steve stockton is the "director of civil works" for the u.s. army corps of engineers. welcome to you. we just heard from the mayor. what is happening as far as you know with the levees in and around memphis? >> well, let me start off by saying our number-one priority is protecting public lives. and we do that by managing the very large complex system not only downstream but with reservoirs upstream in the upper watershed to capture the flood flows. in memphis i think the mayor was exactly correct. we're getting backwater flooding into unprotected areas. but the main line levees and flood walls are being monitored very closely by local, state and federal flood emergency management officials. so it looks like the system is performing very well. >> brown: downstream a decision was made today to open a spill way north of new orleans to divert water away from city. tell us about what goes into that decision. why did you do it? >> everything we do is pre-scripted. basically the 1927 or excuse me 1928 flood control act authorized the mississippi river and tributary system. wh