it's the mississippi. they show it around the clock. >> they do call it the mighty mississippi. i think this is the time people are getting their arms around the fact how big that river is. it's also been called the wicked river. so it's been pretty wicked here for last several days. >> reporter: at a nearby school, the water is lapping right up to the door. the kids help their parents get sandbags and build a three-foot wall but they lost a little amphitheater. >> that was a little storage shed. >> reporter: they lost their shed. they lost their gardens. and they scrambled to move the classrooms up to the second floor. does it make you scared tonight when you go to sleep? >> yeah. >> reporter: what do you do when you get scared at night? >> i get in bed with my parents. >> reporter: i want to say i am proud of you for saying that on nationwide tv. and, now, within hours, the water at its peak. we kept thinking of those neighborhoods swallowed whole. and where are the families who once lived here? last night, we traveled to a shelter run by hope presbyterian. displaced families.

surging, unpredictable water flowing toward the mississippi delta now. the river is taking aim at one of the most poverty stricken parts of our country, after laying waste to a big chunk of the gambling industry up river, hundreds of homes, and just about touching a record on its way through memphis, tennessee, and it's not too early to say this, new orleans and the surrounding region could be in flood trouble as this flows south, on top of all the troubles they've had. we want to start off our coverage tonight with nbc's anne thompson in butte larose, louisiana. good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. louisianians are busy tonight, preparing for this historic flood which has already done so much damage upriver. as the mississippi river barrels south, satellite images reveal its relentless and destructive impact. this was memphis on april 21st before the flood, and this was memphis yesterday. much of the city underwater as the mississippi reclaims its territory. the damage here pegged at $320 million. the swamped casinos in tunica mississippi, cou

the flooding of the mississippi and what it means for the louisiana and mississippi in particular. topics that are still to come on sunday morning. looking at the issues that make up the other sunday shows, nancy is keeping track of all of that. >> on the sunday shows, topics include budget debates on capitol hill and the deficit. the 2012 presidential election. of course, the situation in the middle east. first, david gregory on "meet the press" welcomes paul ryan and chris van pollan. at 1:00 here "this week from abc." there -- you can hear aaron david miller. "fox news sunday clothes " rears at 2:00 p.m. eastern with mitch mcconnell and herman kane. 3:00 p.m., "the state of the union" from cnn. mike rogers, [unintelligible] , and the israeli ambassador to the u.s.. finally, 4:00 p.m. eastern, "face the nation" from cbs and bob schieffer. speaking with newt gingrich. these five talk shows are brought to you as a public service from the networks and c- span. listen to them all on c-span radio, 90.1 fm in the washington, d.c. area, nationwide on satellite xm radio, download as and i

the mississippi cresting near record highs now in memphis. and down river, they're watching the levees and preparing for the worst. >>> the opposition. president obama on the road again. and tonight we're looking at the other guys. who are the republicans who want his job? >>> the split. the surprising announcement from california, where that state's former first couple has come apart. >>> and making a difference for those who've been left out in the cold and can't help themselves when a great american city falls on hard times. themselves when a great american city falls on hard times. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. one local official in tennessee called it a whole mess of water. that's exactly what it is. this is historic flooding, surging down the mississippi now. and it bears repeating. the water is flowing at the rate of 2 million cubic feet per second. the raging river flowing through eight states, three of them hardest hit. that includes tributaries and creeks that run off the m

that is the threshold, the trigger point along the mississippi river. and once it's reached that point, that's when officials here will need to start taking water off the top. that means there's too much pressure on the levee system near baton rouge and new orleans. right now they're at more than 1.6 million cubic feet per second. clearly it's now time to engage in this plan here and start letting the water flow out. that will happen within the hour. fredicka. >> ed lavandera, thanks so much. meantime, let's go north about 200 miles and take a look at these homes right here. we're talking about greenville, mississippi, lake ferguson where, believe it or not, the river is still a day or two from cresting. this will get much worse as the water continues to rise. greenville is right on the river on the arkansas state line. martin savidge is there today. martin, how are people of greenville trying to prepare for what might come? >> reporter: well, right now most of them are standing on the levee using it as a photo opportunity. they do not feel a great sense

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 can do. >> tonight there's a bit of a mixed message from political leaders. on one hand they're pleased with flood control and diversion efforts. in some areas they believed would see deep flooding now may see much less water. yet governor jindal warned the record water levels could last for more than a month and urged people not to get complaisant. more than 4,800 people

the mississippi will crest for as long as a week. so it could be two weeks before all of this water goes away. in memphis, the focus is on three bloated tributaries, so overwhelmed by the mississippi, two are actually flowing backwards. all of that is pressuring and testing the city's pressure system like never before. in small teams, 150 engineers walked the levees looking for soft spots and leaks and the u.s. army corps of engineers promises that system will hold up. that system is now the last event. >> you don't know what mother nature is going to do. but you deal with it step-by-step. >> reporter: memphis was built on a series of blocks with a lot of protection. but with the mississippi cresting at 14 feet above flood stage, people feel vulnerable. cbs news, memphis. >>> the water on the mississippi is so high that tributary rivers and steams are backed up. down river, a spillway was opened to divert water to lake pontchartrain easing pressure on the new orleans levees. workers used cranes to remove barriers but no impact on home

here is jim avila on the mississippi. >> reporter: we headed out on the mighty mississippi just hours after she crested and began to fall. the river was just shy of an all time high. our guide, brian miller of the coast guard. he knows the waters well. what is the thing you notice the most with the differences in the river now? >> i would say right now, the velocity is faster than is typical. a lot of the landmarks we are used to seeing are not here. >> reporter: he said that something extraordinary is happening here. >> typically we luld pick up speed here. i'm going to keep it slow and keep my wake down so i don't take the back porch of the houses here. >> reporter: the river hit its highest point. but the city was spared the major flooding that many feared the water has seeped in damaging many homes. and the dangers lurk in the water. bacteria and snakes in the residential areas. but the river itself she's moved on. as man as 4 million people in her path smoch he follow her flow to tunica mississippi. this neighborhood known for fishing is known as the tunica cut off. now the resid

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 an

are very wide and loads coastal flood plain created by the mississippi became an ideal place for people to settle because of the fisheries animals and so on and also navigation and trade because of this big river. well unfortunately because of the nature of the land and the terrain being close to sea level. flooding is a big issue. so the europeans who came in from from the western part of europe. had grown up if you will build a levee systems to think about the levee systems in the netherlands so we had the birth of new orleans and i live in a system associated with it and their system continued to expand utilizing the exist teen natural banks or levees of the river system until nine hundred twenty seven in one hundred twenty seven we had a major flood on the mississippi river where a large number of these levee systems were breached huge sections of louisiana were flooded and thereafter congress passed the nine hundred twenty seven flood control that they had called for control of the mississippi river and control of the flooding. nine hundred sixty five hurricane betsy came a categor

the legendary mississippi river is rewriting history tonight. for the first time in nearly 40 years, the morganza spillway was opened just hours ago to divert the swollen river into the atchafalaya basin. the huge spillway was built just for this purpose. look at that water gushing out of there. it is a pressure valve for the flooding river to protect baton rouge and new orleans, the two biggest cities in louisiana. but it means tiny communities could soon be under many feet of water. this is what it looked like in 1973. the one and only time the morganza spillway had to be opened. there's no guarantee it will even work. 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 ri

>>> on the broadcast tonight, the tough choice on how to reroute the mississippi river water. who gets flooded and who gets spared? we'll talk live with the mayor of new orleans trying to protect his city. >>> was it revenge for the killing of bin laden? horrible attacks today in pakistan. meanwhile, something else they found in the bin laden house. >>> does the punishment fit the crime? the young man who is banned from the prom and the global crusade on his behalf that fired up on the internet. >>> and making a difference, the big difference our viewers made when they saw the story we aired about good people rescuing good dogs from the streets of detroit. "nightly news" begins now. >>> good evening, the mississippi river reached an all-time record today. a massive amount of water heading south after doing so much damage already. now, all eyes between baton rouge, louisiana, and new orleans, are on a big spillway, and if it's opened tomorrow, as it looks like it will be, that relieves the pressure on the city of new orleans where, by the way, mayor mitch landrieu is standing by

some of the worst flooding in more than 70 years is swamping the mississippi valley, and the water isstill rising. mississippi is expected to crest tomorrow at memphis. thousands have been forced to evacuate. >>> and president obama tells "60 minutes" that it's clear osama bin laden had some sort of support network in pakistan. he also says he didn't lose any sleep over the possibility bin laden might be killed in last week's raid. >>> the president's decision to go ahead with the bin laden raid was the culmination of years of intelligence gathering. that included the interrogation of captured al qaeda operatives. critics say the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques used on them amount to torture. whit johnson has more. >> reporter: the death of osama bin laden not only unveiled a treasure trove of al qaeda intelligence, it rekindled an old debate over enhanced interrogation. what some have called torture. >> it's clear that -- that that -- those techniques that the cia used worked. and to have taken them away, and -- and ruled them out, i think may be a mistake. >> it was a go

the mississippi river into its course before we cut up everything worthwhile and gas taxes and else we used to have very extensive cypress sponsors all the way along the coast. cities like new orleans used to have almost thirty miles more us wants to go you can knock the surge down and maybe as much as six feet within one mile of healthy cypress where. protecting the museum is coastline and its people in the future will require some difficult choices. still erosion must face and they remain in cypress swamps and must be protected by the mississippi river and they have to be diverted again. we cannot say every single community we can build a wall of town across louisiana. with millions of take the levees the levees protecting. coastline is quickly disappearing at a rate of a football field every thirty minutes or about twenty five square miles every year . by two thousand and fifty it is predicted that another seven hundred square miles will be lost. some people think all of us want to think alike you know fool a mother dirty for biting insects a mosquito and my dad you know. completely

mississippi. the highest the water has been since 1937 and up to 4 million residents vulnerable to its force. stand in it and you feel the pull, the rush. you can see the water coming up. you can see it rising as we speak. look at the speed. look at the speed of which it's moving across the road right now. and you can already see what it's done behind me to the restaurant, the bar there. heaven knows what those houses were over on the other side. best way to travel the flood zone is by boat. we got a tour on the amphibious alter rain vehicle, a kind of tank that transforms into a boat the minute it hit ace few feet of water. the county is using this vehicle to get around and rescue the stranded. people taken off their roofs. urging people to evacuate early. >> on our first mission out here, there was some hesitancy. on our second mission, there was no hesitancy. >> reporter: but for so many neighborhoods, already too late. you see only rooftops. an intersection normally filled with cars. and the stree

this spring, the mississippi river refuses to be tamed. some 30 miles northwest of new orleans, a deliberate rush of water at bonnet carre, louisiana, this morning. officials opening 28 of the spillway's 350 gates, sending some of the swollen mississippi on a six-mile journey to lake pontchartrain, to prevent new orleans from being inundated like memphis. part of the plan following the great flood of 1927. >> there's going to be thousands of people who are affected by this very directly by having either their homes or their property flooded, and that's with everything working perfectly. >> reporter: levees, essentially giant walls made by man or nature, try to contain much of the mississippi where towns and cities crowd parts of the river. today, 4 million people are in the flood zone. what were once natural flood plains are now valuable farmland. the nutrient rich soil feeding america and the world. development that's erased 35 million acres of wetlands, nature's flood protection, an area the size of illinois. >> this is history repeating

the mississippi river keeps climbing higher and higher. this is what memphis looks like with the river at 47.5 feet. how high it goes won't be known for several days, but experts predict it won't be more than another foot. there is no other place for the water to go, put quite simply. the mississippi is the watershed for everything west and east of the rockies. eight states are dealing with this historic flood. cnn's david mattingly joins us live from memphis with more on the task ahead for residents in mississippi and elsewhere in the flood region. hi there, david. >> hi, hala. what we're looking at right now is an amount of water that no one has seen in the mississippi in generations. there's so much water here that it's pushing flood control systems to their limits all up and down the mississippi. i had an exclusive interview with a man in charge of that system, and he tells me about a grave decision he had to make early on in in flood and why he had to make this decision again before this is over. levees blown up, flooding 130,000 acres

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 attack one man is calling cowardly. the casualties mount after an attack on a military hospital. >>> they were young, they were scared, and yet they rewrote histo history. members of the freedom writers talk about their role in the civil rights movement.

the water here, mississippi, coming up. water, what they call was a gopher in a steak? whatever the governor said? this is that bubble in a steak where subl wouomebody would eat. how flat this is all the way up into yazoo city, then the river gauge real quickly, just about out of time. river was in april moving upstream from yazoo city down into the mississippi river. and then, few days ago it actually turned around. here's the zero line. it was flowing downhill. now when it gets below this zero the river is actually flowing uphill -- though not technically. the water in that river just can't go any farther south. it can't get into the mississippi. mississippi's too high. >> unbelievable situation. >>> if you're not personally affected by the flooding, chances are you are going to be over your lifetime. according to fema, flooding is the number one natural disaster in the united states in terms of lives lost and property damage. floods cost the united states $2.7 billion annually over the past ten years. floods happen in al

engineers getting ready to open a spillway along the mississippi river. 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

keep in mind, the ohio river goes right into the mississippi, doesn't it? mber the whole thing with the bird's point levee exploding in the cairo area. we'll watch this area. at this time our thinking is it's not going to be enough to make the river go back up, but it could be enough to keep that level higher for a longer period of time. now, something else we have to worry about is that the thunderstorms developing today are likely to be strong, possibly severe. we're watching an area from southern minnesota, stretching all the way down into parts of texas. we have two watches issued here in the last hour you can see one, dry line thunderstorms, possibly supercells possible. be aware isolated tornadoes will be possible and another one for western iowa, including into sioux falls and omaha. if anything is popping and hitting the ground, we'll let you know about that. >> thanks so much, jacqui. no one wants to see anymore rain in that region at all, even if it's half inch of rain. they don't want to see anymore. thanks so about a role reversal. see hot happen

we're feeling this awesome power of the mighty mississippi. ds wolf, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> where do we even start this morning? are they going to open the spillway? >> they are. but what's amazing is about it time we get to say the next day or so, we could see parts of the area under 20 feet of water which is really amazing. but you have to look at the choice here. here's one example. you have the idea of seeing massive flooding in places like baton rouge, perhaps into even other communities downstream or new orleans. but there's an option. the option is to open up that spillwayment by doing that, what you're going to do is keep the water off the part of the mississippi in this area and then right back in the area that you see that is surrounded by this blue which is the areas that will be flooded once they open the floodgates. we'll see the water channel here. you'll see some small communities that may be under the gun and may be threatened. one of those possibly, morgan city, maybe even into patterson, louisiana. those are

also tonight, historic flooding along the mississippi. rising waters in memphis are challenging a record set more than 70 years ago. the sports world mourns golf great seve ballesteros, who died of a brain tumor at the age of 54. and a new stage. singer suzanne vega tries on a new role as a playwright and actress. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" >> mason: good evening. six days after his death in pakistan, a new picture of osama bin laden is emerging tonight. in an-- it is almost certainly not one he would have wanted us to see. video seized by the navy seals who raided his compound show a distinctly unheroic-looking terrorist leader which may be why the government selected them for release. homeland security correspondent bob orr in washington begins our coverage. >> reporter: it's a startling image-- a haggerred looking osama bin laden huddled in a blanket and ski cap, holding a remote control, watching television news coverage of himself. the video, one of five released at a by the u.s. government, shows bin l

we barrel south on the mississippi as the floods head toward vicksburg. houses caught in the deluge, and we test the toxins in that water. as we look back at the last big one in 1927. >>> son of bin laden. omar bin laden speaks out about his father's death, as bin laden's wives get ready to face u.s. interrogators. >>> the bravest woman in mexico. the 20-year-old mother who tried to bring justice to the border. we find her and learn why she had to flee. >>> and, change your life. a simple, proven secret for health and success? we'll show you what so many people have started to do. >>> good evening. there are now 4 million people down river from memphis, bracing and beginning their long wait tonight for the giant mississippi to arrive and tell them how bad it's going to be. we just returned from memphis this afternoon, where we waded into those waters. and there is news tonight that the river did crest, just under 48 feet, which is just shy of the record. and the swollen water is still pushing at the levees, but those leaks underneath, we showed you, those

>> there was a report of two over on the mississippi banks yesterday. moccasins, we're getting a lot of reports on the snakes. >> reporter: that's the big problem, in a way, isn't it, because they're going to be in people's homes even when they go back. and it's not only the snakes. >> you are going to have spiders. >> reporter: rats. >> snakes, rats. >> reporter: fire ants. >> fire ants. >> reporter: they float, they float in big pods on top of this water. >> that's right. >> reporter: and spend enough time and you're bound to see some the herds of deer looking for high and dry ground. and on our way out of the water, we talked to the policemen who seemed to be mysteriously motoring back and forth all around me when i was in. >> we did the circle over there while you were out there talking, we were pushing the snakes that way. >> reporter: you pushed the snakes away for me? >> yeah. >> reporter: this is one hell of a police force. and wildlife groups around tennessee have been fielding dozens of calls from residents reporting those snakes and deer. iss

there will be heavy rain at times in the southeast, including the flooded mississippi valley. a slow-moving storm system that reaches from the gulf coast to the canadian border. >>> here's another look at this morning's top stories. floodwaters continue to rise in the mississippi delta. today, engineers are expected to open a large spillway in louisiana to protect baton rouge. but, that would flood hundreds of thousands of acres in cajun country. >>> and texas republican ron paul is expected to announce that he is running for president today. it will be paul's third presidential bid. among other things, paul wants to abolish the internal revenue service. >>> gasoline prices are just as high this morning as they were 24 hours ago. and members of the senate finance committee admit they knew making oil company executives take a scolding yesterday would not help change things. but they went through the motions anyway. as nancy cordes reports. >> reporter: the leaders of the five largest private oil companies did not give an inch as senate democrats argued they should give up their

the problems further west lie with the mississippi river. e worst flooding since the great depression is now seen evacations affecting thousand. we take a look. >> reporter: n neighbo rhoods and cars are sub merged in murky flood waters as the mississippi water overflows. director of shelby county tennessee's office of preparedness says rivers flowing into the mighty mississippi are beginning to flood two. >> the mississippi is rising. tributaries are flooding east and west. looks like they are wrapping itself around shelby county. >> reporter: e evacuat ions happening in illinois, kentucky. arkansas and tennessee residents are stacking sand bags in an effort to keep flood waters at bay. >> we are busy working seven days a week. late hours. just trying to keep everybody from flooding. we really think this is a big service to the community. >> reporter: engineer brad sexton said sand bagging is something that should be done sooner rather than later. >> my recommendation is to do it now. don't wait. if you wait and it happens it is going to be

as you mejzed off the top, it's all about the pressure on the levee system along the mississippi river between baton rouge and louisiana. anything over 1.5 million cubic feet per second of water is too much for the levee system to handle. it can cause problems and could be devastating for the levees. they had to relieve the pressure off that. the colonel here who is in charge of the army corps of engineers described this as an off ramp of the mississippi river highway. this is one of the few places where water can come off the river. even though it has to come off the river basin, it makes its way to the gulf of mexico. >> i don't want you to go far away because we're going to come back toia. right there in louisiana, right where it's happening in morganza. stand by because you mentioned the army corps of engineers. i'm going to go to ed fleming. i know it's a difficult decision to open the morganza spillway after 40 years of not having to use it and the heartbreak for people who know they're going to get flooded. >> the amount of water that is coming down the mississippi river all the

. >> mark: major flooding on the mississippi. you can see some of the flooding here, thousands of homes in the southwestern part of the state are flooded around memphis. hundreds of homes flooded by tonight the mississippi river could peak. heavy rains and melting snow has caused flooding along the mississippi. it will crest at 48 ft. it has not been seen in 70 years. the mississippi river which is half a mile wide is now 3 mi. wide. people have been forced from their home ts. all live look from louisiana real concerns about the flood waters as to make their way to norland spirit they are opening up the spill waling fresh water from the mississippi to flow into and flood a lake. given the alternative the decision has been made to a sled the lake instead. they're pulling out from the spill way and allow water to flow in from the mississippi to the lake. hopefully drop the level of mississippi river by several feet. >> louisa: cool start this morning temperatures in the '40's, bricks of sunshine out there this morning, still cloud c

the mississippi river continues to rise. that river expected to crest tomorrow. >>> the pakistani prime minister makes his first comments since last week's raid on the bin laden compound. >>> the president leads with flaersd the u.s.-china strategic dialogue this evening. it's noent lessen trade tensions. >>> jury selection is set to begin today in the murder trial of casey anthony. the florida mom is accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter cayle rks. >>> the transportation secretary is stit nouns that the federal government will spend fwols improve the rail system. there will be major improvements in the northeast corridor. >>> it looks like breast-feeding is important in the behavior of a child. babies that are breast fed exhibit better behavior at the age of 5. hey rufus. who do we love ? we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. we love our bank. yes, yes. you really love your bank don't you. ally bank customers love our 24/7 customer care that allows you to talk to a real person anytime. ally. do you love

everybody is focusing on the mighty mississippi, and that's fine. but what we have in memphis, we have a flooding from west to east. ordinarily flooding occurs here when the tributaries, specifically with wolf river, which is a major river, and the... another major river and then we have a creek almost like a river. now all of those run through very low-lying, heavily populated areas. they are not downtown. those are some of the areas where the greatest potential for harm is. that's what we're focusing on. down on the mississippi, yes, on the river right downtown there's some residential flooding possibilities. we're taking care of that. we're also taking care of those other areas so the mississippi is important. but we've got to watch the creek and the wolf and the other river. we're doing that. we're going to get everybody out of harm's way. i might add, i want everybody to hear this. memphis is open for business. we'll play the... the grizzlies will play oklahoma city sunday tonight. and by the way they'll win that game. we're open for business. m

widespread flooding and disruption miles away from the mississippi. and as you look at all this damage, city officials say don't get the wrong idea. the city itself with all its tourism and night life is high and dry and expected to stay that way. >> i do want to make one thing clear. as you know, tourism, entertainment is a big part of our economy. i want everybody to know that downtown is still open and everything that has been planned will go on. >> reporter: nevertheless, engineers keep a watchful eye on a decade's old levee system that has never been tested like this before. volunteers fill sandbags hoping they will not be needed and road crews shore up routes just in case of any last-minute evacuations. david mattingly, cnn, memphis. >> and the flooding could swamp thousands of homes up and down the river. but a kentucky firefighter is not running to higher ground. he's fighting to save his home. more now from todd with our affilia affiliate. >> reporter: a boat is the only way you can travel along sections of oaks road. flood water fills this ne

coming up, more on the trial. >> and the mississippi and ohio rivers swollen beyond the banks. what happened to a elderly woman trapped in the rushing waters. that and much more coming up on this wednesday, may 4th. good morning, i am charley crowson. megon is on assignment and will be back tomorrow. let's check the midweek forecast with the meteorologist justin berk. >> charley, good morning. we are checking out maryland's most powerful radar. we have rain this morning. we held it off. good afternoon and good evening. now it's a wet wednesday morning. rain around the beltway and that's going to slow down your commute. we have the yellow and that's a moderate to heavy rainfall stretching in the south side of baltimore through glen burnie. checking out our friend in ann arunde county and take ate -- anne arundel county and take it towards annapolis. a pocket of ran along 50 and 97 split back through columbia. and let's bring that back. you can

makes sense from the mouth of the mississippi all the way into texas. and no fish no crabs all the type of aquatic organisms that they normally catch so it's having an impact on the whole united states but it's only quote impacting the economic base along the coastal areas. occasionally field of food and music i think a lot of the richest places in the world but now natural resources are something that folks who have been in power have abused and neglected. two hundred petrochemical plants line eighty five miles of the mississippi river between baton rouge and new orleans. they produce over twenty five percent of the petrochemicals made in the united states. it's known as cancer alley. the but when i brought my son michael holmes from hospital they told me he might be blind deaf or brain damaged but certainly more yet more susceptible cerebral palsy and more susceptible to respiratory infections and monia etc. and then i realized that the air was not attainment here meaning that it was unhealthy to breathe seventeen times that year the year that i broug

this is the frontlines of the flood here in mississippi. right now they're hoping it's going to hold, but as you say, john, they don't really know because the crest is not here yet. john? >> martin savidge for us. as he noted on the front line in mississippi. this is the front line in louisiana. trying to keep the water out of populated areas, the u.s. 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 gul

the mississippi is rising, as has been forecast. so it just looks like tentacles that are wrapping its arm around shelby county. >> and it only seems to worsen by the moment. let's bring in alexandra steele. you're going to give us the anti-thesis of that. >> for some, the water is going down. for some, there will be no rain. it's like tentacles. it's like the river is giving everyone a hug. especially if you were to say that from space, these fingers of water overtaking. it's unbelievable. let's give you some images of what's it like in mississippi and tunika and places like that. with this inundation of rain. can you believe it? all nine casinos in tunika have closed due to flooding. what's unfortunate on so many fronts but the economic hit. this, of course, is derby weekend, one of the biggest weekends there. so that obviously a huge financial hit. harris casino tower, nearly six feet of water inside. fredricka was just saying, those floodwaters there are only still rising. they have not yet crested like we have seen farther upstr

this is water from the mississippi river, but it is not the mississippi river. you see way off in the distance that building? that is about a half mile or quarter mile away from the banks of the mississippi river. all of this water into this spillway came from the mississippi so far away and came all the way up the levee here. this is the mississippi levee protecting the city. they've got two problems here. you see the wall on the backside of this little v and that red barge in the back is the ohio river. and that comes right up against that retaining wall, that brick wall. and the good news is the levels of both of the bodies of water have dropped over the last few days. people who have been evacuated for the last week are now coming back to their homes. authorities are telling them to leave in the evening hours because specifically the ohio river has a lot of pressure on it. if this levee gives way, the entire city would be flooded within a few hours. people are being asked to leave in the evening hours, but a few sigh of relief. a lot of worried folks thought