jim spellman is here, and chad meyers is in the cnn weather center. jim, let's begin with you.? >> reporter: well, fred, it's not good. city officials here, it's shocking. never really heard officials be so frank in their assessment. there's no hope for saving the majority of the homes and businesses in this town. they have had to resort to only diking invite you will infrastructure. they are still working as the water rises. they are building this dike around city hall, and they want to have the command infrastructure here. the water is rising right now and at the top of the levees and the dikz around town is coming over. we heard of small breaches and the water is flowing in fast. it's coming in fast. the 12,000 people here already evacuated, and evacuated knowing, i think, when they come back, the news is not going to be good. all of their furniture -- we have seen houses empty, and people taking kitchen apply yunss, and out knowing if their house is still standing it will need a lot of work to be has beenable -- habitable again. >> i think they are under control with this.

let me bring in cnn's jim spellman. he's in minot. jim, when are they expecting this river to crest? >> reporter: some time later this evening, t.j. maybe another 2 feet of rise. i just got back from touring the flooded zone with the national guard, and it is just utter devastation. block after block, where all you can see are rooftops, much like this area, we've seen right here. and this is the story all across town. the water had just spent all day yesterday and overnight coming up nearly to the roofs of maybe about 4,000 homes that are going to be heavily damaged according to the mayor here. they knew about a week ago, t.j., that they couldn't save all of minot. so instead of trying to build up all of the dikes and levees around town, they concentrated on some vital infrastructure. yesterday we were showing you city hall. today we got a look at one of the main bridges that crosses the the river. the only bridge that's still left standing inside minot. so far, those dikes are holding. they're still working on them and they're just di

cnn's jim spellman is standing on the edge of the once flooded out neighborhood. jim, it still looks like it's very much flooded out. how are things? >> reporter: yeah, indeed, it's crested. people are happy it's not going to come up any higher. but believe me, it's done plenty of damage. just take a look around here. it goes on for blocks and block. we're right at the edge, so these houses only have water up to about their first floor line. even just a few houses down the block, it's higher and higher. it just goes on and on for blocks and blocks. fredricka, this is what you need to get around this neighborhood right now is a boat. it's really the only way to get around. we just went out for a little trip on this boat a few blocks away. some neighbors are here saying can you check on my house and giving us their address. we make it down there and have to bring them back bad news. everyone somehow hopes theirs is the one house that somehow made it. but it just goes on and on with this devastation. it's really heartbreaking for these people who are coming back here

jim spellman is seeing it firsthand, live for us in minot. e look at those pictures, jim, of the street sign, you can't even read the street sign because the water is so high. it's so compelling, the video coming out of there. >> reporter: i know. this is what these people are waking up to. they come back to the river's edge -- to the river, the edge of the floodwater and take a look. it's horrible to imagine that your house is there, underneath that much water. and as fast as this water came up, it's going to take a long time for it to go back down. they'll be fighting this flood for a long time to come. >> the river has gotten high, but the battle goes on. the water came too fast and too high to save the majority of homes along the souris river. the focus has been on erecting and maintaining massive dykes. will they hold. >> second house past the stop sign. >> reporter: for residents at the water's edge, hoping to catch a glimpse of their home, it's been mostly bad news. >> devastating. heartbreaking, heart wrenching. saddened. >> reporter:

cnn's jim spellman is in apache county, arizona. >> reporter: from the air and on the ground, over 3,000s battle the massive fire, back breaking work and grueling conditions. >> folks are putting 18, 20, 24-hour shifts. >> reporter: the long hours fire fighters are putting are beginning to pay off for the first time since the fire began they now report partial containment. lower winds have created more favorable fire fighting conditions. >> it gives them a chance to actually make some progress in attacking the fire, making some good fire lines. >> even though you see a lot of fire and smoke in this neighborhood, this is a good sign for homeowners. these are fires set intentionally to burn away potential fuel so when the front of the fire gets here there's nothing for it to burn and the homes will stay safe. >> we can actually have fire move away from the town as we light it instead of mother nature blowing it down the hill on us. >> reporter: they hope this buffer zone will hold protecting the cities of springerville and eager. the fire has destroyed over 20 homes in nearby grier. >> we

that's where our jim spellman is. jim, any problems with the levees? any more evacuations? >> reporter: well, about a week ago, they realized that the it just goes on for block after block, mile after mile. people are coming back to the edge of the floodwater, trying to get a glimpse of their home. only about half a block away from here, it's up to just under the roofs of houses. that goes on and on and on. it will be at least a week of the water staying at record flood levels. it will be months, at least, until the city is back on its feet. kyra? >>> a man convicted separately of murdering knox's roommate is testifying. zain verjee is in london. this case is pretty strange with the conflicting testimony and what sounds like pretty wild kugs. what's the latest now? >> there's so much confusion around this. let me explain. what's happening now is that amanda knox is going through an appeal hearing, okay? in that hearing, she said i do not know what happened that night. the testimony is centering around this conflicting pieces of information. there is a guy called rudyguede,

jim spellman joins us now from minot where people are still trying to protect other homes from flooding. good morning, jim. >> reporter: good morning to you, pam. we'll start with the good news. this river has crested. it won't get any higher. so that's a bit of good news. and it's even started to recede a little bit. take a look at this. a neighbor came and put this line here on 9:20 local time. last night just about 12 hours ago so you can see already the water's pulled back about this far. but the bad news is look how much farther it has to go here. this is an ongoing disaster for sure. the national guard have been out here all day doing what they can to be sure people are safe. fortunately so far nobody has died or even been seriously injured in this disaster. so that's certainly good news. and the people here of minot are going to need all the help they can get here. these waters are going to stay at record flood levels for at least a week and it's going to be months before they're really back on their feet here. pam. >> all right, jim. can you tell us anything about the weather ri

. >> i want to get straight to jim spellman who is literally driving toward the fire. it's touch and go with our communication with him. we want to get him on the line as quickly as we can. you're near springerville, arizona. you're driving toward this fire. talk to me about conditions. it's the first nonred flag. i imagine a lot of firefighters trying to take use of it while they can. >> reporter: they sure are. one thing allows hem to do is build this line out more stably where they burn away -- they try to bill 300, 400-foot trench so when the fire gets to it it noose where to go. hard to do that with the high winds, it creates spot, blows em berz two, three miles behind the firefighters. they have to pull out and start over again. hope to take advantage as much that's can today to take care of building those things around the populated areas here. >> what kind of tools, jim, are firefighters able to use? >> reporter: everything from bulldozers, to a lot of hand work. not a lot of roads here, they have to hike in, use hand tools to dig out trenches. today because of

we'll go right to jim spellman in arizona. with only 6% containment, why are they so optimistic suddenly? >> reporter: yes, only 6% contained, but yesterday the wind pick you wanted and they are blowing hard. all the lines have held so far. they have created barriers between the occupied towns and the head of the fire by doing purposeful burns and getting rid of fuel in between them. so far that's held. and most of the winds are blowing the fire back on itself. so much progress that they have reopened the towns of eager and springerville. when met a man here earlier this week, he used a sprinkler system here and has a metal roof on his house. he felt he could defend the fire and didn't want to lose his home. it was less than a mile over this ridge. and here's rick himself. this is rick law. show us some of the embers that flew from this fire that you are here to protect from. >> this is what was flying. stuff like that. that's had the needles on it when it landed. >> reporter: if this landed in the wrong place, it could have c

cnn's jim spellman is in minot with the latest on this disaster. >> reporter: t.j., it's been heartbreaking for the people of minot, north dakota to watch their city fill with water over the last few days. this was once a major intersection with a train track an a tune that'll went under it. and now you'd think you're in the middle of a pond or a lake. 4,000 homes under water, t.j., 12,000 people evacuated with uncertain futures. they knew days ago that they couldn't protect this whole city from the floodwaters. the dikes they had were just too low. with the water coming fast, time running out, they focused only on critical infrastructure like city hall and police station complex here. they've built these temporary dikes here that were higher but you can see only after a day of having heavy water against it, already storm drains are backing up, they have to pump water out from the other side of the dike. it's been quite an undertaking for them. we've seen residents come back to take a look, see if they can get information about their homes. what they founded so far is mostly bad news. >> i

t.j., back to you. >> thanks to our jim spellman. i want to turn to our reynolds wolf joining me this morning. good morning to you, kind, sir. they had a small window of time were the winds were down. when does the window close? >> the window is closing right now and later today we will see the wind pick back up. take a look at this video, in a few places you've seen these image, the ground that looks flat, few plateaus, much of the area where they're fighting the battles with the wildfires happened to be in a big mountainous area. with winds forecast to be around 30, 40 miles an hour, it's a fact of pushing those flames outward. when you have a process that comes to fires called crowning and you have the tops of trees on fire when the wind comes along, kicks it, pushes the embers, sparks and flames from tree to tree top and as it goes at the hillsides the air tends to dry out, the foliage even more. continues to feed on itself. the winds are not strong, only in the single digits. a few places, some exceptions in northeast arizona. l

. >> cnn's jim spellman joins me. jim, set the scene for us. any sign they're getting control of this massive fire? >> reporter: absolutely not yet, randi. still zero percent contained, despite having 2,500 firefighters on the ground. this morning, one of the firefighters described the fire simply as a monster. they have not been able to get any kind of control over it. one of the big things they're dealing with here is the wind. we know that in wildfires like this, weather is the key to getting a handle on it. 25 mile an hour sustained winds, 40 mile an hour gusts. creating what they call spotting where embers can fly several miles behind the fire line, creating fire on both sides of the firefighters. already at least one base camp had to be evacuated after fire came into their camp. really difficult. and it's only about -- the edge of the fire is about ten miles this way, not far over that ridge. so far, if there's any good news from this monster fire, is that it's been in largely unpopulated areas in apache national forest. but we're here in

let's bring in jim spellman standing by. t hour since i talked to you, you talked about a minute by minute, hour by hour. how is it changing hour by hour? >> he yeah, people are starting to call this lake minot, t.j. we sat here all day watching this little part of minot especially disappear. this is a road that went down underneath a railroad trestle here into the main part of the evacuation area here. we watched the street signs disappear and everything. you can see how high it is up to the traffic lights. what's impressive, t.j., is even though it surpassed the record, this water rises about another 7 feet. i'm 63th. that means this much more waurlt. that will put these makeshift dikes around city hall and the police station into jeopardy. they're just about at that level. they're shoring them up all day, adding sandbags and plastic drapes. originally they thought it would crest on tuesday, and then it was monday and sunday and now we think tomorrow night. they're running out of options, t.j. >> we talked about these evacu

. >> jim spellman is live in springerville, arizona, this morning. jim, the national weather service has issued a red flag warning because of the possibility of rapid and erratic fire growth. tell us what that means. >> yeah. that's red flag warning. low humidity, high winds and that's what's been feeding this storm. yesterday a firefighter described it to me as a monster. there's been a good side to this monster fire, so far it's hit mostly unpopulated areas and a huge national forest. that could change in springerville and eager a community of 7,000 fipeople. residents have been told leave if you can, be ready to go, they wa last thing they want to do is evacuate people in the middle of the night. here's what the incident commander told us about that yesterday. >> the further ear vac wayses will come from if this does not hold tonight and we get something started down in -- down lower or we have a run that starts up in here and hits our original trigger point. and it hits it hard or it's running real hard when it gets there. >> reporter: so this is

thanks to our jim spellman. we turn to another extreme, take a look at this, folks.t is june, this is in massachusetts where it's been 70, 8090 degrees and they have this mound of snow still sitting there. reynolds, i ask you, how this is possible? >> it's magic, t.j. >> it really is. that's exactly what it is, yeah. no basically what happens, looks like a frozen crust so to speak. this will melt away but it's a sheer testament to how much snowfall we had in the northeast and parts of the northern plains and upper midwest which hence caused so much of the flooding. that will eventually be gone. it's not going to happen instantaneously. >> insulated, has that dirt on top. >> this dirt they are doing sandbagging along the missouri river. as reynolds has been keeping us up to date, the missouri like you said kind of the baby brother to the mississippi river. but a lot of folks north and south dakota, nebraska, iowa, kansas, missouri under flood watch and we could see historic stuff coming their way. how long will they be under the gun. >> for quite a while. possibly the

let's bring in jim spellman, he's been there for days now and you have seen the evacuation spread, some an idea of what people are able to do, if anything at this point. >> reporter: yeah, hey, fred. not much they can do at this point, the city has just become inundated with water the last 24 hours. people are trying to do what they can. there's people in helicopters, they're trying to drop sandbags on things that pop-up. they're pumping water out of the city hall complex. water that's backing up through the city storm drain system and they're continuing to work on dikes like this that they have to protect the more valuable infrastructure around town, the city hall, major bridges, things like that. about 12,000 people have been evacuated, they're still up here on the edge of the flood trying to get a glimpse of their house. but they know if they live on this side of the floodwater, their house has sustained heavy damage. you can't tell, but this is a railroad bridge and a road that went under this tunnel, it's just been taking away by this flood. >> we're about nine hours away from wh

jim spellman is there. reporter: kyra, the water is starting to come up here. yesterday, it reached the top of all of the levees throughout town except for a few like this one that they've built up to try to protect vital infrastructure. this is a complex here that has a library and city hall and the police station. they've built temporary dikes around some schools, an important bridge that crosses the river. everywhere else, they've had to concede there's no way they'll be able to build these levees high enough to protect the bulk of the city. this river is being fed from flood waters and rising waters from canada. just right here, in these low-lying area, we've seen the water come 8, 10 feet towards us. and it's flowing much faster every ten minutes or so, it seems to pick up the pace. all these people that have left, they've resigned themselves to having heavy damage. people are pulling up carpet out of their house figuring it's easier to do it when it's dry than when it's wet. they hope to at least keep

. >> jim spellman is with us now in eagar, arizona, jim, excellent reporting, they say the folks thatad to leave their belongings behind. pack up families and pets and everything. how are things going for folks there? a lost people still staying behind? >> yes. certainly some people -- suzanne, the sheriff's deputies going door-to-door trying be sure as many people possible they convince to get out. but if somebody wants to stay, they let them sign a waver, saying they acknowledge risks. we've certainly met several people around town planning to do just that. they have hoses, shovels, sprinkler systems going to stay and defend their homes. now, i think everybody can understand how hard it can be, a choice to make to leave behind your home and have so many memories. this fire is less than three mile as way from town. it's certainly a huge risk, i think it's fair to say, to say behind. i think possessions can be replaced but people's lives can't, suzanne. >> are they worried that those people who stay behind are in danger? you might have a situation people end up dying because they stay

jim spellman is on the phone near springerville, arizona, one of the towns threatened by the flames. give us a sense what is taking place today? are we seeing any progress against this huge fire? >> reporter: despite nearly 3,000 firefighters on the scene here, and more on their way, it's zero containment. we just got that word. they're trying to create the buffer zones to get the fire to go around these communities. it's becoming a battle for springerville. this is what they're focusing on. the forest, there's just for way they can get in there and stop it. there's so much fuel, so dry, such low humidity and these constant winds are making it almost impossible. if they can save these communities from major harm, that's their goal for the next two, maybe three days. suzanne? >> are people still in their homes, in their communities that are perhaps in danger? >> reporter: there are people still here, for sure. lots of people have evacuated. some people -- want to ride it out, saying they'll be okay. if they're not already out, getting ready, they're only keeping one road out of town,

swim spellman is live from springerville. jime of the people there chose to stay put. they never left. they didn't evacuate. >> reporter: yeah, that's right. to start with, i just want to tell you, these firefighters have made unbelievable progress here. nobody thought people would be able to return to their homes this early. we were hearing estimates of the end of this week at best. we're at the home of rick law. he's one of the folks who decided to stay. the sheriffs came and visited, said, hey, you may want to leave. he said, i'm staying. he had a plan. he has sprinkler systems around his house to douse any embers that might make their way here from the front of the fire which was only a mile away. metal roof on his house he felt made it a little more defendable. deb, i want to show you this. these are embers that flew from the front of the fire here to rick's yard that they were able to put out. so he's really glad he stayed. he also used this 4 x 4 and this water tank to fight the fire. this is rick here himself. he's lucky

cnn's jim spellman is in eager,arizona. jim?ng only 6% contained, firefighters here are very optomistic about where this fire is headed an very pleased with the progress they've made this week. they took advantage of two days of low winds to build lines between the active fire and the populated areas. so happy with their progress, in fact, that they were able to reopen some of these areas. >> as of sunday, june 12 at 10:00 a.m., residents of the springville, eager and south fork areas who were evacuated because of the massive wallow fire have been allowed to return to their homes. after consulting with fire officials, it has been determined that fire risk has democrat initiatived enough that it will no longer be a threat to the citizen of the towns. >> that is good news for the thousands of people who evacuated eager and springerville but returned to find absolutely no damage to any structures in either of these two towns. but they will find smokey conditions. authorities have recommended that small children, the elderly and peo

jim spellman was there. any word on how much damage has been caused there? >> reporter: fredericka, just this morning we heard from officials here that about 4,000 homes have flooded. it's really terrible. we're right at the edge of the floodwater in northwest minot, you can see this did he have vase tags here. you don't have to go but a block or two before the water is up to the roof. some people along the edges have been a little lucky, they built sort of sand bags around the homes and they are just hoping that it didn't come up a little bit more and they got a little bit lucky. it ended up being 2 feet less than estimations. people have been showing up to take a peek down into the flood area and see how their own homes made out. most of them have found pretty bad news unfortunately. >> it's a somber feeling sitting here, listening to sirens go off and coming back the next day and seeing this, it's disheartening but we'll get there. we're healthy, we'll get there. >> reporter: and unfortunately fredericka, it's the same story all over town, people coming u

we get the latiest now from cnn's jim spellman. >> it's been a heartbreaking few days for the peoplehey watched their city fill with water. a few days ago, this was one of the busy pain intersections. right now it looks like a pond, a lake in the middle of downtown minot. 4,000 homes underwater, 12,000 evacuated. they knew days ago they couldn't stop the onslaught of water from flooding the bulk of the town. they've had to concentrate their efforts on saving vital infrastructure liking this police station and city hall complex. so far these temporary dikes are holding, there's already water seeping in to the other side and storm drains backing up. that necessitated them pumping water out like this. we've seen residents trying to peer into the flood zone and see if they can get any information about their own homes. so far they're finding mostly bad news. >> i had tears in my eyes this morning, you know? sickening feeling because i know when i come back, it's probably not going to be worth fixing because the house is almost 100 years old. >> it's going to be a long way for people like

we heard from our reporter jim spellman earlier that very few people are actually staying in shelters. >> yeah. very few. i think there's a couple hundred people there in shelters. it's kind of amazing. we evacuated almost a third of our city and everybody's been able to find friends and family to take them in. a pretty phenomenal community here. >> what are you hearing about, you know, when the waters might recede enough for you to actually go to your home? are you anxious to go to your home to see what kind of damage is done? >> very anxious. especially after today. >> just as we stood here over the last hour, it's receded a couple feet. it needs to recede a lot more for us to be able to get to our home. but they're expecting a week or two weeks here before it recedes and gets back into its channels. >> brandon and allison, you all seem awfully jovial and kind of relaxed about it all. it's a difficult situation for everyone. you two seem to be taking it in stride. do i have that read right? >> at times. at times we take it in stride. i guess we have to laugh a little and have to enj

jim spellman joins us now from minot where the race to protect people and their homes continues. > reporter: good morning to you, pam. take a look at what people in minot, north dakota, are waking up to this morning. just neighborhood after neighborhood flooded just like this. not a half block down the street the water's up to the roof line. it's just devastating. even though the water's crested it won't get any higher, the battle to fight this disaster continues. the river has gotten as high as it will get but the battle to save minot goes on. >> putting rings around where we think bad spots are. >> reporter: too fast and too high to save homes. so the focus has been on erecting and maintaining massive dikes around vital infrastructure. even though the river has crested it's expected to remain at flood level for at least a week. the question remains will the dikes hold? if they don't even more homes than the 4,000 currently flooded can expect to take on water. >> just the second house past the stop sign. >> reporter: residents showing up at the water's edge hoping to catch a glim

. >> thank you very much, jim spellman. >>> the murder trial of casey anthony, the latest testimony includesls about duct tape, hair and bugs. host: do people use smartphones to do dumb things? man 1: send, that is the weekend. app grapgic: yeah dawg! man 2: allow me to crack...the bubbly! man 1: don't mind if i doozy. man 3: is a gentleman with a brostache invited over to this party? man 1: only if he's ready to rock! ♪ sfx: guitar and trumpet jam vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. and all we need to do is change the way we're thinking about them. a couple decades ago, we didn't even realize just how much natural gas was trapped in rocks thousands of feet below us. technology has made it possible to safely unlock this cleanly burning natural gas. this deposits can provide us with fuel for a hundred years, providing energy security and economic growth all across this country. it just takes somebody having the idea, and that's where the discovery comes from. >>> welcome back, everyone. we're coming to you live from new hampshire where cnn is getting ready for m

jim spellman is live there with that part of the story. >> reporter: good morning, christine. orders, residents here really want to stay, the sheriffs will let them, forcing people here to make some difficult decisions. while firefighters battle the wallow fire, residents in eager face a serious question, to stay or go. for now dave hunt is staying. >> we've got so many firefighters here that they've protected other small communities, and i know they're going to do a good job protecting eager. >> reporter: a house full of memories in a town he's come to call home. >> my dad built this place. he's gone now. and i love this area so much. >> reporter: but he's hedging his bets. his harley and his car are packed and ready and if conditions change, he'll hit the road. >> i'm ready. just grab the cat and run. >> the main thing is the dog that's in the front there. >> reporter: next door rodney and bob have decided to leave. >> we're just going to get out of here since they want us out of here. we don't want to go, no. >> reporter: but with the fire just a few miles away, they don't

i want to bring in jim spellman, who is live for me in minot, north dakota. jim, we know we keep talking about this flood. it's historic, breaking records. now more rain on the way? >> it's been raining on and off this afternoon, and will be more of the same tomorrow, brooke. this is where we are right now. this looks like a pond or something. this is a hill that goes down to a tunnel underneath railroad tracks here. you can see from these stoplights here how high the water is. we've watched all day. this is a major intersection right here in downtown minot next to the city hall building. we watched it rise, and it's tragic. just beyond there is a neighborhood full of people's homes. people are stopping by to look across here, and they know even if they can't see their house, that the worst has happened. what's really shocking and hard to get your head around is we've now broken the record from 1881 of the largest flood. this will rise about another 7 feet. i'm about 6'3", so try to picture this much more water. it's going to put all these buildings around her

. >> thank you, chad, and thank you to jim spellman as well. >>> and a woman caught in the crossfireblings dead and she needs help with a new leg. we will introduce you to a fiesty 5-year-old. host: what, do you live under a rock? man: no way! man: hey rick check this out! anncr: geico. 15 minutes could save 15% or more on car insurance. [ male announcer ] breathe, socket. just breathe. we know it's intimidating. instant torque. top speed of 100 miles an hour. that's one serious machine. but you can do this. any socket can. the volt only needs about a buck fifty worth of charge a day, and for longer trips, it can use gas. so get psyched. this is a big step up from the leafblower. chevrolet volt. the 2011 north american car of the year. >>> well, some strong words from outgoing defense secretary robert gates after a farewell visit to afghanistan he stopped at nato headquarters and told the allies that the organization faced a dim if not dismal, end quote, future and even military irrelevance. he singled out missions in afghanistan and libya as sore spots where other members of nato we

cnn's jim spellman is live in minot where people now expect record flood levels. the forecast or no? >> reporter: might get a little bit of rain but the problem is the rain getting up in canada. the other day they got six inches in one day and that's gone beyond the capability of the dams upstream to hold the water back. they say at this point it's a done deal. this city will flood and trying to mitigate what they can. you can see the water's already coming up fast. this is a street right here, an intersection. it's filling up fast. coming up about -- advancing towards us about a foot every hour or so. still even with the water coming up, people are trying to save their property. they're building the temporary dikes here. this is around a business. coming over to this side, see this one around city hall and the police station here. they know they can't save the whole city, kyra. they're trying to preserve the valuable infrastructure that they can to manage the disaster as it continues. >> jim, thanks. >>> also this morning, we are learning more about the ten kls o

jim spellman joins me live from apache county, arizona. what's the latest from there where you are? -- >> can you hear me? >> reporter: sorry, are you there? hi, randi. yes -- >> tell us what's going on there. >> reporter: they lifted the red flag warning, winds are lower, humanity's up and it's given them their first break in ten days to get a handle on this fire. they've got a large plane, initially they were going to get i 747 now it's a dc-10 ready to drop retardant if conditions stay like this. they're working backfires where they intentionally set some fuel on fire so when the fire gets to it, it's starved and won't make it into any towns and hit structures. 300, 400 feet is their goal. we hope to see what kind of progress they make. hope today is first day they can get some handle but containment is days off, at least. >> so far where you are, what's the damage like? what type of equipment do these guys have to battle something like this? >> reporter: well, they're up to now over 3,000 firefighters here, all of the stuff you might see, pumper trucks, plus giant bulldozers and

jim spellman is on the ground there. is it as dire as i'm making this out to be?uge, drew. i mean listen, take a look at this. the water has already started rising overtopping the levees in the town here. this water is going to come up about nine more feet. that's going to put it above the first -- into the second story of many houses. they've given up here even attempting to protect the whole city. there's no way the existing four-foot high dikes are going to hold. they need at least 20 feet and in the last couple days they've kept revising that. all they're going to dro is try to save vital infrastructure. they've built likes like this around selective infrastructure. they've got revised numbers and had to add three feet to the secondary dikes around the vital infrastructure. they say they have the resources, bulldozers, almost 700 national guardsmen here but running out of time. this thing could crest saturday, maybe into sunday and it's going to start going really fast. another ten feet to come up in two days. so it's -- you're not overexaggerating anything. t

james spellman looks at the damage this morning. good morning, jim>> reporter: good morning to you, tori. yeah. take a look at what people in minot, north dakota are waking up to see. just flooding for block after block, mile after mile. it's a lot of water, a lot of damage. as the sun came up monday, the national guard patrol -- the national guard patrolled the streets. assess -- assessing the damage after the sourus river crested. some homes are under 11 feet of water. 12,000 people were evacuated. >>> you know, not hit your area or maybe not as much water is gonna come over. but we did get quite a bit of water. emotions ran high. >> devastating, heartbreaking, heartwrenching. >> reporter: over the weekend the sandbag areas and fema has authorized sending assistance to minot. but with the river expected to stay around flood stage for the next week or so, cleanup is on hold. even so, some residents are just thankful they got out in time. >> it's a lot of sobering people who have been forced to evacuate all of this floodwater. it will be a long time