uk. last saturday, an afghan mother gave birth on a u.s. military evacuation plane just after it landed in germany. the next hour of "cnn newsroom" starts right now. now is the time to leave. >> the national weather service warning some areas could be uninhabitible for weeks or months as hurricane ida barrels toward the gulf coast. >> pay attention and be prepared. have supplies for your household on hand. the u.s. strikes back for the kabul bombing that killed 13 u.s. service members. >> the two high-profile isis targets were killed, zero civilian casualties. meantime, the mission to get american forces and their allies out of afghanistan reaches its final phase. >> we continue to evacuate american citizens and vulnerable afghans to meet the mission

requirement by august 31st. and judges in texas and florida push back against bans on mask mandates. >> the school districts are violating state law. >> parents' rights are very important, but they're not without some reasonable limitation. i'm pamela brown in washington. you are in the "cnn newsroom" on this saturday evening. a monster named ida. the hurricane is intensifying quickly and drawing chilling comparisons to katrina. ida is charging straight toward louisiana right now, and it's due to make landfall tomorrow as a category-four storm. near new orleans and on the 16th anniversary of katrina's catastrophic siege of the gulf coast. louisiana's governor says ida will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit the state since the 1850s. parts of louisiana are under

mandatory evacuation orders, and time is quickly running out to escape the impact zone. mississippi, which was also ravaged by katrina, the governor has declared a state of emergency. the national weather service is warning that ida could leave some places, quote, uninhabitable for weeks or months. we are covering all the angles of the approaching hurricane. let's start with our meteorologist in the cnn weather center. what's the latest, tom? >> we've got reconnaissance aircraft flying through the system. they're collecting data, and we'll get that for the 8:00 p.m. advisory. the sun is setting, but this is where you get to see the detail in what's happening. look for the details in the shadows from the sun. those are thunderstorms, not where we want them to form, all around the core which tells me that most likely later on tonight our category-two ida will become a category three which will classify once it does

as a major hurricane. infrared imagery showing everything around the center, well-defined core. now moving into even warmer waters without any wind shear to take it down, without any dry air to infiltrate the system. so it's all systems go for this to intense fee as we have seen the last couple of years. rapid intensification justice before landfall, and that's possible. once this makes landfall as a hurricane, we can now say after it does so that we'll be able to say that four of the last five hurricanes that made landfall in the u.s. made landfall in the state of louisiana. lara was a category four, zeta was three. combined, $20 billion in economic losses, and we're looking at a possibility of a category four again. this time edging closer to a larger populated area, get to around new orleans, slidell, mobile, don't let your guard down with this. tropical storm-force winds will move inward around 6:00 to 8:00 in the morning and already making their way to the north. it will be 2:00 in the afternoon

until they spread to the north. by then it will be the hurricane-force winds. very concerned now if we see at 8:00 the national hurricane center just edges it ever so slightly to the east as it did in the 5:00 p.m., because in the 5:00 p.m. we found the center of the storm had wobbled somewhat. you change that pinpoints of where its center is, it changes where landfall is in the track. look at the eastern eyewall. makes its way very close over metro new orleans. those are where the winds are the fastest. could see winds obviously over 110 miles per hour. and gusts could be possibly even higher than that. they move inward. you have winds well north in parts of northern areas of the state, in toward tennessee. two models, pretty good agreement. european's slower. this is 1:00 p.m. central time. if we always talk about those strong winds, it's that northeastern quadrant because you take the speed of the wind and you add its forward movement. so you have 110 mile-per-hour winds, you add ten, on that eastern flank you're up to 120.

you subtract that ten mile-per-hour movement on the west side, but this is where lake charles is, where thousands of homes still have blue tarps. there are many that are still in fema trailers. again, they can't take much in the way of wind. even though it's the lesser impact, you're still close enough to the eye. again, the surge, not going to be like katrina. katrina was a category five at one point, didn't make landfall at a five but carried the wall of water with it and all chaos broke loose with the levees breaking. we'll get an update in the next hour and continue to bring the information to you. this one is going to leave a tremendous mark in a very, very bad way with not just the surge and the power outages but the amount of rainfall this could drop, a foot to even two feet in many locations, all the way into the tennessee and ohio valleys. >> that's why tonight we're hearing the sense of urgency from officials in those states you just pointed out. tom sater, thank you so much. let's go southwest of new orleans to homa, a city in the cross hairs of the approaching

storm. derek van dam is there. how are things there? >> reporter: yeah, we have been watching hour an hour of people coming here, filling up sandbags, taking advantage of that narrowing opportunity to protect property, to protect their businesses, and quite frankly their lives. but as you can see now, there is no one. it seems as if people are taking heed of the mandatory curfew that was just -- went into effect at 6:00 p.m. local time. evacuations were ordered at 6:00 a.m. this morning. people have really vacated this particular area, and this is all that remains. of course, this particular region where i'm located, the terrebone parish, is extremely vulnerable to storm surge. you think about the previous storms that have just wreaked so much havoc on the south coast of louisiana, it has completely changed the natural barrier within that particular region, making this coastline very vulnerable to any approaching storm, let alone a category-four

hurricane. we talked to a local nurse here that didn't want to be on camera, interviewed live. she told us in one of the local hospitals here that she'd only witnessed in her entire career only one other time where she had to evacuate patients. that was during katrina 16 years ago as of tomorrow. this time it's completely different. they have no beds available in the regional hospitals here. so that, of course, provides all kinds of complexities within this region. so not only do we have an approaching landfalling major hurricane soon to be, i should say, this is all taking place amongst the backdrop of our global pandemic that is still ongoing. quite a tricky situation. >> it certainly is. we're about to speak to a doctor about that. derek van dam, thank you so much. and as hurricane ida closes in on louisiana, hospitals across the state are already overwhelmed with covid-19 patients. the governor today making it clear that evacuating hospitals ahead of ida will not be

possible. add to louisiana's worries a surge in new cases. 3,400 reported just yesterday. dr. jonathan richards is a critical care physician working in the covid units tonight in baton rouge. doctor, are you already slammed -- you are already slammed with this pandemic. now you have this massive hurricane heading your way, how concerned with you? >> we're very concerned. we're taking it absolutely seriously just as we always do when hurricanes come to south louisiana. we're very seasoned as a hospital system. we're all very seasoned individually in terms of what it takes to prepare to keep our families safe, to come to work and do our job. so it's something we're taking very seriously, just as we're taking the care of our patients in the hospital very seriously, too. so we feel safe. we're prepared as much as we can be, and we're really just kind of taking it hour by hour. >> it's worth noting as the

governor is telling people to evacuate, that the window is closing to evacuate, you don't really have a choice, right? you've got to stay there and care for your patients. and you're in the middle of a covid crisis. what safeguards can you put into place for you, the other staff members, and these patients? >> so the hospital's done a great job of accommodating us. we have space to be able to sleep. we're going to have the things that are necessary like sleeping bags and pillows and things like that. and so we're going to have physical space here. being in the hospital's actually a very, very safe place. you know, hospitals are built to be sturdy, especially in south louisiana. so i think that most health care workers probably would actually maybe feel safer in the hospital. for those that have families, of course we like to be with our loved ones to make sure that they're protected. but when you're on duty the way that we happen to be right now and your number comes up during hurricane season, there is part of the job. you know that if you live in an

area where hurricanes can come, if you're on duty, you may get activated. our hospital system calls it a code gray. and so if we get activated during code gray, we plan basically to hunker down in place and do the best we can and ride the storm out. >> and of course power outages are something that so often comes with big storms. so what is your backup plan in the event that happens? >> that's a great question. our hospital here has a very, very large natural gas generator that can power the hospital. that gets tested on a regular basis around hurricane season, and everything seems to be going the way that it should in terms of all the preliminary testing that needs to happen for that system. and we're confident that we're going to have everything that we need to continue to take the best care possible of these patients. >> the reality is many people are choosing not to evacuate. how will hospitals handle the certain hurricane patients that they're going to receive when

they're already dealing with icus maxed with covid patients? >> that's a great question, and it's an opportunity for us just to remind people that it's not just about what happens when the storm comes. there are a lot of injuries, loss of life that happen after the storm passes through. things like carbon monoxide poisoning from generators, electrocution was downed power lines, cuts, people using chainsaws, on roofs cleaning up debris or nailing down the blue tarp that you see so often. we're going do the best that we can. our emergency department is well equipped to be able to help people who need that type of help. certainly as everybody knows, there's a large strain on all hospital systems. it will be an extra layer of strain for us that are in the area of the hurricane, but we're going to do the best we can to educate the public, try to keep them safe, try to keep them out of the hospital. and then if they get here, we

are available, all of our services are available to all patients. there may be some delays in care. sometimes that's inevitable when you're facing something like we're doing with kind of a crisis on top of a crisis. >> well, dr. jonathan richards, thank you, thank you, thank you for all the hard work that you do and all of your colleagues, especially during this crickets time. best of luck to you. >> thank you. later this hour, new footage of theheroic pilot who plucked people to safety in deadly flooding in tennessee. the president warns another attack in afghanistan is highly likely in the next 24 to 36 hours. cnn's international correspondent sam kiley live when we come back. i became a sofi member because i needed to consolidate my credit card debt. i needed just one simple way to pay it all off. it was an easy decision to apply with sofi loans, just based on the interest rate and how much i would be saving. there was only one that stood out and one that actually made sense and that was sofi personal loans.

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and this comes after the pentagon confirmed two high-profile isis-k militants were killed and another was wounded overnight in retaliation. you see the aftermath of the drone strike in this exclusive video obtained by cnn. it shows the damage in and around a building. president biden vows that this strike will not be the last. and with days left until the u.s. is fully out of the taliban-controlled country, evacuations have entered the final phase. here is what kabul looks like tonight -- streets deserted amid heightened security concerns. cnn's senior international correspondent sam kiley is in doha, qatar, with more on the final evacuation efforts. sam, where does the mission stand this hour? >> reporter: well, they're down to the last few hundred effectively people they can evacuate, whether that's u.s. citizens or afghans with their visas. they are very, very difficult to get them in. the last few will be brought in

over the next few hours. they have promised, this is the united states, to manage to continue to evacuate up until the last minute. but it's going to be very, very difficult and dangerous to do that. they won't have the personnel to go out, snatch them from remote areas. they won't after a while have the personnel to properly guard the outskirts of the airport. there is some talk about possibility of the taliban collapsing back toward the airport to provide perimeter security for the americans, but the british have withdrawn over the last 24 hours. they're rapidly leaving now with 1,000 troops. the americans beginning to move their mostly material out. they'll be following with men and women from the service members and all of this coming amidst continuing threats from isis-k, continuing intelligence assessments that they are planning multiple attacks potentially against these coalition troops led by the united states at the most vulnerable time, pamela. >> sam kiley live for us in

doha, thanks so much. now to a cnn exclusive. our clarissa ward spoke with an isis-k commander before the kabul attack, and he explained why he turned against the taliban and what happen his group is hoping to do once other nations pull out all their -- all their forces out. >> reporter: two weeks before the attack, just days before kabul fell to the taliban, we were in touch with a senior isis-k commander who said the group was lying low and waiting for its moment to strike. words that turned out to be eerily prophetic. so this commander has said that he'll do an interview with us at a hotel here in kabul, and he says it's no problem for him to get through checkpoints and come right into the capital. to prove his point, he let us film his arrival into the city. abdul maneer, as he asked to be called, is an isis-k commander

from the heart of the terrorist group's operations. he agreed to talk on the condition that we disguise his identity. in a kabul hotel, he told us he's had up to 600 men under his command. among them, indians, pakistanis, and central asians. like many of his foot soldiers, he used to fight with the taliban but says they've fallen under the influence of foreign powers. >> translator: we were operating in taliban's ranks. however, these people were not aligned with us in terms of belief so we went to isis. >> reporter: do you think they're not strict enough with their implementation of sharia? >> translator: you see, they can't present one example where they have been islamic law punishments, where they have cut off a thief's hand, have stoned to death an adulter, have stoned to death a murderer. they cannot inforce islamic law punishment because they are under people's control and implement their plans. we do not want to implement someone else's plans and only

want top enforce soharia. if anyone gets along with us he is a brother. otherwise we declare war whether talib or anyone else. >> reporter: have you covered executions, suicide bombings? >> translator: yes, i have too many memories where i was present at these scenes. one memory is that the pakistani taliban had come to the district and during the fighting we captured five people. our fighters became over excited, and we struck them with axes. >> reporter: it's that chilling brutality that made isis-k a primary target for u.s. forces. in recent years, air strikes and special forces operations have ruthlessly targeted the group in kunar and nangahar. has your group engaged in any fighting with u.s. special forces? >> translator: yes, we have faced them on many occasions. we had close combat with them, too. they used to land -- in kunar they carried out air strikes. we have faced them a lot in

firefights. >> reporter: are you interested ultimately in carrying out international attacks? >> translator: this point is higher than my level. i can only give you information about afghanistan. >> reporter: with u.s. forces out of the country and the taliban potentially in control, do you think that will make it easier for you to expand? >> translator: yes, this exists in our plan. instead of currently operating, we have turned to recruiting only to utilize the opportunity and top do our recruitment. when the foreigners and people of the world leave afghanistan, we can restart our operations. >> reporter: that moment has now come as the world saw all too clearly on thursday. a brutal attack on an already-battered country, and a threat that is not going away as u.s. forces complete their withdrawal. he would not comment on whether the group was interested in pursuing transnational attacks, but he did say that he hopes with the withdrawal of u.s. forces that potentially they might be able to try to

establish a caliphate like the one al backgdadi established in iraq. isis-k is said to be five years away from potentially being able to launch international attacks. this bloody attack on the airport certainly raises very real questions about the taliban's ability to control groups like isis-k and whether afghanistan could once again become a safe haven for terrorist. clarissa ward, cnn, doha. >> what an interview. in just a few minutes we're going to get an update from the national hurricane center. day, is getting stronger ahead of landfall, and louisiana tomorrow. and we are following the very latest for you. plus, a dramatic rescue caught on camera. a helicopter pilot saving more than a dozen people from floodwaters in middle tennessee. i'll talk to the woman who took the dramatic video.

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a short time ago louisiana governor john bel edwards pulled no punches with his warning about hurricane ida. >> this will be one of the strongest hurricanes to hit anywhere in louisiana since at least the 1850s. we can also tell you that your window of time is closing. it is rapidly closing. just like we said yesterday, by

the time you go to bed tonight, you need to be where you intend to ride this storm out. >> right now ida is a category-two intensity but is expected to strengthen overnight. intensity is far from the only concern. forecasters say ida's sheer size is also a worry. with a storm surge that could measure 15 feet, jefferson parish has closed its floodgates. storm warnings have been issued as far east as the alabama/florida border. ida eventually could bring more rain to middle tennessee and to a town still reeling from intense flash floods. around 15 inches of rain fell in a six-hour period last saturday in waverly. about an hour west of nashville. the pounding, relentless and unexpected rains were catastrophic. 20 people dead, nearly 500 homes destroyed or damaged. deadly rivers, debris, water knocking roads and cell phone towers out of commission.

but a nashville-based helicopter pilot named joel boyers and his fiancee got word of what was happening and flew right into the chaos. they plucked 17 people to safety in a delicate and dangerous private rescue operation. genie rice cranford was seeing the disaster unfold and shot video of the heroism on display. jeannie joins me now live. thank you for making time for us tonight, jeannie. first, i want to ask you if you and everyone in your family are okay. >> yeah, yeah. we're good. we actually live on a hill, so wye did we didn't take on any floodwater. we're good. >> you see this play out, you take video. the video you shot shows us just how astonishing the disaster was and just how equally astonishing joel boyer's heroism was. tell us what was going on before he arrived. >> yeah, he's a hero for sure. you know, we heard the rain was

really heavy, and we went outside and saw all the floodwaters coming in. and you know, we saw some people on rooftops. and we were all feeling very, very helpless. you know, everybody was trying to figure out ways to get to them. but we've all estimated that within the intersection there was probably 10 to 12 feet of water. and so we stood there for a very long time just praying for the people on the rooftops. my sister-in-law actually said, hey, there's a helicopter. we kind of started watching and saw him skipping over the highway and realized that he was rescuing people. by that time, some of the floodwater had receded, and we were able to get into the intersection a little bit better where i could definitely get better footage. >> we're seeing video right now of the helicopter. as you were watching this, what were you thinking? were you worried that -- >> prayed to god. >> -- he was going to crash? >> i was. i believe it's in this particular video -- i don't know if it's because of the rotors and how the air being pushed down into the surface of the

water, but it wasn't windy at all. all of that water is moving just because of the force. but the helicopter kind of tipped and kind of -- so we were all holding our breath. really we were just praying and thanking god that he was there. >> oh, my gosh. i'm seeing the video right now. i would have been so nervous he'd hit the wires or something would have gone wrong. >> yeah. he's a hero. he's a hero. >> look at him. he's right now picking up someone on the top of a gas station it looks like. >> yeah. >> you mentioned earlier in this interview that you live on a hill. you took survivors into your home. what kind of condition were they in, and what did you do for them? >> you know, they were shocked. it was a huge family effort on our part. it's just the way that we operate. so we have been waiting to be able to help for so long that as soon as he dropped them at the foot of the hill there, that's the hill where we live. so we immediately took them up, got them dry clothes, got them food, water, sat with them. one of our family friends is in the medical field, and she showed up and was doing triage.

everybody was just pitching in as best we could. as soon as we got communication we were getting in contact with people. >> it's just been really nice amid all this to hear the stories of the community coming together like you and your family. there's this example of a local bank and anonymous donor covering funeral expenses for all 20 humphries county flood victims. the volume and the intensity of the rainfall caught forecasters offguard. it was about three times what was expected. when did you realize the town was in trouble? >> honestly, i had heard the water -- heard the rain, you know, during the night, and just sounded like an awful lot of rain. i didn't really understand what was happening until my sister-in-law called and let us know that we needed to come over to my father-in-law's house and check it out. and we were all just amazed. i mean, you could hear people calling for help, and i've never felt so helpless in my life because there was nothing we could do to get to them at that

point. >> you just think about those people on the rooftops, watching the water rise, and suddenly this helicopter comes and rescues them. >> yeah. yeah. >> it's just an incredible story. >> yeah. he's a hero. >> given the extent of the damage and loss of life, how long do you think it will take before life returns to a semblance of normalcy? >> i've never been through anything like this. i'm actually from kansas. so the community that i'm from has been through tornadoes multiple times. but this -- this damage and the way that this has impacted our community and the loss of life has been pretty tremendous. i think we're becoming a huge family. i think we all felt that way to begin with. but this is really solidifying that. we'll get through together. that will be the only way. >> well, and you may have more to get together because hurricane ida could hit your area with more flooding, possible tornadoes next week. how are you preparing and bracing yourself for that? >> i think that what we will be doing is making sure that we're really stocked up on water and

provisions in case there is additional flooding and we need to help people again. we'll be definitely better prepared to do that. >> all right. jeannie rice cranford, thank you for taking this video and for walking us through it here on the show. we appreciate it. best of luck with everything. >> thank you. thank you very much. time is quickly running out to get afghans who helped westerners for the past two decades out of the country. i just spoke to a former british service member who's working tireless three get the translator who he worked with out of afghanistan. hear how he describes the situation at the airport right now. in this market, you'll find fisher investments is different than other money managers. (other money manager) different how? don't you just ride the wave? (judith) no - we actively manage client portfolios based on our forward-looking views of the market. (other money manager) but you still sell investments that generate high commissions, right? (judith) no, we don't sell commission products. we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client's best interest. (other money manager) so when do you make more money? only when your clients make more money? (judith) yep, we do better when our clients do better.

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experience the new way to sell a car. this is the scene in kabul tonight away from the airport. mostly empty streets. stores closing earlier, pharmacies shut down. and with afghan allies of the u.s. still desperate to escape, some of those they once helped are now racing to try and get them to freedom. toby hornden says his afghan interpreter is risking his life over and over again to get into the airport. we're concealing the interpreter's face. i spoke with toby this evening, he's a veteran of the british royal navy and a journalist and author. his book is called "first casualty: the untold story of the cia mission to avenge 9/11." and he talked about the danger his interpreter faces. >> yeah, it's heartbreaking. it's kind of a roller coaster of

emotions and facts and speculation all mixed together every single day. so yeah, my heart sank. i had a real feeling of dread when i didn't hear from him for really an hour or two after that attack. he was just getting away, checking on his sister, checking on his family. then i did hear from him, and so yes, you know, there was sort of a surge of joy, but then of course he's still in this situation, he still has to go back into danger to try and get into the airport. and yesterday he was picked up, he had a rendezvous point with one of these outside groups, former cia officer put me in touch with somebody. so he was in the right hands. he was on a bus. he then spent 26 hours standing on this bus outside a gate, once again in danger. he was turned away first by u.s. military and then hours later by the taliban. and so now he's getting a few hours sleep, and we're going to go through the same cycle again once he wakes up tomorrow.

>> now you have president biden warning tonight that there will likely be another attack in the next day or two. are you still hopeful he will be able to get out? is he hopeful at this point? >> we have nothing else to do but hope. but time is running out. we've got less than three days now. and every day it gets -- it gets more dangerous, it gets less likely that he's going to be able to get through that gate. i mean, the terrorist attack on thursday obviously was a huge tragedy. thankfully he and his sister survived -- escaped without injury. but it vastly complicated the situation. and he went through that yesterday. >> why is this so important to you to help him? >> well, i mean, kind of simple human really. he helped me. i was in afghanistan for six weeks at the end of last year. i was up in sharif and he worked with me. he is 29 years old, an intelligent young man, learned

his english mostly from movies, but his english is very good. he had a translator instinct and helped track down two doctors to -- the first american casualty after 9/11 cia officer. he showed resourcefulness. we had great conversations. i remember us talking about movies. he was having interested in idioms and vernacular english. i explained what the phrase "a perfect storm" meant and remember explaining also what the term groundhog day meant, and now he's going through a groundhog day of every single day outside the airport. but it's not just a movie, it's real life, and it's life and death. >> do you think the biden administration appreciates the urgency of what may happen here, what may happen if the u.s. doesn't does, in fact, leave people like your translator behind? >> i hope they do. i mean, i've applied for an sib, special immigrant visa, for him. then i applied for a p2 and was

advised that was a better route to go. i haven't had any word back from the state department, absolutely nothing. no case number. so really feels like his fate is in the hands of brave afghans, afghan americans, americans who want to help, private groups who are going to do their best to get him out. yeah, it's one of those times where, you know, you feel a little bit abandoned by your government, and i know that he feels certainly sort of abandoned by the afghan government. and also by the u.s. government which has promised to get american citizens and green cardholders but also american allies out of that country and away from the prospects of a medieval taliban regime. >> toby hom, thank you so much. keep us updated on how this unfolds. we hope that he can get out. >> i will. thank you very much, pamela. a mississippi nurse so burned out from the fight

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mississippi is seeing potentially deadly threats on two fronts right now from a possible category-four hurricane on the outside and from covid-19 on the inside. mississippi is one of the least vaccinated states, and the raging delta variant is keeping its hospitals full, too full. hospitalizations are hitting new highs. just a few icu beds are left, and now there is another

shortage. the stress of the deadly and endless pandemic has driven many nurses to quit. cnn's erica hill introduces us to a mississippi icu nurse who hit her breaking point and resigned only to go right back in to battle. >> reporter: in ocean spring, mississippi, the icu is full. every patient here battling covid, every one of them on a ventilator. 15 miles east, it's the same story. the nursing staff at a breaking point. >> i come in here, and it's war. it's sometimes chaos. >> reporter: just 38% of mississippi's population is fully vaccinated. along the gulf coast, it's even worse, hovering around 30%, pushing new cases and hospitalizations higher. officials warn there aren't enough beds, but on the front

lines the focus isn't space, it's staff. >> there's not a bed shortage. there's a nursing shortage. >> we have had situations in here with covid, with people this critical, where two people start to go bad at once. and you have to decide which room you run to. it's h a's a hard decision to m. >> reporter: the stress of though decisions and the growing number of young coast patients and preventable death -- covid patients and preventable death brought nicole to a breaking point this month. you made the decision to resign. why? >> sometimes it feels like we're fighting a losing battle. >> reporter: yet a week after that conversation, nicole was still in the icu. >> i realized as i was saying good-bye to these nurses here that i couldn't leave them in the middle of this. >> reporter: nicole is cutting back her hours. for now her resignation is on

hold. >> that's where a nurse's heart comes in, you know. you don't want to see your co-worker suffer as much as you don't want to see a patient suffer. >> reporter: while it helps, one nurse choosing to stay isn't enough. >> got everything you need? >> reporter: mississippi has at least 2,000 fewer nurses than it did at the beginning of the year. >> it looks heroic, and it looks -- that's not what it is. it's sweaty and hard and chaotic and bloody. >> didn't even know really what burnout meant as a nurse until i hit covid. >> reporter: melissa davis has worked in the icu for 17 years. it's never been this bad. >> i have seen a turnover in nurses i never would have thought would have turned over because they can't take it no more. >> reporter: do you feel that you're close to a breaking point? >> i think we already broke. >> reporter: burnout, stress, grueling hours, there are multiple reasons career nurses are choosing to leave. >> we've been seeing it probably

hit a peak recently. we have over 120 nursing vacancies open right now. >> reporter: when they do, that experience is also lost. >> it takes years of training to get to the point where you can actually take care of a covid patient. this is nothing like we've seen before. >> reporter: the head of singing river hospital system is now urging the state to use some of its $1.8 billion in covid relief funding for retention bonuses. >> we need to give them an incentive to want to stay and continue to be a nurse. >> i think every little bit helps. do i think it's going to fix the problem? a lot of nurses told me it's not about the money at this point, it's about i need to recharge my battery. >> reporter: yet with fewer staff and a surge in patients, that chance to recharge increasingly difficult to find. >> it's hard to see a 34 -year-old with a family not make

it. you can't describe that. >> to have friends, colleagues who understand that, it's the only way we're all getting through this is because we have each other. >> powerful reporting there from cnn's erica hill. earlier in the week, governor tate reeves announced 1,000 health care personnel will be coming to mississippi to help fill the gap. singing river health center confirmed the state has committed 59 nurses, both icu and medsurg nurses, and 18 respiratory therapists to its three hospitals. they are all on 60-day contracts. we're about to get an update from the national hurricane center on hurricane ida as the potentially powerful and deadly storm moves toward louisiana. stay with us. ♪ music playing. ♪ there's an america we build ♪ ♪ and one we explore one that's been paved and one that's forever wild but freedom means you don't have to choose just one adventure

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i'm pamela brown in washington. are you in the "cnn newsroom" on this saturday. we have a lot going on. we're following two major stories developing tonight. in afghanistan, the deadline draws closer and so does the threat of terror. president biden is warning that another attack on the kabul airport is highly likely within the next 24 to 36 hours. first, a storm that could make history or repeat it. the ghost of hurricane katrina is looming large over the gulf coast tonight as hurricane ida grows stronger and more ominous. the storm is charging straight toward louisiana, and it could make landfall tomorrow as a category four near new orleans. and on the 16th anniversary of katrina's landfall. louisiana's governor said it could be the strongest storm to hit his state since before the civil war. parts of louisiana are under mandatory evacuation orders, and many highways and roads are