with the river flooding, it rises slowly unless there is a breach in the levee or something like that, but aside from the water rescues that we saw this morning, people are not heeding the warnings, and it has been pretty calm for the most part i do believe. >> thank you, jennifer gray. stay warm there. and thank you, everybody, for watching today. i'm randi kay. wolf with brianna keilar is wolf with brianna keilar is going to start right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com hi there. i'm brianna keilar in for wolf blitzer. it is 1:00 p.m. in washington, and 6:00 p.m. in london and 1:00 a.m. in jerusalem, and wherever you are watching us, thank you for joining us. breaking news. the breaking news is bill koz by is to be in court to answer to charges of the

prosecutor in montgomery county, pennsylvania. >> these charges stemmed on an e evening in early 2004 at mr. cosby's home in cheltenham township in montgomery county. mr. cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault. mr. cosby's attorney as been notified of the charges, and he is expected to be arraigned l e later this afternoon. >> more than 40 women have come forward with accusations of sexual assault against cosby, but this is the first case that has resulted in a criminal charge. cosby has stead fastly denied any wrongdoing. and we will get to cnn international correspondent deb feyerick, and she tells us about the alleged victim and the circumstances of the case. and this is a woman who settled a civil case with cosby, right? >> yes, she settled a civil case after she attempted to pres charges against him, and the district attorney saying, no, and not following through on the charges, but it is the civil case that really has opened up

the floodgate, because during that civil case, a deposition was taken of bill cosby in which he essentially acknowledged giving women quaaludes intending to have sex with them, and those documents were unsealed and that caused the district attorneys to reopen the case to see if there were grounds to press charges. they interviewed the witness andrea constand who has been very public about this, and she was the director of operations at tem theple university women's basketball team when this alleged assault took place. it was so traumatic that she moved back to canada with her parent, and been there since, but it was the unsealing of the documents that the investigators took a close look at not only her testimony, but the testimony of other women who said that cosby did something similar to them. they were looking at the evidence given in the depositions, and that i felt that there was enough grounds to follow through on the charges. the aggravated indecent assault

which is a second-degree felony, brianna. >> and so damning, because he says that he remembers giving con stastand three pills to helr relax, but he has denied the allegations of drugging, and assaulting, and earlier in the month, he filed a counter suit against seven of the accusers. have we heard from him or the attorney in response to the charge? >> well, cnn has repeatedly reached out to bill cosby's lawyers to try the to get any sort of a response, including whether he, himself, will be at the arraignment even though the district attorney does expect him, and notifying the lawyers and it is unclear whether or not he will be there in person, as as you say, bill cosby has consistently denied the charges, and by turning the tables and cou counter suing them for defamation, he is trying to take the heat off of himself. he even went after model beverly

johnson, suing her for defamation saying that allegations she makes in a new book are a it willel bit more than an attempt to sell more pooks, and frankly rejuvenate -- more books and frankly rejuvenate a failing career in his words. now, with we have h swrith that out there for a long time. >> and speaking of a career, his falling from grace, and this has been a huge drop for him? >> yes, no question about it. you have universities who have rescinded honorary degrees including fordham and brown and marquette, and even rere-runs no long er airing of his sitcoms, and so you can see here at the end of the career, he does not have a venue to continue entertaining, because of these allegations have been so harmful, and because the stories gai against him have really sort of undermined whatever he did in the entertainment field. >> all right. deb, we know that you will be

waiting here shortly to see whether it is bill cosby or maybe just the lawyers who show up here in a short period of time. thank you, deb. >> with us to talk more about this, we have paul callan, and legal expert and commentator laura coates who is a former u.s. attorney for the district of columbia. paul, one of the things that is pretty interesting about this case is that the statute of limitations was set to expire soon, and then you see these charges coming to light now. the statute of limitations, what 12 years? >> yeah, it is a 12-year statute in pennsylvania which is by the way a long statute for sex crimes, and movement in recent years to extend the statute, and many states have, but to wait until the last day before expiration is very, very unusual, and i find it particularly unusual, because he testified under oath in a civil case. the d d..a. had previously purs

the case, and decided to pursue charge, so it is exceptional that they waited this long to posit charges. >> what about that, laura? what's changed really now aside from the deposition becoming public, and ten years or so ago, 14 women who were alleging assaulted by bill cosby and the allegation allegations were swept aside, and what has changed now? >> well, what changed is the pros couture frankly. there is a new prosecutor on the case who is look at it with a new lenses, and looking at this one particularly that the others don't have is that we as a society, and all of the sexual assault cases i have prosecuted is the delayed report. when there is a delayed report the credibility goes down, and people are more skeptical and less likely to believe. but in this instance, she reported quickly, and disbelieve and no criminal charge brought, and persistent and steadfast in

her approach, and filed a civil suit, and came back to sue the first prosecutor for defamation as well. so you have a different victim who is viewed differently, and even the other 40 or so plus victims who have been tried and trusted in the court of public opinion. >> do you think that he is going to show up at court today? >> i -- if he does, i'd be sp z surprised. it is going to be a very short hearing, and the whole purpose is to preserve his rights and plead not guilty, but the most important part of today is to set that motion schedule, because it is a very important motion coming, and that is can the other alleged victims testify in this criminal trial about whether or not he has a general if theme of this sort of criminal behavior a and that date is going to be set very quickly. >> and you know, brianna, the normal process when somebody is indicted for a felony is that a warrant for his arrest is issued if there has been an ongoing

relationship with the defense attorneys, pros ecutors will sometimes say, we will not enforce the warrant and al olou your client to surrender. so i would think that cosby's attorneys would have made a really serious effort to get him into court today, but if he's somewhere else in the world or somewhere else in the kcountry, maybe they will cut him some slack to come in at a later date. we will have to see if he doesn't show up. it is unusual for a defendant to not show up for his own felony arraignment. this is a devastating effect on the life of the defendant and the complainant. >> and is you believe that there is a likelihood if he does showup if he is in pennsylvania? >> yes. he might have a reasonable excuse if he is in california or overseas, then he would have an excuse, but they have to go forward, because the statute of limitations is about to expire.

>> what does it look like when he does show up whether it is today or in the future? would you see him in handcuffs or processed as we sometimes do with the defendants? >> well, it is not going to be the typical criminal defendant where they were brought in as paul was talking about in the back of a squad car and handcuff and shackled and possibly in orange jumpsuit, but this is somebody who has been out among the public before he was charged, and they will be probably plead not guilty, and address whether or not he can remain released until there is a trial happening, and given, i know it is a fall from grace, u but he has ties to the community, and would come back and has no criminal record that is actually proven, he will remain on the outside until whatever trial date is set, and only convicted will that change. it is a short hearing though. it is not going to be, and i don't believe it is filmed in pennsylvania. a lot of heckling from the outside, but once he is inside, it is just another case in

pennsylvan pennsylvania. >> and you know, i can tell you, brianna, for a normal defendant facing charges this serious, usually they go to the police station and have to be fri fingerprinted and remain in the cell until the arraignment. but if it is a voluntary remanding, he will be doing that privately, and he won't be in handcuffs or a orange jumpsuit, i can assure you. >> and he is due in court in less than a kocouple of hours. so we will see if that happens. thank you, paul and laura. and now, we will go live to missouri where floods are going to historic highs. >> and also, threats are prompting higher security in three u.s. cities. we will tell you where those cities are, and we will talk to

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more breaking news now with h historic flooding in the u.s. and the state of missouri. thousands of people have been forced from their homes as heavy rains are causing the rivers to overflow the banks. the governor of missouri declared a state of emergency, and he say s ts that he has notn water this high in the state. he admits that he is getting worse before gets better. as many as 13 people have died there many missouri. and we have to see that the flood i flooding is continuing down from tennessee, and louisiana and arkansas. and we are watching the flooding from meramec river which is

causing release of raw sewerage in the river, and because the sewerage plant was ooverwhelmed with the floodwater as the river has hit a historic high water mark. and alina machado is there, and give us a sense of how bad things are where you are, alina >> well, brianna, we have been seeing the water levels slowly creeping up throughout the day. i want to show you the situation're in pacific, missouri. this is the meramec river, and it has of flowed the banks, and now it is going right through this part of town. dozens of buildings like as you can see are surrounded by several feet of water, and the officials here are going to the tell us that 400 businesses and homes have been flooded. they were heeding the warnings and got the higher ground before the water began. there is a storm shelter in town where victims of this an neighboring counties have been

seeking shelter. this river is above flood stage at 15 feet since sunday. it is expected to crest tomorrow. initi initially the national weather service is saying that this is going to surpass a previous record of 13.6 feet before crest, and it would do so by two to three feet. the latest forecast that was just posted has this river cresting just below the record at 33.4 feet. some good news, brianna, nor the people here who have been waiting to see what happens. >> than you, alina machado in pacific, missouri. and many of us remember the d devastating floods of 1993, but this is expected to be worse than that. jennifer gray is in valley park, missouri. give us a sense of what you are seeing there. >> well, you know, i ta talked to people who were here in '93, and they said that to a water was not this high. looking behind me, brianna, the

water has been rising all morning long. we are have been here since 5:00 this morning local time, and look at that. look at the bridge and the overpass, and that is interstate 44 and the wa water is up to -- the water is up to the overpass. and perpendicular is high wway . you can see the highway $141 photo signs here, ap i took this before the sun came up, and there were arrows, another sign underneath the 141 sign that was completely above the water, and now, completely under, so it is going to give you an idea of how fast the water has risen throughout the day today. the traffic lights almost submerged as well. we have had about 150 people out here with cell phone, and everybody is wanting a closer look, but the authorities say it is a dangerous situation, and the water is rising and expecting to rise most likely another two feet before midnight tonight. the forecast is actually

changing a little bit. it is looking like the river going to be cresting a foot h h higher than expected with the supposed to crest around 43 feet which is three feet above the record, and now it is going to be cresting at 44 feet between midnight, and 6:00 a.m. flood state is 15 feet. and this is going to the crest at 44. i spoke to somebody from the missouri department of transportation, and he said for a stretch of 24 miles of interstate 44 is completely shutdown. it is most likely going to be shutdown until friday and 141 that runs perpendicular, the highway behind me could stay closed until monday or tuesday, and it is a matter of how quickly this water is going to be receding. unfortunately, e brianna, it is going to be a slow process, and so people have days, weeks, months ahead of them they will be cleaning up all of this mess. brianna. >> not surprising at four feet expected above the previous record. jennifer gray, thank you so much

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two people reportedly linked to isis are suspected of a bomb plot. they were scouting out locations in ankara, turkey, and police say that a bomb vest and backpack filled with marbles and other bomb-making materials were there, and authorities say that

the pack was ready for use. they believe these may be in connection with new year's eve celebrations attack. and so now security is tightening security tied to new year's celebrations, including times square where 1 million people are expected to watch the ball drop, and also talking about rose bowl festivities there, and justice reporter evan perez is joining me live from times square. just yesterday, authorities said no credible threat in new york, and so obviously, this is a change. can you explain this to us? >> well, brianna, it is a case that the officials say that there no credible threat. that however, does not mean that they are not on heightened alert, and especially here in new york city, 24 hours from now, you will have about 1 million people gathered here to ring in the new year in los angeles, and there is going to be the celebration surrounding the rose bowl, and the parade

and the football game, and we are told that just before president obama left for the vacation in hawaii, he was briefed on the threats around the country, and one of the threats that he was briefed about is one originating overseas that focused on the possible terror attacks here in the united states, and in three particular cities and new york being one of them, and los angeles and washington, d.c. we are told that this threat is uncorroborate and came from a single source again from overe seas, but it is going to reflect the picture that officials are dealing w and that is heightened alert regards isis as you mention mentioned and the possible thwarting of a plot there in turkey, an one in belgium, and it reflects the year we have had where isis is the cause of 60 te terror prosecutions in this countr country. >> evan perez in times square. thank you for the report. we are will speak more about the security precautions with congressman gregory meeks next. also ahead, a teen made national

news after he got probation after a drunken driving crash that killed four people, an injured many more, and now this so-called affluenza teen is under arrest in mexico, and fighting extradition. crust made, and fills it with all white meat chicken and a rich, delicious gravy. because making the perfect dinner isn't easy as pie... but finding someone to enjoy it with, sure is. marie callender's. it's time to savor.

>> the so-called affluenza te teenager ethan couch and his mother are fighting extradition. we are told they could be sent back tomorrow perhaps laterer, but a surveillance video shows ethan couch and his mother inside of a butcher shop on monday. he is accuse of violating his probation, and there is video shot two hours before the

couches were arrested. cnn's ed lavandera has the latest. >> texas authorities are a i waiting the arrival of ethan couch and his mother tonya couch back here in texas after the pair wiz captured in the mexican resort town of puerto vallarta on the pacific ocean. investiga investigators here are trying to piece together the time line of how ethan and his mother drove from ft. worth to mexico, and what exactly they did once they got are there. and so a lot of the work is still very much up in the air, and still waiting to be done. and however, a slew of problems awaits this family, as they appear back in texas, and tonya couch is facing a felony charge of hindering the apprehension of a juvenile fugitive and she could face ten years in prison on that criminal charge, houf, the case of ethan couch is a little bit more complicated. because he has not technically commited a new crime, but

violated the the terms of the probation, and so they are trying to move his case from the juvenile system to the adult system there. is not a hearing on that scheduled until january of next year, so in terms of the jail time that ethan couch faces is minimal. the prosecutors say they want to move it to the adult system in case he violate s ts the probat again, he could face much stiffer punish mement. the prosecutors and the law enforcement officers here are voicing displeasure with the sen taens that -- with the sentence that he received back in 20 # 13 after killing four people, and the defense of affluenza, and the defense attorneys were saying that he had led a life of wealth and privilege, and because of that, he didn't know the consequences of right are and wrong and clouded judgment, and all of that defense boiling into the situation that has made this such a controversial and hot button story as the

investigators here continue to wa wa wait for the return of ethan couch and his mother. >> thank you, ed lachb dare ra. >> and we are learning that security is being tightened to locations related to celebrations. and one threat mentions los angeles, washington, d.c., and new york. and with me now to talk about this is congressman gregory meeks of new york's 5th district, and he he is a senior member of the house foreign affairs committee. thank you so much, congressman, to be with us to talk about this important topic as everybody is ready to revel, and they don't want to worry about the safety, but they are on having it on their minds after the year we have had. do you know anything more about tightened security in new york and these other cities? >> well, i will tell you that new york is prepared. on my trek to the studio right now in new york, if you go up and down 5th avenue, you will see large units of the new york

city police department, and diverting traffic and preparation for new year's eve is taking place now, and it is not only what you see, but you don't see that is also taking place. and so, i think that, you know, any threat whether it is a threat that has been deemed real or not is taken seriously, and clearly, i believe that the people will be safer in new york city, because all kinds of preparations are taking place as should be. >> and so you are confident that as people are heading to times square, they need to be worried about ushering in the new year, and anything that you want to say to them as we have heard they are going through the double magnetometers this year that should make them feel safer, but something that you would like to say to them as they consider to go out on new year's eve? >> well, first, welcome to new york city. new york city knows how to the bring in a new year, and go out and enjoy and have a good time. you in good hands with the new york city police department and

all of those trained there. and secondly though, you know, you see something, you say something. you know, don't presume anything that is innocent. you know, if you think something looks suspicious, say something to someone, because you are part of the law enforcement team working collectively together, and we are going to be trying to make sure it is all safe. and let me tell you that the new york city police department along with homeland security has been working and sharing information and doing things of the nature to make sure that we are all safe. as i said, if you are, walking around the streets of new york city today, you will see a number of police officer, but it is not only what you see, but what you don't see that is taking place to make sure that everybody is safe bringing in 2016. >> i i know that the threat assessment is going beyond the u.s. at this point, and i want to ask you about something that you may have been briefed about as a house member. in belgium, two people arrested yesterday on a suspicion to be arrested in a plot there about a

possible threat, and possibly connected to isis. do you know anything about that? >> well, the information is being shared, and what came out of paris and the information sharing between the kun tcountr because the borders are porous and people are back and forth and between the french government and the belgians and others in the united states, the information sharing and working collectively together is even stronger than before. and so these kinds of plots that were uncovered will continue to be uncovered. the kind of investigations that are taking place afterwards to see what are the direct links or the indirect links to isis or daesh or whatever you want to call them are, and of course, the concern now is individuals who are radicalized without having to travel to syria or any places where you have the direct contact with daesh. so are there is thorough investigation that is taking place now, and thorough

communication, and working collectively together between the countries and law enforcement agencies, and they will get to the bottom of whether or not the individual that was arrested in belgium were part of the isis plot or not. >> and so basically belgium authorities are still trying to determine the lin hk to isis. >> yes, they r and there are still investigations going on to try to find out going through a all of the computer, and who is linked where, and how they were radicalized, because there is various ways to be radicalized, and that kind of investigation is continuing. we will know something shortly. >> all right. congressman meeks, thank you so is much, and happy new year to you, as we look towards 2016, just two days away. >> happy new year to you, and come on to new york, because it is a great place to bring in the new year. >> it sure is. thank you, congressman. we will be going live to missouri, and speaking to the mayor of one of the devastating cities, and plus how the city is

handling the flooding dangers. and plus, we will get the forecast of who else is in flooding danger. come on in pop pop.

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don't miss a day of brilinta. we are following breaking news this hour on the deadly flooding in the midwest. we have seen homes and businesses underwater, and people are rescued from their cars and homes and the rivers are several feet over flood stage at this point, and 13 people have died in the flooding, and the rivers have not crested yet. it is not going to happen until tomorrow night. just to give you a sense off what folks in this area are dealing with. this house in the st. louis area floated completely off of the foundation, and it has started to move when the floodwaters engulfed it. and so far, from what we can tell, nobody is inside. and this man and his dog made it to the roof. and the roof there for the

house, and this is just in time for the rescuers and the people in a boat to grab the him to safety. this is just one of hundreds of rescue operations there across the midwest. this is near eureka, along the banks of the mississippi, and on the phone we have the mayor kevin coffey. can you give us a sense of situation in your city, and there are many evacuations, and are people listening and taking the safety into consideration? >> yes, we've most people have done very well. we have had a lot of volunteers getting the word out. we have had some rescues. and we had to do a rescue on the interstate today with the boats. we had to rescue a 96-year-old individual from his home who didn't want to leave, but we were able to get a hold of him. we had an older lady with two dogs in to a boat that we had to go out to get. we did have an individual in an

attic. we are not sure how that turned out. he didn't want to the leave the night before. the helicopters could show the heat signature in the attic, but we don't know what happened since then. so that is possibly our biggest concern at this point is that he had no way to escape his attic, and we don't know if he got some family help or not. we did send a boat out there, and we could not get him to leave initially. >> wow. that is one of the biggest challenges that you are facing as you are trying to convince people to take their safety so seriously, and we will wifollowp with you on that one, and that

is a story that we hope has a happy ending. what are the conditions like in your area? >> we believe that we have peak ed about eight hours early. from the predictions. they have downgraded a foot on the peak flooding which is the highest recorded in history, which is a very big deal. it puts water places that we have never seen water. it putts water in some home, and water in quite a few of the old business district that is 150 years ole, and in the 150 years, they have never seen water in some of the buildings. so it has to be, the cleanup, itself, will i expect to easily hit seven figures in the old town area. our biggest problem is over to the next four days, we are going to to be hitting temperatures in the teens at night.

and so as the water recedes, we are going to have power out. we are going to have gas service out, and we are going to have a difficult cleanup. >> how do you prepare, mayor, for people who are going to be dealing with, even the people who as the water is receding, and their homes are not in great condition, but if they are facing freezing temperatures and power outages, how do you take care of the people some. >> i believe that the people are go ing to have to either stay with friends or in shelters. i know that our baptist church offered to shelter quite a few people. i don't know if they have any up there or not, or if most people went to family. we are tight community, and lot of people know each other, and they are willing to help out. so i expect that most people are just staying with friends and family, and that are currently displaced. so they will be displaced, i

believe longer than they expected at this point, because of the difficulty with the cold. >> certainly does seem that way, as we are looking at the condition conditions. as you said, you are expecting the temperatures in the teens. mayor kevin coffey, thank you so much for talking with us, and we le follow up on you especially with the story that you told us about the man who refused to leave his house, and made it to the attic, and we hope that the resc rescuers made it to him. and thank you, mayor, for being with him, and as many as 13 million people in nine states, and this is huge. they are under a flood warning. i want to bring in cnn meteorologist tom sater, and you are very familiar with this town, your hometown, and what are you keeping an eye on? >> well, you are igt rooshgs i paddled and fished this these rivers and i spoke to a aunt and uncle in eureka. and my cousins in ear that the area are seeing the lights flicker on and off, and we have seen the flood ing fing for the

agricultural land, and the rivers, because we have problems with branson, missouri, flooding, and also near the arkansas river. break it down. we should clarify a few things. some of the records from 1993 are going to hold, and some are going to break, but it is south of st. louis. back in 1993, we had massive snowle melt to the north. this is the mississippi and the missouri river valley. everything slides to the south. the meramec river did not have the snow melt problem in 1993, and that is why the records are going back to 1882, and they are breaking them now. and so if you can see little rock with moderate flooding, but the towns to the north and the south are going to have major flooding, and governor jindal in louisiana is putting out a state of emergency for louisiana as well. we are looking for the crest to stay below the record tomorrow, and now, if you will see in paducah, kentucky, and cape girardeau, the all-time record will be broken, and we will follow it from vicksburg to new orleans possibly.

juan more no -- one more note here. the records are stay put from the st. louis northward and yes, flood iing out from st. louis t st. charles and st. peters where they closed down i-70, but west of pacific, they have shut down i-44 and extended it to 270 which is a mario thoreauway and disappoint. and the way it snakes north is where the up to of eureka is, and that is why they are completely cut off and not only one treatment plant, but two water waste treatment plants have been submerged. past fenton at the meramec, it is going to be hitting arnold which is flooding as well. then the record crest south of st. louis when you fet to chest, and historic ste. genevieve and this is the river right here at st. louis where the record of 41.9 is going to be true, but on the meramec, and this is

unprecedented, brianna, and we have never seen it before and that is why the river forecast office and the high drollists are having a tough time deciding where the crest is and what the forecast is going to be, because they have never seen this water this high and fanning out over to the banks. so many times, with a forecast for the crest, it is pushed b k back. first thursday night into friday and now thursday morn g ing to friday. and we are down into the warnings from the eastern u.s. from 41.82 to 44. and now, the worst is south of st. louis following it all of the way down to the delta in mississippi. >> and we are look now at the live pictures that we just got in. are these live or brand-new? ok okay. live pictures coming in from near st. louis. tom, you talked to the your relatives in eureka, and basically, they are isolated between a shutoff highway and the meramec river, right? >> yes, that is the case. and many of the roads such as highway 109 near eureka is

already submerged in many places. as i mentioned the power is going on and off at times, and they are filling the bathtubs trying to prepare, but the forecast is good news, because it is that we are looking for dry conditions in st. louis for the next 7 to 10 days, but the rain causing the flooding theday is parts of alabama and georgia and the carolinas, and this is an interesting stat here, when we talk about the number of deaths in missouri alone, when it come ts to the flood fatal t, 66% due to those driving through the water, but even though out taking pictures now, e brianna, when you have those fell in, playing around or walking in to check it out, you are talking about another 22% or 23% more. so it is dangerous, and the dry conditions will prevail there for the residents are are the there. and that is good news. we will wait and see, and there is another river north of the meramec which is the border of st. louis city and st. louis county and they have called out the emergency sandbaggers to come out monday night.

if it floods, it is going to be flooding historic areas of south ci city, and we hope that does not happen. >> thank you, tom sater, for keeping an eye for us around st. louis. >> and coming up, donald trump said he had no choice but to go after hillary clinton. his defense? she started it. and he said that going after bill clinton is fair game, but so are his past indiscretions, and we will discuss wit with th panel next. rid of my mucusy congestion. oh, right then i'll swing by in like 4 hours. forget the tacos! one pill lasts 12 hours. i'm good all day. wait! your loss. i was going to wear a sombrero. only mucinex has a bi-layer tablet that starts fast, and keeps working. not 4, not 6, but 12 full hours. start the relief. ditch the misery. let's end this.

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it's gotten thinner. even curvier. but what's next? for all binge watchers. movie geeks. sports freaks. x1 from xfinity will change the way you experience tv. . breaking news. we are watching these live pictures coming to us from near st. louis. you can see just how bad the flooding is. some of these, on the higher ground, towards the railroad tracks, you can see some cars above ground. but mostly you cannot. as you look there into the distance, what looks like single story homes are actually two-story homes. the water reaching above the first story. so this is just tremendous

impact that this area near st. louis, north of st. louis, west of st. louis, people there dealing with all of this water as they have some dry conditions. but some really cold conditions approaching. what we understand from authorities is that the worst is still yet to come. some rivers in the area have crested. but a lot have not. and so there is more water to come and the hope obviously is that some people are really taking the evacuation warnings seriously. i want to bring back our meteorologist who is not only monitoring this from the weather center but this is also his hometown area. and tom, we're looking -- these pictures are stunning and i was just talking to one mayor who said, he was dealing with one guy in his community and an elderly gentlemen, who refused to leave his house. and then when, you know, when we see helicopters here, obviously monitoring the scene, a helicopter went back over and could catch a heat signature out

of the guy's attic. but they don't know how that was resolved. if that's one case, there must be other cases of people who are refusing to leave their homes. these are big concerns for authorities there. >> brianna, there are some areas of st. louis that are prone it flooding. the problem is here that some have lived through some flooding before, they will think, well we can do it again. but this is unprecedented flooding along the meramec. now we know north of st. louis, west alton is in between the missouri and the mississippi. it is a flood-prone area. but people do live there and there are businesses there and that was the first area that reported flooding. the city of alton is across the mississippi into illinois. they're fairly safe. there are some roads near the river that are going to flood but the city of alt, which is much bigger, will be okay. this could be south county. that is closer to the meramec river. we talked about valley park.

high ridge where the waste treatment plant is now overflowing. but this could also be arnold. that's the next stop as you travel west to east along the meramec river making its way to the mississippi. so it makes sense that we're starting to see some of the homes here. i wish our affiliate there if st. louis could maybe give us a better indication of where their chopper is flying here. near st. louis could maej north, south, could be east. there are some areas that are flooding on the eastern side of the mississippi river. bellville is a town there, they'll be pretty much safe. there may be some flooding in a town but again there is farm land, industrial areas as well. but this definitely looks residential. my guess this is south county. there's a road, main road that comes off of 272, 55 and 55 is telegraph road. a major thur way. >> tom, this is pacific. this is pacific, missouri.

>> okay. excellent. that gives us a better idea of what we are looking at. to the map to give you an idea where pacific is. we have talked about this, remember the first flooding after west alton up to the north here we had reports in the flooding out of union. that is along, after you go out 44, it's highway 50. but then you get into the meramec river. the next town is pacific. and bre anna, we just mentioned, the forecast, to try to gather a crest, so you could track it down the river, is extremely difficult because it is spreading out now and hard to find it. it is so much easier to forecast a crest if you have the river banks. so what we are seeing is even though union is seeing recession, now we see this here in pacific. now the question remains, has it been like this in pacific or has this happened in the last say 12 to 16 hours? that will tell us the crest is reaching areas of pacific. that's a question mark. we know flooding. however, continues through pacific to eureka and valley

park where jennifer gray is. where i-141 goes underneath 44, that's been submergeed. we mentioned last night they were going to close down 44, and they did last night. but now they've extended it all to 270. i cannot explain enough what a major artery this is for the st. louis area. not just for those in the region but for trucking. if you get over 150,000 vehicles here. they closed down 70 over the weekend. that seems to be much better. again, the problem is not so much missouri and mississippi, though there is flooding, second highest levels. it is meramec and areas south of the mississippi. >> so you have relatives in the next down over of eureka. it seems like they are facing sort of the same conditions that your relatives are facing, which is they are squeezed between this highway that's closed because of flooding. >> right, 109. >> and between the meramec river.

>> correct. again, these are heavily-populated areas. tens of thousands. from union to pacific and eureka. but the flooding is occurring east ward on the meramec. my mother is a mile or mile and a half from arnold where flooding is expected to get worse. this is unprecedented. they were told a month ago in some of the areas that they would not flood. that was the statement by a state and local authorities that they were going to be okay. to take you back to '93 when we had the massive flooding from the snow belt and this is march, in the spring event of 93, many areas west of st. louis, st. charles, historic st. charles, mid rivers area, those areas flooded, tremendous flooding. tens of thousands of homes and businesses were flooding. but then the army corps of engineer spent a lot of money and a lot of time bolstering the defenses of levees out west, helping defenses on dams and areas of the mississippi and

even downtown. they have been able to make it through this. but again, there is not a snow melt and heavy rain event. this is just rain. >> yeah. and you know, so this is pacific, missouri next door to eureka, missouri where i spoke to the mayor not too long ago. just like you said. folks say that they thought maybe this area wouldn't flood. and he told us that they are expecting the river to crest at 4 feet above the record level. so really just tremendous. tom sater, thank you very much. i want to recap what we are seeing here. this is ouj west of st. louis. can you see houses, businesses under water. this is a community, pacific, missouri, that is being squeezed between the meramec river and a highway that cannot be traversed, that has been shut down. population of 7,000 people. many people evacuated. but we're also hearing stories from officials in the area that some people have refused to go.

so we, as we monitor the situation there, are going to see what is happening with these individuals. this river still waiting to crest. we will continue to follow this. that's if for me. i'll be back on 5:00 eastern. amanpour is next. f >> this is cnn breaking news. all right, here we go. top of the hour. you're watching cnn in the united states and all around the world at the moment. i'm brooke baldwin. thank you for being with me. today is a big one. we begin with a bomb shell, involving one of america's most famous dads, bill cosby is charged with sexual assault. this is a felony. he is due in court in pennsylvania minutes from now. let me back up. at least 50 women have accused him of allegations ranging from drugging them to sexual assault. but there is huge because it is the very first time the 78-year-old