. hello again everyone. thank you so much for joining me. i'm fredicka whitfield in atlanta along with my colleague, chris cuomo on long island. this is cnn's special live coverage of tropical storm henri. we begin with breaking news. henri has made landfall in rhode island. take a live look at live pictures of newport where henri is thrashing the coast. the storm turning slowly, prolonging its potentially dangerous impact. you can see wind is kicking up in some parts. sometimes it doesn't look like much, but the waves are churning up and beginning to grow. our chris cuomo is on long

island for us. chris. >> reporter: fred, good to be working for you today. we're in east hampton on the southern shore of long island right off new york. we're here because this was the fear of concern path early on, a beach front community, reminiscent of super storm sandy. did not happen, not going to happen. that was a hurricane that bounced off new jersey and then came here. new york will not be directly impacted by this. there will be flooding. we do have some power outages. now it's about time, this storm. as fred was laying out to you, there is a stall. why? because when storms go over land, they slow down and can change direction. henri has been the storm, if you're going to characterize it, as the storm that couldn't make up its mind. it's been changing paths. it hitting rhode island and newport is very different from where it originally made landfall which is the tiny

island of block island. a thousand san, maybe 2,500 people in season, a beautiful place. it's hard to get to. we'll be hearing stories about what happened there. you'll want to listen for that. for the rest of us, it's going to be about duration. you're going to hear about this storm and where it is, pockets of flooding and what that means for people afterwards, the vulnerable, the elderly, the heat and humidity that could last days afterwards. if there are power outages, that becomes a significant concern. for here they have different shots. this is where i live in east hampton. you have a lot of locals checking it out. thank god it's a day to observe and not hunker down and hide. the outer bands are circling in counterclockwise fashion here. there will be rain. there will be exposure in new york and in different areas for hours to come. in terms of intensity, you have

to move up into new england. connecticut and newport, rhode island, where it originally made landfall. we saw gusting there 50-plus miles an hour. that could make a difference especially in a season of peak foliage. derek van dam is there in newport. what's the latest? >> reporter: chris, you make a really good point. vulnerability. this is the concern going forward, over 75,000 people without power in the state of rhode island, over 100,000 across new england. the potential for temperatures to soar into the middle and upper 80s as we head into the rest of the next 24 to 36 hours, that has the potential to impact. last week i was in the great lakes. we had severe storms come through. we were without power for four days. a huge impact. this area yesterday was concerning to me. there were thousands of people here. this is high tourist season within this part of new england. people flock to this area,

almost acting as if there wasn't a tropical storm or hurricane approaching the region. i'm not exactly sure where all those people went. they bunkered down in their hotels, their airbnbs. people coming out to check out the scene, to make sure there wasn't any major damage. aside from the odd tree that's fallen along the coastal areas. it's probably more turbulent where you are. you talk about the potential for more pourt outages going forward. you hit the nail on the head. those trees with full foliage will act like a sail, just like the sailboat behind me. strong gusty winds that are over 50 miles per hour still in rhode island will topple trees quickly. the potential for more power outages going forward. the rain has come to an end. i've shed my rain gear. it's the wind and the power outages that will be the concern

going forward. chris. >> derek, look, when we're not dealing with the direct aspects of the storm, it's hot. it's hot and humid. it's summer still. that's something these communities will have to deal with, especially if there is flooding. you're right, make yourself comfortable. i'll check back with you. you know how to get me. i'll come right back to you. thank you very much. you and the team stay safe. here in long island, when you go -- that's what's on my hat, it's long island, not a fish. at the end of long island you will see montauk. we were worried about montauk when henri made its secondary shift. it's a vulnerable area. shimon prokupecz is there and has been watching big surf and wind. how is it now? >> reporter: chris, this is probably the driest i've been all day because the rain has stopped.

i had been out here since about 5:30, raining for about six hours straight which doesn't include the rain overnight last night into this morning. some of that rain, of course. the six hours straight it did rain. now even the water has calmed, chris. when i was here this morning, the surf was just -- the size of the waves was so remarkable. at some point about nine feet, possibly more, some folks were reporting. it's much different out here now. people are starting to come out, trying to come see the waves. the lifeguards are still keeping them back, trying to keep people off the beach because it's still not safe. even in town -- i just went and walked through on the other side of our hotel here. even there, some of the water we were seeing from the rain that was pooling, that has started to subside. people are trying to enjoy their sunday. i can tell you it's cool out here, but not like it was earlier when the wind was kicking up between about -- i

would say between about 11:00 and 12:00, was probably the worst hour, when you could really start to feel the wind and the rain. certainly in town you felt it. right around 12:00 when we first came on air, it started to subside. things have certainly gotten better out here. now people are trying to come out, check out, see what's going on, people spending the weekend here, still trying to enjoy whatever they can, chris. >> all right, shimon. i'll check back with you in a little bit. it's good to come out and enjoy, but be careful. when you test the waters, if you don't get it right, you'll risk someone else's life who has to come out and save you. my wife is a big surfer, but not on a day like today. let's go to tom sater. help me understand something, as you often do. i thank you in advance for helping me understand this situation a little better. this storm made landfall, but

has not seen as dramatic numbers as we expected. why is that? what's the explanation for what we're not seeing? >> that's a great question. this is going to be a little deceiving because, first of all, you look at an infrom red satellite imagery, it's not very well organized. it's quite ugly and ragged. this is where you have to beware. hurricanes dot the record books with extreme rain. however, every storm is different. yes, we have these dark colors over connecticut, massachusetts. that's the core of the winds. tropical storm force winds extend outward from the center 125 miles. so we still have a lot of terrible hours ahead of us. mainly, the big concern i think is of rain. now, it did make landfall as expected, about an hour ago i was on the air with you, expecting the national hurricane center would come out with a statement. at 12:15 in the afternoon, on

the southwest coast of rhode island, that's where we had our landfall. closest approach to montauk was 15 miles to the east. surge was still a little bit of an issue. the biggest concern will be rainfall with power outages. notice the flash flood watch and the warnings. what's happening on radar is very interesting. i want to start with this. these are the record numbers of rain amounts that each tropical system as affected new england. new york state had its wettest july on record. so did massachusetts. many others are in the top five. we had the remnants of fred move through the area. yesterday's record rainfall in new york city. some of these could be broken, daisy in maine, 1962. floyd in new hampshire. these numbers are going to grow exponentially. you take these numbers and add another six, seven inches on top and you're in the record-breaking category.

central park yesterday with the concert, everyone excited. 4.45 daily was a record that stood since 1888. they also picked up a 24-hour rainfall record, the most ever -- in one hour i should say, less than two inches. you add in these colors of yellow and orange and it will be quite staggering. this is where it gets interesting, all the rain is on the western flank. we had our landfall in rhode island. you can see it now moving across connecticut. rhode island is rain-free right now. that's good news for power crews that can get out here where we have the power outages. they're not going to be able to get in the cherry-pickers, but they can at least start clearing the roadways from the trees that have been uprooted or the branches that have fallen. a lot of times waiting a week or two, it's about cleaning up the roads to get to the issues. now we have an issue on the southwestern flank. now that it's made landfall, we

need to start concentrating on individual communities where they're going to see quite a bit of a mess. i want to point out, the southern edge of the rainfall, notice it stretches across long island, right across new york city, all the boroughs, towards northern new jersey and eastern pennsylvania. why is it not moving to the south and why is this going to continue? just to the south of this line in del marva, we have an area of low pressure, a mid-level low that's sitting and spinning. it's cut off. as it circulates to the south, counterclose wise we have a southerly wind, but it's also enhancing the lift. which means it will squeeze out tremendous amounts of rain in long island and new york city. the problem is, with it being so saturated in the last few weeks and months, the river banks are at the top. the storm drainage flow already maxed out. with more rain fall on the way and the convergence to the south, this system, even though it's moving, is going to start to put on the brakes.

sure we have winds. they're not going to snap trees in half, but they'll uproot because the ground is saturated. then you add the energy from the center across new york state moving across areas to the northeast, the record-breaking territory will lead to more power outages. this is all about the heavy rainfall. chris, as this banks to the right here, it's going to be almost a day and a half before it gets offshore. that's a lot of rainfall. every community has got its own problems in different areas of new england in the hours ahead. >> that is really, really interesting, especially because of the duration effect. just for the acute concern here on long island where we are, what does that mean, best guesstimate at this point, tom, about time and amount of rainfall? >> well, generally, you would think -- obviously when you look at the system circulating and spinning, it is going to move

out. but this is where the brakes get put on. it's still a broad storm. nobody is going to know a difference between a 75-mile-per-hour hurricane and a 65 or 70. as it circulates counterclockwise, the concern is wrapping around to the south with the convergence to the south, we could see a 24-hour period at least of nothing but moderate to even heavy rain in areas. again, i cannot stress enough that the ground is taxed. it can't take any more. not only are the there going to be pout outages. the weakest of storms knock out power for weeks on end. this storm looks terrible on satellite imagery. it's the individual kind of microclimates that are really going to cause some harm. this is something not to take lightly. i know it's hard and we say that all the time. we're not trying to blow these systems up to something they

aren't, but when you start seeing little areas of communities getting inundated -- look what happened in west central tennessee yesterday. a staggering amount of rainfall, number of fatalities. several still missing. if we have that kind of duration in this kind of a populated area, it could get really bad really fast. >> tom, that is the right kwaugs. thank you very much. i have the same feeling you do. people in certain regions where they thought they were going to get hit, it's easy to go to sleep on the storm. we have a long way to go in terms of community to community watch. we have suffolk county executive steve balone. steve, if you can hear me, he says the story of henri wasn't the intense wind we were worried about or the storm surge, vis-a-vis or concerns about super storm sandy.

but the idea of pocket flooding saturations of rain over the next 10 to 12 to 18 hours, what does that mean for you? >> right now, chris, we're in the peak of the storm. we are seeing potential rain happening around the county. we are seeing high winds, particularly on the east end. we have seen on fire island where the atlantic ocean is hitting the dunes, the dunes are holding right now. we know we're going to have an astronomical high tide. with those rains continuing throughout the day into the night and into tomorrow, we are continuing to urge caution. i know there is some sense of relief people have felt because this was downgraded from a category one to a tropical storm. remember it was just a year ago when tropical storm isias knocked out power.

these storms can pack a wallop. they could be with us for quite a while. that's our concern right now. >> new york reporting about 2,000 out of power, most of them in and around the city. do you have any developing understanding of that or is it too soon? >> it's a little too soon. again, this storm is continuing to develop here. we haven't seen significant outages yet, but the concern is now with the amount of rainfall happening and the combination of the wind, we could see those outages increase. >> particularly on the east end, you have a lot of new residents on the east end since covid who haven't experienced storms like super storm sandy. we're really encouraging people, this is a sunday. it's a family day. spend time indoors. let the first responders be out there doing their jobs so we can get through this storm. hopefully at the end of the day, it will be less than predicted. >> certainly every community is

going to be lagreeing with you. thank you for looking out and doing the job. not everybody is listening. this place is packed with people who want to look at the storm. if the rain comes back heavy, they'll go home. thank you very much mr. bellone, let us know how we can help. this is a sneaky storm. tom sater dropped some knowledge on people. >> it may seem mild. don't drop your guard. than, chris, we'll check back with you and with tom sater as well. also breaking today, the desperate push to get people out of afghanistan. cnn learning that the conditions are worsening at kabul airport. millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments.

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welcome back. conditions are worsening at the airport in kabul. entry gates are now closed for the most part according to sources and families are being separated and sent to different countries. the u.s. has evacuated 25,000 people since august 14th, mostly through military flights, but there remain thousands more trying to leave the country. earlier national security adviser jake sullivan said the taliban has been warned not to enter with the operation. >> we're en giejing through military channels with the stall ban. the taliban are integrated with the haqqani network.

they need to understand that americans and they need safe passage to the airport. if operations are interfered with, the united states will deliver and swift and forceful response. >> cnn is at the airport in kabul and has this report. >> reporter: we've landed a few moments ago at kabul international airport and clearly the pace of evacuation are picking up. there are planes leaving regularly right now. large numbers of evacuees getting ready to get on those flights. this is a group that are heading intricate tar where they're hoping to either stay there or move on. you're about to leave. what is going through your mind and your heart at the moment? >> actually, i told this many time with others, that right now i have a mixed feeling.

being a journalist myself, i'm lucky enough to leave because of a lot of what exists here. i'm also leaving a whole family behind, a lot of friends behind. most importantly, my city kabul, i've been raised and born here, it seems i'm just taking one piece of my soul but leaving a lot of pieces back at home. it's really string. i don't know how to describe this. am i happy, am i sad. with this government, with these rulers, i'm sure they will not leave us any space to be here. >> reporter: that must break your heart. >> of course, certainly. that does, has already broken. that's reality. >> reporter: your heart is already broken? >> yes, yes, yes. >> reporter: good luck. it's not just the personal tragedies that are so

heartbreaking here. it's the tragedy of afghanistan itself. for 20 years so many millions of people believed they would receive western support. they believed in the evolution of female education, of the arts, of cinema. they thought they had a future. now that future is getting on aircraft and leaving. as one of the evacuees just said to me, afghanistan is seeing a total brain drain. sam kiley, cnn, kabul international airport. a powerful look at the reality there. coming up, president biden is expected to address the worsening situation in kabul. later today, we're live from the white house. a miracle amid chaos. a mother went into labor on board a cargo plane. that story is next. we're continuing to watch tropical storm henri as it makes landfall in new england.

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just a few hours from now president biden is set to speak to the nation on the worsening situation in afghanistan and also address tropical storm henri as it hammers the northeast right now. cnn's arlette saenz is at the white house for us. what do we know about what will be set? >> president biden is set to speak around 4:00 p.m. from the roosevelt room where he'll discuss both the efforts to evacuate americans and american allies from afghanistan along with preparations for tropical storm henry. the president this morning met with his national security team here at the white house. in fact, we saw just a short

while ago general milley and secretary of state antony blinken both departing from the white house. the president was receiving an update on where those evacuation efforts stand and the security situation at the kabul airport. the white house this morning gave some updated numbers for the amount of people who have been evacuated from afghanistan over the course of the past day. it's been about 7,800 people. half of those came out on u.s. military flights, while the other half left the country on coalition flights. the pentagon today is also mobilizing 18 commercial airliners to help transport these evacuees. these flights will not be going into hamid karzai airport. instead these planes will be used to transport evacuees who are already out of the country at different sites and bases. all of this is coming as the security situation at the kabul airport is constantly evolving.

the pentagon defense officials have said they've established alternative routes to transport americans and afghan allies to the kabul airport due to threats posed by isis-k. that's something national security adviser jake sullivan spoke to earlier today. take a listen. >> the threat is real and persistent. our commanders on the ground have a ride variety of capabilities they're using to defend the airfield against a potential terrorist attack. we're working hard with our intelligence community to try to isolate and determine where an attack might come from. it's something we are placing paramount priority on stopping or disrupting. >> reporter: so those are some of the efforts that the administration is taking as the security situation on the ground is evolving. now, also the white house announced that president biden will be meeting virtually with leaders of the g7 on tuesday to

discuss the situation in afghanistan. there has been some concern from some allies about the u.s. handling and response to this drawdown in afghanistan. additionally, president biden a bit later today will also be talking about tropical storm henri. today he authorized, he approved an emergency declaration for the states of connecticut and new york. he also did so last night for rhode island. officials say he is constantly being updated on the trajectory of this storm. yesterday he spoke with governors from northeastern states to relay the federal response that is under way ahead of that storm hitting. in just a few hours we'll hear directly from the president on both the response and handling of that storm and also that situation in afghanistan. >> arlette saenz, thank you so much for that from the white house. a miracle amid the desperate escape from afghanistan. u.s. medical personnel at ram

stein air base in germany delivered a baby in the cargo bay of ooh military flight carrying evacuees. the mom had gone into labor on the flight from qatar. when the plane landed in germany, medical personnel rushed in to help deliver the baby. cnn's atika shubert. i understand the pilot of the flight had to make some changes mid air to save the mother's life. >> reporter: that's right. she went into labor mid air. there may have been some complications. the airplane commander made the decision to descend in altitude to decrease the air pressure in the cabin. that may have saved the mother's life. then, as we know, when it landed here at rom stein air base, the 86th medical group rushed in with an obstetrician and two other medical personnel, they were able to safely deliver the baby, but in the cargo bay of

that plane. now the mother and the baby girl are safe and healthy at the local hospital here. finally some good news for at least one family, fred. >> that's an extraordinary story, huge glimmer of hope. atika shubert, thank you so much. back in the u.s. we're following tropical storm henri. the powerful storm mate landfall just moments ago. much more straight ahead. this is a cold call! this is annie. will you turn to cold washing in tide. unsubscribe. wait, wait, wait this helps the environment. it saves you money. i will take that money. for the environment. welcome back to milkshake mustaches, high fives and high dives. to 3-on 3s... 2-on-2s... and 1-on-1s. at aspen dental, we see all the moments that make us smile so we make it easy to share your smile with convenient, total care - all in one place.

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if it were my vision, i'd look into preservision preservision areds 2 contains the exact nutrient formula recommended by the nei to help reduce the risk of moderate to advanced amd progression. i have amd, it is my vision, so my plan includes preservision. i'm chris cuomo. cnn is here on the southern shore of long island in east hampton. joined by the mayor jerry larson he's actually my mayor. i'm his constituent. we were worried about what this could be. what has been the experience so far in terms of what you're hearing and what your concerns are? >> we were definitely really concerned by the track of the storm. thankfully it went further east and we really haven't seen much of anything. a little bit of rain, little bit of wind, some high surf. no power outages, no trees down.

really missed a big one here. we're happy about this. >> the talk of stalling of the storm, rain for 12 to 16 hours, do you have any concerns going forward? >> i really don't as long as we don't get the high winds. i don't think we'll lose the big trees. whenever you lose the trees, you lose the power. we're finishing up a big summer here, so we can finish strong. we're really happy we avoided this whole mess. >> you got everything you need from the power companies that do any work that needs to be done. >> that's what i should have mentioned. pseg has been unbelievable. they have a huge contingency of trucks at our local airport. they're ready to go. everyone has been great through the storm. i want to thank all of our volunteers. i don't know if you know, but most of our fire departments and ambulance crews are all volunteers here. without them we would be nowhere. thanks to all the volunteers for doing everything they do.

>> mayor came out here and it started raining on us. mayor jerry larson, thanks very much. thank god it was a non-event. let me get you out of the rain. >> thank you. this is east hampton. we were really worried here. why? super storm sandy and the track of henri and the reminisce sense of it being a full moon and moon tide which exam rates your up and your down. there was a mass exodus out of this area. people were getting everything they could do get ready. the state was sending all these different supplies everywhere. at this point we've gotten luke i can with one caveat. this spitty rain that's coming out, not a big deal. this is not a very spongy earth. it's had a ton of rain in july. six, eight, ten, 12 hours of rain that gets heavier for periods of 30 to 90 minutes at a

time, what will that mean in terms of pockets of local flooding, and what will that do in terms of power, in terms of creating communities of need, especially the elderly. remember, the storm passes. you had flooding. you have some things fall down, you have some power outages or you're just isolated. now you have heat and humidity that can last days without air conditioning, you can get into your health concerns there. that is a sub stack of the story of this storm henri. in new york city last night, just one of the outer bands early on from the storm gave an historic rain occasion in central park. we all know the story about the concert. so brian stelter decided to do double duty for cnn. after "reliable sources," he got in the storm car and has been driving around seeing what's happening with the pockets of flooding in the area. what's the latest? >> we're in lower manhattan. we'll show you a couple of cool sites by the south street seaport. we'll take the roof cam and show

you where we are near the skyscrapers in lower manhattan. i'll try out the remote control. something called an aqua fence on some of the buildings. you'll see this blue fence surrounds the building, surrounds the drugstore, surrounds the starbucks. it's meant to keep water out in case the east river did overflow its banks into lower manhattan. however, that's not hang. there's no sense that's going to happen. this does seem like the city has been spared by the tropical storm. that said, though, there is a flood advisory issued by the national weather service, specifically for brooklyn and queens for the next couple hours because of a heavy rain band you can see from the roof cam is having a real impact on the city. i was thinking as i was about to talk with you, chris, i'm glad i fixed the gutters on my house in new jersey last night. there is a real flooding story in new jersey. the national weather service says flooding is on going

between 195 and 78. because of the rain band overnight and into this morning, some areas have recorded over eight inches in counties like middlesex and mercer. these different spots where they end up in heavy rain bands, they'll see significant flooding. we do know that's going on in parts of jersey. this reminds me, this storm in some ways, of hurricane irene ten years ago. i was in north carolina when that hurricane made landfall. the biggest story of irene, the biggest memories were in vermont, in new england, because of saturation, because of flooding along the rivers and streams of new england. this may be a similar story where flooding becomes a big headline a few days from now. back to the roof camera, you'll see sandbags as we drive by the south street seaport, some businesses putting out sandbags. the good news, no water coming up from the east river. i guess this is one of those days where no news is good news

for new york city. >> this is one of those days where you're just standing in the rain, and while that is a dumb thing for most people to do, it is good just to let people know this could have been a lot worse. brian, thanks for going around, seeing the different pockets of situations. during super storm sandy i was where brian is. when we were down there by the south street seaport, the tide came in so fast, the surge was so huge and exaggerated, that we got trapped down there. i was with a famous weather man named sam champion, and we were stranded on a little island of land in southern manhattan on the western tip of manhattan for 16 hours before the waters receded and we could get out. we wound up doing "good morning america" from right there. brian, thank you very much. now, i want to go up into boston. they have had floodwaters testing the harbor there.

evan, what's the latest from where you are? >> reporter: chris, here at the long wharf where we've been all morning, the water has not come over yet. as you can see, it would really like to. this is a part of the city that does flood in these big storms. a few years ago there was feet of water where i'm standing right now. this storm hasn't done that. people have prepared for a lot of things, not happening in boston fortunately. the wind is starting to pick up. you can see it on me, you can see it behind me. you can see the windmill over there just spinning away. this is one of the things people were concerned about, trying to prepare for potential power outages with power lines going down. for now, things in boston, the rain has calmed down. besides the wind, things are chilled out, to the point that we've seen people coming out of their houses. i saw a group of people in

ponchos, segue riders taking the boston segue tours. boston are still in the middle of this thing. there's more that can come. we've seen flight delays and cancellations. people are still worried about what can happen when the waters rise and the winds come in. for now seg gays. later, we'll see. >> listen, it is great to monitor the situation. thank god we haven't been dealing with the kinds of catastrophes that can happen. not to hype the situation. we've heard from the meteorologists, the wetness, the water is on the western and southern aspects of this. with the stall, you'll see different communities having to deal with pockets of flooding. the problem with that is you have heat and humidity that will be on the back of the storm for days. that's a health concern. i've seen that go very wrong very quickly in many parts of this country. from here, we'll keep watching

the southern band. pretty much this is the most i've been able to show you since we've been here. the surf is basically sitting down. we will have another back side of the moon tide coming up in a few hours. that will before inning the water up higher. this kind of wind and wetness is what we will expect now. the question is for how long and what will that mean in an already soaked region of this country. fred, we'll be watching that and seeing what it means in different communities, but hopefully the worst of this has been seen already. >> yeah. it would be great news if this type of storm has presented minimal and perhaps no real damage at all. we'll check back with you, thank you. hospitals meantime across the country are overwhelmed right now because of covid. covid cases are surging. now fda approval of the pfizer vaccine could be just a day away. this quick programming note. tonight is the season finale of

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as covid cases and hospitalizations continue to surge in so many states, there is good news. for the third day in a row the cdc says more than 1 million americans have now received a covid vaccine. this comes as we could be just a day away from the fda fully approving the pfizer vaccine. we have more. >> reporter: a federal official saying full fda approval of the pfizer vaccine can open up monday. >> it opens up the reality for colleges and universities to require the vaccine and businesses. >> reporter: the virus continues to take a toll on first responders. at least five responders in florida died in five week's time according to respected departments. and with covid-19 hospitals filling up and morgues reporting a spike in grim business.

>> it's no joke that we have seen the most deaths reported to us in one day. it is happening. it is as bad as it has been. >> a strong warning for mississippi health officials and the state reports an increasing numb of calls for poison control for people trying to treat themselves with a livestock de dewormer. and in kentucky asking schools to help with contact tracing. >> as we've seen cases grow, it's become overwhelming for the health department to manage the number of cases, especially in our schools. >> after a fiery debate, florida's largest school district is set to begin class on monday with a mask mandate in place for miami dade public schools despite the governor's threats. >> the parent really needs to be the one making the decision, and i think that that's the better way to do it. >> but the louisiana governor supporting the science. >> you cannot keep schools open and children safe today without

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hello again, everyone. in atlanta along with my colleague chris cuomo on long island. this is a special cnn live coverage of tropical storm henri. henri is hitting parts of the northeast after making