welcome to "cnn newsroom." i'm kim brunhuber. we begin with breaking news on what's being called a monster hurricane now churning its way towards the u.s. gulf coast. minutes ago the national hurricane center reported that ida is now a category 4 storm. the potentially cat strafk hurricane is forecast to slam the louisiana coast sunday possibly while we know it's a category 4 hitting the state on exactly the same date at

hurricane katrina 16 years ago. the national weather service office in new orleans says storm surge and high winds could leave some locations uninhabitable for weeks or even months. both mandatory and voluntary evacuations ordered for several louisiana parishes and the national hurricane center warns of life-threatening situations. officials say if residents are planning to leave do it now. on saturday the governor expressed the dangerous and historic nature of ida's threat. >> when you talk about rain total that could be up to 15, 16 inches, and in isolated areas above 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 and ironically scheduled to make land fall on the 16th anniversary of hurricane

katrina. >> and we have the latest on the storm. t moments ago upgraded to the category 4. what does that mean? >> it's a ba he'llith. hurr behemoth. 133 wind per hour is category 4 status. so the hurricane center has upgraded the system to a category 4 with maximum sustained winds of 136 miles per hour and gusts way higher than that. it continues to improve in its satellite structure. see the purple here that's starting to wrap around that center? those are really strong thunderstorms that are packing those 130 mile-per-hour winds. we're going to continue to see this thing possibly strengthen in the hours to come, because the water in the gulf of mexico, right in here. right off the coastline of louisiana, is about 90 miles per hour. that is high-octane fuel for

this thing to speed up and continue strengthening. you can see the eye, clearly, here. you can also see this. this just started in the most recent frames. the thunderstorms and lightning firing up around the eye. notice that right there. right there. so that shows that this thing is intensifying quickly. we already have showers and thunderstorms beginning to push into the southeastern coast of louisiana, and eventually new orleans and homa you're going to see outer bands begin to push in. but the system is about 100 miles to the south-south east of the mouth of the mississippi. roughly 175 miles per hour to the south of homa. we expect if to make landfall to the early evening hours of sunday. somewhere between grand isle and homa. then quickly it weakens, and it drops a lot of rainfall, and brick brings all kinds of other hazards to the deep south. when we talk about hurricanes we

talk about the quadrants. the worst is the right front, the northeast quadrant, where you find the strongest winds and highest storm surge and greatest tornado threat. as the system pushes to the north notice that new orleans is definitely in that front white quadrant and so is biloxi, mobile and other areas of mississippi. see wide power outages along the coast line and spread north as the system surges north. storm surge? real bad. a large swath right along the coastline of louisiana going to mississippi that could see more than nine feet. we could see rain pick up to about 12 inches, if not more. that's going to cause flooding, and, kim, tornadoes, absolutely. see that across portions of the deep south. >> absolutely terrifying. all right, listen, we'll check in with you a little later.

thanks so much. i want to show you some incredible video of the storm. a hurricane team as it flew directly into the eyewall on saturday. part of the national oceanic and atmospheric center or noaa. what's going on with the storm realtime. the plane, by the way, is named "miss piggy." people in the gulf states busy preparing for the storm. from florida to louisiana. they're no strangers to hurricanes and residents are making sure they're ready for when ida makes her presence known. michael holmes has that story. >> reporter: filling up and getting out. many in new orleans are leaving town. >> when katrina was here, i had to stay in the water stand on a bridge two days. not about to do that again. >> reporter: the lines leading out of the city showed just how many people aren't taking their chances with the storm named

ida. many residents have been through major hurricanes before that officials say this one could be a monster. there are warnings in new orleans and the surrounding coastal regions to evacuate if at all possible by morning. one man says his neighborhood on a barrier island is emptying out. >> everybody's packing up, getting out. i hear only about a dozen people probably try to ride it out. you know it's going to flood. >> reporter: louisiana has taken the punches of many of these wallops storms before. it's still recovering from hurricane mora and zeta which made landfall in the state last year causing nearly $20 billion in damage. and 16 years ago on this very day, hurricane katrina unleashed its fury on new orleans and other gulf coast cities. more than 1,800 people were killed in the storm, and its harrowing aftermath. the city taking early action based on mistakes made during that disaster. it spent billions of dollars

reconstructing its levee system. u.s. president joe biden approved an emergency declaration to freer up federal assistance. fema is moving trucks and generators to the area and more than 200 national guard members are already on the ground in new orleans. rescue teams from across the southeast also gearing up to help. some getting coronavirus tests before they deploy. officials and experts say the pandemic will make emergency responses more difficult, and with low vaccination rates in places in the storm's path, ida could bring a surge not only of floodwaters but of more covid-19 cases. michael holmes, cnn. now, earlier, cnn spoke to a new orleans council member about how covid and hurricane ida are stretching resources in his city beyond capacity. >> i talked to the health department earlier today, and while their were some beds that were available, by morning

pretty much a full lockdown, at least in orleans parish of all hospitals. so it is critical to make sure that you've made noryour plans,e ready to be safe. covid is another factor. 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. >> cynthia lijiang is president of jerfferson parish and joins e now. thank you for taking time to speak with me. literally half your parish, literally water, used to dealing with hurricanes and storm surge. so put this one into context for us. how worried are you by what's heading your way? >> you know, we just got the latest track. not good news for us. seems it's going over a section of our most vulnerable part of our parish called grand isle.

the southern most part of our pir parish. outside of the hurricane protection system. essentially like an island. we know we have people on the island there, and so we are very concerned. we have been all day. you know, it's a mandatory evacuation in that area, but i know some people did not leave. certainly, they are on our minds right now very much so. especially with this last track. >> well, yeah. exactly it. in one of your briefings you said that the storm surge outside the levee system is "unsurvivable." i mean what do you mean by that? >> well, where they are, they really are up right against the water, and -- you know, the storm surge being expected to be so high and for such a long period of time, and the issue with grand isle is that it's one road in. so it becomes impassable for much smaller storms. so the rescue efforts become more difficult, and the people there are strong people. you know? they're fishermen.

they're wonderful people. their people of the earth. you know? but this is going to be a very, very tough storm for that island, and the island was already losing a lot of land as it is. i mean, my friends used to go there when they were in high school and the land loss on that island is incredible over the past couple of decades. it is a very vulnerable area for us. has a lot of history for us in jeffersonparish and really difficult to watch and see that the storm is headed late to. those of us in other parts of louisiana, it's a different situation. we're behind the levee system in a protected area. obviously we live in a bowl and rely on pumping capacity. so the issue up here is more of, you know, a lot of flash flooding. electrical outages. some wind damage, but the folks in grand isle, lower lafitte, we're very concerned with storm surge for those citizens.

>> yeah. listen, we've heard that, you know, looking in the long term, this -- parts of the state could be, you know, uninhabitable for weeks or months. how prepared are you to cope with the potential long-term effects of this? >> well, you know, i know that the whole country is dealing with covid, but here where we are, we are in our fourth surge of covid since probably the middle of july. so, you know, up until this point we are concerned with hospital capacity. we have a lot of patients in the hospital with covid. so we're coming into the storm very vulnerable from that perspective. that's going to be difficult for us. you know? it's very hot in louisiana in august. so without air conditioning and modern amenities, very difficult for elderly folks, for people medically vulnerable to live here, if this is what -- you know, if it's catastrophic for us. we're hoping there can be some change. we're prepared, search and rescue are prepared. we're a strong people here.

we have really been through a lot, and we are a people of faith, but it's difficult to watch this track coming. especially, as i said, to our grand isle. >> hmm. this is happening on the anniversary of katrina. there have been, you know, plenty of changes to the system since then in your parish both in terms of infrastructure itself and your emergency plan as well. what did you learn from that disaster that might help you better with this one? >> with hurricane katrina levee failures. we're better prepared in the drainage system. levees raised. fortified, hardened. we're not expecting the levee failures like we had before. our pumping capacity has been increased. we have what we call safe houses next to all of our pumping stations that can withstand hurricane-force winds. we actually have operators at our pumping -- our state house

and pumping stations so they'll be at the pumping station when the winds get high. they'll go right into the safe house right there at that location, and they're able to actually operate right there. so they're not going to abandon their post. we look very different from that perspective. in the hurricane protected areas. in this area where we're protected by our levee system. >> listen, we wish you and everyone there all the best in what will probably be a very challenging time. so really appreciate you taking the time to speak with us. again, bests of luck, from the jefferson parish of louisiana. once again, we wish you the bet. time is running out for those hoping to leave louisiana by plane. new orleans luouis armstrong international airport, all flights canceled. we spoke to a young couple visiting louisiana, stranded and 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 are advised to contact their airline for the latest flight information. all right. ahead on cnn, more on hurricane ida as it barrels towards the u.s. gulf coast. we'll take a closer look where the storm is expected to make landfall and other areas that will feel its wrath. plus, warnings about a new threat around the kabul airport in afghanistan. we'll hear why the u.s. embassy is telling americans to leave the area. stay with us.

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all right. getting a live look of the kabul airport in afghanistan right now. that's where time is running out for the u.s. military as it races to evacuate americans and their allies. a deadly bombing on thursday claimed the lives of close to 200 people, including 13 u.s. troops. and the deadline for american forces to leave is fast approaching. tuesday warnings of a new attack could be making evacuations even more complicated. the u.s. embassy is urging americans to leave the area around kabul airport citing a specific and credible threat. and president joe biden warned

saturday, another attack was highly likely within 24 to 3 ho6 hours. this amp the u.s. hits back in retaliation against thursday's blast. two isis-k militant killed and one wounded in a u.s. air strike. this exclusive video shows the aftermath of the strike. president biden is vowing this strike against isis-k won't be the last. cnn senior international correspondent ivan watson joins us now from hong kong with more. ivan, start with the warnings that another attack is likely we heard within the next 24 to 36 hours. what's the latest? >> reporter: possibly this to be a foreshadowing of what we had the last time these warnings came out, because the suicide bomber struck at the gates of the airport on thursday after similar warnings from the u.s. government, and the death toll

was just massive. more than 160 afghan civilians killed as well as 13 u.s. service personnel. so these are warnings that have come from the u.s. president, from the u.s. embassy, echoed by australia's department of foreign affairs, and if you are a suicidal jihadi who wants to kill american troops, you basically have 48 hours left to try to do that, and that's part of why the u.s. government and its allies are taking this so seriously, and are so anxious in these final hours and days. that said, the evacuations have continued from that airport with some 2,000 people evacuated, the u.s. government says in a 12-hour period. i know of one individual, for example, who made it into the airport yesterday and is now, i'm told, wait ig ing for a fli to take her to relatives, to safety. as this discussion is going on there is also clearly governments looking beyond the

31st. the u.s. government keeping the door open to further potential evacuations after the u.s. military footprint is lifted, and the french president has indicated that that is also being discussed by his government as well with the taliban. take a listen. >> translator: yes, discussions have begun with the taliban on the issue of humanitarian operations and ability to protect and repatriate afghans at risk. working with qatar to allow those operations to proceed. >> reporter: of course, qatar has close ties with the taliban. a lot of those negotiations between the taliban and other governments have taken place in doha. for its part, the taliban put out a statement saying that once foreign troops leave afghanistan, it would reopen its borders. it would allow afghans to leave the country, but they would have

to go in a "dignified fashion" that is appropriate as an afghan and a muslim. also worth pointing out, afghanistan is a land-locked country with long borders with a number of other countries, and in cycles of conflict in its bloody history, large numbers of refugees have fled across borders to countries by the millions to countries like pakistan and iran. kim? >> all right. and ivan, before i let you go, we're learning more about that u.s. strike against isis-k. what more can you tell us about that? >> reporter: we have spoken, local journalists have spoken with eyewitnesses living in the area where the house was targeted, near the eastern city of jalalabad in the province of nangarhar. they describe the air strike as takes place at 2:00 in the morning and eyewitnesses claiming they saw a woman, a child and man killed by the

attack. the u.s. military says that two isis suspects were killed and another wounded, and that they do not know of any further civilian casualties, and i just would like to add one other fact, kim that i left out, and that is, going back to some of the diplomacy about the post-pullout period. the french president, emmanuel macron told the french press that he plans to submit a united nations security council resolution a draft resolution calling for establishment of a safe zone for further evacuations in the weeks ahead. we'll keep an eye on that diplomacy for you, kim. >> that could be an important development. absolutely. thanks so much, ivan waitson in hong kong. as we mentioned, president joe biden is vowing this strike won't be the last. jasmine wright, obviously the

president isn't going to telegraph when exactly that next strike might be, but what more can you tell us about this threat of further retaliation? >> reporter: a two-part strategy. president biden attempting to show the u.s. will defend itself and troops on the ground in afghanistan, but also an effort to disrupt and prevent any future attacks. remember, the pentagon says that they targeted two isis-k planners, and now president biden -- listen, president biden -- i think the government acknowledges how difficult this situation is, and giving the nature of suicide bombers, but the president really warned after that that they'll be another attack, excuse me, there's highly likely there could be another attack at the kabul airport in the next 24, 36 hours. that makes things more grave. makes the situation more grave. so the pentagon said they will lean on those over the horizon capabilities really using them

to leverage themselves. that is something that the president has said repeatedly over these months as he's defended his decision to withdrawal saying he was comfortable with it because of the u.s.' ability to enact that over the horizon capability really keeping their thumb on any bad actors in afghanistan that would seek to harm the u.s. and the homeland. i think that's one of the things this administration will lean on getting closer to the drawdown on august 31st but also over time as they look to keep afghanistan terror incidents kind of in line. >> yeah. and, jasmine, ivan touched on the evacuation of americans there, but from the washington perspective, is there any discussion about having to extend the deadline as some in congress have been demanding, given the fact the embassy keeps telling americans in kabul to stay away from the airport?

>> reporter: one thing the president has really been firm in throughout the last week since the fall of kabul and throughout these months is that august 31st is his firm deadline and a pentagon spokesperson john kerly really confirmed that today, but i think ivan laid it out really well. there are now discussions what happens after the august 31st deadline. yes, evacuations are still happening, although we've noticed the pace is slowing, and already they've evacuated along with coalition partners about 110,000 people, more than 110,000 people and the state department said today that they are in talks with about 350 americans who are still looking to get out. though they say some of those might have already gotten out, and a few hundred who have not really detailed their plans. as ivan said, that after that august 31st deadline, there are conversations, the u.s. is kind of hoping if the taliban does keep that airport open, there

would potentially be a way to evacuate more people. specifically those afghans that have helped in the u.s. war effort over these last 20 years. >> yeah. so many still desperate to get out. jasmine wright in washington. thanks so much for joining us. all right. still ahead, louisiana's making last-minute preparations ahead of a monster hurricane forecast to pummel the state in the coming hours. tracking ida, next. plus, how china is fighting back on the origin of covid. stay with us. lactaid is 100% real milk, just without the lactose. so you can enjoy it even if you're sensitive to dairy. so anyone who says lactaid isn't real milk is also saying mabel here isn't a real cow. and she really hates that.

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you're looking at new orleans as people try desperately to evacuate on saturday from the florida panhandle to louisiana, states are bracing for hurricane ida. the potentially catastrophic storm is closing in on the u.s. gulf coast. just a short time ago the national hurricane center upgraded ida to a category 4 storm. its forecast to pummel the louisiana coast today. outages among major concern. fema says it's moving supply trucks into louisiana ahead of the storm's landfall. 20,000 are on standby, and making matters worse many hospitals in the area are already maxed out due to covid-19. health officials are asking residents not to go to the hospital unless it's a dire emergency. all right. we bring in meteorologist tyler

mullen. tyler, landfall predicted in, what? 12 hours? a little less? >> yeah. >> a little less than that. so sometime late in the afternoon on sunday. you know, 5:00 in the morning yesterday, kim, we were dealing with an 80 mile-per-hour storm, and now we're dealing with 130 mile-per-hour storm. so we've seen those winds increase by 50 miles per hour in less than 24 hours. we have a rapidly intensifying hurricane on our hands. in fact it actually has a little room to increase a little further. to further intensify. a category 4 hurricane as it approaches the coastline of louisiana, it could be a little stronger than 130 miles per hour is what i'm trying to allude to. it could make landfall around grand isle larks la as a strong category 4 hurricane and gusts way higher than that. you can see it's going to spread really strong thunderstorms across the deep south here. lower mississippi valley will see heavy rainfall. a chance for tornadoes and, oh,

yeah, really bad storm surge. storm surge warnings in effect for all areas in pink in southeastern louisiana coastline. coastline of louisiana going on into mississippi as well as alabama, too. so mobile, you're also in that. we could see the storm surge get up to 15 feet near the mouth of the mississippi river, and a large swath here of the coastline could see a storm surge greater than nine feet. that is some catastrophic storm surge. in terms of the rainfall, right where the center goes ashore, yeah. we could see about 10 to 20 inches of rain. some areas higher than that and a large swath, 6 inches through mississippi and on into the tennessee valley. this is going to cause flash flooding. you've heard a lot of people talk about katrina and trying to make comparisons to ida. the only true comparison that you can make here is that the two were very powerful

hurricanes, and ida's going to make landfall on the same date at katrina. other than that, two separate systems. all right? you can never compare two tropical systems with each other. they all have different impacts, and the impacts from hurricane ida will be extreme. in addition to the flooding and storm surge, kim, we are looking at tornadoes down here across the lower mississippi valley as well. >> yeah. gosh. all right. listen, we'll check in with you a little later for more updates. tyler mullen, thanks so much. a short time ago extreme storm chaser told cnn many have been caught off guard by hurricane ida. here he is. >> before it was eve an storm, even a hurricane, you could tell the models were consistent showing it would be a powerful hurricane coming into the shore of louisiana. and it's quick. only a few days here. a lot of people, i was at the new orleans airport the other night. i heard a lot of people talking waiting in line for a rental car. came up fast. weren't ready for it. just a couple days ago looking

at forecasts and didn't think they would get any kind of bad weather. now a potentially major hurricane approaching the louisiana coast right now. >> even as hurricane ida barrels towards the gulf coast of loui louisiana, it already was dealing with another problem. coronavirus. >> we had a small fraction of the number of people in hospitals than we currently have. we have more people in the hospital today. 2,450 with covid, than at any point during this current surge. when hurricane laura hit last year we only had about 300 in the hospital. evacuating hospitals is the no going to be possible, because there's nowhere to bring those patients to, there's no excess capacity in the state or outside the state, and so we're really worried about prolonged power outages. >> so as you just heard from the

governor of louisiana, the hospitals are packed with covid patients. cnn asked a doctor in new orleans how her hospital planned to protect some of the most vulnerable during the storm. here she is. >> we will certainly handle whatever comes our way. you know, i'm in a hospital right now and i know they've been very diligent about working with every partner we have to make sure that people can be discharged safely to a place that they'll be able to ride out the storm, and, know, as our hospitals have done when they need to take patients because they are ill and cannot safely go home and ride out a storm, they'll do that. we -- you know, we're very good as making the most of our resources and flexing, and i'll say this points to how good our staff is. you know? they know what they're getting into. they know they might be called to take care of more patients or be stretched in ways that they're not used to being, and

they're showing up anyway. >> china is trying to discredit theories about the origins of the coronavirus. coming up, conspiracies being pushed and that they're finding a receptive audience. stay with us.

while, as if gulf states didn't have enough to deal with with ida set to make landfall in the coming hours, covid cases in florida, alabama and louisiana continue to climb. the rate of covid deaths increased in 42 states last week. some by as high as 50%. for the seventh weekend in a row demonstrators rallied against the french health. some hit the streets across the country on saturday. the march you see is one of four planned for the capital this weekend. 16 people were arrested and 3 police officers slightly injured during saturday's protests.

australia reports another day of covid record-setting cases. more than 12,000 locally transmitted cases sunday. highest ever. only 35% of people over the age of 16 have been fully vaccinated in the state, and australia's neighbor down under also seeing a surge in new cases. on sunday new zealand reported dozens of new covid infections. the country in lockdown until at least tuesday night. some other cities that curfew could get extended. china is pushing back on theories of where covid originated, and an inconclusive report from the u.s. intelligence community sparked a swift condemnation from chinese officials but it doesn't stop there. an intense chinese media twisting the narrative on the pandemic. [ speaking in 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 place blame when it comes to origins of covid-19. posting months of publications revealing a coordinated effort pushed by state media and diplomats. some of the stories appearing authentic and convincing, like the work of wilson edwards, whose online profile suggests he's a biologist from switsland. july 24th posted and article slamming the world health organization for its investigation saying they succumbed to a political tool. a strikingly similar sentiment shared repeatedly by chinese officials. look a bit closer, you'll find this was wilson edwards first facebook post with only three friends. still his article picked up by south pacific and shared more

than 500 times. many of those reposting the article, apparent trolls pushing beijing's agenda. a deeper dig finds the publication is ultimately run by china's news service, a state-controlled news agency. not surprising, wilson's pro-china stance got plenty of play in other state media outlets, 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. they later concluded, he doesn't exist. they would like to meet him. his account fake and that article. suddenly all references purged to wilson edwards. one recent example of china's effort to deflect blame for the worldwide pandemic and staying silent in 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. not this one. this one. 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. detrick. >> reporter: and people are getting the message, true or not. one conspiracy article picked up shin juan july 30th alleged the virus leaked from fort detrick to europe and viewed mere then 25 million times on the chinese site weibo. a media reporter appeared to show several satellite images of the u.s. biological labs suggesting the virus despite having first been detected in

you yuan came from china. the propaganda push might be working at least in china. more than 25 million people signed an online petition to investigate the u.s. military. and just look at the spike in ft. detrick interest in chinese search in baidu. after initial searches when a w.h.o. field mission was in wuhan january of this year, a second spike last month after beijing reject add w.h.o. phase two study and began churning out nor propaganda which since steadily flooded airwaves and cyber space. as president biden's 90-day intelligence community review on the origin's ends, its findings will likely only fuel the fiery war of words over who's to blame for nearly 4.4 million deaths. reporting for cnn, beijing. some female activists aren't giving up on women's rights in

afghanistan, despite the taliban's takeover's they choose to stay in the country to keep fighting. that story coming up. stay with us. [swords clashing] - had enough? - no... arthritis. here. new aspercreme arthritis. full prescription-strength? reduces inflammation? thank the gods. don't thank them too soon. kick pain in the aspercreme. frank is a fan of fast. he's a fast talker. a fast walker. thanks, gary. and for unexpected heartburn... frank is a fan of pepcid. it works in minutes. nexium 24 hour and prilosec otc

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we are looking at pictures

of evacuees from afghanistan arriving at dulles international airport in virginia on saturday. you see a wave of thumbs up. likely a sense of relief for those escaping taliban rule. evacuees undergo thorough screening before and after arriving in the u.s., extreme vetting. joining me in ramstein air base in germany, atika, what's the latest as they still try to cope with the massive influx of refugees? >> reporter: absolutely. more than 20,000 evacuees have come through the ramstein airport yesterday. ational to speak with officials on the air base and see a number of departure flights taking off. those flights you saw taking eswa eva evacuees, most to dulles in virginia. they insisted the evacuation of

kabul airport was continuing. despite that, we did not see any flights arriving from either kabul or from doha yesterday. there may have been some overnight, but it does seem that there is at least a pause, if not a tapering, of those flights coming out of kabul. so we'll see how it goes today. we do know that as far as departures, at least eight departure flights expected. this is good news. it means we're seeing an increase in those flights bringing evacuees of those refugees to the united states, kim. >> talking to the folks there, before i let you go. i'm curious. if the prevailing mood there one of hope or of despair? >> reporter: you know, it's a real mix of emotions. i mean, from the evacuees, certainly relief that they are in a safe country. that they're here. that they're on their way to the united states, but also frustration, because many people

thought they would be here in germany for just 48 hours, maximum, before going on to the states. it turns out for many evac it is a frustrating wait for people. at the same time you see an enormous amount of goodwill coming from the base itself. we have seen not just servicemen helping in anyway they can, but a lot of volunteers as well bringing toys for the kids, footballs for them to play with. there have been sing-alongs, football matches. definitely an attempt to try to keep spirits up, but it is hard. especially because not only are they frustrated but many of them have left family back home in afghanistan and are very, very worried about them, kim. >> yeah. understandably. atika shubert in germany, thanks so much. appreciate it. as many afghans hope to catch a flight out while they still can, fear is growing among some who will stay.

including many women terrified of the taliban's return to power. but as we report, some female activists are choosing to stay to keep fighting for women's rights. >> reporter: i'm in my house waiting for hope and support and protection. due to the dangerous situation my family stopped me comes on the media. i think we will be left here in this hell under the dark shadow of this tyranny. testimonies from women inside afghanistan. all across the country, they are dreading the taliban's return to power. wondering what it will mean for them. many are desperately trying to escape. entire lives, dreams shattered. their fears are not unfounded. under taliban rule in the '90s and early 2000s, the group denied women basic rights forcing them to cover their

entire bodies, banning them from the workplace and prohibiting most education for girls. driving many schools like this one underground. the taliban's longtime spokesman says women's rights will be protected within islamic sharia law. >> no discrimination against women. of course, within the framework of the islamic rule. >> reporter: already signs things have not changed that much. just days ago, field commanders told women they had to be covered up, and a spokesman instructed women to stay home temporarily, because their soldier are "not trained to respect them." and yet despite the impending nightmare scenario, some women activists are choosing to rick it all and stay in afghanistan for now to continue their work. this woman is one of them.

she's a prominent activist and head of the afghan women's network. >> i am planning to stay here and i'm going to for as long as i am needed in afghanistan. for as long as there is something i can do, which is useful. >> and i will be hopefully capable of going outside. i am not afraid about that. >> reporter: this courageous woman in her 70s is waiting to find out what life will be like after the august 31st deadline but says the taliban cannot afford to count women out this time. >> afghanistan has 35 million people, and there are 18 million women. and there's a lot of people that they are educating here. we all need to work together, and -- and that's what i'm hoping that if that happens, and it better happen sooner, because the more time we spend in this kind of a quagmire of not knowing what is going to be happening, afghanistan will be in deep danger. >> reporter: and then there's the generation of afghan women

who can't even remember living under the taliban. like this 23-year-old. she's the executive director of learn. a nonprofit working to expand access to girls' education in the country. she's now in hiding. >> it's important to live, fight for their rights to ask for their rights, because it's time that people fight back. not every person can lead. not every person has the privilege to lead. right? >> reporter: she says she's trying to enroll many many girls as pom girls on digital learning programs before things get worse, but she's not giving up. >> right now, we fight back. we ask for our rights. >> reporter: only time will tell what the future looks like. but the well-being of afghan women will be the sure sign of whether the taliban has changed its ways. so the stakes could not be higher. anna coren, cnn. i'm kim brunhuber. the latest on hurricane ida and

the situation in afghanistan in just a moment. please, do stay with us.

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welcome to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kind brunhuber. we're tracking two big stories. the first, hurricane ida, the storm is hurdling toward the u.s. gulf coast and it is expected to gain more strength in the hours ahead. the second, a new warning about a possible terror attack at the