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Hurricane Ida Weakens; Power Outage in New Orleans; Five Rockets Fired at Kabul Airport. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired August 30, 2021 - 02:00   ET

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

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[02:00:00]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. We are following breaking news on Hurricane Ida. Hurricane Ida weakened -- what has now wakened to a Category 1 storm as it moves slowly over Louisiana.

But the widespread destruction left behind will be clear in a few hours when we have daybreak. A levee has failed in Plaquemines Parish and there is flash flooding near a highway. And, at least one person has died after a tree fell.

Ida was a Category 4 when it made landfall with winds that reached 150 miles per hour. Louisiana's governor said it's one of the strongest storms to make landfall in modern times. The entire city of New Orleans is now in darkness. People in some areas have reported floodwaters reaching up to their chest, pleading for rescue.

More than 1 million customers are without power across the state. People who evacuated are staying in shelters. Louisiana's governor estimates several dozen decided to ride it out in place.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BEL EDWARDS, GOVERNOR OF LOUISIANA: We are better prepared now in terms of that protection system. But when you have Mother Nature throw at you a storm this strong with the surge, the wind, the rain that we're talking about with Hurricane Ida, there's going to be devastating impacts and we have to do everything we can to save lives and the immediate response and we'll get to the property repairs later.

But I can tell you, for several days, we are going to be engaged in search and rescue, both the primary search, the secondary searches, and so forth. And we're going to be in this for the long haul, but the people of Louisiana are good and resilient people. And I can tell you, we're going to get through this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And in the Louisiana town of Jean Lafitte, the mayor says tidal surge levees have over topped as the area continues to reel from Hurricane Ida. And he says his city and surrounding areas are experiencing total devastation. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

TIM KERNER, JR., MAYOR OF JEAN LAFITTE, LOUISIANA: A whole bridge was taken out. It just-- our levees were topped down like concert (ph). Surge levees were topped that was within the head of schools system, the government building and hundreds of homes. This has never happened before and all the outside areas were just hit so hard.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CHURCH: Joining me on the phone is New Orleans city councilman, Joe Giarrusso. Thank you, sir, for talking with us.

JOE GIARRUSSO, CITY COUCILMAN, NEW ORLEANS (via telephone): Thank you.

CHURCH: Talk to us about the power because we understand it's completely out across New Orleans. With those lucky enough, of course, to have generators, relying on them for power. But how long do you think it will take to restore electricity across the city once morning comes in the days and weeks ahead?

GIARRUSSO (via telephone): We just got off the phone with the energy provider not too long ago and they told us, essentially, that they don't know the answer. The problem has been, there are eight transmission lines that are down. They fell in a cascading series (inaudible) throughout the day/

And then apparently earlier in the evening, a number of them all went down at the same time. So, it became, for a lack of a better term, a perfect storm of events that led to this deep (ph) down. Because of the inclement weather, still the high winds, and the rain, the energy company does not feel it's in the best interest to go touch those lines right now, not knowing what is happening, and in fact, try not make the situation worse.

They're hoping that some of the lines can be restored in a shorter order, and then advising us that maybe it will be a few days. But, it could be a matter of weeks, too. So, we are crossing our fingers, and hoping that things move as quickly as possible and as soon as the rain and the wind abate that they can go check out and we have a better sense of what the deadline is.

CHURCH: And, Councilman, for those people that are using generators, the big fear, always, is carbon monoxide poisoning. How are you making sure that people are careful while using their generators, and has there been an effort to educate the public about the dangers involved?

[02:04:58

GIARRUSSO: That's a great question. The answer is, yes, and I really have to give our local media outlets in particular a great deal of credit about that. They've re-emphasized and almost did PSA's throughout the day about it. And at one point as I was watching one of them, they specifically said that there were more deaths in one of the recent hurricanes post storm, then there were pre-storm.

So, you're 100 percent right that we want to make sure that people are safe, they're using their equipment safely. The last thing we want is to lose people just because they're trying to maintain their power or do something that they should.

And I appreciate the fact that you're asking the question so, if anybody happens to be watching this who is in the area or is listening to this later online, that they can take the necessary precautions.

CHURCH: Absolutely. And, Councilman, what are you expecting to find across New Orleans when the sun comes up in just a few hours and how extensive do you think the damage, will likely be? Of course, your first challenge will be search and rescue.

GIARRUSSO: That will be the first thing. So far not calling (inaudible). We haven't heard too much about search and rescue as the hours are passing. The reports are that the winds here will start dying down at 8:00 a.m. They expect that these things winds and rains throughout the night.

The best-case scenario is sort of by noon as tomorrow that you start to get to a point where things should really be in much better position. What we're going to do as soon as it is safe is go throughout our district from top to bottom and start live tweeting, let our neighborhood leaders know what we're seeing, what we're finding.

At this point, what we're hearing the most of is obviously downed tree limbs, some trees, some removed, and hopefully as we look in the morning, we know this has been a significant wind (ph) event, but that it hasn't been so bad that people have lost too many roots or too much property or hopefully nobody else is hurt.

CHURCH: And, Councilman, of course, the horror and indeed, the irony of this story, is that Hurricane Ida comes on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. How does that make you and others feel as you tackle this?

GIARRUSSO: Well, it's extraordinarily hard and I think a couple of extraordinarily significant things are wove into these at this moment. The first is that obviously, not only is it the anniversary, but I think so many of us who were evacuated for Katrina were thinking, all right, we're going to pack our bags and we're home tomorrow. And then the levees broke during the middle of the night and you weren't able to return.

So, I think a lot of people are watching to see what happens with that to make sure that they're able to come back. The levees are built much stronger, $14.5 billion spent on those in the last year's fund. And look, there is just lingering pain from having gone through this. Hurricane season causes anxiety from all sorts of folks throughout the region in the area.

You know that you're going to be without power. You know that you're going to have to spend extra money on resources. A lot of people don't have those. Your ability to get places become much more difficult. So, it can be a challenge and we want to make sure that as we emerge from this, we make that challenge as easy as possible for our residents.

CHURCH: New Orleans city councilman Joe Giarrusso, thank you so much for talking with us and do take care. Thank you.

GIARRUSSO: Thank you.

CHURCH: Meteorologist Pedram Javaheri joins me now. He has, of course, has been tracking this dangerous hurricane for us. So, Pedram, what are you seeing this hour?

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Rosemary, we're seeing gradual weakening finally in the last couple of hours. The system barely hanging on to hurricane status, Category 1 at 70 miles per hour. Of course, we're going on more than 12 hours since it made landfall. An incredible accomplishment when you consider the intensity of the storm system, how long it maintained into southern Louisiana.

And just when you think southern Louisiana finally in the clear of the system, we're getting reports that in the southwestern region there, in the southeastern region, in the northern part of Plaquemines Parish, there is now a levee failure in place. And with Plaquemines Parish, there is some 13 levee systems in place over 276 miles of levees just in this one parish, south of New Orleans.

And of course, we know the levees in place here, over 3,000 miles of levees makeup the protections on essentially across Louisiana that keeps cities like New Orleans safe from storm surge and hurricane- based flooding. And now, one of these levees is failing at this hour. So, really, again, speaks to how much of an intensity the storm has put in place here where damage still being observed across the southern region.

Landfall, 150 miles per hour coming in around noon central time. When it made landfall we had wind gusts observed at 153 miles per hour. Grand Isle, Rosemary, a wind gust of 148.

[02:10:00]

And the asterisk here is because the anemometer, the wind measuring device, actually, broke off. The instrument stopped reporting at 148 miles per hour. Again, talking about an impressive storm here and how historic it is.

The strongest time last year is Hurricane Laura as the strongest storm ever to impact the state of Louisiana. So, where is the storm headed? Well, I think it will spend much of Monday across the state of Mississippi as a tropical depression, and finally we can push into portions of the Tennessee Valley come Tuesday and quickly pick up speed and move out of areas of the Ohio Valley by Wednesday.

So, this is going to finally pick up that forward progression we think once we get through this afternoon and tonight. But you'll notice it is a very slow mover on that initial phase before it exits towards the north and east. Rainfall totals, these are estimated rainfall amounts that have

already come down around ports of -- portions just west of New Orleans. Here it's indicated in the pink. That's more than a foot of rainfall coming down here in this 12-hour span.

And then, we look at storms and of course, a lot of hurricanes that are having intensity such as this one as Ida did, they will be retired. And the letter I storm, Rosemary, interestingly enough is the most retired letter of storms there.

And, historically, the letter I storm happens on the 4th of October. So, you look at the calendar, last few days of August. We are well ahead of where we should be for a storm this late into the alphabet. And again, a historic one pushing in across the state of Louisiana.

CHURCH: Absolutely. Pedram Javaheri, thank you so much for keeping such a close eye on all of that. We appreciate it. Well, Baton Rouge is feeling the wrath of Hurricane Ida. Earlier, CNN spoke to a critical care doctor in that city about how his hospital was preparing for the impact of the storm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER THOMAS, CRITICAL CARE PHYSICIAN: We are preparing for what we believe will be a very significant event in Baton Rouge. We believe it will probably be the most significant event of our lifetime. We currently have a full hospital, but we're the regional medical center and so we are essentially acting that role.

We know hurricanes. And so this part actually may feel a little bit more normal although scary, and that we prepare every year for this. It's a drill we do. So, it is odd to say that maybe the hurricane part of it feels a little bit more like normal business in August and September than COVID does. But, adding the two together is definitely stressful and we worry about our oxygen supply and others. But, like I said, we've done a really good job of preparing for an event like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And CNN's Darryl Forges joins us now live from Baton Rouge. Good to see you, Darryl. Of course, it has been so difficult particularly for hospitals dealing with not only the hurricane, but also COVID. So, talk to us about the latest from Baton Rouge. What is happening this hour?

DARRYL FORGES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Rosemary, you're absolutely right about that especially when it comes to hospitals. We are actually at a hotel and we have seen several travel nurses coming in and out of this hotel. And they're going back and forth to the hospital in Baton Rouge to help those when it comes to those COVID-19 patients and others. The work just does not stop for those nurses and doctors at those hospitals as we're also battling Hurricane Ida.

Now, here in Baton Rouge, over my shoulder, you can see the wind is really picking up. A lot of heavy rain here since Ida has now been reduced to a Category 1 hurricane. We're actually lucky compared to what we've been seeing in New Orleans, which has really been -- seen a powerful punch from Ida, from -- when it made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane down to a 3 into a 2.

And now it's passing towards us and we're getting the outer bands here in Baton Rouge to a Category 1. So we're still seeing some serious winds. At some point you see winds as high 25, 30 miles per hour over here as well. People are not outside at this point. The only cars we've seen in the past couple of hours, Rosemary, has been police officers driving around.

But other than that, that's been about it. So, what we're seeing here in Baton Rouge, many are heeding to the warnings from the governor and state and local officials to stay inside and hunker down.

CHURCH: Yes. And, of course, the hope was initially that people would get out. Now, the people did hunker down, search and rescue has to get underway at day break, but also there is this concern about power being out because when there is no power, there is a lack of clean water. So, what's being said about getting access to that for people in the morning?

FORGES: Well, city officials especially in New Orleans, since everyone in that city does not have power at this point, the city is urging people to be careful with their water usage because of backup issues with the sewage system. So, that could be an issue moving forward. So, at this point, people have to be careful and watch what they're doing when it comes to their water consumption and water usage.

[02:14:53]

Now, President Biden has offered any assistance from the federal level, if the state needs us. So that means if they need additional water, bottled water, food, as well as some other things like generators, they will be able to provide that for the people here in Louisiana.

But another concern, we talked about it earlier. We've already heard from people in Jefferson Parish who, reportedly, are seeing water as high up to their chest. We've seen in LaPlace, Louisiana, Rosemary, some unfortunate circumstances there where people are trapped in their attics with water slowly but surely coming up. And they're losing contact with their loved ones. We assume their loved ones contact people and reaching out on Twitter asking neighbors and potential people in the area to look out for their loved ones who they have not heard from in the past couple of hours.

And the reason why is because 9-1-1 cannot be dispatched to these areas because it's just not safe. So, it's going to be a long night tonight as well as what's going to happen with the recovery starting tomorrow.

CHURCH: That is a terrifying situation for those people. Darryl Forges, thank you so much for keeping us up to date, and do stay safe. Well, Hurricane Ida, as we've been reporting, is now a Category 1

storm, but when it slammed into Louisiana, it was a powerful Category 4. Ida now tied with two other storms as the strongest hurricanes ever to hit the state. Meteorologist, Derek Van Dam was in Houma as Ida moved through.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is what a monster Category 4 hurricane feels like. Its pins and needles on every exposed part of your body. It feels like a jet engine spraying at you at 100 miles per hour. What you see behind me, if I were to step 20 feet backwards, I would not be able to stand.

We are approaching the inner eye wall of major Hurricane Ida. This is a significant storm and the National Weather Service verifies that because they have issued what is called an extreme wind warning. Our phones have been lighting up left, right, and center with these alerts. And I keep talking about that because it's reserved for only the most dangerous of situations.

Sustained 115 mile per hour winds. There goes the camera lens from our particular camera equipment. All right, guys, you're going to have to bear with us. We are in the middle of a hurricane, clearly, and conditions change very rapidly. And I want our viewers to understand, at home, that we have the ability to duck in for cover when we need to.

I am in a safe of a position as I can potentially be in with a building that was built post Katrina. We have had reinforced concrete walls. We have windows here that can withstand Category 3 and Category 4 hurricane winds.

This storm is an absolute monster and every time we hear that all too familiar sound of the train whistle of the winds whipping in this area, it reminds me of hurricanes in the past and it sends shivers down my back.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Now, Derek Van Dam reporting earlier. And we are following developments out of the Afghan capital this hour. Just one day before the U.S. is set to meet its withdrawal deadline. The latest in a live report, that's next.

Plus, Hurricane Ida, maybe losing steam, but the devastation is far from over. We will have the latest on the storm's path and what we can expect in the hours ahead.

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[02:20:00]

CHURCH: We continue tracking breaking news out of Afghanistan. A U.S. official tells CNN as many as five rockets were fired at the Kabul airport. Now, we are told a defense system engaged with those rockets and there have been no reports of casualties. This comes one day after the U.S. said an air strike took out an imminent threat to the airport.

And this video from social media shows people gathered at the aftermath of Sunday's air strike. A U.S. official says the vehicle targeted contained one suicide bomber. The U.S. military says secondary explosions from the vehicle may have caused civilian casualties.

CNN's Anna Coren is following developments for us. She joins us now from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Anna. So, let's start with this. I want to find out what more you're learning about these reports, of as many as five rockets being fired at Kabul airport.

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Rosemary, we are learning that U.S. military has shut down these five rockets using a counter defense rocket system known as C-RAM. The rockets were fired from a car, this improvised rocket launcher, in a neighborhood in Kabul around 6:40 a.m. this morning several hours ago in Kabul.

And as I say, the military shot them down. They did not reach their desired target, which of course was Hamid Karzai International Airport, where those U.S. troops are wrapping up operations. There is a draw down underway. No more evacuations now for any Afghans. The focus purely on the U.S. citizens at the airport, and of course, the U.S. troops on the ground, Rosemary.

So, no reports of any casualties at this stage, but the president has been informed of the rocket attacks and he has told his commanders to double down to ensure that the safety of his troops is guaranteed.

CHURCH: And Anna, the U.S. military says that a secondary explosion, after that U.S. strike against an imminent ISIS-K threat may have caused civilian casualties. What more do you know about that?

COREN: Yes. We are getting the same reporting, Rosemary, from local journalists who we are in touch with. You mentioned that target, that ISIS-K target that the Pentagon was after. They said that this was an imminent threat to airport security that they took out one to three attackers.

[02:25:00]

Perhaps all three wearing suicide vests. That's what they think they were doing, wearing these vests, to then create more bloodshed like what we saw last Thursday at the airport. They were taken out and then as a result of the fire and the explosion, another car was also hit and we believe that nine people, a total of nine civilians were killed including six children.

Now, the Taliban has come out, condemn the attacks saying that U.S. should not be allowed to conduct these arbitrary attacks in Afghanistan. But certainly, for the United States, for the president, this is something they had been warning of now for over a week and the rocket attack that we saw this morning, Rosemary, you know, we can expect there to be more of those in the coming hours. CHURCH: All right, Anna Coren, bringing us the latest. Many thanks.

And still to come, we are tracking Hurricane Ida as it continues to batter Louisiana with heavy rain and catastrophic floods. The latest on the storm's path and what to expect in the hours ahead.

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CHURCH: You can hear there the howling wind and rushing waters as Hurricane Ida pummels Louisiana. In parts of the state, roads are impassable and hospitals are damaged.

[02:29:59]

Some parishes are without drinking water. And in this video, you see the strong winds ripping the roof off a building. In Jefferson Parish, people are still trapped due to the flood waters where they say the water is now up to their chests. Joining me again is meteorologist Pedram Javaheri. And that is just nightmare scenario Pedram, the thought of people being stuck in their attics with the water rising. Talk to us about the situation right now with Hurricane Ida.

PEDRAM JAVAHERI, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, the reports certainly are sobering to say the least rosemary, you hear about the flooding, which is expected even some reports of people on the rooftops in the southeastern Plaquemines Parish region there where water is so high, that it is pushing into people's properties and even fires because of the downed power lines and downed trees as a result of the wind.

So you can imagine heavy rainfall, fires amid some of these properties and homes. And all of this happening into the overnight hours, really is a disaster scenario with a system still maintaining category one hurricane strength and an incredible system here that made landfall, is among the strongest we've ever seen to make landfall across the U.S. but a classic Brown Ocean effect taking place with the storm system.

And it's a meteorological phenomenon that impacts about 20 percent of tropical systems where even once they make landfall, the land interaction doesn't allow for much weakening with a tropical system. And a lot of times this happens in these areas around the parishes, the southern portions, and the by use of Louisiana where you have quite a bit of moist wet landscape, the waterways that essentially is just like the Gulf of Mexico.

Warm waters that allow these storms to fuel and continue working their way northward. And that is exactly what the storm system was doing between about 1pm Eastern when it made landfall to about 6pm Eastern, five hours removed from landfall still maintaining category four strength as it moved up now.

Notice the rainfall amounts that are estimated remarkable in a 12-hour period pushing over a foot in some of these regions. This is why we think the flash flooding threat really going to be significant. Rosemary, Louisiana in New Orleans in particular, is seeing their wettest - their second wettest year on record with over 62 inches of rainfall in the first eight months of 2021. This is before it moved to shore. So you could imagine flash flooding threshold is a lot less with so much moisture already in the soil and also in the rivers in this region. So this is going to be a very difficult night in this area.

CHURCH: Terrifying for those people, Pedram Javaheri, many thanks for bringing us up to date on the situation. And the danger of flash flooding is keeping people awake across Louisiana tonight. Of course CNN's Ed Lavandera reports from Baton Rouge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hurricane Ida continues to push its way north. It is now finding itself between Baton Rouge where we are and New Orleans. And there are dozens of low lying communities in these areas that are going to be spending a long night. These are low line communities very susceptible to flooding.

We spent the day traveling through many of those communities, talking to people and trying to figure out how they were preparing. For this moment. Many folks said that they were planning on waiting out the storm in their homes and then getting ready to pack up their belongings and escape once the floodwaters started in the next day or so. So as this storm passes to the north and the rain continues to fall in that water needs somewhere to go. And it's going to rush back south and through a lot of these low line communities.

And the other thing that many residents told us is that they never really experienced a storm of this magnitude, so strong this far inland. Hurricane Ida came ashore as a category for usually a lot of these storms can lose much of its strength by the time it reaches this far inland. But many residents told us they're extremely worried about the wind damage that this storm can bring. A lot of tall trees in some of the neighborhoods that we were in.

So many people inside their homes were telling us that they're worried about trees collapsing onto their homes. Those are the kinds of things that residents are dealing with here in these overnight hours. And on top of that these types of hurricanes that pass in the darkness just add another terrifying level of experience to what is already a horrible experience to have to endure. Ed Lavandera, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And just southeast of Baton Rouge the situation in Jefferson Parish is rapidly deteriorating. Parish President Cynthia Li Sheng spoke to CNN's Pamela Brown earlier and gave a disturbing update about the rising water there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICE OF CYNTHIA LEE SHENG, PRESIDENT, JEFFERSON PARISH, LOUISIANA: Right now my concern is we've lost contact with Grand Isle so we - that is the island right on the Gulf of Mexico that I've been very, very concerned about. We lost contact with them. We've not been able to reach them so I don't know what they're going through. And then closer up here, it's still outside the hurricane protection

system, an area called Lafitte and lower Lafitte, Barataria, Crown Point, the water is rising. People are in their homes and we're getting reports of people with water up to their chest. They're asking to be rescued. So very, very dark situation and we just can't get out yet.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is dire and what else are you hearing from people calling in? I mean that is horrific.

LEE SHENG: It is horrific where - we're almost - the electrical grid is just almost out. We're probably at 95 percent out of electricity.

[02:35:00]

We were - a very large transmission tower came down that spread a lot of our community. So we're getting reports of roof damage, roofs - you know, trees down, tree roots pulling up and damaging water - water mains so now our water pressure is going down. So, you know, we are also responding to an assisted actually a condominium, where there's some elderly people who are living there and their roof partially collapsed.

So we're trying to get them out to a church across the street. So it is very, very busy here. And we're, we just can't respond yet.

BROWN: Right? I mean, so - so what are you doing in these cases, when you get a call like that with these senior citizens or the person who has, you know, water up to their chest, what can you do?

LEE SHENG: Well, people just, you know, I got a text from a friend of mine, and she said a tree fell on her neighbor's house. She wants the neighbors to come to her house, but she said she can't walk outside right now. So it's just the winds are so heavy, so high right now, we just can't get out. We were able to get one of the Fire Chiefs over to the Assisted Living Center to see what it's like.

It's not a dire situation, but they do have water in the building that's on the first floor, there is some type of collapse that's having water intrusion. So the real - the real situation I think is very dire is the water that is rising in the areas of lower Lafitte.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Terrifying for those people and coming up next on CNN Newsroom. According to the UN's nuclear watchdog, North Korea may be revving up its nuclear program. Details in a live report straight ahead.

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[02:40:00]

CHURCH: Welcome back everyone. Well, a new report from the UN's nuclear watchdog agency says North Korea appears to have restarted a nuclear reactor. The Yongbyon Complex had previously been inactive for years. Now the International Atomic Energy Agency says there are what it calls deeply troubling new signs of recent activity. And CNN's Will Ripley has reported extensively from inside North Korea. He joins us now from Hong Kong. Good to see you, Will. So what more are you learning about the situation in North Korea and of course, the timing of all this?

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Rosemary, if what the IAEA is reporting is true, this would be the first indication of activity at the Yongbyon Nuclear Reactor since December of 2018. And it would be a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions. So when that agency says that it's deeply troubling, this is an agency that has had a long and storied history with North Korea.

Remember, their inspectors were kicked out of the country back in 2009. The last time that it looked like North Korea was willing to perhaps dismantle its most well-known nuclear reactor. Well, we now know that did not happen. The most recent offer that North Korea made to put Yongbyon on the table and perhaps dismantle it was with President Trump in Hanoi in 2019. Of course, we know how that summit ended.

President Trump rejected the offer because it didn't go far enough from the U.S. view and tensions have escalated between the U.S. and North Korea ever since. Even though there has not been the kind of blatant violations, the nuclear tests or the intercontinental ballistic missile launches that we saw prior to the detente on the Korean peninsula. Tensions have certainly been rising and nuclear watchdogs say that North Korea has likely been quietly growing its nuclear arsenal.

So with this Yongbyon experimental reactor now, possibly back in operation, what this could mean is that North Korea is back to producing plutonium. Plutonium that they could use to make more warheads. This is an escalation, certainly not rising to the escalation of a major test. But it could be a precursor to more provocative activity on the part of the North Koreans and Rosemary, sources are telling us the North Koreans are frustrated with the United States.

They feel that they are not high enough on the Biden administration's priority list as he deals with the crisis in Afghanistan, escalating tensions with China and of course, the stalled Iran nuclear deal, perhaps by visibly restarting operations at their most well-known nuclear site, because it's also believed that they have another complex and your Pyongyang, the Kung Saan (ph) complex that is also - has also been operating similarly to the Yongbyon Nuclear reactor.

They believe that the North Koreans might be trying to send a signal that they want the United States to take them seriously. Sources say that the U.S. has actually emailed North Korea several times. The North Koreans got the emails but didn't respond, because they think the U.S. agenda just isn't specific enough to spend time talking about diplomacy.

CHURCH: All right, Will Ripley keeping a very close eye on all things North Korea. Many thanks, appreciate it. Well parts of the southern U.S. are dealing with storms on two fronts, Hurricane Ida and skyrocketing COVID cases. Oxygen supplies are running low in some of the worst hit areas for COVID. And the hurricane. And as cases soar, hospitals just can't keep up. That is especially true in Florida, which saw some of the highest rates of people in the hospital this weekend. One of America's top diseases, doctors says there's an easy fix for all of this, get vaccinated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, CHIEF MEDICAL ADVISER TO PRESIDENT BIDEN: What is going on now is both entirely predictable, but entirely preventable. And you know, we know we have the wherewithal with vaccines to turn this around. We have about 80 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not yet vaccinated. We could turn this around and we could do it efficiently and quickly if we just get those people vaccinated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: But that might be a tall order since the southern U.S. has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the entire country. Yet experts are hopeful those numbers could improve once young children are able to be vaccinated. Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former commissioner of the FDA says Pfizer could file the data for children ages five to 11 at some point in September, and from there they could file for an emergency use authorization as early as October.

We are continuing to follow developments out of Afghanistan where France reports its evacuation efforts in Kabul wrapped up on Friday. French officials say nearly 3000 people have been evacuated from the city since August 15. Behind those evacuations are many unsung heroes, who took it upon themselves to help connect families attempting to flee the country. CNN's Melissa Bell has our report.

[02:45:00]

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The very last French evacuation out of Kabul. It left without incident. But for those on board, Afghans that NATO had promised to help, it had been a frantic fight to find someone who could get them into the airport, an angel who might well be on the other side of the world. Reza Jafari has barely slept since Kabul fell. It's 6am in the little corner of Afghanistan that he's created in northern Paris.

From here, he normally helps Afghan asylum seekers arriving in France, but he tells me that the chaos of Kabul led him to jump into a new role as an unofficial crisis coordinator. Through WhatsApp groups, a map of Kabul airport and pin locations, Reza Jafari connected from Paris those eligible for evacuation, who sent him pictures of themselves and their locations to help connect them with French officials on the other side of the fence.

French diplomatic sources have confirmed his crucial role in helping people like Zahra Husseini, who spent three days outside the airport. Reza explains that she wasn't well, she'd sent this photos saying that she might die if she didn't get help. Group WhatsApp messages upon which life and death hangs. CNN has changed the names for security reasons.

My parents are out, asks one desperate woman, please help them. In another, Abdul has disappeared says one person stuck outside. We are alone in the canal. Abdul is inside replies a French official.

The canal marks the spot where the meetings happen near Abbey gate, the site of Thursday's suicide attack. Those who reach the other side says Reza are saved. By Monday afternoon Zahra Husseini's group cross the canal met their contacts and reached safety. Reza's journey has brought him to this door. He knows all too well, the heartache and hope of finding refuge.

It's his connection to those he's helped. Thank God that you all escaped hell he says. But there are other friends who are still stuck. Zahra Husseini says she can't believe that she knew war as a young girl. And still now as an old woman. She said she's happy to be released from the pressure of the Taliban. But so sad to have left her homeland, her children, her friends and her beloved Afghanistan, mixed emotions that are shared by the evacuees and the man who helped bring a group of strangers to safety.

With the images on their phones still etched indelibly on their minds. Melissa Bell, CNN Paris.

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CHURCH: And you're watching CNN. Still to come, conditions remain extremely dangerous as Hurricane Ida tears through Louisiana. The latest on the storm and a look back at landfall. That's when we return.

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[02:50:00]

CHURCH: It is early morning in Louisiana right now. Those affected by Hurricane Ida are anxiously waiting for the sun to rise so they can see the true extent of the storms destruction. Here's the impact the hurricane made in its first hours after making landfall.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have breaking news on hurricane Ida. This extremely dangerous storm just made landfall only moments ago as a category four storm with 150 mile an hour winds.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My weather vane registered 168 miles an hour wind and then it broke.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It almost feels like someone with giant hands has taken the wind and the water from behind me and is pushing it towards the city of New Orleans.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is the time to stay inside. Do not venture out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There is flying debris all over the place. You'll see my eyes dart back and forth because I've got to constantly watch out for me and my team.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see these bands of wind and rain that have steadily been coming - coming through here and that makes it very difficult at this point to stand up. Just Wow, let these visuals play out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unbelievable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The reason I can stand here is only because of this concrete wall to my left.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got to be prepared to stay for the first 72 hours on your own. Nobody should be expecting that tonight a first responder is going to be able to answer a call for help.

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're praying for the best and planning and prepared for the worst. As soon as the storm passes, we're going to put the country's full might behind the rescue and recovery.

CHURCH: Well, the damage in Louisiana has some wondering where they will get their next meal. Luckily though, help is on the way. Chef Jose Andres and his organization World Central Kitchen is one group answering that call and they are ready to provide more than 100,000 meals to those in need.

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JOSE ANDRES, CHEF, FOUNDER, WORLD CENTRAL KITCHEN: We made sure we have kitchens with food with generators. So as soon as the hurricane goes away, we're always able to start cooking and more important cooking without distribution is nothing. We saw that President Biden announced that already is more than 2.5 million meals between different organizations.

Obviously FEMA and the many other NGOs that they're going to be going in as here in New Orleans and all across Louisiana to make sure that in terms of food and water people will be taken care of.

[02:55:00]

But without the electricity, and they announced that we may be without electricity, not only during days, but maybe in some parts during (inaudible) is going to complicate things, it's likely but having generators helps organizations like ours to have functional kitchens that then we make sure that we can start delivering food to the many people that are going to be in need of a meal.

We are already trying to see what - how we're going to have to adapt, no two hurricanes are equal. And that means that we're going to have to be seeing all the different possibilities, we have foot drags coming in, that they are going to be helpful to us to position them strategically in different parts that we can be delivering food quicker.

We are already have a fully functional kitchen, that tomorrow morning, as soon as it's safe, our teams will come, we'll start making meals and start delivering to the different places that will be in need to do that. But more important, we need to be planning ahead, not only for days, but for weeks, how we're going to keep the city of New Orleans fed and more important how we're going to be able to keep the entire state of Louisiana fed.

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CHURCH: He is truly extraordinary. And for more information on how you can help those affected by Hurricane Ida, just go to cnn.com/impact and you'll find a list of verified organizations already making a difference. Thank you so much for your company and I'm Rosemary Church. I'll be back with more news in just a moment.

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