just look at this video here on your screen. flooding is wide spread. and some areas could see up to 20 inches of rain. more than 700,000 homes and businesses are now without power. and that number is sure to climb. officials say it could take weeks to fully restore power. now within the next hour or two, new orleans will be seeing its highest winds and heaviest rain. the levee system was vastly upgraded after katrina and holding as of now. south of the city, the rainfall and storm surge have pushed water over our levee in plaquemines parish. a flash flood emergency is in effect. i spoke to a critical care doctor in baton rouge bracing for the worst. we would be able to be the most significant event of our lifetime. we currently have a full hospital, but we re the regional medical center and so we are essentially acting that role. we have over 700 providers in the hospital. 50 of those are physicians. 400 are nurses. 300 are non-clinical. we re split into two staffs. we wil
administration about to back boosters. plus, a desperate and unprecedented surge at the u.s./mexico border. we talk to migrants who told us why they ve continued to make this incredibly dangerous journey. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start today with our world lead. the white house this afternoon attempting to defend how it handled the u.s. troop withdrawal from afghanistan as the taliban solidifies its grip on that country, and americans and allies rush to try to safely evacuate. this afternoon national security adviser jake sullivan said that the taliban has agreed to give civilians safe passage to the kabul airport where the u.s. military is hoping to speed up the pace of evacuation flights within the next 24 hours. this striking image obtained by defense one shows nearly 650 afghans packed inside a u.s. military cargo plane. they were safely evacuated on sunday to qatar. the white house estimates that at least 11,000 americans remain in afghanistan. but
results of a booster shot just as health experts warn how bad things could get this fall and winter and not only because of the unvaccinated. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we begin with the crisis on the border that just keeps getting worse. these are live pictures of del rio, texas, a town that borders mexico where almost 9,000 migrants are currently camping out, mostly refugees fleeing the devastation of haiti. up to 30,000 more could be joining them coming to the united states through south and central america. of course all eyes are on the biden administration as border patrol agents are aggressively threatening migrants. all of this as the border town bursts at the scenes, hundreds of migrants being sent 430 miles west to el paso, just to be flown back to haiti. senator chuck schumer is pleading with biden to immediately halt the deportations. cnn s rosa flores is in del rio. president biden said today we re getting it under control. where you are, does the sit
nearing a record number of children hospitalized with covid. green light for the red phone. right now president biden and russian president vladimir putin are talking on the phone ahead of a key meeting between the u.s. and russia. and going to extremes. alaska seeing record-breaking high temperatures this week as we come to the end of a horrific year of extreme weather fueled at least in part by man made climate change. welcome to the lead. i m jake tapper. we start with our health lead and encouraging news when it comes to protecting children against covid the u.s. food and drug administration expected to announce kids 12 to 15 will be eligible for pfizer booster shots in the coming days. a source confirms to cnn studies have already shown a third pfizer dose significantly increases protection against covid and, specifically, the omicron variant. in addition, brand new cdc data released this afternoon shows that the pfizer vaccine is 92% effective at preventing any covi
ukrainian border and a very real threat of invasion on the horizon. u.s. officials don t know exactly why putin asked for the call but a senior administration official said the president saw no reason to snub putin, believing there is no substitute for direct leader-to-leader dialogue and engagement i think it follows a pattern that putin has used in the past of ratcheting up pressure when he is trying to get his way. now he is trying to go directly to president biden to try to get him to, i m sure, agree to this security deal, which i do not think president biden can agree to. meeting with putin i was very straight forward. there were no minced words. it was polite but i made it very clear. if, in fact, he invades ukraine, there will be severe consequences. reporter: the president was set to reiterate that message today threatening stepped up military support for u.s. allies at russia s door step and economic sanctions more severe than those imposed after russia s 2014