- Well welcome to The 700 Club.
A rare high risk, threateningfloods have been issued
by the National Weather Service
on the ground near Galveston.
Overnight, hurricaneNicholas made landfall
on the Texas coast.
It's now a tropical storm and heavy rain,
up to 12 inches expected.
- Parts of Louisiana are also in the path
of this deadly storm andsome areas are still reeling
from hurricane Ida just two weeks ago.
Here's CBN's Jenna Browder.
- Hurricane Nicholas hit theTexas coastline overnight
with wind gusts up to 95 miles an hour,
but the biggest threat isflooding from heavy rains expected
over the next few daysin Texas and Louisiana.
(fierce wind blasting)
The category one hurricanemaking landfall over Texas
early Tuesday morning,prompting a state of emergency,
the big concern, torrentialrain as Nicholas might dump
as much as one to fourinches of rain per hour
and up to 20 inches total in some areas.
- Biggest impacts today,upper Texas coast,
southwestern parts of Louisianawhere we have a high risk
to lives and property.
- [Jenna] The NationalWeather Service issuing
a rare high risk forlife-threatening flash floods
on the ground near Galveston.
- This rain not only lookslike it's coming in sideways,
I can tell you down here,it is coming in sideways,
just a torrential rain,more than I've felt
in a storm in a long time.
- [Jenna] The heavy rainsbringing more flooding
as the storm moves east.
- The flooding there's goingto be and look at the bands
of heavy rain, now.
Back edge from Houston toward Galveston.
Heavier rain now from thesouthwest parishes of Louisiana
where we'll continue to trackthat rain through this morning
and then this afternoon.
We're also gonna haveheavy rain this afternoon.
- [Jenna] The stormthreatening areas hit hard
by hurricane Harvey in2017, including Houston
where they could see up to a foot of rain,
the port of Houston, schools,
and medical facilities all closed.
- What I can assure peoplein this city is that
we are as ready for this storm
as we could be for any storm.
- [Jenna] In Louisiana,another state of emergency
where they're stillreeling from hurricane Ida,
New Orleans now under a flash flood watch.
- I know that bracing for another storm
while we're still responding to and trying
to recover from hurricane Ida is
not the position that wewanted to be in, but it is
the situation that we are prepared for.
- And more than 100,000 people are still
without power in Louisiana.
Nicholas is expectedto delay that recovery.
Jenna Browder, CBN News.
- Well Operation Blessingteams are on the ground
and in Louisiana now, and being deployed
to help people there.
But this is going to be horrific flooding.
12 inches of rain is an enormous amount
so just for Galveston, for Houston,
but all those areas inLouisiana that were affected
by hurricane Ida, they'regoing to get another dose.
So we want to be there for people in need.
If you want to be of help,all you have to do is
give us a call, 1-800-700-7000or you can write
to Operation BlessingDisaster Relief Fund,
CBN Center, VirginiaBeach, Virginia 23463.
Just put OperationBlessing Disaster Relief
on the memo line and your gift will go
to help people in need.
Well in other news,workers are still trying
to restore power to parts ofLouisiana after hurricane Ida
left more than a millionpeople in the dark.
The massive outage has raised questions
about how to improve the power grid.
John Jessup has more on that story
from our CBN News Bureau in Washington.
John?
- That's right, Gordon.
After hurricane Katrina,Louisiana spent billions
improving its levy system.
After Ida, it's clear thepower grid needs help.
The storm knocked out everysingle transmission line
bringing electricity into New Orleans.
CBN's Caitlin Burke reports on the plans
to fortify the grid.
- A little over two weeks ago,
hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana.
Today, more than 100,000people still don't have power.
While that's progress to theinitial 1.1 million people left
in the dark, it servesas a major wake up call
to the long-term need.
- We need to improve our infrastructure.
We can't continue to build things back
to the current standard.
If the current standard were enough,
we wouldn't have lost them.
- [Caitlin] Although theimmediate priority is
getting the lights back on,state and local officials
are focused on plans tokeep such widespread outages
from happening again.
- It is hard for me toimagine that we will ever have
an electrical infrastructurethat can withstand a storm
of this severity withoutany disruptions, but we know
we can minimize those disruptions.
- [Caitlin] Easier saidthan done when faced
with destruction likethis mangled transformer
and damage to all eight ofthe lines bringing electricity
into the city of New Orleans.
One option being consideredgoing forward is micro grids.
- Where you don't have such a massive grid
like a big, one failureleads to the failure
of the entire electricalsystem, but can we put
power generation in asmaller part of our city
so we don't lose power to the whole city
if we have 15 little micro grids.
- [Caitlin] Each could operate on its own,
able to disconnect from themain grid in case of a problem
or ahead of a majorevent like a hurricane.
- Within our city government,we have a pilot program
using some federal funds toreally explore what that means.
- [Caitlin] Another potential solution,
burying power lines.
- Putting our distributionlines, the electrical lines
that go from home to home toa power generation source,
those lines are above ground largely
in the city of New Orleans right now.
I find that quite gallingand frankly, as I lived
through these events.
- [Caitlin] Some parts of theNew Orleans business district
already have underground lines
and those neighborhoods sawpower restored more quickly.
- The problem with doing thatthroughout our entire city is
it's incredibly expensive.
Our estimate on doing an undergrounding
of electrical distribution lines is
about $3 million per mile.
What I would say is if the money's there,
we're always going tofind a way to operate it
and do it as efficiently as possible.
- The sheer cost of modernizingthe power grid is why
many utilities have yet to makethe necessary improvements.
That could change, however,as President Biden's
infrastructure packageincludes $73 billion
to go towards grid updates.
Still, that figure falls woefully short
of the $5 trillion that manyexperts estimate is needed
for a complete grid overhaul.
Caitlin Burke, CBN News.
- Thank you, Caitlin.
Turning now to the latest onthe Coronavirus and vaccines,
a new review of data concludesmost people do not need
a COVID booster shot,that review published
in the "Lancet Medical Journal"
by a group of topinternational scientists,
including two who are leaving the FDA,
their departures partly over disagreements
with the Biden administration'smove for boosters.
In the article, the scientistsargue more evidence is needed
to justify booster shots andthat requiring an extra shot
would make it more difficultfor billions of people
worldwide who haven'tyet received a vaccine.
The Biden administrationhas proposed giving boosters
eight months after the initial shots.
A group of advisors to the FDA is set
to review that data this week.
Well California GovernorGavin Newsom's response
to the COVID pandemic has him fighting
to keep his job with votersmaking their voices heard
in a recall election today.
That is allowed by state lawif enough registered voters
sign a petition supporting it.
CBN's Tara Mergener hasmore on the election
that's getting attentionfrom the White House.
- President Biden is wellaware that this election has
national consequences and isstanding beside the governor
to show his support.
Other Democrats are circlingthe wagons in the home stretch.
- Good morning, San Diego!
- [Tara] California Governor, Gavin Newsom
in the fight of his political life.
- This election is amatter of life and death.
- [Tara] President Bidenamong Democrats rushing
to Newsom's side before the vote.
- California, keep GavinNewsom and send a message.
(crowd loudly cheering)
- [Tara] His appearancefollowing last's weeks visit
by Vice President Harris.
- We are here to say todaywe fight for Gavin Newsom.
- [Tara] And a boost fromformer President Obama.
- Your vote could be the difference.
- [Tara] Newsom won the office in 2018
with a whopping 62% of the vote.
Now he's facing troubletriggered largely by his response
to the COVID pandemicas well as other issues
like skyrocketing crime andhomelessness in the state.
Among the 46 challengers,former Olympic gold medalist,
Kaitlin Jenner and businessman,John Cox campaigning
with a bear by his side,and popular conservative
talk radio host, Larry Elder,
who's leading the pack by far.
- The first things I'm gonna do is repeal
the requirement for stateworkers that they have
to be tested once a weekand they have to wear masks.
- [Tara] With Hollywoodactress, activist Rose McGowan
making waves with her endorsement.
- It gives me no greatpleasure to call out Democrats.
I was a Democrat.
- [Tara] A Republican wincould potentially lead
to Democrats losing theirmajority in the US Senate.
For example, if 88-year-oldDemocratic Senator,
Dianne Feinstein were toretire, the governor would pick
the replacement and thatcould tip the balance
in what is right nowan evenly split Senate.
Still, the latest pollsappear to be on Newsom's side.
According to 538, about56% of California voters
want to keep him in office.
- The evidence right now showsthat the recall's gonna fail.
- [Tara] No matter theoutcome, pundits say,
all eyes will still be on California
come next year's mid-terms.
- What happens in California,it's gonna be part
of that larger narrative.
- If more than 50% of Californiansvote to recall Newsom,
the opponent with the most votes will be
the Golden State's next governor.
In Washington, I'm TaraMergener, CBN News.
- Thank you, Tara.
Gordon, as Tara said atthe top of her package,
a consequential election withripple effects nationwide.
- Huge ripple effects.
Newsom, at one point, was being touted
as presidential material,but now he's struggling
to stay in office.
If you're in California, makesure you're voting today.
Your vote will absolutely count.
