. >>> let's bring in karen maginnis in to explain what's happening. karen, we heard from the folks there. you know, you can take good preparations but it's just so hard to stand there and wait and watch. not knowing how high that water is going to get. >> it isn't typically an event that lasts just a day or so. this will go on for months. you saw them cleaning up. there's a presidential declaration that allows them for a speedy cleanup across the region. but the rivers that are still at or above flood stage still hundreds of them across the united states. eastern half of the u.s. from the carolinas to the mississippi valley region into the ohio river valley. so many hundreds of states. but believe it or not, when we were looking at the peak of this event, we were looking at many, many hundreds of rivers that were out of their banks. one of the other things that the people right across the centra mississippi valley will have to deal with are very cold temperatures. at or just above the freezing mark at least at night. their homes have been destroyed, lo

let's turn to our meteorologist, karen maginnis, following the situation. >> reporter: yes, right nowllion people who are under some sort of flood advisory, watch, or warning. there are 16 states where the rivers are at or above -- well above flood stage that include areas such as louisiana, extending toward the carolinas and into the lower great lakes. it is the mighty mississippi, the big muddy that is going to see the problems not just in st. louis where they're not going to see any more rainfall. but they see the fallout from all of the rain that fell between december 26th and the 28th. about tone 12 inches in some cases. and the meramac river which was well out of its banks and establish the new record high for that particular river. now we're looking at downstream, all the way into louisiana where we expect in the next several weeks that all of that rainfall that has accumulated across the basins flows toward the south. it is these basebasins, the s z mississippi, missouri, arkansas, have that have been hit. you see the mississippi river at st. louis, it was not a record-setting