[Sesay:] Hello. And welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I am Isha Sesay.
[John Vause, Cnn Anchor:] Great to have you with us. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. begins right now. Our top story this hour, recovery efforts are underway in South Carolina after days of unrelenting rain across the state. Historic flooding has caused 11 deaths. Two others were killed in North Carolina.
[Sesay:] At least one dam has overflowed leading to mandatory evacuation. Officials say so far 18 dams have breached or failed. CNN's Martin Savidge reports.
[Martin Savidge, Cnn National Correspondent:] Desperate days. A man in Columbia clings to a tree as floodwaters rivet his waist and threaten to wash him away. In South Carolina, the rain may be easing but not the danger. In many areas, the water continues to rise and so does the death toll. Many of those who have been killed died trying to cross through rushing water.
[Unidentified Male:] Yes, they just made a mistake.
[Savidge:] This man nearly met the same fate when raising waters threaten to carry him and his truck away. It would become one of many dramatic rescues. Just outside Charleston, a mother and her 15-month-old baby had to be rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter after floodwater surrounded their home. Officials say there have been so many rescues like these, they've lost count. South Carolina's governor is warning people not to let down their guard as waters recede.
[Gov. Nikki Haley,  South Carolina:] This is not over. Just because the rain stops does not mean that we are out of the woods. We very much still have a vulnerable situation that's out there. I'm still going to ask citizens to please stay inside.
[Savidge:] The greatest danger is south of Columbia whereas much as two feet of rain has fallen since Friday. Several area dams are overflowing or giving way.
[Wyatt Coleman, Chief West Columbia Fire Department:] We have probably about 10 dams that broke in Lexington County yesterday.
[Savidge:] Late this afternoon, a CNN crew and a National Guard helicopter flew above Overcreek Dam shortly after it breached. Warnings of the breach sent reporters and emergency crews rushing to get out of the water's potential path. Meanwhile, some 1300 National Guard troops have been called in to help hundreds of troopers and state workers. Residents are being asked to stay off the roads to allow emergency crews through but it's still not easy. More than 500 roads have been closed due to high water or damage, including 100 bridges in and around the state capital. In most areas, it's too early to begin assessing the damage but many residents already know the cost is high.
[Angela Williams, Flood Victim:] What I've got on my body is what we have. Pretty much everybody on that hill has lost everything this morning, our vehicles, our clothes, our everything. But the best thing is that we still have our lives. We still have our lives.
[Savidge:] Martin Savidge, CNN, Columbia, South Carolina.
[Vause:] In just three days the city of Charleston received almost a half year's worth of rain. At one point, tens of thousands were without electricity and hundreds of others were evacuated from their homes. And while the situation there is bad, it's not as bad as it was just 24 hours ago. Mark Wilbert is the director of Charleston's Department of Emergency Management. He joins us now on the line. So, Mark, there is still trouble ahead. What is your biggest concern now in the coming days?
[Mark Wilbert, Director, Charleston's Department Of Emergency Management:] Well, I think the biggest concern in the coming days is to begin to understand what we don't currently know. As the water recedes we'll begin to get an understanding of what kind of damage may have been done to infrastructure, roads, and then we'll get first real good looks at what happened to people's houses as we begin to deploy our damage assessment teams and they begin to actually get out and survey the damage.
[Vause:] How long before schools and government services all return to normal?
[Wilbert:] Well that's a good question. Schools here in the county are closed again tomorrow. And a lot of that is because many of the neighborhoods throughout the county, the schools the buses it's just not safe for them to go in. There's a lot of standing water left. They do need to get in and survey all the schools to make sure that the schools are safe for the students to go to the schools.
[Vause:] And Mark, you've had these amounts of rain which have fallen over the past...
[Wilbert:] Just did not want to stop.
[Vause:] OK, Mark, good to speak to you. Mark Wilbert, there on the line from Charleston Department of Emergency Management. Thanks for being with us.
[Wilbert:] Thank you.
[Sesay:] Our meteorologist Pedram Javaheri is following this for us. Pedram, the hope now is of course that the residents of South Carolina are over the worst of all this rain. How's it looking?
[Pedram Javaheri, Ams Meteorologist:] Yes, it looks like the rain should be all done in the next couple of hours. We did get sunny skies across the region so good news there. But you see some of these images come out of the state of South Carolina, the capital of city there, Columbia, and just incredible to compare the before and after perspective when it comes to what transpired over this region. Well, I can see, you only need 30 centimeters, about 1 foot of moving water upon the order of about six miles per hour to give about 500 pounds of lateral force. It does not take much water to cause substantial damage. And want to lay the land across the state of South Carolina, show you what you're dealing with here across the Palmetto State because we know the northern portion of the state, we have the Appalachian mountains, rise up to about 3500 feet. We go farther to the south, you bring in the hundreds of rivers, there are tributaries, you get to the low country you have the marsh land here. All of this water and rain up stream but will eventually come down into the Atlantic Ocean downstream. Now we know about a dozen or so dams have been jeopardized over this region and levees as well. And you look at the situation when it comes to dams and the amount of stress that is involved, and in the United States typically 30 percent of dam failures are because of over topping that occurs over this region. So of course you get extra water that goes over the banks of the dam itself that causes problems what we saw across the state of South Carolina in the Columbia area in past several hours. You also have failures that take place where fractures occur because of tremendous amount of stress on the water. And about 90 percent of dams and 2,400 dams across the state of South Carolina, but you look at the numbers, the vast majority of them are all privately owned. So certainly some of them been outdated, some of them not having the regulations in place that would be able to withstand historic events that take place, one that you would see one in a thousand years. And that's why we get problems that come down with tremendous rainfall in place. But again drying in the forecast. Look at the long term, guys. We look at where Joaquin and its remnants are slated to go. Western Europe could get in on awesome heavy rainfall in the upcoming weekend. So a story we're still following over that region as well.
[Sesay:] Pedram, appreciate it. Thank you so much for the update.
[Javaheri:] Thanks, guys.
[Vause:] OK. Thanks, Pedram. We move on now. Turkey's Foreign Ministry is condemning Russia over a weekend airspace violation. Turkey says a Russian warplane flew over a southern province on Saturday and air force jets intercepted the plane. The Russian jet continued into Syria where it went on to conduct airstrikes.
[Sesay:] Well, Turkey says there was another violation on Sunday. Turkey and Russia don't see eye to eye over Syria. Russian officials say there is nothing corrupt about what happened. Well, top NATO official says the airspace violation is unacceptable. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he will do whatever it takes to end what he calls a wave of terror. On Monday, he lifted restrictions on the Israel Defense Forces which he says will allow soldiers to protect themselves and civilians.
[Vause:] The IDF says it fired on people throwing rocks on Monday in a West Bank refugee camp killing a Palestinian. One man there says a 13 his 13-year-old nephew was shot and killed. But the IDF has the not commented on the deceased's identity and is promising to investigate. Mr. Netanyahu says Israel is now struggling with it's a difficult struggle but rather will win. To Afghanistan now where the commander of U.S. forces is clarifying what led to the air strikes on a hospital in Kunduz on Saturday. Twelve medical staff and at least 10 patients at the Doctors Without Borders Hospital were killed.
[Sesay:] Three separate investigations are under way to determine what went wrong.
[Gen. John Campbell, Commander, Resolute Support Mission:] We have now learned that on October 3rd, Afghan forces advised they were taking fire from enemy positions and asked for air support from U.S. forces. An airstrike was then called to eliminate the Taliban threat and several civilians were accidentally struck. This is different from initial reports which indicated that U.S. forces were threatened and that the airstrike was called on their behalf. As has been reported I have ordered a thorough investigation into this tragic incident. And the investigation is ongoing. The Afghans had ordered the same. If errors were committed we will acknowledge them. We will hold those responsible accountable. And we will take steps to ensure mistakes are not repeated.
[Sesay:] Well, Nic Robertson joins us now from Kabul with more in all of this. Nic, U.S. officials now saying the Afghans asked for air support because they were taking fire. But then unanswered question remains, what rules where the U.S. operating under?
[Nic Robertson, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Well, the U.S. general in charge, John Campbell, you just heard him speaking there, was asked the question. Precisely what, you know, when you are calling in helicopter air support, or an aircraft air support, that had heavy machine guns on the AC-130 compared to calling in a fighter jet with a bomb or a drone, with a guided munition on it. What different rules of engagement are coming into play there? He said he didn't want to get into those kinds of details until the investigation is carried out. But what we do know from U.S. officials, they say, whether or not air support is called for by U.S. forces under fire or Afghan forces under fire. It goes through a very strict vetting procedure. There are target, there are buildings, rather, or locations, such as the hospital, where the coordinates are known. That would be off-limits. The explanation that of what happened here absolutely isn't clear at the moment. But what we understand there's rules of engagement would require buildings like this hospital to be placed off-limits.
[Sesay:] MSF, Nic, as you well know strenuously rejecting the Afghan claims that Taliban fighters were on the hospital grounds which takes us to the heart of one of the key issues here, the reliability of the Afghan side in this counterterrorism fight?
[Robertson:] That has been called into question before over the years. And again, the U.S. checking before they conduct airstrikes is part of that process to make sure that every piece of information they get is reliable. And that they can be held to account on it later. There have been instances where questions have been raised over what the government says has transpired and what we later find out has been transpired. But at the moment we're not hearing criticism from the United States or from the special forces on the ground, saying that they were that they were given erroneous information. That's not what's being presented at the moment. But certainly that has been a question in the past and certainly one can imagine investigators will look very closely at those kinds of details in the situation.
[Sesay:] Indeed. Nic Robertson, joining us there from Kabul, Afghanistan. Nic, appreciate it. Thank you.
[Vause:] You are watching NEWSROOM L.A. When we come back, California's governor signs a landmark right-to-die legislation. And coming up we will speak with a terminally ill woman who celebrated the news.
[Sesay:] Plus 12 countries and years of negotiation have paved the way for a trade agreement that could affect the prices of things you use and eat every day. The details are just ahead.