricane center said. However according to the hurricane center, Fred brought heavy rain and “a dangerous storm surge” to the Florida Panhandle.

Fred made landfall near Cape San Blas in the eastern Florida Panhandle, pounding the region with heavy rain and 65 mph winds, according to the National Hurricane Center. Fred brought 4 to 6 inches of rain to parts of Miami-Dade County, with the more southern areas of the county seeing as much as 9 inches. Areas of South Florida farther north saw 2 to 4 inches over the past seven days. As of 11 p.m. Monday, Fred was 10 miles east of Dothan, Ala., moving north-northeast at 12 mph. Fred is forecast to move from western Georgia on Tuesday across the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia by Wednesday, the hurricane center said. Tropical-storm-force winds extended from Fred’s center up to 45 miles. There was also a chance that tornadoes could form on Florida’s west coast and the coastal Panhandle, forecasters said.

More than 20 Florida counties were under a state of emergency due to Tropical Storm Fred.

President Biden spoke on Monday and defended the decision to move forward with the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. President Biden’s remarks came after a chaotic day at the Kabul airport as evacuations were halted for several hours. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby confirmed that U.S. troops had killed two armed Afghans who were part of the huge crowd that breached the airport perimeter.

In remarks from the East Room of the White House, Biden said: “How many more generations of America’s daughters and sons would you have me send to fight Afghanistan’s civil war when Afghan troops will not? How many more lives, American lives, is it worth, how many endless rows of headstones at Arlington National Cemetery?” While Biden conceded the Taliban had taken over more quickly than anticipated, but he insisted “there was never a good time to withdraw.”

The Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul, on Sunday, with the U.S. military holding on to the airport for evacuations. The U.S. is continuing to process visas for Afghans and their families who aided U.S. troops. Roughly 100 U.S. embassy staffers remain at the airport —they will be the last ones out.

On Sunday, the Pentagon authorized the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to Afghanistan, bringing the total number of troops on the ground to 6,000 as the Taliban continues its advances in the capital city of Kabul. The additional troops will be drawn from the 82nd Airborne Division, which was already on standby. The news of additional troops being sent to Afghanistan comes after President Biden announced on Saturday that the U.S. would send 1,000 more troops to Afghanistan to assist with evacuating U.S. personnel. The Pentagon had revealed on Thursday that it was deploying 3,000 more troops to the country to help facilitate the withdrawal of embassy staff. The American flag at the compound was lowered on Sunday, marking the final step in the evacuation of staff from the building.

The deployment of troops to Afghanistan comes as they face a rapidly deteriorating security situation, with the Taliban making significant gains in the region. Taliban fighters entered the presidential palace in the capital city of Kabul on Sunday, and members of the group’s leadership addressed the media from the throne of power, according to photos published by Al Jazeera. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country as Taliban fighters seized Kabul on Sunday, later writing in a Facebook post that he did so to avoid bloodshed.

The situation in Afghanistan comes as the U.S. was nearing completion of its withdrawal process, which President Biden had previously stated was expected to finish at the end of this month.

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The director of the National Institutes of Health (“NIH”), Dr. Francis Colllins, said on Sunday that the United States could see more than 200,000 new COVID-19 cases per day as the more contagious Delta variant continues to spread. Dr. Colllins told Fox News Sunday he will “be surprised if we don’t cross 200,000 cases a day in the next couple of weeks.”  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) reported 140,144 new cases and a seven-day moving average of 119,523 infections on Friday. The CDC reported 804 deaths and a 544 seven-day moving average Friday. Said Collins: “with Delta variant, which is so contagious and this heartbreaking situation where 90 million people are still unvaccinated who are sitting ducks for this virus and that’s the mess we’re in. We’re in a world of hurt and it’s a critical juncture to try to do everything we can to turn that around.”

Daily cases had been below 100,000 since the end of February before spiking in recent weeks. The United States last reported more than 200,000 cases in January, before COVID-19 vaccines were widely available. 50.7% of Americans are fully vaccinated while 59.7% have received at least one dose to date, while 61.7% of adults have completed their vaccine series and 72% have at least received their first dose, according to the CDC. Additionally, CNN reported that COVID-19 patients account for 15% of hospitalizations in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada and Texas, all states which have fallen behind the national average for vaccinations.

Editorial credit: Mark Van Scyoc / Shutterstock.com