from baton rouge. one of our viewers in that city where they have been through so much e-mailed us today, quote, very few of us give any credence to the promises that the city will remain unscathed. though mayor mitch landrieu said there won't be water in new orleans, he's been kind enough to join us from his beloved city of new orleans tonight. mr. mayor, we should point out nobody wants a drop of water in that city, and we wish we could wish you sunny skies and no potholes for the next 100 years, buwhat makes you so sure? >> we have been working with the corps of engineers. the levees that protect the mississippi are some of the strongest levees we have. the corps has been out every day almost every second of the day monitoring the levees. the morganza spillway was an important component for us. it's going to relieve a tremendous amount of pressure in the city of new orleans. based on what the corps has told us, we believe the city of new orleans is going to be safe. this is a very tragic situation,

thousands of square miles downriver could be flooded, but new orleans and baton rouge would be saved. >>> also mirroring arizona, the second state with some stiff immigration laws. the governor nathan beale signed that law yesterday. the author will be here with me in the studio live and also someone who's against it. you want to hear the conversation. >>> also another conversation you'll be interested to hear, a rare interview with hank aaron, talking about baseball, how it's letting down the black community. also talking about who the real home run king should be. from the cnn center, this is your cnn saturday morning. glad you could spend part of your day here with us. it's 7:00 a.m. in morgan city, louisiana. all eyes on morgan city today. let's talk about this flooding, major flooding has swamped the upper mississippi and ohio river valley is now making aim at lower mississippi. later today the army corps of engineers could open the morganza spill way in louisiana. it has not been opened in more than 40 years. w450i why would they open it now? it could save the cities of new orle

elsewhere on the mississippi, as many as 25 barges broke loose near baton rouge today. two hit a bridge before they could be secured. another dairchler looming is the possible shutdown of the mississippi river as a waterway for shipping. we take a look at the staggering cost of closing down the big muddy. >> reporter: the mississippi river is a vital lifeline of america's economy, but if it rises above 18.5 feet, two fight higher than it is now, the coast guard may have to shut down shipping traffic on the river. with 12,000 ships carrying 500 million tons of cargo annually and 700,000 cruise passengers, new orleans is one of the busiest ports. closing the mississippi would be costly. >> every day that this river is closed, it's detrimental economic consequence not to new orleans but to the entire united states. it's $295 million a day, and it grows exponentially after the fourth day. >> reporter: the mississippi was last closed in 2008 when a fuel barge and a tanker collided, spilling more than 400,000 gallons of fuel into the water. that cost the city of new orleans a

you talk about the traffic, more traffic in baton rouge.eople don't go to new orleans as much because they're afraid of the ramifications of katrina. they don't have places to go. now they're having to deal with this. i know it sounds cliche, but how much more can people take, and what happens to people when they go through these dramas back to back to back like this? >> yeah, this is what you're talking about, symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder. we have a couple states that are affected by it. then you add a new tragedy on top of it, double the level of anxiety. the thing i find most concerning to me about it is it can be intergenerational. that means grandchildren not even born yet will be in some system based on anxiety about the system. it's a matter of pulling together as a community, talking about things. all these emotions do better when we get them out verbally and finding support groups. >> they say let the good times roll. new orleans is a place of happy times. a lot of drinking. a lot of drinking, a lot of eating. serious

almost 13% is brewed in nine refineries lining the river from baton rouge south to new orleans. are these refineries out of harm away. >> the department of energy seems to think so although some local officials are not quite so sanguine about that idea. the pore ganza spillway if it had not been open would have flooded two refineries in baton rouge as it is. there is one flood, or one refinery that's directly in the floodway and is considerably threatened by this. that is the one that is owned by the allen refining company in pratt springs, louisiana. >> tom: stay safe, and our best wishes for you and your crew and the folks you are talking to as well in louisiana. >> thanks very much. tom bearden with the pbs newshour with us from baton rouge, louisiana. >> thesearch giant was the $3 billion. google's move is similar to ones paid by other largetech companies including ebay and microsoft. the company shares have slipped 9% this year so it is likely to use the proceeds to expand. now one option is buying other companies. under the aggressive new leadership of chief executive larr

as we jump ahead to baton rouge, i want to point this out to you. major flood stage, may 16. this is actually going to crest sooner than upstream for areas, including the red river landing, as well as natchez and vicksburg. and then for new orleans, potentially it's going to be at minor flood stage as we go through may 14th, and that is certainly a relief for residents in new orleans. now, we've been talking about the morganza spillway and how it was opened up today. of course we saw that rushing water. we really feel for the residents there that are dealing with the flooding and that are going to be dealing with the flooding -- >> sometimes the best way is to simply explain it. >> we're going to go bill nye on this. >> right about here is where the mississippi river is about here, and this is where it is right now. >> right now we're at 17 feet and the wall is built to 20 feet. so we'll visualize this as 20 feet. because they opened up the bonnet carre, remember that earlier this week, this one actually is about 250 cubic square feet or feet per second. now, that one is one-

so, in saving baton rouge, in saving new orleans, what happens? that water has to go somewhere, folks. and it's going to go in some of those other lower lying areas in south central louisiana. there's reason to worry. areas in yellow that you're seeing here, places could get, folks, some 20 feet of water. the green areas you're seeing, we're talking about some 15 feet of water. we'll have live coverage of the corps of engineers. they're expected to have a briefing around 2:00 eastern time. we'll see what comes of that. i do want to go to our ed lavandera who has been standing by at that morganza spillway. you were giving us the heads up that this could come in the next few hours. is that still what you're hearing? >> we still anticipate that that will happen and really what they're monitoring right now, t.j., is the water pressure throughout the mississippi river as it heads into baton rouge and new orleans and there's a number you need to keep in mind here. 1.5 million cubic feet of water per second. that amount of pressure on the levee system be

south of baton rouge, that would be around saint gabriel is the most vulnerable areas.tch those areas. >> general, thank you. and thank you to mark davis. and our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with all the people down in louisiana. you have a great evening. >>> musicians with a message. >> yeah, i mean left out. ♪ left out, left over ♪ just for carrying the cross on my shoulder ♪ >> they are called mary mary and this is the 21st century face of gospel music. not just singing about god but doing work in his name. that story is coming up. love to hang out in the kitchen. you love the aroma of beef tenderloin, don't you? you inspired a very special dog food. [ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired. pure... and also delicious. like nature valley. granola bars made with crunchy oats and pure honey. nature valley -- 100% natural. 100% delicious. ♪ that the lord has made ♪ that the lord has made >>> that's the gospel you probably know. but this is a gospel selling album in the hundreds of thousands. ♪ i'm walking >> it's hip, it's

the ship will have to wait until dawn to reach baton rouge.emen say they will deliver their cargo come hell or high water. for the crew's return trip, they have to fight the current upriver, a longer journey for the bargemen and their goods. t.j.? >> all right. thanks to our patrick altman there. reynolds wolf will be along in a couple minutes. there is a lot happening with this flooding this weekend. could be a big weekend and a big day, a significant development that spillway could be opened today. >>> other news to tell you about, we're still getting more and more new details about what was found inside osama bin laden's compound. among all those thumb drives and dvds is an unreleased audio message on the arab uprising. the message mentions the popular uprising in tune eesha and egypt but does not mention similar scenes in libya or yemen. >>> pakistan second guessing the relationship with the united states in the wake of that bin laden compound raid. the parliament condemned the action today and demanded an investigation. they're also deman

north of baton rouge, we've got a nuclear power plarnt. south of baton rouge is st. got the water for the nuclear plant. i think we need to start turn our attention to those worst case scenarios and really showing people the worst ones in the worst case scenario. the state and corps has released that now, now we got to get people to listen, chad, and see if they're in that worst case ascenario. >> amelia, morgan city, other people are in danger if you open that morganza floodway. what do you say to them? >> right now a lot of work has been done in morgan city. the national guard is giving them additional protection. but from 191 2, 1927, 1937 and 1973 this area has flooded. down to morgan city. that's one of the reasons why that floodgate was put in morganza to control that water and most of that area is agricultural area. until you get to morgan city which has a ring leavee around it to help protect it. the corps has done a lot of work but private levees have been built to protect homes. we're at a high-risk situation right now. >> general russel honore, thank you v

south of baton rouge, that would be around saint gabriel is the most vulnerable areas.ue to watch those areas. >> general, thank you. and thank you to mark davis. and our hearts and thoughts and prayers are with all the people down in louisiana. you have a great evening. >>> musicians with a message. >> yeah, i mean left out. ♪ left out, left over ♪ just for carrying the cross on my shoulder ♪ . >> they are called mary mary and this is the 21st century face of gospel music. not just singing about god but doing work in his name. that story is coming up. yoo-hoo. hello. it's water from the drinking fountain at the mall. [ male announcer ] great tasting tap water can now come from any faucet anywhere. introducing the brita bottle with the filter inside. consider this: over 70% of firefighters are local volunteers... these are our neighbors putting their lives on the line. and when they rely on a battery, there are firefighters everywhere who trust duracell. and now you can join with duracell to help. just buy specially-marked packs & duracell will make a battery donation t

prepare to open a spillway to prevent the rain swollen mississippi from flooding new orleans and baton rouge. and the squeeze at the supermarket. paying more for less. captioning sponsored by cbs from cbs news world headquarters in new york, this is the "cbs evening news" with katie couric. >> couric: good evening, everyone. intelligence experts going through the evidence seized from osama bin laden's compound in pakistan have found another surprise. in addition to the names of terrorists and outlines of possible future attacks, his computer files contain pornography. meanwhile, there was a deadly act of retaliation in pakistan today for the raid that recovered that evidence and killed bin laden. national security correspondent david martin has details. >> reporter: the first avowed act of revenge for the killing of bin laden. two suicide bombers, one in a vehicle, the second wearing a vest, attacked a pakistani police academy, killing some 80 cadets. it was probably not what bin laden would have wanted, since he urged his followers to attack the u.s., but it surely gave pakistan one more re

and i went down to baton rouge want context of the jewish community they moved from new orleans to baton rouge and house ton and at land tax. in -- atlanta. and in baton rouge people gathered around what you would think of as social services but also interesting was the way people began to talk about their faith or spirituality and some people, dare i say talked about god or jesus and law. and i gained some interesting and interesting and spiritual reflection was spurred on by disaster but not related to a hungry stomach or where am i going to lay my head tonight or get my medications, all quite serious issues. and i was wondering if you see that that along the way with all the other issues that come to the floor like the budget crisis and social services, that faith journey is an undercurrent that stimulates that. >> we do a faith journey every month and michael said for some people it's the most important part of the program. it's amazing to hear some people he is stories. people with relate to almost everybody's story, not all but some. >> and you hit on something important. we'll att

landry parish west of baton rouge have been told to pack up and leave. they have until 6:00 p.m. eastern time. six other parishes in the region are also expected to flood. the evacuations come after the army corps of engineers started opening flood gates on the morganza spillway. more will likely be opened in the days ahead. they're merging spillways away from new orleans and baton rouge, but that puts nearly 4,000 people in the path of that flood. we're joined from st. landry parish where people have gotten the word. they're packing up as fast as they can. ed set up the scene for us. >> reporter: we're in a little stretch of community in a man-made lake called red mile lake, and they've been told they need to evacuate by this afternoon, so we've encountered lots of people packing up to leave their homes. authorities have been going door to door with the national guard, local sheriff's deputies, that kind of thing, urging people to pack up. you see moving vans next to homes and trailers, packing up everything they can and getting out of these areas. what's interesting, though, it

people in baton rouge and south of i-10 need to stay aware of the news. they need to be prepared particularly between south of i-10 in baton rouge toward the river. oh, by the way, that's where my new home is. that's where i live. be prepared if there's flooding from some of the tributaries that might back in or if there's a boil that creates some localized flooding. that could disrupt interstate transportation and movement between baton rouge and new orleans. so people need to stay aware, they need to have a three-day supply of food and water at home. roads could close even though they have shelter at home. that's the basic doctrine of the red cross. >> general hon raore, good to sk with you on such a grave topic. >> let's pray for the best and be prepared for the worst. >> absolutely. thank you, general. >>> in the days after the raid that killed osama bin laden, the world was captivated, even hungry for more details on the operation on bin laden's last moments and on s.e.a.l. team six. those details kept trickling out from the president, the pentagon a

it's expecting to begin burdening the waters away from new orleans and baton rouge. while many homes will be protected, the homes and farms of 2500 people will be expected to be flooded. >> an arrest warrant may be issued for moammar gadhafi. an international close to the courts cells cnn to expect a formal announcement on monday. it's the first time the icc has investigated alleged crimes against humanity. >>> and two islamic leaders in south florida and one of their relatives in california arrested today, charged with providing support to the pakistani taliban. that's a terrorist group with close ties to al qaeda, responsible for carrying out attacks on the pakistan border. three other people were indicted. a federal indictment said all six conspired to kill, injure, and kidnap people abroad. and welcome news for motorists struggling with high gas prices. president obama plans to speed up domestic oil drilling. he made the announcement in his weekly address to the nation. >> i'm directing the department of interior to conduct annual lease sales in alaska's petroleu

. >> reporter: the river is now expected to reach a height of 45 feet in baton rouge on wednesday instead of the record 47.5 feet previously calculated. new orleans will top off at 17 feet and go no higher according to the national weather service. >> the corps continues to assure us there should be no flooding and the main line levees are projected to hold.

any more is too treacherous for the levee systems between baton rouge and new orleans. it can really compromise those levee systems. right now they are more at 1.6 million cubic feast second per water of pressure. that's simply too much. officials here say they will not need to use all of the gates. all of this capacity will not be need but the bonnie carey spillway, one of the spillways that protects new orleans is at full capacity. everything is opened up there. they need to use this. what does that mean for the people that live in the path of this water as it begins the slow process of moving southward, towards morgan city, to the river basin for the area that's flooded out. this river is not expected to crest until after may 24th. we're looking at perhaps mid-june by the time am of this water dissipates and everything gets back to normal. that's the reality for thousands of people who live downstream where we are now. >> thank you, ed lavandera, cnn meteorologist has more information about how opening morganza spillway already has measurable effect on new orleans al

the army corps of engineers could decide to breach a levee north of baton rouge, louisiana, as early as this weekend sparing that city and new orleans while sacrificing thousands of other less populated areareas. >>> now here's a look at other stories making news early today in america. a brazen robbery was caught by security cameras when a thief jumped behind a jewelry counter to execute a smash and grab. the suspect wrestled with one of the employees before getting away with several rings. police have made no arrests. >>> one fugitive didn't have the

baton rouge, there's a spillway opening up north of baton rouge. they say the water levels will be 12 to 18 inches lower than predicted because they're going to open the spillway and that will protect the city of baton rouge and keep the water levels below the levee there. this -- the history of this flood is for all of the areas, not near cities, all of the areas with low eer levees have been flooding. back to you, amy. >>> turning now to the presidential politics where the pool of exon tenders widened. one more republican threw his hat in the ring. the other is expected to make an announcement today. john harwood is the chief correspondent. he joins us from washington. good morning. >> good morning. >>> good week for republicans gearing up to 2012. ron paul launching the third bid for the white house. newt gingrich making his first bid for the white house. mitt romney continuing to defend his health reform, his approach to health care. what do you make of this early batch of candidates? >> it's not complete yet. we're waiting to hear from mitch d

we hope for the very best those in baton rouge and all along the mississippi river and those areas that will be impacted by this ongoing flooding. >>> it has been a tough disaster year in the last nine months, 32

when the morganza river way is opened to save baton rouge and new orleans. cold comfort to leroy mays trying to protect his house. >> we're poor people. i'm not agreeable on opening that gate up, no. i'm not agreeing with that. >> up river in vicksburg, mississippi, highway 61, a main thoroughfa thoroughfare is closed so they can build a levee to keep the water at bay. farmer everett dear is doing the same using dirt from his corn field to construct a 19-foot wall of mud around his house. >> i don't have flood insurance so i've got to try to save it. >> in baton huge, neon colored tiger dams are helled out to protect louisiana's capital city but 10% of the state's on-shore oil production is in the flood zone. more than 2200 wells that produce 19,000 barrels of oil a day. a drop in the bucket compared to the 19 million barrels america consumes each day, but enough to unsettle a jittery oil market. >> there's a lot of tension in the oil markets. any disruption no matter how small has the potential to affect pricing, without question. >> at the north end of bat

can you see in this map the location of baton rouge in the banks of the mississippi river. the objective is to keep heaviest floodwaters away from that area but still affecting some 25,000 people that call this area home. some 11,000 structures, roughly 3,000 square miles that could be in some spots below 20 feet of water by the time this is all said and done. we need the weather to cooperate. rain not in louisiana and mississippi, but mostly out toward the east, some of the heavier showers forming in parts of south florida. in parts of the northeast basically the same situation. scattered rain showers from michigan back into new york city, even into the keystone state of pennsylvania. mainly a rain story but in the higher elevations of mountains, you could see a foot of snow before the day is out. namely the sierra nevadas. chicago, perhaps major airplanes in new york, could face delays. in l.a., 63 the expected high temperature. >> reynolds, we appreciate you. check in with you again shortly. >>> other news now, keeping a close eye on the overnight arrest of the head of t

so we're getting to about may 17th for baton rouge.4th that was over the weekend for new orleans. the crest is over. it won't come up any more now because they've split the flow down one side and to the other side and so evening out the flow compared to what it was. we've also talked about this. the bonnet carre spillway. there's new orleans right there. hard to see, but i'll draw it out for you. it comes down like this and down toward the gulf of mexico. they opened this last week. you can see the bubble of muddy water that's now in lake pontchartrain right there. it eventually makes its way out. but there could still be a problem with the algae bloom later in the season because of all the fertilizer and pesticides in there. i'm going to take you to new orleans and where this entire thing is going to spill out where this morganza spillway will spill. the water will come out of the mississippi river, dirty as it is, whatever it might be. but it will spill where it wants to because it's not being held back any more. it won't be going do

mandatory evacuations as floodwaters pour through a spillway north of baton rouge. and a major figure jailed in new york on sex crime charges. first, the update on the flooding. thousands of people have a couple hours to pack up their things. floods from the mississippi river are heading their way. mandatory evacuations are in parishes. they are from the spillway. four flood gates are open to divert the mississippi floodwaters from baton rouge and new orleans. ed is joining us there. ed is at the scene for me. are a lot of people panic stricken? >> i think a lot of people knew it was coming, quite frankly. we are in the town cross springs, which is downstream from the spillway opened up yesterday afternoon. really, what's happening here is there's a massive levee system following the river down to morgan city. what happens is hundreds of tributaries and creeks that pour into the river. a lot of those creeks will be backed up. that is the reason why this flooding is a concern. it's why officials have been issuing evacuation orders. in a number of the small communitie

they're protecting two major cities, baton rouge and new orleans from severe flooding. >> you see whaty're doing, opening it up so the river rather than forcing down to those places, ends up spilling out into other land but that means other communities downstream are directly in the path of those floodwaters. thousands of evacuations have been ordered right now. cnn's ed lavandera is in one of those communities that's on the run. he's live in boot la rose, louisiana. ed? >> good morning, ali. as you mentioned this is one of those towns that will be initially affected by the floodwaters restricted from the mississippi river into the river basin through that morganza spillway. they had opened up four bays over the weekend, late yesterday they opened up five more. there are nine of those flood gates opened up at the morganza spillway now. that means a lot more water will be flowing down this river. it's a very slow process, kind of pain staking for the people who live ins they communities. yesterday in saint landry's parish north of where we are, there were mandatory evacuation orders iss

baton rouge will see a crest five days sooner and 2 1/2 feet lower than expected. and new orleans is cresting now, right at flood stage. there it is. and then there's the tiny community of krotz springs. the mayor joins me now by phone. thanks so much for your time. i'm sure you're having a very busy day there today. what's happening now? >> krotz does not have any water in it at this time. the main part of time is surrounded by taller levees that the corps' built. we have a railroad track that runs through here. the south part of town never had any levee protection. in 1973 they built a shorter levee, just a temporary levee, but time has took its toll on that. and whenever we got word that we were going to get, you know, high water this year from the morganza floodway, sooner or later it would have to be open and we scrambled and put together and -- well, i say we're in the process of putting together a levee now to protect about 240 homes and -- >> so are people putting up some levees by themselves? are they taping up their homes as we've seen in some communities

the same for natchez and baton rouge. notice we're dealing with moderate flooding for new orleans. that's good news with the area being so low, they need all the protection they can get. >> my goodness, still talking about potentially two more weeks of agony, being on the edge of your seat? >> absolutely. may 22nd. >> jennifer, thanks so much. >>> other stories making news right now. two islamic leaders in south florida and one of their relatives in california arrested today, charged with providing support to the pakistani taliban. that's a terrorist group with close ties to al qaeda, responsible for carrying out attacks on the pakistan-afghanistan border. three other people in pakistan were also indicted. a federal indictment says all six conspired to kill, injure or kidnap people abroad. >>> thousands of people who thought they won a green card to stay in this country are out of luck. the u.s. state department is invalidating results posted on its website because of a computer glitch. every year millions apply for 50,000 green cards. a new lottery will be held in july. >>> welcom

and we have cresting into baton rouge and new orleans. that's because we opened up the spillway. let's show you the riefrl forecast over the next five days. this will tell you that most of the heavy rain is going to be in the middle mississippi river valley and into the ohio river valley. keep in mind, the ohio river dumps into the mississippi. all that will eventually be making its way downstream. we'll have to watch this over the next couple days. places like the white river in indiana. that could start to rise once again. we'll watch some of those spots as well. the other thing we're worried about is if some of the thunderstorms could be severe. we're watching places like central texas where a severe thunderstorm watch sin effect. they could produce tornadoes. be aware of that, and we have stronger thunderstorms in parts of kansas and western iowa. don, if no more rain fell, we would be good as long as the levees hold. unfortunately, we have the rain in the forecast. >> thank you very much. stand by. we'll check back with jacqui jeras. appreciate it. >>> a suicide bombing atta

. >>> the mississippi river continues to swell as it approaches baton rouge louisiana, and the delta but it's slow going and that's a relief for some who are still hoping they don't have to leave. we have more. >> reporter: residents of st. martin parish have been evacuating when a mandatory evacuation order went in effect. thursday those who refused to leave had to sign a waiver. >> i'm not going to put my tail between my legs and run off. >> reporter: most heeded the words, but saturday morning they were unexpectedly coming back. with the river rising slower than expected officials postponed the evacuation until monday morning. >> hoping for the less. the levels have gone down. which we're tickled about. >> reporter: for residents of butte larose it was reprieve. in many cases they left their homes undefended. now they were giving a second chance. >> i have better shot of protecting my property. >> reporter: there are were some whoer in planned to leave in the first place. >> made the decision to leave the last second. we're not going to get out unless it's obviously still does. >>

right now -- we're watching the morgan zap spillway north of baton rouge. the u.s. of engineers is expected to open it in about 30 minutes. casey wian takes a look at how the u.s. army corps of engineers decides which areas to spare. >> reporter: major general michael walsh of the army corps of engineers made the most controversial call yet in response to the historic flooding along the mississippi river. he ordered missouri's bird's point levee blown up diverted water from several towns, but flooding 130,000 acres of farmland, wiping out an estimated $3 million in crops. >> sick to your stomach. farming is all i've ever done. >> certainly i know many of the people who own land there, and i was talking with them. they understood the difficulty of the decision that had to be made. >> reporter: the army corps now faces a class action lawsuit from farmers. >> what we have here is a situation that's of questionable moral ambiguity. how do you choose one set of homes and livelihoods over another? >> reporter: the corps says it was a difficult situation and there were no

baton rouge ten feet not quite as high and same story in new orleans, minor flooding. we'll be talking about the national forecast coming up in a few moments, we'll get to that very soon. >> reynolds, appreciate it. >>> president obama is headed to memphis tomorrow to see some of the flooding firsthand and scheduled to give the commencement address at a local high school that won the white house race to the top measure there. the president is expected to meet the families affected by the flooding in shelby county. they are eligible for aid from the government. >>> another story from overnight a story with international implications here, the arrest of the head of the international monetary fund. dominick strauss-kahn was pulled off of a plane from new york to paris before takeoff, charged with a criminal sexual act and attempted rape of a maid at a luxury hotel where he was staying. more about him and imf in a second. susan candiotti sets the stage. >> it was a saturday afternoon in the times square area of manhattan. the chambermaid had come into the room of dominick

deliberately flooded to protect more populated areas like baton rouge and new orleans from devastating flood levels. we spent our day today traveling up and down the mississippi river in louisiana and in mississippi, and tonight we'll show you its powerful punch in many forms. right here the pace of change is slow yet certain. last night we showed you the spillway from above a helicopter ride. the gates open toded to the gates open toded t divert wr away from mississippi. now the water is rising slowly as you see it. you see the rails that go up behind my shoulder. nose are normally dry. that's the edge of the river. it's rising more slowly than the engineers originally predicted. the folks were told by the mississippi crests near here next tuesday many of the homes could be underwater. dwayne moved here four months ago for the peace and quiet. he likes the birds and the schools. >> a lot of broken hearts right now. a lot of broken hearts. but in the back of our mind we all knew that it would happen. we just didn't know when. so we just, like i said, we just deal with it. that's all we

army corps of engineers could open a flood way north of baton rouge in order to relieve pressure on thevee system and protect baton rouge but put several thousand homes at bayou at risk. >> tough choices they are making during this flooding. >> take a look at our weather forecast for the weekend. >> not only strained across the country but very unusual weather for this time have year. we're talking cold and showers for the weekend. live look outside. we do have some patchy fog. we see sunshine when the sun comes up. good morning, redwood city, 489 and cool and 39 half moon bay. 41 santa rosa, 50 in oakland, concord and mountain view and san jose. 24 hours ago it was warmer with a clear sky and a flightly cooler air mass. we are talking a chillier start and gusty westerly winds will bring a bit of a chill to the coast today but enjoy the overall mild weather because today compared to tomorrow and the next several days, we'll it will seem quite balmly mi clouds move on in. we're looking at showers tomorrow night in to sunday. and thunderstorms could be on the way. with the breeze out ther

the mississippi could overwhelm levees in baton rouge and new orleans, flooding thousands of homes and businesses, dealing a severe blow to the region's ailing economy. further north in mississippi, the flood waters have already swamped the train station. railroad ties are being used to hold back the river in vain. the mississippi won't crest there until next week, and the flood waters won't completely subside until well into june. abc news. >> alan: mike huckabee takes the presidential guessing game to a new level. the announcement, set for tonight, even his advisers don't know whether or not he'll run for president. >> the investigation into a virginia boating accident that killed a bay area native. some survivors never in my lifetime did i think i could walk 60 miles in 3 days. 60 miles compared to what a cancer patient goes through is a walk in the park. from the moment i registered, people started immediately supporting me. i walk with my sister. our relationship has gone to a whole new level because of training together. you meet the most wonderful, inspiring people. when you acc

and places from baton rouge all the way down to louisiana. there is another huge decision looming on a floodway that may affect thousands of louisiana people, people in louisiana just to protect those people in that area i just mentioned. hala? >> and i imagine time is of the essence here. these are decisions that have to be made quickly and will impact thousands of residents. >> reporter: what we're seeing is this flood is very slow moving, and it is moving all according to measurements and expectations. they are able to make plans ahead of time, but they are holding off on decisions to divert water out of the river and into the floodways to the very last minute because they don't want to do any unnecessary damage to the banks and not affect the big cities like baton rouge and new orleans later on down the road. >> david mattingly live in memphis, tennessee, thanks very much. as david just mentioned, there are already these plans to try to reduce the impact of the flooding on cities and towns downstream from memphis. jacqui jeras has more on

opening the spillway diverted the water from the cities of baton rouge and new orleans. >> we keep coming back, and nothing is going to push us out of louisiana. >> people in the path of the flood waters are urged to evacuate. some in this community, just 50 miles from the spillway, are racing to get their valuables to higher ground. >> i'm going to watch it daily. if i see it coming up, you know, if i feel threatened by it, i'm going. >> reporter: ronald per perry has lived in morgan city. >> a nice retirement life, and seems like everything is turning upside-down on us now. >> reporter: mandatory evacuations are now issue ud for parted of the parish, including the three-mile lake area. voluntary evacuations are also in effect. if the residents refuse to leave, they will not be forced out of their homes but they will not be checked on again. abc news, louisiana. >> alan: one of the most powerful men in the world is facing serious charges tonight. up next, the head of the international monetary fund responds to accusations of sexual sexual -- sexual >> all new. the biggest controversy in

farther down river-- near baton rouge, louisiana-- the corps has asked permission to open gates on the morganza floodway for the first time since 1973. that would flood thousands of acres, but might prevent even worse flooding in seven parishes. the corps already opened some of the gates at the bonnet carre spillway, 30 miles north of new orleans, to ease pressure on that city's levees. now, some of the levees themselves need reinforcing against the increasing water pressure. >> we are actually on the backwater levees, these levees attach to the mainline mississippi river levees, and what we are doing is, just for a precautionary measure, we are adding a polyurethane type plastic to the back side of the levee, if they, if the water gets high enough that it flows over the levee and flows down the back side, this helps with erosion to keep it from damaging the levee if the water should go over. >> brown: the potential for catastrophe was evident at memphis, tennessee, where the water may take weeks to retreat, after cresting on tuesday. these before-and-after photographs taken from space

but as you get through the baton rouge and new orleans metropolitan area versus agricultural land that you have already owned a flood easement for. so the people in the floodway know it can be used for that and the alternative is to threaten both baton rouge and new orleans that is pretty easy decision to make. i mean, this flood would overtop the levees in those cities and overtopping means potentially a disastrous breach that could flow for weeks that would, in fact, probably rival or be worse than katrina. >> brown: well, in our last minute, mr. barry, you mentioned katrina. i mean, what do you worry about now? when you look at this system, what points do you look at and still worry about? >> well, i mean, the system has performed very well many times so you always have to monitor levees. there's always going to be some problem on some levee, sand balls and other develops developing but you address them. that's why you have constant surveillance and constant vigilance. this flood is within the design capacity of the system. i won't say i'm not worried, i'm very alert. but it's a ser

particularly for baton rouge. your crest was anticipated to occur later into the weekend, but now it's going to occur fomorrow in baton rouge. meanwhile, upstream of the heillway, we have record levels of the river up to between 55 and 60 feet from vicksburg to red river. vicksburg, your crest will occur l theired. michez after that. back to you, lester. >> see you then. thanks. >> let's get a check of this morning's other top stories. for that we'll head to the news .esk with thomas roberts. >> hi, good morning to you. ood morning, everybody. atioegin with the arrest of the international monetary fund chief on charges of sexually attacking a maid at a morning city hotel. we have more on this story for you. >> well, this news has struck like a thunderbolt in france and around the world. a wealthy and incredibly influential man hauled from the first class cabin of a plane at jfk before takeoff yesterday and then accused of sexual assault in a luxury hotel. he 52-year-old is being questioned by the nypd, but it's cl

now the mississippi river gushes through to save new orleans and baton rouge from flooding. while in the tiny town of port springs 15 miles away, residents have few easy choices. >> gives us trouble every now and then, but you deal with it and keep going. >> reporter: cal evans and his wife karen are staying put at his mom's house despite an evacuation order. >> we don't really have anywhere else to go. >> reporter: they already left their own house five miles south of here. with daughter samantha, a brain cancer survivor, and four dogs, they can't go to a shelter and can't afford a hotel. >> this is the cheapest thing for us to do, stay here until we have to leave, and then spend money. money you know you can't afford to spend. >> reporter: the emotional cost overwhelmed michelle burrdoff. >> i don't know what i'm going to do. >> reporter: this house is everything she owns, and she locked the door and left it. unsure of her future and holding on to her faith. >> take it day by day. give it to god. >> reporter: if there is any good news here, it's that the water in the spill

. >>> a plan to keep the mississippi river from flooding big cities like baton rouge and new orleans means thousands of others lose their homes. they join us from croft springs, louisiana, with the tough plans to save as much of the region as possible. randall. >> this has been an anxiety- filled day. 2000 people were ordered to evacuate. for sure those who remained behind will stay behind as the floodwaters begin to spread. the bay ham store in butte larose is one of more than 10,000 homes and businesses in cajun country sitting inside the morgan zsa spillway. how deep are they predicting it will be? about 12-foot, 12 to 14-foot right here. >> reporter: the army corps of engineers opened the flood gates on saturday on the mississippi. thousands of acres inside the spillway are already flooded and water will soon start showing up here outside the store leslie bay hem's father owns. >> just trying to get as much out as we can. >> reporter: with the evacuation order looming they are doing what they can to protect their property before the flood gets here. >> this is a very poor communi

major spillway was opened over the weekend to divert water from new orleans and baton rouge but hundreds of thousand of acres of farmland and thousands of homes could be inundated with floodwaters as deep as 20 feet. >> pretty tough, sacrificing many for the few who will have to deal with floodwaters. >> our website, someone said i hope you appreciate this baton rouge. >> we'll take the hit for you. >> scary. >>> now talking about monday's forecast, showers and thunderstorms all of the way from new york down to the carolinas. heavy rain in new england and cool in the nation's midsection with morning frost advisories in ten states. up to foot and a half of snow in the sierra range and from seattle to los angeles. >> 57 in seattle, 64 in sacramento and 87 in phoenix. mostly 60s from fargo to kansas city. 70 here in new york, 65 in atlanta and 76 in new orleans. >>> men in mexico really like to look sharp. or maybe we should say extra pointy. we should clarify that. >> a new fashion craze, men go out dancing wearing sequined cowboy boots with pointy toes. >> you got those. >> the toes curl