states and all around the world. i'm michael holmes. this is cnn hug"cnn newsroom." hurricane ida making its dangerous trek towards the u.s. gulf coast as a category 2 storm. it is a potentially catastrophic hurricane which is forecast to slam into the louisiana coast on sunday, possibly category 4, as we say, hitting the state on the anniversary of hurricane katrina. the national weather service in new orleans says storm surge and high winds could leave some locations up inhabitable for weeks or months. both mandatory and volunteer evacuations are in place. officials say if residents are planning to leave, they need to do it now or it will be too

late. nearly all of the understood gates in louisiana's hurricane and storm damaged risk reduction system have been closed ahead of the storm, those that are still open, right now they're going to be closed in the next few hours. prolonged power outages also a major concern. fema says it's moving supply trucks and generators into louisiana ahead of landfall. there are 10,000 linemen in the state already and another 20,000 on standby. many hospitals in the area are already maxed out, short of beds due to covid-19. health officials asking residents not to go to hospital unless it is a dire emergency. now, on saturday, louisiana's governor stressing the dangerous and historic nature of ida's threat. >> when you talk about rain totals that could be up to 15, 16 inches in isolated, about 20

inches, with that kind of rain, that kind of storm surge, that kind of wind, this is just a very serious storm. it will be one of the very strongest storms to hit louisiana since the 1850s. ironically it's set to make landfall on the 16th anniversary of hurricane katrina. >> and meteorologist tyler mauleden, tracking hurricane ida now. he joins me now to talk about it. what do you see in terms of where it's headed, when it's going to get there and how strong is it. >> we're seeing the eye popping up on radar. see that? you weren't seeing it in the late evening hours but now, boom, there you go. there's the ie on radar, so it is definitely gathering strength, getting ever so closer to louisiana and these outer bands are packing a punch. we had a severe thunderstorm warning in parts of the olympic channel of f-- panhandle.

at the moment hurricane ida is a category 2 hurricane, 105-mile-per-hour max wind sustained and gusts up about to 125 miles per hour. you can also notice, too, see the purple areas on the satellite image? that indicates potent thunderstorms. you didn't have a lot. now that it's getting a little closer to the present, you can see, boom, those storms, that purple's wrapping around the center, that indicates to me that this is becoming a be better -- a more -- a stronger hurricane and it's starting to get a better structure to it, too. sew i would not be surprised if the hurricane center starts increasing the wind speeds with the 2:00 a.m. update here in an hour or maybe by 5:00 a.m. we could be dealing with a major hurricane, all right.

we're going to look at 130-mile-per-hour hurricane once we get to sunrise on sunday. it makes landfall near grand isle, houma, louisiana, as a major hurricane. it then rains itself out into the tennessee valley going up to the mid loichblgt last year, 2020 was the busiest hurricane season on record. we had four landfalls in the state of he's. l louisiana. you take ida's track and overlay it with the tracks in 2020, ida's going to go over some of the hardest hit areas in 2020. people who are still trying to recover. you hate to see that. we're going to see widespread power outages across louisiana, mississippi, and portions of alabama, too we have 22 -- power crews coming in from 22 states and d.c. to help restore power.

michael, one of the worst impacts in addition to the wind will be storm surge. there are areas around the mouth of the mississippi river that could see up to 15-foot storm surge. >> yeah. we say water kills more than wind when it comes to hurricanes. 15 feel, that's amazing. we're going to check in with you later, tyler moore with the latest for you. i'm joined by national correspondent jason houma from houma, louisiana. what are you expecting to see in the hours ahead where you are? >> well, first things first. you're absolutely right, michael. it is pin drop quiet, like a ghost town here in houma. that's exactly how emergency officials want it to be. houma is under a mandate story evacuation but in terms of what we're expecting, very good question, emergency officials are expecting this could be ground zero for hurricane ida,

which is why you see a number of boarded-up buildings understand around town. some sandbags in front of the building, but certainly not all around town. we've seen a number of buildings that are not boarded up as well. i spoke to the local sheriff here who told me that while houma is under a mandatory evacuation, he estimates anywhere between 60 to 80% of the residents have, in fact, decided to heed the warning, that severe warning and have evacuated, but certainly we've spoken to some folks who say they're going to stay put. so you're not going to evacuate? do you have any concerns about staying? >> tornadoes and the wind damage. i'm more worriedant what we could come home to, go down that way. we probably -- >> if they have damage here, we have nothing. >> is there anything anyone can say to convince you two to evacuate?

>> you drive me now? because i ain't getting on no interstate. i'm scared. i'm scared of the interstate than staying in the house right here. >> you know, michael, anytime you're covering one of these hurricanes, you always find that person who says they are going to stay put for whatever respect, whether it be not wanting to get out on the roads, wanting to stay behind and probing their house, but the governor has made it cheer, the sheriff has made it very clear that this is going to be a severe event and time is running out in order to get out. michael. >> yeah. pretty hard to fight off a hurricane. what -- when you look at the level of preparation -- we've been watching sandbagging and things on video. >> yeah. >> improvements are being made since katrina, right? >> a lot of improvements have been made. i've seen it. i was in louisiana post katrina,

saw as many people did the leaves that failed. in the years since then there have been a lot of improvements throughout the state of louisiana, right here in houma we've seen improvements on levees. we saw improvements on levees in the ninth ward. in chauvin, there is much improved floodgate there. it's about 15 feet. most of the levees around here stand at about 12 feet. you look at some of the dire predictions of hurricane ida, storm surge from 10 to 15 feet. you can do the math and see there could be some severe flooding take place. having said that, i've spoken to the emergency officials that say even if one levee fails, there are back-up levees in mace as well. but again, even having said that, this is what could be a

category 4 hurricane. again, they're talking about severe flooding, severe wind, severe rain, and again something that they're urging people to evacuate if they're in low lying areas. >> all right. appreciate the update. thank you, jason carol there in houma, louisiana. thank you. >> you bet. >> and let's bring in jeff now, a storm chaser. he's also in houma. we got him on the line. good to have you. now, you documented literally dozens of hurricanes, hundreds of other weather events. do you have any sense of how ida might potentially compare to other storms you've chased and filmed? >> yeah. it's going to be in the top -- it's going to be a big one, top ten. what i'm going to give you more importantly is the breaking weather on the hurricane hunters in the storm now and they're in the southeast quad rant of the storm, the pressure is down to 954 millibars.

pressure's falling rapidly and the winds are at 125 in the southeast quadrant. they're going to work their way around to the northeast quadrant. we expect a category 3 any minute now come from the hurricane center and the hurricane hurnlts in the -- east of the quadrant. we expect it to go to cat 3 probably within the next five or ten minutes, as soon as they get up in the quadrant we'll probably have category 3. the hurricane looks like it's extremely powerful now and we're going to have a category 4, a strong category 4 as it makes its way to the southeast coast. right now we're going to be very close to, you know, to western eyewall as we get into the late morning we expect it here in houma and the area need to the coast, we expect winds gusting at 150 miles an hour as we get towards sunrise. storm surge, 15 a to 17 feet

aimed think there might be some isolated areas, 15 feet as it makes landfall. we expect anywhere from eight to 12 inches of rains in areas we get a lot of fresh water flooding. like i say, they've done years with the flood control systems and the big thing with this will be the wind and the storm surge, but i think we'll -- it's going to be category 3 here momentarily and we're going to go up to category 4 before landfall and technically the new models are coming out. bring it with this up to five miles an hour, cat 5. maybe a high cat 4 when we see it unfold. it's intensifying. >> yeah. that is value information. i really appreciate it. again, given your experience, how are you expecting the hours ahead to unfold where you are in houma?

and what advice do you have for people who are bracing for impact? what would you be doing if you weren't chasing the storm? >> well, on the struck, right? so it's all up -- we see widespread damage, the thing i'm worried about with this is if we get a high end cat 4, wherever it makes landfall, over a populated or not a populated area, roofs are going to come off houses and buildings. there's some three and five story buildings and they'll get something. it will act like a shotgun blast. it will break out plate glass windows. expect numerous trees to be down. over a wide area hundreds haunsd of miles they'll lose power until -- expect the power will climb rapidly during the day today in the millions of people

will be without power. you're talk you can about power power over a huge air for weeks, possibly months in worst damage areas, so there's no power. there's no gasoline. there's no food, you know, to be able to eat food, because nothing's open. you have to do as the hurricane passes tomorrow morning especially in new orleans and the areas with water over the levees. you're going to have water ress keys from helicopters. they've got them standing by. this is what's going to happen in the 48 hours. it's going to be a major catastrophe. it's going to happen again. the damage will be in the 10s of billions of dollars in about a three state area, louisiana, mississippi, and up to the north as the storm takes off up into the northeast in parts of alabama and tennessee. >> spoken as somebody who has been there and knows a lot about such. thanks so much.

you can follow jeff on twitter, by the way. take a quick break. when we return, the u.s. hit back after thursday's deadly bombing outside the cobble airport. executive footage showing the strike. also, the final days of the u.s. military mission in afghanistan. the latest on the race to evacuate americans and their allies ahead. ♪ ♪ ♪

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the u.s. embassy in georgia is a game urging americans to leave the area around the airport citing a specific and credible threat. coming two days day. joe biden warping on saturday that another attack was highly likely with 24 to 36 hours. this as the u.s. hits back against the isis linked militants it says were responsible for the blast. the pentagon reporting two high profile as they put it isis-k military tapts wounded, one wounded in an air strike near jalalabad. this executive video shows damning around and inside a building. president biden vowing this strike against isis-k won't be the last.

sometime running out in the race to get americans and their allies out of afghanistan. a u.s. official says 2,000 people were evacuated over 12 hours on saturday. the u.s. and allied countries all together air lifting more than 113,000 people out of the country since mid august. however, there are fears thousands will be left behind, perhaps their lives at risk. senior international correspondent ivan watson joining me from hong kong and jasmine is in washington. the u.s. saying another attack is likely. kbhar you hearing about the situation on the ground, ivan? >> the warnings are dire, being repeated by not only president biden, who as you said mentioned within 24 to 36 hours this could happen and the embassy putting out a statement that's a specific credible threat telling americans to stay away from the embassy -- sorry -- away from

the airport gates. i believe we have a live imagine of the airport, so you can see kind of the situation there right now from that vantage point. and the australian foreign affairs department issuing a warning saying that there is, quote, ongoing and high threat of a terrorist attack. given the just grizstly scene. there is ample reason to take these warnings very, very seriously. while the american deadline of august 31st for its complete withdrawal, which has been echoed by the taliban is very much looming, there's also clearly discussion about afterwards. and we're hearing that, for

example, not only from the u.s. government which is talking about needing to maintain a line of communication open with its former enemy, the taliban, on how to pursue movement out of the country in the coming weeks and months, but we're also hearing that from the french president emanuel macaroni. take a listen to what he had to say. >> translator: discussions have begun with the taliban on the ability to protect and repate yat afghans who were at risk. yes, we are working alongside qatar. >> the spokesperson has said that border gates will be open when foreign troops complete their withdrawal and that afghans will be able to leave the country with international air travel provided they have voseas and compose themselves in a dignified manner according to their country and religion. but there is reason to question these taliban statements, for

example, they continue to say that there's an amnesty for anybody who worked in the former government and that at all afghans are welcome, but i have heard first happened from afghans who have escaped over the course of the last dramatic week who said they were being hunt by taliban fighters going house to house in kabul looking for them. so you have the state department now saying it's very important to see whether or not the taliban can floul on this rhetoric or is this kind of empty promises and empty air? a final note, i might add. the taliban have condemned the u.s. air strike on saturday against the suspected isis-k target in nangarhar province saying they should have told the taliban first. we heard from eyewitnesss on the ground who suggest that civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed in that air strike, though the u.s. military insists there were no

casualties. michael. >> can't get the thousands of war time allies who are being left behind. thanks, ivan. jasmine wright in d.c. joe biden making it clear that that strike on isis-k won't be the last. what is the white house saying? >> the situation is grave. white house officials have repeatedly said that. thursday after the attack that left 13 u.s. service members dead was the worst day of president biden's presidency. so that's why you hear biden saying that this strike won't be the last. in par, yes, because it is retaliation and trying to signal in a the u.s. will defend itself but it's an efforts to thwart any of the potential attacks that are highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours that he says. so it also comes really as white house officials and administration at large have told reporters that this is going to be the most dangerous

part of the mission that hasn't been safe really at all since then as the such really moves into that final phase, drawing down forces ahead of that august 31st deadline as well as trying to focus on evacuations. the pentagon with 350 americans who are looking to get out and a countless number of afghans who helped in that wartime effort. we have seen the pace of evacuations slow as they've moved closer to this draw-down date and things become dangerous when -- when officials -- excuse me. when troops on the ground not only to do with the evacuation but also have to deal with removing themselves, their weaponry, and having less visibility. that is why the white house is saying that president biden will be really focused on this not only the last days, but the days to come as the clock ticks down towards that draw-down date. michael. >> all right. appreciate it.

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welcome back. the u.s. evacuation efforts from afghanistan now of course in the final phase, the remaining days expected to be the most dangerous yet, especially with the threat of another terror attack like the one thursday at kabul's airport. cnn sam kiley reports from doha. >> joe biden pledged swift vengeance behind those who killed the 13 troops. the drone killing of an isis x official and the wounding of a third. this amid continuing threats, intelligence warnings saying that isis is still intent on mounting threats against the international coalition at their most vulnerable moment, when they're still trying to evacuate the last few american citizens that they can get in, the last

few after gaps that they can get into the airfield and get out. at the same time withdrawing their military, the british are withdrawing dr or nearly finished where drawing about a thousand from their camp, camp barron. that leaves the united states to focus on this, the most dangerous part of their mission. as they withdraw, they present themselves assizier and easier targets in theory, at any rate for isis-k. sam kiley, cnn, in doha. >> now, what you're going to look at here is a hurricane hunter team as it flew directly into the eye of hurricane ida on saturday, all part of the national oceanic and atmospheric administration and they're gathering data. they know what's going on in real time. the plane is a wp 3 d o'ryan

nicknamed miss piggy. right now hurricane ida is barrelling towards the u.s. gulf coast, rapidly gaping strength as well. louisiana's governor says ida will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit louisiana in nearly 170 years. could make landfall as a category 4 along the louisiana coast in the coming hours and on the exact same date as hurricane katrina 16 years ago. ida forcing evacuations. the governors of louisiana, alabama, and mississippi have each declared states of emergency. forecasters say a storm surge of up to 15 feet expected in some areas, winds up to 150 miles an hour. it could leave some locations uninhabitable for weeks or months. tyler mauldin is here. tyler. >> you and i have talked about how important the hurricane hunters are and we had a

hurricane hunter aircraft. they picked up on a 108-mile-per-hour sustained wind in the weak left quadrant of ida. now all you need is roughly like 110-mile-per-hour wind to get a major hurricane, so if we have a swipe of 108 here, we could easily have gusts -- sustained winds above 110 in that strong northeast quadrant, so i would not be surprised that if they were to -- the national hurricane center, if they were to update the storm eats intensity to the category three to the 2:00 a.m. update which will be coming in just about 30 minutes. regardless it's going to rapidly intensify and we'll be dealing with a category 4 hurricane once we get to sunrise on sunday. it makes landfall on sunday around grand isle to houma, lisa, as a major merck. we've mentioned rapid

intensification. what does that mean? it means there's been an increase in the wind sped by 35 miles per hour in -- within 24 hours, and it happens 79% of the time with major tropical systems. we've seen since 1990, over the last 30 years, we have had six storms reach category five -- four and five status and make landfall within the last 30 years. one of those storms was laura last year and looks like some of the same areas impacted by laura will get impadgetted by ida as well. you heard a lot of comparisons between katrina and ida? the only comparison is that ida could make landfall on the 16th anniversary of katrina. that's really from a meteorological standpoint the two systems are different, but ida is going to have a major impact, and this is more than likely, in my opinion, the

biggest threat to louisiana since katrina, so it's going to rival anything that we saw with laura last year and those other storms that we dealt with last year and in the past years. 15 -foot storm surge is possible. we could see rain pick up to 15, 20 inches in some areas. that's going to lead to flash flooding. we'll see flooding in the lower actively tennessee valve. >> 10,000 linemen in state. 20,000 in -- weighting in the wings. tyler, thanks very much. you're going to have a busy day ahead of you. all right. coming up i'm going to be speaking to a new orleans councilman as his city braces for impact from this powerful storm. stay with us. we'll right back. arsh on your sensitive skin.

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hurricane ida rapidly intensifying as it approaches land and new orleans could be hit hard. the city, no stranger, of course, to hurricane devastation, and on saturday, the mayor warning people that if they wanted to evacuate, they needed to get going.

>> what i'm told is that this storm in no way will be weakening. there will be and there are no signs again that this storm will weaken. and there is always an opportunity for the storm to strengthen if you are voluntarily evacuating our city, now is the time to leave. you need to do so immediately. >> and for more on how new orleans is planning to ride out the storm, i'm joined by councilman joseph caruso. thanks for the time. a hot of infrastructure changes were made after the catastrophe of katrina. how much better prepared is the area for what might be coming? >> it's a great question. good evening. i think the biggest issue right now is our levee protection. you saw before, there's been mandatory evacuation, the lower lying parishes and parts of or leans parish and everything

outside the levees are protected since katrina. there's much more anything that now we have a bigger and better levee system here that smog of a storm of the degree of at least a 3 will protect us from levee overtopping tapped make sure people are as safe as possible. >> there were a number of evacuation orders, mandatory and voluntary. do you feel enough of those orders in the areas where they're most crucial were heeded by people? >> well, you're hearing from the smaller parishes that some people have left. i know there was some frustration with the hol officials for people who stayed behind. when you hear the sheriffs and mayors talk about they would leave if they weren't obligated to stay. you the other thing, you impair our ability to help. in the city of new orleans, i feel like there's a lot of people who have voluntarily

evacuated. social media's been lit up with folks talking about how long it took them to go east or west, so hopefully everybody's having the ability to get out. >> you touched on this. it is an important point. the new orleans home security and emergency preparedness office saying that emergency personnel will not be able to safely respond during the height of the hurricane. obviously, that's a reality people need to understand when it comes to leaving or choosing to stay. you might not get help if you call. >> you probably will not get help if you call unless something catastrophic happens, the first order of business is first responders, make sure that things are secure the way that they need to be, that they're protecting everything. remember, they need to probing themselves, too. so they don't have time to deal with run of the mill quality of life calls or other situations, the first priority has to be protecting city and other areas as the hurricane is approaching

about to make landfall. >> it's an interesting side matter in a way but an important one. many who wanted to scale back operations or get patients out there, having to stay open, because surrounding ones are filled with covid. >> yeah. that's one of the big conversations we're is because number one obviously when you have people who are evacuating, are we worried about covid in the city but also spreading it potentially elsewhere, but secondly because of the fact that covid has been an issue here, i talked to the health department earlier today and while there were some beds available by the morning, there's pretty much going to be a full lockdown at least in orleans parish of all the hospitals. it is critical to make sure that you've made your plans, that you're ready to be safe and that covid is another factor. we have two up and down -- we have a pandemic happening right now and you have this act of god

coming simultaneously. it's two big issues hitting us both at the same time. >> what are you most worried about? >> what i'm most worried about honestly is the winds here. i think that's the biggest concern, at least for orleans parish, you have so much wind that will be staepd for such a period of time that people will potentially lose their roofs and as you well know it gets hot and humid and so making sure that power loss is at a minute malamount and then making sure that once the storm has passed after 24, 48 hours that we can get power to people as much as possible. secondary thing is the rain. the rain chances have increased. obviously going to make sure that everything from a power pir speckive is working as much as possible to pump rainwater out of the city. >> we wish you well and good luck as this thing approaches

and stay safe. appreciate it. councilman joseph derosa, thanks very much there in new orleans. >> thank you. >> we'll see coverage from all angles. eric van dam filed this report from houma in louisiana as residents prepared for ida. >> last money preparations taking place. where i'm standing. over a hundred thousand residents call this parish home. you can see the individuals from the government actually dumping fresh sand within this area. men, women and children coming to fill as many sandbags as they possibly can to help protect property and lives and their businesses. this is a particularly vulnerable part of southern louisiana. where i'm standing now, only ten feet above sea level with a storm surge projection of 15 feet within this particularly parish. that makes this area under

threat. flash flooding of course a major concern as well with the potential for several inches of rain. but it's really the storm surge and the high wind threat. we are literally in the bulls eye from the national hurricane center as to what will be a major lurk upon landfall. working through the heat and humidity to do their best to protect, again, their homes and properties. this is a state that has been hit hard by covid with low vaccination rates and they high hospitalization rates as well. there is what is called the more ganza levee system. this is meant to protect the terrebonne parish where i'm located now with a 100 and 101-year storm surge event. that particularly levee system is set to withstand a category 3 hurricane. we'll be testing the limits of this particularly flood management system.

i'm derrick van dam in ter bone parish. back to you. >> time running out for those hoping to leave louisiana by plane if it hasn't run out already. at new orleans airport, all flights canceled for sunday. cnn am yacht wvue spoke to a young couple visiting new york and they're looking for bus routes out of the city. early sunday morning flights on american airlines are still scheduled to operate but all flights after 10:00 a.m. local time are canceled. passengers advised to contact their airline for the latest information. >> coming up on the program we will take a look at the chinese media campaign to discredit theories about the origins of the coronavirus. you're watching cnn news room.

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australia reporting another day of record-setting covid cases. new south wales recording more than 1,200 new locally-transmitted cases on sunday. that is their highest number, ever. that's almost daily records in new south wales.

only 35% of the population over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated in that state. and australia's neighbor down under is also seeing a surge in new cases. on sunday, new zealand reporting dozens of new covid infections. the country in lockdown until at least tuesday night. but some cities, like auckland and wellington could get that curfew extended. china pushing back on theories of where covid originated. an inconclusive report from the u.s. intelligence community sparked a swift condemnation from chinese officials. but it doesn't stop there. cnn's david culver with more on attempts by chinese-state media to twist the narrative on the p pandemic. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: a constant barrage of digital articles with sarcastic cartoons, tv reports, documentaries. even a rap song? all of it, part of an aggressive

chinese propaganda campaign aimed to sow doubt and deflect blame when it comes to the origins of covid-19. cnn combing through months of online posts and publications, they reveal a seemingly coordinated effort pushed by state media and diplomats. some of the stories appearing authentic and convincing, like the work of wilson edwards whose online profiles suggest he's a biologist from switzerland. on july 24th, edwards appeared to post a lengthy article slamming the world health organization for its covid investigation. claiming the w.h.o. advisory group succumbed to a political tool. a strikingly similar sentiment that's been shared repeatedly by chinese officials. look a bit closer, and you'll find this was wilson edward's first facebook post and he's only got three friends. still, his article got picked up by voice of south pacific and shared more than 500 times. we found many of those reposting the article, apparent trolls

pushing beijing's agenda. a deeper dig into voice of south pacific finds that the publication is ultimately run by china news service. a state-controlled news agency. not surprising, wilson's pro-china stance got plenty of play online in other state media outlets. that was, until the neutral swiss embassy in beijing sent out this tweet on august 10th. looking for wilson edwards. hoping to find this biologist. no luck, it seemed, as the embassy of switzerland later concluded he doesn't exist. if you exist, we would like to meet you, the embassy said. his facebook account likely to be fake. and so, too, that article. suddenly, state media purged all references to wilson edwards. that is just one recent example of china's effort to influence the covid-19's origin narrative. and staying silent in the early days as it spread in china, before it alerted world health officials. other efforts include consistently rehashing old

conspiracy theories. primarily, that the virus started in a lab. no, not this lab. this one. ft. dietrich in the united states. the home of the u.s. army's biological laboratory. though, there is no evidence the virus originated here, that has not stopped the chinese from trying to push their version of a lab-leak theory. >> translator: the u.s. should invite w.h.o. experts to investigate ft. dietrich. >> reporter: and people are getting the message, true or not. one conspiracy article picked up by state media xinhua alleged the virus leaked from ft. dietrich to europe. it was viewed nearly 25 million times on a chinese site. a video made by a chinese state media reporter appeared to show several images of the labs, suggesting the virus despite having first been detected in wuhan, came from the u.s. the video getting nearly 200,000 views on facebook which happens to be blocked in china. the propaganda-fueled push might

be working, at least in china. state media tabloid, global times, claimed more than 25 million people signed an online petition to investigate the u.s. military. and just look at the spike in ft. dietrich interest on chinese search engine. after initial searches when a w.h.o. field mission was in wuhan this year, a second spike last month. and began churning out more propaganda which has since steadily flooded the air waves and cyberspace. as president biden's 90-day intelligence community review on the origins ends, its findings will like i fuel the fiery war of words over who is to blame for nearly 4.4 million deaths. david culver, cnn beijing. and back to our top story. hurricane ida charging straight towards the u.s. gulf coast. and just in to us now, news that

it is officially a category 3 hurricane. it could make landfall as a category 4 along louisiana's coast in the coming hours which is, of course, the 16th anniversary of katrina's catastrophic siege of the area. now, forecasters say a storm surge of up to 15 feet expected in some areas. winds of 150 miles an hour. and these latest alert calls it an extremely dangerous, major hurricane. take care, everyone, in that part of the country. thanks for spending part of your day with me. i'm michael holmes. you can follow me on twitter and instagram at holmes cnn. don't go anywhere, though. my colleague, robyn curnow, is up after a short break to continue our breaking-news coverage. can your longwear do this? superstay active wear foundation from maybelline new york. defies transfer... and water... full coverage. up to 30hr wear superstay foundation maybelline new york.

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