. >> reporter: 2 1/2 acres belong to john menard. he's packing up his butte larose home and heading for higher ground. leaving his cypress clad home shattered, this big tough oil worker. what is it like to think about losing your house? >> the words -- no words. because i built this myself. >> reporter: the atchafalaya river is already above 19 feet. the national weather service's jonathan bryzell marked a telephone pole to show residents what could happen. >> if they open the spillway gates at 50%, so half are open, we're expecting the level to get to 29. >> john menard is resigned. >> mother nature is mother nature, and there's not much you can do about it, you know. >> reporter: few here are willing to take a chance on mother nature. even though the flood is not expected to hit here until next week, today, we already found nurses moving homebound patients out of harm's way. brian? >> its 'tough to watch, anne, and we have to talk about new orleans. a city, when you mention it, you of katrina, the oil spill, a city kind of in recov