francois tells dominique to travel to new orleans and ward ever won the rebels are coming to go to new orleans and take cover, get out of the way of this rebel army. he sends his wife and children to hide in the same swabs that were harbors for runaway slaves. francois makes a different decision. he does not follow his own advice. he was notorious for contempt for his slaves. he kept a slave boy named gustav as a house pet. he would make them crawl around and toss him scraps on the table. this is what other planters said about him as a you can only imagine what the slaves said about him if they had written down their description of what it was like. so the francois believing in that fundamental ideology of plantation slavery that they were not people but animals, instead decides to take a stand on his plantation to faced down the rebel army. when they see him he tells them turnaround and go back to your plantations and they will listen because he is their master and they will be a fan as he tells them to behave. francois does not wait long before he sees the wisps of smoke of burning p

new orleans -- from? new orleans. i've been there once. a lot of it has to do with new orleans. and there is a sort of rivalry, maybe a little jealousy, maybe dismissiveness in communities outside of new orleans because of that, because they think, you know, everyone hears about mardi gras, and they immediately think of what goes on about eight yards that way instead of their version which is quite different. but, yeah, this book was very much about me getting out and exploring that world outside of new orleans and, hopefully, being a guide that other people who feel the same way about louisiana could follow. as far as the stereotypes go, yeah, it's, you know, especially if you follow the typical script, it's easy to think it's just, you know, life on the bayou is like a hank williams song, you know? one of the first things i tried to get through was just the idea of cajun country. i call the book exploring america's cajun and creole heartland because quite a bit of the area i explore is heavily black, heavily creole. that's kind of a tormented term in south louisiana, but in so

so much has been said, done, written about new orleans. what is the point of this particular documentary? >> a hurricane did hurricane damage to the gulf coast but what almost killed new orleans was not a hurricane. when it passed by new orleans, this was on a category one or a weak category two, it was a catastrophic failure of the hurricane system. it took them four and a half decades to almost complete the project and it failed in more than 50 places under storm surge conditions that were less severe than was supposed to withstand. it was a catastrophic situation. people talk about the government and all of that. unless you have read these reports by the investigations, you don't know why those people suffered, why those people drowned. >> i heard you say that it took four and a half decades to almost complete. >> it was not completed. >> i have heard of government bureaucracy, how does any entity work on a project for four and a half decades and it still not completed? >> in its original budget a timeframe for construction, completion

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, really for everybody in america and of course the people who live along the atchafalaya basin and in morgan city, and our hearts go out to them, but we have every reason to believe based upon the information the corpses has given us and the inspections that have been done, that new orleans is going to be safe. >> reporter: so ma

can't wait for new orleans to come back. d it has been, but now we have this new tragedy to worry about. >> dr. wendy, i want to tell our viewers that you're looking at live pictures now. this is from our affiliate wdsu. this is right across the river from the french quarters. jackson square, right. it points right across there? andreas is my executive producer. he's from new orleans. i'm from baton rouge. you take the ferry over or the bridge. there's two sets of levees, an old levee and a new levee. it's topped the old levee and it looked like it's going to top the new levee. this is about 90 miles downriver from the morganza swillway. algiers point. that's what everyone knows. since we're talking about that now, let's bring in general russel honore. if the water is already high here, what is going to happen when it comes down from the morganza? >> you know, that crest will have less than a foot to spare as the projecting stress. and they have done a superb job until this point, but they're working with nature. and they hav

and the last white mayor of new orleans was their father, "moon."e city in the 1970s, when it was bitterly divided by race and class. his most important step was integrating city government, and setting the stage for a succession of four black mayors. mitch landrieu's election broke the streak. as you well know, new orleans has been dominated by white business elite, black political elite. but you're neither one of those. so, do you represent a new way, a third way of doing business in new orleans? >> mitch landrieu: well, yeah, i think so. you can't hide behind race anymore. you can't hide behind class structure anymore. you can't hide behind family. you need to produce. i have to be honest with you, i get a little frustrated that things don't move more quickly. sometimes, i think i was born in the northeast because i have a couple of, you know, not-so-good things about me. i'm impatient, i'm hot tempered, i want to go faster rather than slower. i don't understand why things take so long. at the same time, i have to admit to you that you don't want

missed new orleans thirty five miles new orleans was on the weak side new orleans the new human experience are if a force winds and yet we destroyed a major american city and twenty four ounce. the in the air. in the middle of a. drain. millions around the world have heard hurricane katrina stories of death survival and rebirth. but has received far less attention is how the storm's devastation was intertwined with a handful of questionable decisions made in recent years across southern louisiana . in two thousand and five ivor was named director of the louisiana state university hurricane center. louisiana chose him to lead its investigation into the levee failures during hurricane katrina. didn't take me very long to realize that there was one agency to blame and i was a call vention s. for shoddy shoddy engineering. after i've ever published his official levy report his university contract was terminated. before we both were living. in the superhero trade schools before we cut out everything with oil and gas taxes and else we used to have very extensive cypress swamps all the way along

. >>> plus, a voodoo priestess in new orleans. >> voodoo recognizes an invisible world of great power and of spiritual power, and that the surface reality is really just the surface of things. >>> major funding for "religion and ethics newsweekly" is provided by the lilly endowment, an indianapolis based private family foundation dedicated to its founders' interest in religion, community development, and education. additional funding by mutual of america, designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and the corporation for public broadcasting. >>> welcome. i'm bob be a ber nety. it's good to have you with us. faith based relief groups rushed this week to help victims of deadly storms and tornadoes that struck parts of the midwest and plains. in joplin, missouri, the hardest hit, at least 125 people were killed by one of the worst tornadoes in the u.s. in 60 years. more than 200 people remain missing. volunteers are helping with the massive cleanup and providing food and shelter to the homeless. missouri governor jay nixon sin

for the city of new orleans. for communities up and down the flood zone like morgan city, they are doing everything they can to protect themselves. with time running out, they can only hope it is enough. brian? >> anne thompson starting us off in morgan city, louisiana, tonight. thanks. >>> this flooding is a disaster. some of it historic, epic proportions, but something else is also true. it was predicted. we knew it was coming. we want to show you why, these numbers just came out today. this is snowfall this past winter. that number there on the left hand column is percentage above normal and the number on the right is actual inches of snow. columbia, missouri over 346% more than they usually get. here in new york city, about 5 feet of snow, philly 44 inches, and so on. that was the setup for what we're seeing right now in the south. and what about the future? weather channel meteorologist chris warren in their headquarters with us tonight. hello, chris. >> brian, we're taking a look at the effects of opening t

the mississippi river is already dangerously high in new orleans. the army corps of engineers is hoping that by diverting water through two spillways will lower the river level and spare the city. so far, the corps says opening the morganza spillway appears to be having the desired effect. the biggest test is still days away, the highest water, hundreds of miles up river. this is greenville, mississippi, that you're looking at right now. a live report from there, and it is being inundated, straight ahead on cnn. let's get right to ed lavandera who was there when the morganza spillway was opened just about three hours ago. ed, tell us about it. ed lavandera is joining us on the phone. ed, can you hear us? >> reporter: just a while ago, this is the area that was all dry several hours ago, but since they opened up the first floodgates of the morganza spillway, this is what has been drowned out. as we've mentioned, this will be a long, slow path to the gulf of mexico west of the mississippi river, all of this done of course because the water pressure ha

that cost the city of new orleans an estimated $2 billion. new orleans imports everything from rubber to computers, and the oil industry is still reeling from last year's gulf oil spill. upriver in baton rouge, exxonmobil closed its dock operations today. >> it just causes economic damage, if you will. the plant would have to shut down. they won't be able to receive product or send product out so things just come to a standstill. >> reporter: for now, the coast guard is monitoring the river levels closely in this makeshift command center. >> we're trying to do everything we can to keep all waterways open but we also understand that at certain points we've got to look at the safety of the mariners and the safety of the flood control structures. >> parts of the cumberland and ohio rivers that flow into the mississippi have already been closed to boat traffic. russ. >> mitchell: maya rodriguez in organza, louisiana, thank you so much. here's what else is happening tonight. three pakistani americans, a miami imam and his two sons were arrested to

while downstream new orleans prepares for the worst. i'm russ mitchell, also tonight, interrogation debate. in the wake of the raid that kill kd osama bin laden, a renewed argumentsover whether harsh interrogation techniques work or cross the line. distracted drivers. think you can text safely while behind the wheel? well, try this simulator test first. and honoring a hero. the u.s. names its newest warship for a navy seal who died in combat in the afghanistan war. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: and good evening, floodwaters are rising tonight and so are anxieties up and down the mississippi valley with memphis most immediately at risk. take a look. this is the mississippi and its tributaries in normal times. these are the waters this evening. and these are the counties facing flood warnings. the waters are expected to crest in just two days in memphis which is where randall pingston is standing by live. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, russ the u.s. army corps enginee

and 80s from atlanta to new orleans. >>> well, coming up, you're not going to believe this. the oreo gets supersized. we're going to show you the new look of the supersized oreo. >> you like your cookies. you may like this story. >> not this big. this is ridiculous. >>> plus, "two and a half men" may have a new star, finally, to replace charlie sheen. 14 and from the southern flood zone, small towns brace for floodwaters, set to cover their homes in order to save others. >>> well, if you used debit card recently to buy art and crafts supplies at michael's, your account could be compromised. a p.i.n. entry pad at 20 states were tampered with. michael's is replacing thousands of those p.i.n. pads. customers should keep an eye on their bank accounts, just in case. >> just doesn't end. >>> good news now. retirement accounts are coming back from the recession. the average 401(k) is up 12% from a year ago. fidelity investments says account balances are at their highest level in nearly 13 years. as much as 75,000 bucks. much of that is due to growth in the stock market. >>> mortgage

army corps of engineers, new orleans office. i know you're very busy. what is your biggest challenge right now? the spillway is open, things seem to be going as predicted. >> now what we're working on is working with the local power, working with the local levy districts to get flood fighting measures in effect that will come down as the water comes down the atchafalaya. >> it look loop back up and catch a community, even a community that has a flood wall here, maybe this stops it but it can come up somewhere else. how do you fight that? >> the system is designed to divert water out to the gulf of mexico. with the low lying marshes and the areas around here, the water before it gets to the gulf, the volume of water is so extreme that it will back up through those marshes and start coming up through the south side. >> how many homes now that you've actually opened the spillway. it was a theory until the weekend. now you've opened the spillway and the water is coming out. how many homes are being buried? how many people will have their homes sacrificed to

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

the new orleans coroner back then was an obstetrician, dr. frank minyard. 20 years later, dr. jazz, as he is known, is still in office, the longest-serving big city coroner in america. it's not a very large facility. >> no, no, it's not. >> bergman: during hurricane katrina, coroner minyard became part of the city's folklore when he swam through the storm water to get to work. >> there was ten feet of water here where these boats are coming. there i am standing there, and you can see my john wayne pistol. >> bergman: minyard's exploits helped win him re-election. >> ...no food and no water. >> bergman: you're the elected coroner. >> yes. >> bergman: and you've been elected how many times? >> ten. >> bergman: ten times? >> ten four-year terms. >> bergman: well, you're a politician. >> oh, don't call me a politician. i don't think i'm a politician. i'm more of a community servant. >> bergman: but you're not a forensic pathologist. >> no, no. no, i was in obgyn practice before i became coroner. i have five forensic pathologists who work for me. >> bergman: but it's coroner minyar

like in new orleans, where they knew that the dikes had to be repaired, we know that if we can retrofit our buildings -- and in my city, about $4,000 per house. we can save an average of a half a million dollar home in our city. we need to think in new ways to get people to have that sense of urgency. in oakland, similar to san francisco and berkeley, recently we had an association come to the government and what through our most of barbel areas. most of the buildings are vulnerable -- most of the boulder buildings are apartment buildings. we had a group of engineers looking at bill -- buildings and established a list and we send mail to all the landlords of all thathose buildings, giving themx months to one year to do a study, a basic study, to see if they are soft story building. then the city will have to decide whether we will move on a voluntary program or on amonte -- mandatory program, like berkeley. i just pray that we have enough time. along those lines, we have undertaken a couple of major statewide issues with abag, allies in san francisco and other cities. we are asking for

you said to me earlier how has that affected new orleans? well, the good news is it's actually relieving some of that potential stress. now, we have a little science experiment for you. hopefully you can see this. we have some rice. this actually represents the bonnie carey. we opened that last week. >> the smaller spillway. >> scoop that for me. >> that represents 250,000 cubic feet per second. now, this one, this is the morganza and i'm going to make a mess, don. >> water is going to spill like that anyway. >> the red line indicates actually the top of the levee. by taking this all out you can see that the line is going to fall back down, it's going to be back below flood stage. >> that's with both of them. >> this has had an immediate effect but it's going to affect so many other people who live in that basin. you know that so. >> good explanation. >> thank you. >> our meteorologist here at cnn. we appreciate it. thank you. >>> we're following developing story that we want to tell you about. it's about one of the most powerful voices when

hooks like new orleans may have dodged a bullet here.rrounding you are taking the bruntd of of it. i know you reached out to the people of new orleans to help the people of the rural areas, right? >> new orleans is safe and dry, the system is working as it was designed. but unfortunately, the folks in the spillway will take a hit. it's important for the people of new orleans who understand this as well as anybody in the world to reach out and to make sure that our friends in the spillway have what they need to get back up after the flood waters come in and go out again. >> do you feel confident, though, that where you are in new orleans and the folks of that city have essentially dodged a bullet at this point? >> we believe so. the levees, we believe, are going to hold. the levees are strong. the system is working exactly the way it's designed. they opened up the spillway, the mor morganza spillway and the old river spillway, the water levels was where they said it would be. that's fine. having said that, it's a dangerous situation. our

the river has crested at 17 feet above stage in new orleans. here's more. >> reporter: four flood gates are now open at the time morganza spill we were. the mississippi river is rushing through, farmlands transformed from a dry field to a lake. houses and roads being submerged. even animals are being forced to deal with the rising water. opening the spillway diverted the water from the more heavily populated cities of baton scrooge new orleans. >> -- baton rouge and new orleans. >> nothing is going to push us out. >> people in the path of the flood waters are urged to evacuate. some people 50 miles from the spillway are raising to get valuables to higher ground. >> i'm going to watch it daily, and if i see it coming up, you know, if i feel threatened by it, i'm going. >> reporter: perry has lived in more began city for 20 years. >> going to have nice quiet life. retirement. and seems everything is just turning upside down on us. >> reporter: mandatory evacuations are issued for the three mile lake area. if the residents refuse to leave, they wi

the abandoned the goal of new orleans and instead implemented the tactic of jail, no bill other refused to pay their fines or bail out and instead invited new riders to come to jackson and fill the jails to overflowing. across the nation americans responded. wave after wave, the writers came in within three weeks they had filled jackson's jails. the freedom riders there by the turn themselves a six weeks day, maximum-security cells in parchment, the state's infamous delta of prison farm. after parchment success in september of the interstate commerce commission issued new regulations mandating and into sig segregation and bus and train stations. all in all 320 riders were arrested in jackson the spring and summer, half were black, half for white. 75% were under the age of 30. -3/4 were men and a quarter women. by place of birth, the writers came from 39 states and ten other countries. helen above singleton grew up in philadelphia pennsylvania where they met and married in 1955. in 1961 bob was a graduate student at ucla restudy as an undergraduate when helen was a student at santa monic

one city of concern is new orleans.the river is expected to crest just below about a half a foot below the levee. so if it stays that way, it's good. that takes into account that they're going to open a spillway, similar to what they did in cairo. it's called the bonnet carre spillway. there's a second one. nobody lives there, by the way. nobody's really worried about it. it's a good thing. that's what it was designed to do. the second one is the morganza spillway. if this thing opens up, this is going to be impacting people. this is going to be impacting agriculture as well. that one has not been used to protect new orleans just yet. it was opened one time back in 1973. it is designed to fill a swampy area basically between the atchafalaya river. if the hlevee is opened seven parishes could be covered. st. francisville, louisiana. five feet of water could move into parts of houma and morgan city. this one will certainly be detrimental. that's that catch- .22. do you harm fewer people or more people? the corps has asked

don mentioned how will this have an effect on new orleans. because they opened this up we expect only minor flooding may 14th and may 16th we're actually going see the river cresting and that's roughly about ten feet above flood stage. up towards the north we're talking dates roughly around may 22nd, may 19th. i'll walk over here and talk to you don. we're looking at the video of the morganza spillway. how has that affected new orleans? the good news is it's relieving some potential stress. we have a science experiment for you. we have some rice right here. this represents the bonnie carey that we opened last week. scoop that up. that represents 250,000 cubic feet per second. this is the morganza. i'll make a mess. all over your script. >> the water will spill anyway. >> the red line indicates actually the top of this indicates the top of the levee. by taking this all out you can see the line will fall back down and back below flood stage. >> that's with both of them. >> this has had an immediate effect. unfortunately this will affect to many

more foot, then they're going to have to close the flood gates, and that means closing the port of new orleans. and that is bad news. brian? >> anne thompson, chief environmental affairs correspondent, starting us off tonight from louisiana. anne, thanks as always. >>> we have news tonight from overseas, resulting from the death of osama bin laden. of all the material those navy s.e.a.l.s grabbed on their way out of that house in pakistan, one item is paying off in terms of intelligence. it's a private journal, we're told, and it's now increasingly public. nbc's jim miklaszewski is on duty at the pentagon tonight. jim, good evening. >> good evening, brian. u.s. senior military intelligence officials tell us those navy s.e.a.l.s found so much intelligence at that compound, that they didn't have the time to gather it all up and take it, but what they did grab is that handwritten journal you talked about, and in it, bin laden talks about attacking the united states and creating mass casualties and intact, trying to find ways to insert secret operatives, al qaeda operatives, into the united states

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? are they heeding the warnings to get out of town? >> yes, for the

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

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

and john barry, a new orleans resident and author of "rising tide: the great mississippi flood of 1927 and how it changed america." he joins us tonight from memphis. larry larson, starting with you. is it, in fact, correct in terms of its construction and mission to think of this all as one wstem? ell, in fact, the lower >>miissippi river from cairo south was designed as a system, correct. it has a series of levees, thousands of miles of levees, and then along the points when the water gets really high, constrained by those levees it provides relief points through spillways and floodway bypassesi so it is... it's intended and does operate as a system. correct. >> couric: just to fill in the details a little bit more so, the floodgates and the spillways are when the water... they're stuck there, right? and when the water gets a certain height that's when they come into play? >> yeah. typically they would not be open because if you have a small amount of water in the river, you want to keep that water there because, remember, the water is all... the river's also used for navigation. so y

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

in new orleans, it's not that unusual to be born, be raised, get married, and die in the same ward. >> let's take new yorkers. 9/11 occurs, what do new yorkers do? they get on their feet, they get in the cabs, they get across the bridges, they get out of town. that's because you're accustomed to that kind of lifestyle. and in new orleans, you have this almost sedentary lifestyle, a different demographic, a different background, where people are accustomed to live in a four, five-block area. >> so when you tell them, hightail it, they're scared. they don't know where to go. mike brown, thank you so much for being with us. the book is called "deadly indifference" and it is really good. appreciate it. >>> coming up, we'll take you back to joplin, missouri, with a harrowing escape for one family. s network all across america. we're adding new cell sites... increasing network capacity, and investing billions of dollars to improve your wireless network experience. from a single phone call to the most advanced data download, we're covering more people in more places than ever before in an ef

it's bubba time in new orleans! in recognition of bubba watson's win at both farmers and zurich, zurich and farmers are going to donate $250,000 in bubba watson's name for the relief efforts off the devastating storms here this past week in the southeast. mother, she said you got to go play new orleans. there she is. his wife angie. congratulations, bubba. the champion here at the zurich the champion here at the zurich classic! >>> wjz, maryland's news station. >>> thank you for joining us. breaking news. just coming in from baltimore county. a man killed himself an a stand off. moments ago police told us the man shot a woman, he refused to come out of his home. that's when a s.w.a.t. team went in, the man killed himself. the woman is expected to survive. at least one gun shot wound. we have a crew on the way to the scene. >>> another news. aattacks in libya, bombs hit a home of moammar gadhafi, leaving his son and three grandchildren dead. >> reporter: officials took journalists on a tour of a bombed out home where

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 show the effects on the city and its surroundings. damage estimates so far have reached $320 million. across the river in arkansas, the damage to farms and crops is already much higher at $500 million and counting. >> i've got a neighbor that's

well, it would divert potential floodwaters from baton rouge and new orleans. communities down river will be flooded. now flooding could close the river to shipping as well at the new orleans port on monday and that would add a huge economic impact on the region. as i bring in reynolds wolf now, you talked about this earlier. people have been trying for a long time to control water. good luck with that. first of all. but how do they make these decisions? let's save this area but, man, we have to go destroy this area. >> you're forced to make a decision. you've got to. who is going to suffer the most? i mean it's very, very difficult to make. we're talking about potential of about 3,000 square miles being underwater. some places deep as 25 feet. and a lot of this can be headed down stream to morgan city which is 12,000 people live there. so really a rough time. let's go to the wall. the area that we're talking about is right in southern louisiana. let's get this map out of the way and pull this one forward. you see the area that is surrounded by blue. that is th

certainly everybody across new orleans needs to pay attention to this problem with the mississippi. >> they and we will be keeping tabs all day long. thanks so much, jennifer. appreciate that. >>> in other news, the u.s. state department is apologizing for a computer glitch that left thousands believing they had won a green card. millions applied for just 50,000 green cards. officials invalidated the results posted on a website after learning of the mistake. a new lottery will be held come july. >>> jury selection in a sensational florida murder trial continues into the weekend. you're looking at live pictures actually right now. lawyers are still trying to seat jurors to hear the murder case against casey anthony. she's accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter three years ago. the little girl was missing for six months before her skeletal remains were found in the woods near her home. >>> haiti has a new president. but before winning office, michelle martelli was just one name on a crowded ballot. we'll tell you how many candidates he beat to win. takea with fruit juice. what? yeah