that is it for us at 5:00 and we will see you here at the clock for more news. >> the weekend news captioning sponsored by cbs >> duncan: tonight ida shows no mercy. the hurricane smashes into louisiana as a powerful category 4 stormt. the results, catastrophic. the wind and rain relentless. new orleans is paralyzed, with. >> i'm omar villafranca in new orleans and hurricane ida is here and the city is bracing for impact. >> duncan: also tonight dig fliified transfer, president biden in dover, delaware paid respects to the latest u.s. troops killed in america's longest war. as it comes to a chaotic end.iny

to as sage the grief. >> duncan: in kabul, u.s. forces strike again, a drone targets suspected car bombers in the final hours of a perilous aner, we remember ed asner, actor and tv icon. >> you got spunk. (laughter) >> well. >> i hate spunk! >> this is the cbs weekend news from new york, here's jericka duncan. >> duncan: good evening. and thanks for joining us. want to get straight to hurricane ida, it made landfall in louisiana today, battering the south eastern gulf coast with an onslaught of water and dangerous winds trk hit exactly the same day as hurricane katrina 16 years ago. ida roared ashore the destructive winds of up to 150 miles an hour. more than a foot and a half of rain is expected over several

days. this as ida as seen from space. it's a monster, life threatening hurricane. millions of people are in its path. today president biden promised to put the country's full weight behind rescue and recovery operations. we begin with omar villafranca in new orleans. what are conditions like where you are? >> we are here on canal street. the wind is starting to pick up and the rain is really coming down in sheets at this point. the power is still on in the central business district and here in the french quarter but across the state almost half a million people, half a million customers are without power as the big storm takes aim at the big easy. ida is slamming southeast louisiana, packing triple digit high winds and torrential rain. the category four hurricane made landfall midday. 40 people decided to ride out the storm in grand isles, defying a man tore evacuation

order, officials have received multiple calls for rescue. >> first responders can not get to you so those folks are just going to have to hunker down. >> this morning hurricane hunters flew their plane into the eye of the storm and caught this stunning picture of ida building up strength. on the streets of new orleans, last minute prep came down to the wire. >> i'm just afraid that. >> 16 years to the day after katrina's devastation, mayor latoya cantrel says her city is ready. >> now is the time that we have been preparing for. >> ida is the first stress test of $14 billion in upgrades to the levee system. >> will it be tested? yes, but it was built for this moment. >> here on the south shore of lake pontchartrain we are seeing heavy winds and waves already splashing over the wall. >> the threat from ida's wind, rain and storm surge is significant. >> we're were tect-- projecting

15 to 20 inches of rain over the period of today and into tomorrow. at times exceeding a rainfall rate of three inches per hour. >> and conditions are expected to worsen with night fall. >> we're going to ride it out. we'll see what happens. >> once the storm passes, there is something else to worry about, the pandemic. the city is considering opening up the convention center as a shell ter, but they're concerned about spreading covid. jericka? >> duncan: omar, thank you. we want to go now to cbs's mireya villarreal who is in homa louisiana near where ida came ashore. you lost power before the storm hit, what is happening there now? >> so right now this is the moment where everybody talks about hunkering down. we obviously are just starting to see the northern part of the eye of the storm. we expect to be in the eye probably in the next hour or so but as you can see right behind me we're-- there is a lot of

wind, definitely a lot of rain right now. >> duncan: this is an area that will get hit, possibly the hardest when we take a look at all of this. what are officials telling you right now at this hour? because things seem to be getting worse. >> they're absolutely getting worse, jericka. we expect on the backside of the hurricane we will have way harder winds and rain coming our way. officials are mostly concerned about the aftermath, the flooding that will come, the storm surge that is expected, between 10 and 15 feet for this area alone, not to mention all of the debris that will come down with these massive winds. >> duncan: mireya clearly a lot of wind out there right now, thank you. cbs news jeff berardelli is tracking the latest, what can you tell us. >> this storm has overachieved at every step, came on shore with 150 miles an hour winds, we system is moving inland but look at it, six hours later it st

still in tact, still a cat 4, the system is moving to the northwest right now, the worst of the winds into homa. after this the system will move north and eventually northeast. power outages, widespread all across the southeast and it is very hot this time of year, folks will be without air conditioning for at least a week or two. this is the official forecast track, in tennessee, during the day we are dealing with this through the end of the week because it heads to d.c., new york and boston with very heavy rain. how much? >> some folks will still see another foot of rain in the southeast and believe it or not at least four to eight inches will make its way up the appalachians into pennsylvania and maybe new york city as well. so we're not done with the storm quite yet. >> duncan: jeff berardelli with what we need to know, thank you. >> tonight president biden is facing the most devastating month of his tenure in office. it is a tri feka of crises including a powerful hurricane, a resurgent pandemic and the chaotic and deadly u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan. cbs news chief white house

correspondent nancy cordes joins us tonight with more on the president's latest actions, nancy, good evening. >> jericka, good evening to you, president biden directed the pentagon to retaliate for thursday's suicide bombing at the kabul airport. and basedwh this weekend t pa thects hrough.of s . fsty remains of 13 service members returned to u.s. soil at dover air force base in delaware. 11 men, two women ranging in age from 20 to 231. they were marines, a soldier and a navy corpsmen. staff sergeant darren hoover's father said his son died doing for others what they couldn't do for themselves. >> best kid in the world. you couldn't ask for any better. lovely family. his sisters absolutely adore him. >> back in washington this

afternoon president biden said he had spent some time with the families of the fallen. hey lo their lives in service for our country. and while we're praying for the best in louisiana, let's keep them in our prayers as well. >> they lost their lives in a mission that is set to wrap up in just 48 hours. national security advisor jake sullivan insisted that despite the hazards, any u.s. citizen left in kabul can be evacuated if they wish. >> we have the capacity to have 300 americans which is roughly the number we think are remaining, come to the airport and get on planes in the time that is remaining. >> but getting to kabul's airport is still fraught. just this morning a u.s. drone took out a vehicle the pentagon says was heading to the airport with bombs inside. >> this is the most dangerous time in an already extraordinarily dangerous mission. these last couple of days. >> more than 115,000 americans and afghans have now been flown

to safety. some of them have already reached the u.s. but the administration continues to face withering criticism from republicans who opposed a full withdrawal of u.s. troops. >> this is one of the worst foreign policy decisions in american history. much worse than saigon because after we left saigon, there weren't vietnamese terrorists who were planning on attacking us here at home. >> nancy, still so many concerns, what happens to any americans or eligible afghans who don't get evacuated before the military pulls out on tuesday? >> jericka, today the white house put out a statement with dozens of other countries to say that they had received asurances from the taliban that any foreign nationals or eligible afghans would be able to leave the country even after the 31st. the problem is that obviously it becomes much more difficult to hold the taliban accountable for those assurances once all u.s. troops are gone. >> duncan: nancy cordes at the

white house. thank you. >> while those countries as you just heard have made that commitment to help, getting out. cbs's charlie dag ata is in doha qatar where many of the evac uees have landed on their way out of kabul. >> a plume of smoke rose above the kabul sky line again today after another explosion near the airport. this time the results of a u.s. drone strike targeting suspected isis-k suicide bmers. -- say there is uncertainty whether the strike destroyed a car bomb or explosive suicide vests that were being loaded into a car. it came just hours after the white house warned that a terrorist attack against the airport was highly likely. just tonight gunfire sent people scattering outside the airport underlining the tensions as the mass evacuation comes to an end. the white house now says more than 1230-- 120,000 people have

been evac yaided, including 5400 americans. now with the august 31st deadline for a full u.s. military pullout looming, the focus has shifted to bringing their own troops back home safely. but as the number of u.s. forces dwind eled, they become more vulnerable to isis-k militants intent on attacking them before they're gone. they leave behind hundreds of thousands more afghans desperate to to escape taliban rule, now backing up at the border with pakistan. the fear is it is just a hint of the mass exodus to come. the u.s. state department said they received taliban assurances that all foreign nationals and afghans who want to leave the country can. however sources have told us even those with the right documentation have been prevented from leaving. >> duncan: charlie d'agata, thank you. freight ahead on the cbs weekend news, covid summer surge, the

unvaccinated fill hospitals nationwide, and remringhe life of actor advocate ed asner, and later reports notebook, elizabeth palmer reflects on america's longest war.

>> duncan: tonight more than 90,000 americans infected with covid are being treated in hospitals. that's the highest number since last winter. nationwide nearly 70 percent of icu beds are filled. it's even worse in the south where at least 90% of beds are occupied. cbs's lilia luc has more.>>es s.onig. dying from covid every day. the u.s. is now averaging 156,000 new daily cases. covid infected patients have pushed hospitalizations up 624% in two months. >> the perfect way that people

have described this as a war zone. >> in portland, oregon, 300 national guardmen stepped in to help medical staff combat the rush of patients. >> the south is battling the worst of the delta surge with icu beds rapidly running out. florida has the nation's highest case and hospitalization rate. not far behind alabama and louisiana with some of the lowest rates of vaccination. >> what we're seeing in the south is very concerning, an epidemic going coursing the way is urs through children. >> 180,000 children tested positive during the week of august 129 sparking fears of outbreaks shutting down more schools. >> i'm scared that it will affect my education because st really important to me. >> but opposition to masks and vaccines continue. as health officials double down on their pleas to being vaccinated. >> we really got to overwhelming majority of those 80 million people vaccinated. you would see a dramatic turn around in the dynamics of the

outbreak. >> dr. fauci added that the biden administration is stucking to its plan to start offering booster shots starting september 20th. lilia luciano, cbs news, los angeles. >> duncan: wildfires in the west just keep growing. california's chaparral fire is raging on the edge of the cleveland forest north of san diego t burned more than 1400 acres with just 10% containment and a two week old caldor fire scorched more than 225 square miles and is now just a few miles from lake tahoe. >> still ahead on the cbs week end news, we remember ed asner, perhaps best known as lou grant. a role model of sorts for tough love bosses everywhere.

>> duncan: ed asner the much admired emmy waning actor has died. asner won fame in the role of lou grant, the grumpy news director in the 1970s mary tyler moore show. while off camera he had impact in his real life. here's cbs's carter evans. >> you've got spunk. >> well. >> i hate spunk! >> that line from the first episode of the mary tyler moore show cemented ed asner's place in tv history. audiences loved lou grant, the fictional cranky, no nonsense tv news director. >> and a cermount of fear. >> he played grant for a dozen years on mary tyler moore and its spinoff lou grand, a one

hour drama instead of a 30 minute sitcom. >> how many people on board. >> 348. >> his seven prime time emmys are a record for a male actor and he is also the only ak tore win emmys for playing the same character in comedy and drama categories. born in 1929 in kansas city, missouri, the chicago stage called him in the early '50s as a founding member of the playwrights theater club. his turn on tv came in the 19 '60s with guest appearances look this one on, the untouchables. >> asner was elected president of the screen actor's guild in 1981 and he used that platform to frequently criticize the reagan administration. in 1982 despite being a top ten rated show, lou grand was cancelled. asner always believed his politics were the reason. >> it happened to us. we've got all the facts. >> but he never stopped acting. >> his lovable old grump in

2009's up was so moving that many wanted the academy to create a voiceover oscar. >> please let me in. >> no. >> we act until the end. more recently appearing in the hit show cobra kie. >> how is that karate thing going, huh. >> he never lost his political passion fighting age discrimination in hollywood and it is in hollywood where lou grant will live forever. >> so long. >> ed as nar was-- ed asner was 91 yoors old car>>can:t life, t on the weekend speed he made him a nascar legend but it took a long time to get the trophy he earned.

>> and liftoff. >> duncan: a nasa spacex launch little up the night sky over cape canaveral early today. the falcon 9 rocket carried nearly 5,000 pounds of cargo to

the international space station including avocados and ants. in case you were wondering, the insects are for experiments, not food. in the sports world the only black driver to win a race at nascar's top level was honored this wee ndell scott won the jacksonville 21963, last night at daytona international speedway his family finally received the trophy commemorating that historic victory. scott did not receive the credit back then, instead it went to buck baker. but a review of the scoring determined scott had won the event by two laps. with baker finishing second. scott's grandson said scott built a bridge for diversity. today would have been his 100th birthday. >> when we come back, it's known as the grave yard of empires. our cbs news correspondent elizabeth palmer reflects on her time reporting in afghanistan.

>> we end tonight with a reporter's notebook. cbs news senior foreign correspondent elizabeth palmer reflects on her time in afghanistan and america's longest war. >> when the u.s. invaded afghanistan the taliban who had been in power melted away. >> and i remember those early days of joy and relief that the tyranny was over. >> did they ever beat you? >> the old man wept, remembering the humiliation. >> women rejoined public life too. >> how many of you had jobs before 1996. >> all of us. >> all of you. >> and for the next 20 years american soldiers fought and died to keep the insurgent taliban at bay in cooperation with aha. so ihawas even before the u.s. finally

pulled out this month the taliban swept back in. they found a country transformed by america's two trillion dollar engagement. for example, women are free to study and also to protest. and people are now used to life free of religious dictatorship. >> as the taliban set out to turn back the clock is, millions of afghans will try to resist. and they deserve our continuing support. elizabeth palmer, cbs news, london. >> well, that is the cbs weekend news for this sunday. we'll continue to follow hurricane ida and its aftermath in louisiana first thing tomorrow on cbs this morning. and of course any time on cbs news.com. i'm jericka duncan in new york. we thank you so much for watching. have a great night.

captioning sponsored by cbs captioned by media access gro at wgbh live from the cbsn bay area studios, this is kpix 5 news. another day with a very dramatic plume of smoke coming off of the caldor fire and we will talk about air quality but also about what that means for that fire. mother nature is fickle and through us a curveball. >> dry and hot conditions threatening to undo days of progress for firefighters and the new strategy for cruise. a rivalry rekindled as the raiders returned to the bay area to face off against the 49ers and why fans have waited a decade for the matchup. good evening. we begin with a live look outside and the sky looking far less hazy than it did earlier this week, with the smoke and heat triggering a spare the air

day today. we are in the weather center on where the smoke is headed. it will try to get here but something is working in our favor. it will be like a big tug-of- war in the atmosphere but as far as smoke is concerned, it will be good news for us but as far as the fire is concerned, it is a good news and will have more on that coming up. the next few days are critical for that fire on the ground specifically for the community and myers. you can see all the smoke going the other way and watch what happens. for are concerned here for any of the smoke the debate area, the forecast shows you the big plume of smoke and over the next eight hours, it will start to drift back toward the valley, but it hits the wall and you can see the onshore flow and it comes in through the bay and watch how dramatic that shift is starting tomorrow morning. the onshore flow gets going, and that will help us here with air-quality and there is no spare the air tomorrow and that is the first of two or three days where we have not had to

do that but