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Hurricane Aims For Northeast U.S., 40-Million-Plus Under Threat; Seven Crushed To Death Among Crowds Fleeing Afghanistan; Afghan Filmmaker Says Colleagues In Great Danger; New South Wales Logs Third Day Of Record Cases; Afghan Evacuees Being Housed At Ramstein Air Base; "We Love NYC" Concert Canceled Due To Weather. Aired 4-5a ET

Aired August 22, 2021 - 04:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hurricane Henri is barreling toward New York and New England. We'll tell you how communities are preparing for it.

Plus CNN learns of one reason we may be seeing chaos like this at Kabul's airport. Those more fortunate are arriving at Ramstein U.S. air base in Germany. We're live there and in Doha with the latest.

And the United States records a surge in vaccines, even as a prominent civil rights figure is counted among the latest cases.

Live from CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta, welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and all around the world. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

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BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Henri is closing in on the northeastern U.S. right now with landfall expected in the coming hours on either Long Island or southern New England. More than to 50 million people are under hurricane or tropical storm warnings and states of emergency have been declared in Long Island and Connecticut.

Heavy rains have already pounded parts of the region. This is what it looked like in Hoboken, New Jersey, Saturday night. In addition to the storm surge, coastal flooding and strong winds are expected in parts of the Northeast.

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BRUNHUBER: A short time ago, CNN spoke with Lieutenant Commander Robert Mitchell, part of a Hurricane Hunter team that flew directly into hurricane Henri on Saturday night, gathering data to help forecasters know what to expect what to expect from the storm.

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LIEUTENANT COMMANDER ROBERT MITCHELL, NOAA PILOT: This storm has been uniquely bumpy.

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MITCHELL: Our flight yesterday was heavily influenced by some of the dry air that was coming in from the -- from the west.

And so, we had some of the strongest air turbulence that we have had in storms for quite a few years. All that dry air intruding into the hurricane has really caused a really tough ride for us.

We try to fly into the center and measure each of the quadrants of the storm, to try to get a good picture of what the storm is trying to tell us.

This storm on this track, with the dry air coming in from the west -- the last time that I flew on something like this was actually superstorm Sandy.

That was a much stronger storm and had much more organization prior to being impacted by some of the weather systems coming off the U.S. But this track and this kind of left-hand turn that it's going to make in the next day here is -- is somewhat rare.

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BRUNHUBER: That was Lieutenant Commander Robert Mitchell.

Meanwhile, hurricane Henri approaches the Northeast. There's also a threat for significant power outages for multiple states. More than 12,000 crews from nearly 30 states are being mobilized to support power restoration. Disaster response teams are on high alert, as well.

I want to bring in Scott Appleby in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He's the director of the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security for the city of Bridgeport.

Thank you so much for being with us. Really appreciate your time. Connecticut, as we understand it, is right in the crosshairs of this storm.

You said this could be, quote, "a potentially catastrophic event."

What are you expecting and how have you been preparing?

SCOTT APPLEBY, DIRECTOR, EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT & HOMELAND SECURITY, BRIDGEPORT: Certainly, the city of Bridgeport is preparing for the worst case. We are preparing for surges to be between three to five feet above ground level.

Flash flooding those areas that are low-lying areas, flood zones. We are anticipating high winds, expecting peak winds to be anywhere from 15 to 25 mile per hour sustained winds and gusts up to 25.

So we're preparing for the worst right now and obviously hoping for the best. We're asking all residents to take voluntary actions, to get out of those areas at this point in time. We do have emergency shelters or an emergency shelter going to be up

and running as of 6:00 am today. So we're just keeping a close eye on it. And as the meteorologist said, it does look like it's making more of a jog towards the Rhode Island area.

But as we know with any storm, anything could happen. So we're keeping a close eye on it and being prepared.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. You spoke of the winds there. Connecticut, I think, is one of the most heavily wooded states in the country. Your office prepared a report, looking at what the effect of hurricanes and different strengths would do in terms of the number of trees downed and how long the power might be out.

What are your projections here?

How bad could it get?

APPLEBY: According to our electrical contractor, vendor here in the city of Bridgeport to our residents, they're preparing for a level four, which technically he's looking at maybe three-quarters of their customers without power. So you're talking about maybe 55,000 to 60,000 folks that may be without power.

We're in close communication with them. I know they have outside crews that have been staged here in Connecticut.

But I mean, if anything is related to tropical storm Irene or superstorm Sandy, we're talking about at least that 70,000 to 75,000 people without power, customers without power. We're asking everyone to charge up tablets and charge up their phones and make sure you have your battery operated radio and flashlights and the like.

But in the meantime, if you need to evacuate, we have sites set up so that they could come charge up their items and devices. You know, you talk about vulnerable population, Kim. The concern for us is getting those folks in need of health related machines to these locations.

So again they're prepared and hopefully the storm, as we look at it, will hit us pretty quickly and get out of here pretty quickly.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. Let's help so. Certainly let's hope you are spared the worse of this. Scott Appleby, thank you for your time. Appreciate it.

APPLEBY: Thank you, sir, stay safe.

BRUNHUBER: Severe weather is also causing devastation in middle Tennessee. At least 10 people have died in severe flash flooding in Humphreys County, about 60 miles west of Nashville. The sheriff's office told a CNN affiliate two of the bodies they recovered were toddlers. More than 2 dozen people are still missing.

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BRUNHUBER: Officials say 50 National Guard troops have been deployed to help with rescue operations. And Mexico is picking up the pieces after a one-two punch from

hurricane Grace. The storm made its second landfall Saturday morning, killing at least eight people. Grace plowed into Mexico's east coast with winds of more than 120 miles per hour.

Forecasters predict up to 18 inches of rain along with flooding and mudslides through the weekend. Grace quickly weakened after making landfall but its remnants are still battering several Mexican states. The storm first hit the country Thursday along the Yucatan Peninsula.

And we'll continue tracking hurricane Henri as the storm barrels towards landfall, threatening tens of millions in the northeastern U.S.

And Americans in Afghanistan who want to evacuate are being told to stay put for now. We'll explain how the U.S. military plans to get them to airports safely. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: President Biden is expected to address the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan in the coming hours.

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BRUNHUBER: U.S. officials estimate about 2,500 Americans have been evacuated in the past week. But an unknown number are still in the country and the American embassy is now warning them not to come to the airport unless told to do so.

The U.S. Defense official tells CNN there are growing fears that terrorists may try to attack the airport or the crowds clustered around the gates. A senior diplomat in Kabul says they're aware of a credible but not immediate threat by Islamic State against Americans at Hamid Karzai International Airport.

The U.S. says it's setting up alternate routes to safely escort stranded Americans and others into the airport.

The number of people at the Kabul airport has swelled to more than 18,000 people and many of them aren't supposed to be there. They were allowed in after showing copies of a hastily issued permit that was widely shared with the wrong people. It has greatly compounded the confusion and delays. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is following this from Doha.

At the airport, things seem to be going from bad to worse. Let's start with the way those visas were issued.

What have you found out?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EDITOR: Yes, I mean, you say visas; essentially this is something done initially out of great benevolence and good, a bid to make sure that people who were eligible for this special visa program could get to the airport.

There's been chaos getting people processed and that in itself that has been taken to court and a federal judge considered it torturous and untenable. So sending out to people who are eligible this document, I should say essentially just a bit like a visa page you get in your passport, that says you can come onto the base, which, of course, is a good thing to do.

But obviously, human ingenuity steps in and screenshots were taken and those screenshots were circulated. I got one. Loads, it seems, of Afghans have received them, as well. That has led to a situation where people who are not supposed to be on the base have got onto the base.

I should say it's not the only reason. I've heard countless stories of people getting on through contacts and through humanitarian gestures of those U.S. soldiers and Afghan guards at the gates themselves.

But it's compounded a situation where a source familiar with the situation on the base tells me there are now 18,000 people on that tiny airport, which is extraordinary. Just feeding them and giving them water in the heat is an extraordinary task in a humanitarian level.

The issue, of course, is how many can you get off?

Now the Pentagon, White House said yesterday they got close to 4,000 off yesterday. Our calculation suggests about 26,000 have got off in its entirety. Adding to that, a source familiar with the situation tells me, there's about 2,000 at each gate trying to get on.

So they probably have as many people trying to get out now as they've already taken out in the last week or so. So look at your maps here. You're talking easily about five days' worth of evacuations just on the airport.

Add to that, the fact that they simply don't know in the White House or Pentagon how many Americans are still out there in Afghanistan, who they have pledged to rescue. That's an enormous problem because it essentially means this mission, to some degree, needs to be indefinite until they clarified that particular issue.

The terrorism threat now being spoken about and the fact that John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesperson said yesterday they're in a battle with, quote, "time and space."

That is an enormous bit of messaging to try to move people toward the fact that this is not going to go on forever. Yesterday, a source familiar with the situation said the discussions about this could be sustained for a week.

I am going to say, they need a week probably to get the people currently on the airport off unless they radically ramp up the pace in which this is happening. Inside Kabul itself, interestingly, some key figures in former governments, the CEO of the former government and Hamid Karzai, the former president, have been meeting with elements of the Taliban as part of the broader effort that the Taliban are making to look like they're being inclusive.

But it is key to say we're essentially seeing them running the process now. It's to them that the Americans have to appeal to get those they need on the airport on, yes, there are crowds at the gates.

But if they could access Taliban assurances to get people toward the Taliban controlled side of the airport, that could be assistance, too. But really now this is all about the closing, symbolic moments of the U.S. presence in its longest war.

Are they able to get those out that they need to get out?

Are they able to stop things like this sort of visa-type document from being repeated so they could filter those on the airport?

And what do they do with those on the airport who should not be on the airport?

It is an extraordinary moment that sadly underlines I think so much of the inattention and poor planning that has blighted this war from the start.

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BRUNHUBER: It's a never-ending list of challenges you're chronicling there. Nick Paton Walsh in Doha, thanks so much.

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BRUNHUBER: Diana Saqeb Jamal is an Afghan filmmaker and she joins me now from Toronto.

Thank you so much for being with us. As I understand it, you came to Canada months ago to visit some family. You bought your ticket to fly back to Kabul. You were planning to shoot a film there about women's rights.

But now, now what?

I mean, your family is still there. Your life, your equipment. Everything is there but you can't go home.

DIANA SAQEB JAMAL, FILMMAKER: Right. Yes. I've been in Afghanistan for over a decade, like since 2008. I was living there and making movies and home was Kabul for me. And right now there's no home. Like everything is gone. I have the key to my apartment. But I don't think I can get back there. It's so sad.

BRUNHUBER: I met you years ago in Kabul. I mean, we talked about the resurrection of the art scene in Afghanistan post-Taliban. You were so hopeful about the possibilities and especially the possibilities for women. And now I have to say it is a bit surreal talking to you now in this context.

How many gains had you made in those years and how much risk is being lost now?

JAMAL: You know, the depth of this tragedy is so great that has taken away from me thinking about the past or future. I am in shock, like so much pain in my heart. I can't believe this happened to us. We were so hopeful, right.

You know, we've been through a lot lot. We paid a high price to get to this point. Everything is lost overnight. And I'm so sorry about that. You know, like we could live anywhere else in the world. But we try to stay in Afghanistan in the hope of giving the kids the next generation of Afghanistan a better future.

And I cannot stop thinking about them. You know, I was making films. I was traveling all around Afghanistan and see people of my country so hopeful, men and women, you know, old men, old women. They were going to school, learning alphabet for the first time in their life.

They were trying to educate themselves. They were trying to have a better life. But everything is gone overnight. You know, it's very easy, changing out government or destroying a system. It can happen overnight.

But it's so difficult to build a country. So difficult to build a culture. And we did that for 20 years. We put our lives to build that country.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. I can hear the pain in your voice. And some of those gains were political, as well, for women. You made a documentary called "25 Percent," about six female members of the Afghan parliament and the challenges they faced.

Do you think about them now, I mean, what their lives will be like going forward under this new regime?

JAMAL: I don't know. Like, I think about everyone. Like, I think about myself, my family, my friends. You know, even if we are safe, we think we can live our life, like everything is destroyed. We're done. You know. It's not easy.

All Afghan, doesn't matter where they live, inside Afghanistan or outside, they are in shock. This is not easy. We might be safe, physically, you know.

But what about our mental health?

BRUNHUBER: You talked about, you know, maybe being safe physically. But I wonder about that. I mean, the last time the Taliban took over, they destroyed movie theaters. They banned television and music. And one of your colleagues described it as being, you know, you were pushed behind a dark curtain.

And among the groups of people who are often targeted by the Taliban, along with government workers, people who worked with the West, are artists as well.

I wonder, your colleagues back home, what kind of danger do you think they are in?

JAMAL: You know, they are in great danger. Of course, like it's not easy living under terrorist group rules. It is not easy.

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JAMAL: You cannot even imagine what will happen to them. You know, everything, everything is gone overnight. They're not safe any more. They cannot talk. They cannot go to the street. They cannot work. And their life is in great danger. Of course, it is.

It's very difficult to be, you know, an Afghan and living in Afghanistan for the past 20 years with great hope and, now, suddenly, boom. Overnight, you lost everything. And, you know, we risk everything to get to this point.

I'm repeating this because I don't -- like I want international and I want the world to know that this was us, my friends. We lost so many friends during the past 20 years for this democratic system, to have democracy.

And now, the terrorists that kill us last night, they kill us yesterday, two months ago, last week. They're in Kabul, ruling our city and they are trying to destroy everything. Yes, we are in great danger. People of Afghanistan, all they are in great danger.

BRUNHUBER: Well, I certainly hope your family stays safe and, as you say, so much has been lost. I certainly hope, next time we talk, we talk under better circumstances. Filmmaker Diana Saqeb Jamal, thank you for being with us. Really appreciate it.

JAMAL: Yes, thank you.

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BRUNHUBER: And to find out how you can help Afghan refugees or if you're a veteran troubled by events in Afghanistan, go to cnn.com/impact for assistance.

Still ahead, we're tracking hurricane Henri as it churns towards the northeastern U.S. We'll share when and where the storm is expected to make landfall -- after the break.

Plus, another day of record COVID case numbers in Australia, after violent anti-lockdown protests in two of its biggest cities. A live report from Sydney straight ahead. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

More than 50 million people across the Northeast are under tropical weather warnings at this hour as Henri barrels toward the coast. The storm is expected to make landfall later near Long Island or along southern New England.

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BRUNHUBER: Do stay with CNN for instant updates on hurricane Henri this hour and throughout the day.

Coronavirus vaccinations in the U.S. are slowly heading in the right direction. For the third day in a row, more than 1 million doses of vaccine were administered.

But even as more shots go into arms, the sobering reality of skyrocketing infections is impossible to ignore. The governor of Louisiana says his state is seeing an astronomical number of new COVID cases. The state reported nearly 6,000 new infections on Friday.

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BRUNHUBER: And famed civil rights leader reverend Jesse Jackson and his wife are both in the hospital after testing positive for coronavirus. That's according to the organization Jackson founded, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

It says doctors are currently monitoring their condition. The 79-year- old is at least partially vaccinated. Jackson received a dose of the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine back in January.

Australia is reporting hundreds of new COVID cases just a day after violent clashes rocked the country. New South Wales reported more than 800 new infections on Sunday, a record for a third day in a row.

This comes after hundreds of angry protesters clashed with police in various Australian cities on Saturday. They're angry over tighter restrictions in some of the hardest hit COVID areas. CNN's Angus Watson is in Sydney, where dozens of protesters where protesters were arrested on Saturday.

Exploding case numbers and anger converging here, what's the latest?

ANGUS WATSON, CNN PRODUCER: That's right, Kim. Some of the scenes that we have there for you now are the most violent this country has seen in quite some time.

On Saturday in Melbourne, Australia's second largest city, 4,000 protesters turned out, the majority of whom didn't take long to turn violent. Police officers having to use nonlethal crowd control options, like pepper balls and pepper spray to try to quell the crowd.

But not until at least nine police officers were hospitalized, with injuries like broken noses and concussions. At least one police officer was injured in Sydney where I am as well, where hundreds of protesters were met by at least 1,500 police officers, well prepared for the possibility of the angry protest.

Kim, this city has been locked down under strict terms since at least the end of June. And that lockdown will go for some time yet. As you mentioned, the spread of the Delta variant continues, records being broken over the last few days as that Delta variant moves through a dangerously undervaccinated population here.

But Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia, is seeking to shift the focus in the coming weeks from those high case numbers to hospitalizations and deaths. He penned an op-ed, published on Sunday. I'll read you a quote from that.

He said, "Shifting our focus from not just case numbers to actually looking at how many people are becoming seriously ill and requiring hospitalization will be increasingly what matters. After all, this is how we manage all other infectious diseases."

Now Scott Morrison might want to treat COVID-19 like the flu, say, but Australia is not ready to do that with a dangerously undervaccinated population. As I mentioned, just over 20 percent of Australians have been fully vaccinated against coronavirus, Kim. That means lockdowns like the ones we're seeing here in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne have some time to go. Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, as you say, still a long way to go. Angus Watson, thanks so much.

U.S. troops at a base in Germany have a new mission, helping people flee the Taliban. They even helped to deliver a baby. A live report from near Ramstein air base coming up. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Well, amid the chaos and fear, we're hearing some stories of hope as the U.S. races to evacuate people from Afghanistan.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): U.S. forces say they helped save this woman's life and helped her give birth in the cargo bay of a C-17. The delivery happened in Germany after she went into labor and began having complications on an evacuation flight. The baby girl and her mother are said to be in good condition.

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BRUNHUBER: The site of that emergency delivery was Ramstein air base in Germany, where the U.S. has taken thousands of evacuees. And Atika Shubert is live near the base with the latest.

You've seen the conditions there and been speaking to some of the evacuees. Share with us what you have been learning.

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we spent the day at the base yesterday. And it is a massive logistical effort. Keep in mind that this air base here is one of the biggest outside of the United States.

And as you can see from that delivery with the 86th Medical Group, it has terrific medical facilities and teams here. So there is a tremendous capacity and capability on the base. But it is filling up very, very fast. Take a look.

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SHUBERT (voice-over): Plane after plane, carrying men, women and children, evacuees who are part of the chaotic scramble to airlift people out of Afghanistan following the Taliban's takeover.

Now safe at the Ramstein U.S. airbase in Germany, one of the biggest outside of the United States, soon capable of taking in up to 7,500 people from this unprecedented airlift, explains 521st Air Mobility Operations Wing Commander, Colonel Adrienne Williams.

COLONEL ADRIENNE WILLIAMS, WING COMMANDER, 521ST AIR MOBILITY OPERATIONS: It's enormous because it is such a huge humanitarian mission. But I can tell you, on each of those C-17s, we have gone from 75 passengers on board all the way up to 400.

SHUBERT: So as you can see behind me there, that's a C-17 Globemaster and these are the flights that have been coming in and out of Ramstein airbase bringing passengers. One just landed.

And what happens is passengers disembark. They're brought here by bus and the first person they meet is a USO imam. They are given a welcome to Germany, to the Ramstein airbase and then they proceed through medical checks, as well as security checks.

Then, they are brought to a holding area, where their IDs are checked. Then finally, they will be able to get to their temporary living quarters here on the base.

SHUBERT (voice-over): This is an all-hands-on-deck effort between the U.S. Air Force, Army, as well as more than 1,500 civilian volunteers, including the Red Cross. But safety and security is the priority here.

That includes rigorous ID checks, fingerprints and iris scans to screen for anyone flagged by federal databases, says Brigadier General Joshua Olson, 86th Airlift Wing and Installation Commander.

BRIGADIER GENERAL JOSHUA OLSON, 86TH AIRLIFT WING AND INSTALLATION COMMANDER: First and foremost is the security. So we focus heavily on the security. And then from making sure we take care of all of their -- their health needs, COVID checking. And so making sure that they don't have any symptoms.

And then, also, we -- we do a very robust check with the Department of State and also all of our federal agencies.

SHUBERT (voice-over): This is their home for the next two or three days, hastily assembled cots for beds and 40 people to a tent.

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SHUBERT (voice-over): Women and children are inside the cavernous airplane hangar. Men sleep in the tent city outside with a small area in between for families to meet. None are allowed to leave yet.

SHUBERT: These are the temporary living facilities. The capacity here at the moment is 5,000. They are hoping to get that up to 7,500. But there is a flight arriving here almost every 1.5 hours. And it's filling up fast.

SHUBERT (voice-over): On our way out, we meet this Haseeb Kamal. He says he is a U.S. citizen from Virginia and had flown to Afghanistan to visit family and got married there last week.

HASEEB KAMAL, U.S. CITIZEN: So I just, like, rushed, like everybody else. And the only people that I could get in was my dad and my sister. U.S. forces were shooting fires, the Taliban and also, like, Afghan forces, too, at the gate. So people were getting hurt left and right. And it was a really bad situation.

SHUBERT: I mean, that's incredibly traumatic.

What did -- have you been able to speak to your family since you were separated from them at all?

KAMAL: Only this morning for two minutes. That's it.

SHUBERT: What did they say?

KAMAL: They're in shock. They were worried about us. And we were worried about them.

They're saying what's going to happen to them?

And I was like, I don't know.

SHUBERT (voice-over): But this is only a temporary reprieve. There are still so many questions about where they will go and what will happen to family still trapped in Afghanistan. Many here, looking to the U.S. for answers.

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SHUBERT: Kim, just to give you a sense of how quickly this is moving, I just got the latest numbers and, in the first 24 hours, 17 planes landed here. Another 14 are scheduled today. There are already more than 5,000 evacuees now at the air base.

As you heard there, they're trying to get capacity up to 7,500. But clearly, it's going to fill up very quickly.

The question is, what happens to evacuees here?

Where do they go from here?

How do they get there?

When I spoke to some of the commanding officers yesterday at the air base, they talked about the possibility of using civilian aircraft. But for now, there are no answers to those questions and a lot of the evacuees are trying to find some kind of certainty -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, absolutely. Great reporting there. Atika Shubert near Ramstein air base in Germany, thanks so much.

To find out how you can help Afghan refugees or if you're a veteran troubled by events in Afghanistan, go to cnn.com/impact for assistance.

Hurricane Henri is barreling toward the northeastern U.S. right now, with landfall expected in the coming hours. Ahead on CNN, more details on what to expect and how many people could be impacted. Please, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Tens of millions of people are bracing for impact as hurricane Henri is expected to make landfall later today around Long Island or southern New England. But the outer bands of the storms started lashing some areas overnight and states of emergency have been declared in at least three states.

UNICEF says 1 billion children around the world are at extremely high risk from the impacts of climate change. A new report shows that young people are facing direct threats from extreme weather conditions. And it's putting those kids and their futures in danger.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Across the globe, an entire generation faces a dire threat. Now their voices demand to be heard.

MITZI JONELLE TAN, PHILIPPINE CLIMATE ACTIVIST: We have gone for so long having these conferences with only coming up with empty promises and empty, vague plans.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Young activists voicing their frustration after the United Nations Children's Agency, UNICEF, published a new index Friday. It finds that almost all of the world's 2.2 billion children will suffer from the climate crisis. Its impacts range from toxic air to catastrophic floods to detrimental heat waves. GRETA THUNBERG, CLIMATE ACTIVIST: In order to -- to really change

things and to find solutions to the actual climate crisis, not only just -- not just to the symptoms of the climate crisis, we need to go to the roots of the climate crisis and we need to treat it as a crisis.

And unless the people in power are willing to do that now in (INAUDIBLE), then it will just continue like now.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): The index was launched in partnership with the youth-led climate movement spearheaded by Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, who's been rallying students from around the world to demand more action.

The index finds that half of the globe's children live in countries at extremely high risk. The 10 nations most exposed are in Africa, which illustrates a disconnect, the index says, between where most greenhouse gases are emitted and where young people face the worst impacts.

NKOSILATHI NYATHI, ZIMBABWE CLIMATE ACTIVIST: Climate change come from an agriculture-based society. Due to the (INAUDIBLE) and incidence (ph) of these weather patterns, we are struggling to -- to decide which crops to grow.

Some may even be resolved to planting small grain crops. However, if the weather continues like this, it could lead to a serious food crisis in my community.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Some of the most vulnerable are facing what the index calls a deadly combination of extreme climate hazards. According to the report, 1 billion children are highly exposed to extremely high levels of air pollution; 920 million to water security; 820 million to heat waves; 400 million to cyclones.

TAN: I have such vivid memories of doing my homework by the candlelight as typhoons raged outside, wiping out the electricity. Growing up, being afraid of drowning in my own bedroom as I would wake up inside my room and my story is already such a privileged one.

BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Sadly, her story is likely to become more common among young people around the world, as they face a climate crisis from which virtually none can escape.

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BRUNHUBER: Hurricane Henri forced the Big Apple to cancel what was supposed to be a night of fun.

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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Rapper LL Cool J was there before organizers pulled the plug on the "We Love New York" concert on Saturday.

[04:55:00] BRUNHUBER: Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and other top names were set to perform before a vaccinated and tested crowd to celebrate New York's comeback through the pandemic.

But the concert was cut short during Barry Manilow's set and then canceled after a nearby lightning strike, with hurricane Henri hovering offshore. Organizers sent people home, saying it was too dangerous to continue.

That wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. Stay with us for more coverage of hurricane Henri and the latest from Afghanistan. Sunday "NEW DAY" is next.