in the final hours before the end of the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan, the military fightingo ensure a safe evacuation. the is-k says it carried out the failed rocket attack against the airport in kabul. the government's warning of new and specific attacks before the tuesday deadline. in the u.s., hurricane ida knocks out power to millions in louisiana and mississippi.

there is no repeat of the catastrophic flooding wrought by katrina 16 years ago but officials are warning in the coming days and weeks, it will be tough. just weeks before germany goes to the polls, the three candidates competing for angela merkel's job as the next chancellor faced off in a tv debate last night and we will tell you what they said good -- said. ♪ two our viewers -- to our viewers around the world, welcome. the u.s. security council is requiring the taliban to honor their commitment to allow afghans to leave freely if they want to, but it will not include the creation of a safe zone. as the tuesday deadline for the u.s. withdrawal approaches, the pentagon warning of further real

and specific threats by militants to disrupt evacuations at the airport in kabul. earlier monday, u.s. missile defense systems shot rockets targeting the airport, and an affiliate of is-k says it was behind that attack. reporter: a plume of smoke near kabul's international airport. witnesses say rockets were launched from this car earlier monday morning. >> our house is here. we were sitting in her home when a terrible explosion occurred. i thought a rocket hit somewhere. when i looked out of the gate, iselle rockets being fired at the airport from a car. it was terrible. there were loud noises and i did not understand if it was six or seven firings. reporter: some of the rockets were intercepted the u.s. antimissile defenses. the firings have not halted the

stream of military aircraft taking off in kabul as the u.s. races to withdraw fm afghanistan by tuesday. the latest rocket strikes come a day after a u.s. drone up a different vehicle carrying suspected suicide bombers on the way to the airport. the u.s. assess the car contained a large amount of explosives. eyewitnesses say several civilians were killed in sunday's drone strike. >> suddenly the sound of mortars came and it was very dangerous. we came here, the cars were on fire and some children had died and their hands and faces were burned. reporter: the u.s. has said it is investigating these reports of civilian casualties. anchor: straight to kabul now. i am joined by a journalist. what more can you tell us about today's rocket attacks? we understand the u.s. was able to continue its operation despite these attempts to derail

them. guest: according to islamic state, there have been six rockets fire, at least some of them intercepted by our defense system. others hit areas around the airport, but nothing impornt and no casualty reports as far as i am aware. it should be noted this is not new. the self-declared islamic state has conducted similar rocket attacks with a launcher hidden in a vehicle and then remotely launched the rockets. they are usually inaccurate. this has not been that much out of the ordinary, certainly not unprecedented. anchor: the u.s. evacuation mission, we know it is final hours now. what has been happening at the airport today? our afghan -- are afghan civilians still being flown out of the country

guest: planes are still taking off, i can hear them in the sky all day and night. there are persons transported, but according to my information today, the gates to the airport were literally sealed. the people who are now evacuated seem to be civilians that have made their way into the airport earlier. as far as i can tell, there are no new people left in, -- let in , and the evacuation should be completed tomorrow. anchor: this means the taliban is preventing people from leaving the country if you want to leave the country, is that what you are saying? guest: no, it is not that easy. one reason that the gates are sealed is u.s. forces, the u.s. government has stopped people

from getting inside because they want to wrap up their operation. it is not possible to the last minute let people through the gates. at some point you have to close the gates and bring the people out that are still around so that the gates are sealed. it is arguably due to the americans rather than the taliban. the taliban have said they will let people exit the coury with the proper papers, but how easy or difficult this will be remains to be seen. anchor: thank you. for the view from washington, i spoke with our correspondent and asked if the u.s. has been able to evacuate everyone it wanted to. >> they haven't. the state department said they still have the capacity to

evacuate 300 people only but they did not have further details on how they are planning to get those people into the airport. as we know, it is still a high risk area where they anticipate more attacks from isis-k. according to reports, there are roughly 280 americans who have opted to stay in afghanistan. we don't know the reasons but there are still a lot of afghans heading to the airport hoping to be evacuated since -- evacuated. since august 14, 140,000 people have been evacuated. anchor: what about afghan civilians who worked with u.s. forces the past 20 years? do we know about plans the u.s. has to continue evacuating these people after the deadline? carolina: the state department has confirmed what no one wants to hear, that is people will be

left behind and it is impossible to evacuate all afghan civilians, also the ones cooperating with the united states, and the ones who want to leave the country or have to leave the country. this is the tragic reality, and it is mainly due to tomorrow's withdrawal deadline. we should also keep in mind that while we are talking, there are only hours left, and this includes withdrawal of u.s. military. they are working at limited capacity. we heard r. kelly -- we heard our colleague in kabul saying the airport is sealed and they will have to start prioritizing and they will probably prioritize the military evacuation at this point. at the same time, there is a constant risk of another attack. anchor: that is true and i wonder if there will be political fallout for the u.s. president, considering what has happened the past two weeks,

when you consider public opinion in the u.s., right now everyone in the u.s. is talking about hurricane ida and not necessarily afghanistan. carolina: you are completely right, recent polling have shown people don't support president biden's handling of the entire situation and afghanistan. this is the first time his approval rating has dipped under 50%. we have seen all sort of situations where president biden did not want to see -- u.s. soldiers have died, afghan civilians dead because of the terrorist attacks of isis-k. this is biden's worst-case scenario in afghanistan. on top of this, he's dealing with several different crises in the states at the same time, economic crisis from the pandemic, hurricane ida and afghanistan. it is a lot he is handling right now.

the u.s. went into afghanistan 20 years ago to lower the risk of terrorism and they leave with a higher risk of terrorism developing in the region. anchor: that is the tragic irony of this story. carolina, thank you. germany's foreign minister is on a tour of countries bordering afghanistan, trying to shore up support for continued evacuation. they were in a camper earlier today, and has announced uzbekistan will open its borders to evacuees who will then be flown to germany. they say more than 10,000 people and afghanistan count as those who want to leave the country. this was said earlier about plans can -- plans to continue evacuating people. >> there will be questions about how the overland evacuations will work. we have agreed only the group of

people defined by us will be taken into consideration if they choose to come to germany by land. there are a lot of practical questions about how it will be organized and also about a lot of things that cannot be discussed in public without potentially endangering those already underway. a part of the delegation will stay to discuss further details with the uzbekistan foreign ministry. anchor: our correspondent joins us tonight from the uzbekistan capital. how busy is the border with afghanistan right now? nick: for now, the border has been more or less blocked. for weeks, they have been very careful and worried of potential influxes from afghanistan and are basically only letting people in with a visa and those tend to be well-connected,

wealthier people from afghanistan. we already saw repeated attempts the last few weeks by people to escape over the border. one of afghanistan's biggest cities fell to the taliban in mid august and there was a huge dash to the border, people in their cars, filling up the border bridge, but the uzbeks only let in a handful of people. the plan is only to let in people who will definitely make their way to germany after that. is becca stand is pakistan does not want to turn into -- uzbekistan does not want to turn into europe's refugee camp. you mentioned those 10,000, those worked for german interests in afghanistan and they, with 40,000 or 50,000 family members. hugely varying figures pretty very important -- hugely varying

figures here. very important. lots of people who works for german charities and organizations are included. anchor: the people in uzbekistan are not necessarily thrilled about the influx of afghan refugees, is that correct? nick: the government is definitely very worried, they are also worried about souring relations with the taliban next door who they essentially have to work -- live with and have begun negotiations with. this is a regime worried about political islamism and the taliban doing well and afghanistan and changing the balance of power back home. among ordinary uzbeks, there is criticism over what is seen as a lack of solidarity with people in the afghanistan. there are those for whom the taliban are not fanatics, but

are infringing their rights in that country. they are trying to find an arrangement with the taliban here, but public opinion is looking very closely at what they are doing. anchor: nick connolly, thank you. here is a look at some of the other stories making headlines around the world. the spokeswoman for alexei navalny has reportedly left russia. 18 month restrictions on her freedom of movement were placed earlier this month. the earthquake that struck haiti two weeks ago has exacerbated the country's hunger crisis. the world food program says 215,000 people are in need of urgent assistance. the quake destroyed crops and livestock and more than 2000 people were killed. four people have died in an explosion in beirut. the blast occurred inside a

factory in the southern suburbs of the lebanese capital. authorities have yet to confirm the cause but local media are reported -- are reporting a water heater exploded. forecasters in the u.s. are warning of a potentially catastrophic title -- tidal surge and flooding as a result of hurricane ida. it swept ashore from the gulf of mexico and made landfall in the state of louisiana before sweeping inland over mississippi. the entire city of new orleans was left without power and it could be weeks before it is restored. the storm is also being blamed for at least one death. >> now that the height of the storm has passed, a clear picture is emerging of the devastation hurricane ida left behind. >> pretty intense. a lot of wicked winds and luckily no flooding, that's the difference between the storm and katrina. reporter: on the same day 16

years ago, hurricane katrina devastated new orleans. as a category four storm, ida lashed louisiana and mississippi with ferocious ands that knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of people. >> we were all in the chapel watching tv until the power went off and then it was all glass so we could see the wind blowing and trees. it did not look that bad. reporter: but for those who could not afford to move to higher ground, the damage and loss is much worse. rapidly risinwater chased those who could not evacuate to their attics, where they called and texted to be rescued. president biden has called ida a life-teatening storm and called louisiana a major disaster area. federal help is on the way. >> we know individuals are out there waiting to be rescued because their homes are not habitable.

many places we have floodwaters encroaching on those homes. we have thousands of people out right now with high water vehicles and boats doing search and rescue. we have dozens of helicopters up. reporter: louisiana's governor asking neighbors to look in on each other until more help arrives. anchor: i am joined by a meteorologist for the washington post. good to have you with us. let me ask you, for the people in new orleans, is the worst over? matthew: in terms of the weather, yes. heavy rain and winds are out of their, but the issue is they are largely without power, and where do you even begin with cleanup? you can't do anything until trees are clear, and you can't do that until you have electricity to do it and gas for chainsaws and stuff. the worst is just starting to set in, the weather is only one piece of it. the rescue will take a long

time, and floodwaters and heavy rainfall finally starting to subside. anchor: let me ask you, about this notion of the storm being the canary in the climate change mine, ida's buildup in strength, what does that tell us about future storms? matthew: that is a good question and one that i think is nuanced. we start out with something called rapid intensification, you mentioned that ida grew quickly in terms of strength, from category two to borderline category 5 overnight. roughly 250 kilometers per hour winds. ida tripled the rate of rapid intensification. there was a paper a couple of years ago that basically says once a century rapid intensification, this is high-end stuff.

by the end of the 2010, it could have been much more frequent. qualitatively, it seems like this is hpening all of the ti. i would say yes, there is a strong link, and while we can't say this is caused by it, it fits the pattern. anchor: what does this mean for meteorologists? people such as yourself, your ability to warn the public about dangers that are moving in, and the need to evacuate -- what can you do when a storm gains a that quickly -- gains strength that quickly? matthew: evacuations are challenging to determine ahead of time because it is based on confidence and impacts. we were very confident this would be a high-end storm, we were very confident it would move toward the coast, but when

you talk about evacuating a city of millions of people, subtle shifts on the order of 1or 15 kilometers canake all of the difference in conditions experienced. even a couple of days beforehand, do we have a high confidence to evacuate? keep in mind of actuation is extremely costly, and it often falls on the individual who may be living paycheck-to-paycheck and might not have the means to evacuate. there is no real good answer. even though the science is getting better and we are getting really good forecasts, the devil is so much in the details, and until we can get down to the order of 5, 10 kilometers at a time, the confidence needed to support an evacuation and having the big impacts on people is challenging. there's no good answer. anchor: ida slammed into the coast of louisiana on the same day hurricane katrina did 16 years ago. as a meteorologist, would you say that lessons from katrina

have been learned that served as well in this storm? matthew: i would absolutely say that. in 2005, people were overwhelmed by how big the storm surge was, about 27 feet, almost 10 meters. since then, authorities invested about $16 billion in infrastructure like levees to make sure the surge was fortified against. ida was a little moreompact and it grew at the last minute. it did not have time, unfortunately, to push ashore that much water. at said, wind and rainfall were big issues and the levees trapped some of that rainfall. it is a challenging thing. we dodged aullet this time around, lessons learned, absolutely. anchor: matthew, as always, we appreciate your time and insight. thank you.

it is less than four weeks until germany's general election. last night, the three main candidates appear to together for -- appeared together for a debate. the debate took place amidst a dramatic tightening in the polls. the latest voter survey has the social democrat party in the lead with 24%. the conservative cdc slipping into second place with 21% and the greens pulling at 17%. basically the competition is not and n -- neck and neck. it was an intense but civilized showdown over who gets to be the next chancellor. reporter: one of the most significant german elections in years is happening in less than four weeks with polls pointing

to a fractured results. the three main candidates needed to drum up all of the support they can right now. the perfect chance to go on the attack during what was the first televised debate between this trio of chancellor hopefuls. >> the last few years of maintaining the status quo has not in this country any good. we need a real shakeup. >> the last 16 years of angela merkel have been good but a new chapter is beginning and modernization is needed. >> i have a good plan for the future, for what is needed now, and i have been able to prepare myself quite well to the positions i have held until now. >> the topic on everyone's mind, afghanistan. the green's coleader annalena baerbock accused the others of an action. >> i would approve of foreign policy that doesn't shy away when things get difficult because that's what we have had in these last years of the grand

coalition. reporter: on covid-19, the arguments were not that different from each other. all three say schools need to stay open because the well-being of children is paramount. >> we can and must keep schools open, which i think is very important for children. everyone knows face-to-face teaching is more interesting, stimulating and better than alternatives. reporter: but there were major risks on climate policy. baerbock accused the governing parties of lacking momentum but her opponents insist change can be achieved without drastic limitations. despite their differences, these leaders will need to find common ground soon. after september 26, plenty of compromise will be needed to form germany's next coalition governments. anchor: here is a look at some of the other stories making headlines this hour. the european union removed six countries today, including the united states and israel, from

its safe travel list. visitors are likely to face tighter controls such as covid-19 tests and quarantines. the list seeks to unify travel rules across europe although it is not binding. most eu nations follow brussels's advice when it comes the pandemic. about 2 million french workers will need to show a health pass to go to work. starting monday, staff working directly with the public will need to obtain a pass with either proof of evacuation or showing a fresh negative test. millions of children are returning to school in mexico after nearly a year and a half of closure due to the pandemic. both in-person and virtual lessons are being offered. the new school year starts as mexico is battling its third wave of infections. sports now. avani look or has become the first indian woman to win a paralympic gold medal.

india's new sporting hero is a 19-year-old law student, and beat rivals from china and ukraine. at the track and field stadium and the 400 meters for visually impaired, a spanish candidate sprinted around the oval in under 52 seconds to finish first. he credits his guide for thousands of hours of dedication. host country japan has scored gold in the swimming pool. a first-time paralympian started out front and stayed there in the men's 100 meter breaststroke. he beat australia and great britain to the top of the podium. after weeks of calm, italy's mount etna roared back to life. plumes of smoke were thrown into

the air. mount etna is italy's largest active volcano. scientists say it has grown about 30 meters in the last six months because of a flurry of activity. you are watching dw news live from berlin. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. tonight, inside ida. inside the eye of the climate change storm. we will be right back.

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>> u.n. security council adopts a resolution on save departure from afghanistan. will this be heated by the taliban? we have reaction and analysis as well as the latest from our correspondent. hurricane ida's path of destruction in the deep south has one million people without power new orleans once again counting a heavy cost.