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, co

>>> 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 b

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.

no dan tregua a millones de personas que viven en las orillas del rio mississippi. el río mississippi causa inundaciones y eevacuación de miles de personas y granjeros río a bajo, también los residentes de luisiana y mississippi esperan lo peor porque la amenaza aumenta incluso para varias refinerías de petróleos. en la ciudad de memphis hay inundaciones por la crecida del río siso mimississippi. la ciudad de memphis resistió la crecida del río mississippi, por encima del nivel normal del reo impidier encima del nivel normal del reo impidier río. sin embargo , el panorama revel que no hay nada qué celebrar. >>> vamos a esperar que las aguas bajen un poco >>> varios vecindarios están inundados y se esperan que permanezcan así durante semanas >>> un poquito de ropa lo que pudimos sacar porque el agua ya estaba re balanafectando todo >>> muchos viven en angustiangu incertidumbre >>> lo último que vimos fue que el agua estaba tapando todo >>> el presidente obama declaró zona de desastre, para la comunidad de tunic en mississippi que terminó sumergida bajo las aguas del impo

in 1927, the mississippi river was 80 miles wide in mississippi and louisiana. it was 60 miles wide in arkansas. progressively, as 1927 and in 1937, decisions were made to continually improve that system to help control the water and release it at certain times and operates as a system, not as an individual. host: explain what potentially could have happened to bachelor's and louisiana in the lower mouth of the mississippi river had this not taken place. guest: at morganza, which is near my home town, that perished problem would have fallen -- probably would have flooded. probably would have flooded. that leads into port allen and we could have lost much of what goes on at the deep water port in beverage -- in baton rouge and there is the second-largest oil refinery in the united states there. we have 13 refineries between baton rouge and new orleans. some of them represent some 15% of the refining capability in the nation. as we know, the city of new orleans which is a great port city where 42% of our exports for this nation is exported through the mouth of the

which is what we found in carter, mississippi, miles from the mighty mississippi. this small town sits near the yazoo river. and it's seeping in here close to the craps ed is growing and moving in slowly and surely. he has planted 3700 acres of cotton, soybean and corns, but he says for not. >> it makes you sick to your stomach. you plan and do what you want and you plan and take care and fertilize it and all nor nothing. >> reporter: and he has another business to worry about. carter, mississippi's general store, which his family owned for years. the walls of the store still bear the high water the mark from the last landmark flood. >> we will have another mark. >> reporter: the great mississippi flood of 1928 was the most destructive the nation's seen. following that they built levees along the river. now they are hoping the levees can stem the tide. ed says while the store has survived a lot, he's been here. he is not sure it will make it through this. >> i don't know. i hate to imagine. what's going to happen. it may -- >> reporter: history follows the mississi

his body was discovered yesterday in his mississippi department. he started in minnesota before joining the rangers. he was just 28 years old. >>> turning now to the flooding along the mississippi river. the water is way up on the tennessee-missouri state line. dyersburg, tennessee, there's still people there who remember the last time the water came up this far. that was 1937. one man was helping his uncle salvage whatever he could. >> he has nowhere to go. he's going to have to try to fix it. hopefully we can make it livable again. it's a lot of work. >> he's taking it pretty hard. he's getting ready to retire. you know, fixed income, things like that. it's tough. >> all week cnn has been going in depth with the troubled waters. right now -- we're watching the morgan zap spillway north of baton rouge. the u.s. army corps of engineers is expected to open it in about 30 minutes. casey wian takes a look at how the u.s. army corps of engineers decides which areas to spare. >> reporter: major general michael walsh of the army corps of engineers made t

we spent our day today traveling up and down the mississippi river in louisiana and in mississippi, and tonight we'll show you its powerful punch in many forms. right here the pace of change is slow yet certain. last night we showed you the spillway from above a helicopter ride. 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 co

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 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

army engineers unlock a mississippi river spillway for the first time in 38 years, hoping to relieve pressure on the river and spare new orleans. i'm russ mitchell. also tonight, terror arrests-- federal officials charge a south dakota florida imam and two of his sons with funneling thousands of dollars to the pakistani taliban. riding into history-- on the 50th anniversary of the alabama bus burning, civil rights pioneers remember their brush with death. and walking tall-- a paralyzed college student fulfills a dream as he receives his diploma thanks to remarkable new technology. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with russ mitchell. >> mitchell: good evening. for army engineers hoping to keep ahead of the rising mississippi, it is the most drastic step yet. this afternoon they opened the first of the floodgates of the morganza spillway, up stream from baton rouge and new orlea orleans. potentially flooding thousands of square miles of countryside. dean reynolds is in organza with the very latest. >> reporter: good evening, russ. officials told us this aftern

rivers creeks swamps the gulf of mexico the mississippi river. because of this abundance today everyone. has a. three. louisiana it for me it's in some ways a dream place. if you have a little. whatever. ten minutes you can be away from. you can be in the wilderness. ok at some fish for supper you can watch the birds to your heart and say. that's the beauty you know you can own a little place like this walk and i have my own little small on the wall long it's a really is a magic place to live. in the space of about five to seven thousand years all of coastal louisiana was built through the mississippi river every year the river delivered tons of sediment which slowly but surely built out to the sea creating a very biologically diverse ecosystem. there. very wide and loads coastal flood plain created by the mississippi became an ideal place for people to settle because of the fisheries for animals and so on and also navigation and trade because of this paid rather. well unfortunately because of the nature of the land and the terrain being close to

mississippi river, yazoo river. the water here, mississippi, coming up. it is the bubble of 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.

mississippi. that mighty river is still rising tonight. it's expected to crest overnight in memphis, where president obama has declared a major disaster. as residents abandon homes. so why is the river running so high? 31 of the lower 48 states drain into the mississippi or its tributaries and many of those states saw record snowfalls this winter. it's a lot of water all at once. diane sawyer is in memphis for our report, mississippi rising. >> reporter: the swollen waters of the 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 amphibiou

we're feeling this awesome power of the mighty mississippi. reynolds 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. tho

al roker reports live from vicksburg, mississippi, as flood waters rush farther south. and meredith vieira is live from the french riviera talk, antonio bandarres and selma hyack about their debut at the film festival. >>> now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, weather, sports and more. i'm lynn berry. thanks for watching "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good one. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com

from jackson, mississippi. >> it has been my pleasure. thank you so much. >> we'll be back with more of the "newsroom" right after this. building up our wireless 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 effort to give you the best network possible. at&t. rethink possible. ♪ things are gonna get easier ♪ ooh-oo, child, things will get brighter ♪ ♪ ♪ someday, yeah [ male announcer ] wherever you are, whatever it takes, like a good neighbor, state farm is there. ♪ with listerine® whitening plus restoring rinse. it's the only listerine® that gets teeth two shades whiter and makes tooth enamel two times stronger. get dual-action listerine® whitening rinse. building whiter, stronger teeth. >>> we are just minutes away from more in the "newsroom" with my colleague, don lemon. hey, do

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

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 good program. it was a legal program. it was not torture. and i would

he was going to be the new editor of a new liberal paper in jackson, mississippi, the state times. so i graduated. i wanted to do an apprenticeship. and i thought if you were going to do an apprenticeship, why not do it in the south and why not in mississippi, which was the most contested, most recalcitrant state? and i got down there, and he was not the editor of the new liberal state times. he was the assistant to the editor, to the famously racist fred sullens, editor of the famously, viciously racist jackson daily news. so i had come 1,100, 1,200 miles and had no job and did not want to tuck my tail between my legs, having told everybody in cambridge that i was going to be a star reporter in mississippi. they found a job on the smallest daily in the state, which was in west point. and i went over there and, in a way, had a magnificent year. i learned so much. a small town, a completely different experience having to learn how to deal with ordinary people and seeing the complexity of ordinary people and working in alien circumstances, something that served anybody who covered ci

mississippi have been declared federal disaster areas. the damage estimate there has reached $275 million. thousands of acres are flooded with hundreds of homes lost. down river in louisiana cajun country, engineers are hoping to save the cities. but at the expense of farmland. and the people who live there. the action will affect hundreds of thousands of acres, and tens of thousands of residents. yesterday, the army corps of engineers opened more of a major spillway north of new orleans, and it's considering doing the same at the morganza spillway near baton rouge. dean reynolds has more. >> reporter: in butte la rose, louisiana, dwayne farrell is gathering up what he wants and leaving the rest to the floodwaters about to inundate his home. >> there's nothing we can do about it. so get our stuff out and hope for the best. >> reporter: his property lies two football fields from the river where the water is already over its banks and up the trees. perhaps as early as saturday the army corps of engineers will open the spillway at morganza,

right now, the mississippi river is cresting in naches, mississippi. it's just shy of 62 feet. almost 14 feet above flood stage. even though it's not expected to get higher, it's expected to stay above flood stage for weeks. the probability of levee failure has everyone on edge, of course. a bridge over the mississippi river near baton rouge, louisiana, has been reopened after several barges broke loose and hit it. some of the barges sank. it's not known if the record flooding contributed to the accident which is now under investigation. >>> the flooding broke a record in vicksburg, mississippi. cresting one foot higher than the epic 1927 flood. the levee north of vicksburg in the town of redwood is causing engineers a whole lot of concerned. brian todd is there as crews try to shore it up. brian, can they keep the levee from breaking? >> reporter: they don't know yet, don. they're trying to do that very frantically right now. that's a levee not far from where we are. we're in redwood where the roads are closed. this road is completelyinate under water. this is an off ramp, and

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 orleans and baton rouge saving them from flooding, but unfortunately it would flood homes and businesses in the southwest part of the state. also on monday, president obama will give a commencement address at a high school in memphis and will also take the time out while he's there to meet with families affected by the flooding. but that may not be much comfort to others who know floodwater also take their homes. >> it's worse than we thought. it's really worse than we thought. we thought maybe we might have water in our yard, instead this is going to come into our home, it's going to take everything we have got. >> all right. let's turn back to this morganza spill way, just north of baton rouge, residents living west of the mississippi all the way down the flood plane have been warned ab

redwood, mississippi, is one town along the mighty mississippi keeping a close eye on the water level. there's a levee there that has folks there very concerned. we'll take you there live. >>> and a global business big wig charged with forcing himself on a hotel made maid while naked. he's responsible for billions of dollars in the world. his arrest could make a big movie. >>> and you can reach us on twitter and facebook at cnn.com/don and at foursquare.com/donlemoncnn. i wrote a song about it. gecko: alright, let's hear it! curtis: yeah jam session! doug: one, two... ♪ (singing) i got my motorcycle ♪ ♪ and my rv now i gotmore money. ♪ vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. vo: ♪ flash, aah-ah l about save yblackberry playbook?r insurance. that's right. it runs flash. so unlike some tablets we could mention, you get the best of the internet - not just part of it. ♪ flash, aah-ah ♪ flash, aah-ah personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. >>> a shocking a

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 acre

la crecida de el río mississippi causa impacto. las cámaras de univisión están en memphis. ( ♪ música ) este es su noticiero univisión con jorge ramos y maría elena salinas. >>> muy buenas noches reapareció marisol valle quien a los 20 años de edad, fue jefe de la policía en la posible cción mbl importante de méxico. >>> se preocuparon igual >>> el mismo miedo que la hizo huir de méxico con su familia la obligó a estar callada, pero hoy marisol valle compartió su historia con univisión nos dijo por qué vino a estados unidos buscando refugio. >>> ahh... tengo miedo por mi familia, y ay! o sea, no, tengo miedo volver. >>> a los 20 años, marisol se hizo popular al aceptar el cargo de jefa de policía aunque su trabajo era comunitario la atención que trajo el nombramiento hacía la pequeña población no fue bienvenida para el flasnarco frtráfico >>> no le gustó que estuviera yendo mucha gente y por esta razón me amenazaron >>> marisol valle dijo que no quería venir a estados unidos, pero la seguridad de su pequ

so as to the levees, in the state of mississippi, i had a conversation a short while ago with the mississippi levee board, so far, so good, but there are signs of strain. here's what they said. >> it's been such a fast rise. the levees have held up really well. we were already at 60 feet at greenville, which is three feet above what we had been in 2008. so that fast rise actually helped us. we were able to get preparations done, but now that the levee has gotten saturated we're seeing underseepage we've never seen before, so it's going to be a long battle. >> reporter: and that's the concern you see there, don, because the fact that this flood water, even as the crest goes by, is going to hang around for a long, long time. so those lev vees are going to stressed for a long time, and they are seeing occasions of potential weaknesses starting to appear in the levee system. let me show you some of the flooding that's been occurring outside of the levee protection system here in greenville and this is mainly a residential area on lower lake ferguson drive. it would be a beautiful drive on any nor

the mississippi has become a mebas. menace. it's just mind-boggling to see it. >> reporter: north of memphis kathy lineberry showed us where her family is living in a camper. there's water for four miles that extends from your house. >> yes. >> reporter: their home sits in 10 feet of floodwater, water that traveled four miles inland. >> what's next? i guess that's-- i mean, i don't-- we've never had anything like this. i mean, we've lost lots of crops to the water. we've never lost a house. >> reporter: at the dyer county fairgrounds a dozen families live in campers. they all lost a house. >> it is bad. bad for everybody. some of us lost it all. >> reporter: but it could be much worse. after the great mississippi flood of 1927, the most destructive in u.s. history, engineers built an elaborate system of levees, reservoirs, and floodways. by one estimate, from cairo, illinois, to the gulf, it now protects four million people. >> money that we have invested in our levees on the mississippi river is paying off. >> reporter: but th

>>> on the broadcast tonight, tough choices along the mississippi. who decides what to save and what to flood with all that water galloping south and river levels rising? >>> bin ladin's journal. tonight, what more we've learned about those handwritten entries, and what he was planning in his war against the u.s. >>> firing line. oil company executives facing tough questions today. what will it mean, if anything, for us at the pump? >>> and "making a difference" for a little girl we first met years ago in iraq, and what her life is like now thanks to a team of dedicated folks here in the u.s. >>> if you're headed to d.c. this summer, what you won't see when you get there. "nightly news" begins now. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> good evening. we've been covering these floodwaters rampaging down the mississippi river for days now. it's already caused so much damage and destroyed so many homes and businesses. for many, the next big focus becomes new orleans. but saving some places means flooding others, in those places where they can

the rain comes as the mississippi was cresting in natchez, mississippi, at more than 60 feet. cn thfrnlths's brian cnn's brian todd. >> these floodwaters have not receded. doesn't look like they're about to any time soon. you mentioned the rain we got earlier today. it made things much worse. officials are now saying that doesn't bode well for the next couple days. we're at an off-ramp outside redwood. you can see the road signs over here. all the roads are closed. we had to have a sheriff's escort to get us this far. our photojournalist is going to pan to the right. we're told we're several miles in from the mississippi river at this point, we were earlier at a levee holding some of this back up north of here from some of the areas over here. millions of square acres are safe for now. but there is a problem with that one particular levee at lake al b march. they have what they call a slide. that is when the sheer weight of the water weakens the underpinnings of a levee. those underpinnings have shifted, slid about five feet from where they should be, and they are frantically

in tunica cutoff, mississippi, floodwaters left this deer stranded on a rooftop. all 350 homes in the community are underwater, including charlotte smith's. >> i just really am in bad shape but not admitting it. >> reporter: high water is expected to force all 19 river casinos to shut down, leaving 13,000 employees without a paycheck, and it's a race against the rising water in natches, the oldest settlement on the community. >> the community has a deep concern to protect the buildings and to maintain them. >> reporter: neighbors spent the last five days building a floodwall to hold back the mississippi. forecasts suspect when the river crests, it will shatter the record set in 1937. joel brown, cbs news, warren county, mississippi. >>> fast moving storms swept across minnesota overnight. golf ball sized hail fell during a twins baseball game in minneapolis, stopping play for over an hour and a possible funnel cloud touched down northwest of the city, ripping the roof off of at least one home. no one was injured. >>> in southern new mexico firefighters are battlin

the problems further west lie with the mississippi river. the 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

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 hom

that's the mississippi river there. look at that. unbelievable. we're going to follow this breaking news story for you because we don't know what is going to happen here. we don't know how this is going to end up. they don't even know if this is going to relieve the pressure and help the stressed levee system in louisiana which has bib inundated with so much water and heartache. jennifer is here as well. we'll get to her in a moment. i'm going to go to the ground and my colleague ed lavendera for this breaking news. this flood gates haven't been opened since the 1970s. and heart break. show us what and happening where you are. >> 1973, to be exact. this is just one of the gates. to give you a sense of just a little while ago, we were standing down hire where you see the gates on the ground here, and that water has already here in the last few minutes taken all of that over. we just had a chance to walk over on top of the morganza spillway structure and stand over the gate and get a sense of watching that water. this vantage point is impressive, bu

makes sense from the mouth of the mississippi all the way into texas. 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 i feel the food and music i think of one of the richest places in the world but now natural resources are something that folks who've 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 petro chemicals made in the united states. it's known as cancer alley. the book when i brought my son michael holmes from the hospital they told me he might be blind deaf or brain damage and certainly more the more susceptible cerebral palsy and more susceptible to respiratory infections and monia etc. and then i realized that the air was in on attainment here meaning that it was unhealthy to breathe seventeen times that year the year that i b

devastated by floods in mississippi. president >>> today federal aid is on the way to neighborhoods devastated bye floods in mississippi. president obama signed a disaster declaration for 14 counties. around the state people are using boats to navigated flooded streets. high waters from the mississippi river have already damaged hundreds of homes and businesses and experts don't expect the river to crest in vicksburg for another week. >> looks like a nice day around the bay area. >>> partly cloudy skies around the bay area, looking good. remember yesterday it was cloudy, we even had some drizzle into san francisco. but things shaping up a little brighter around the bay area this morning. partly cloudy out the door this morning. low clouds at the coast. temperatures in the 40s and 50s. this afternoon, we could see those numbers popping up into the 70s inland so warmer temperatures there. a little breezy inside the bay but plenty of 60s. and at the coast, 50s and 60s, sunshine and a couple of clouds. a dying cold front sli

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 rver, 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

redwood, mississippi, is one town near the mighty mississippi keeping a close eye on the water level. there's a levee there that has folks 30 miles away very concerned. but, first, new develop just in tonight and the story of a global business big wig ments. charged with forcing himself on a hotel maid while naked. he's responsible for billions of dollars of the world's money, and his arrest could make a pretty good movie. we'll have a live report for you. >> we know what the lead story flooding. >> flooding is number one on news polls and gabrielle giffords, the shuttle launch and that in the newscast and the imf story. >> and people on twitter talking about our conversation about common yesterday and the same thing on the blag at cnn.com/don and you'll see it in about ten minutes. ♪ ♪ introducing purina one beyond a new food for your cat or dog. at usaa, this is our executive committee. this is our advisory board. our field research team. and our product development staff. we know military lives are different. we've been there. that's why our commitment to serve the financial ne

cnn's david mattingly has this story for us from natchez, mississippi. >> reporter: fighting the mississippi is a game of vengeance. how far out can you go that is safe? the river doesn't quit. >> it just caved away right there. there's nothing. used to be dirt all the way out to here. all this is caved away. >> reporter: howard jones is the fourth of five generations at the jm jones lumber company in natchez, mississippi. but i find him directly in the business of surviving. building up and trying to hold a levee that keeps his family's business from being swept away. are you confident you can hold the river back? >> absolutely not. no, i'm confident that it will not go over my levees, but i'm not confident that enough of this is going to cave off and i'm going to have a breach. i'd say it's 50/50. >> reporter: it's been four weeks since lumber operations seized and all resources went into building at the company's existing levee. up to eight feet higher in some places. now, they're constantly plugging, bagging and patching what the river gouges away. >> you can tell this is a patch deal he

prayers were offered in mississippi a community battling flooding with the mississippi river still rising. >> how are neighbors are facing significant loss and many others being displaced. >> chris lynn makes his living on the water fishing. even he can't believe what he is seeing. emotion and pain levels rising along with the flood waters. kirk gregory, nbc news. >> elsewhere there has been a flare up of violence along israel's borders that have level 15 people dead. syr syria, lebanon and gaza fr preventing demonstrators. it came on a day of mourning for event that uprooted thousands of palestinians. and now a look at other news. a camera captured a hit and run accident in denver where a 10 year boy ran into the street. the collision threw the boy several feet leaving him with scrapes and bruises. the driver is still at large. >>> winds in arizona produced a scary moment at a kid's party. wind ripped it from the ground. the ordeal left one person hospitalized and others with minor injuries. and in connecticut, finally good news from that teen who was banned from his prom. school officia

>> mitchell: tonight, flood alert, memphis braces for a near record cresting of the mississippi. 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. >> rep

in vicksburg, mississippi, i'm martin savidge. back to you. >>> meteorologist jen delgado joins us from the world weather center. >> a very slow process with the river actually cresting in several parts, right along the mississippi river. we are expecting today the river to actually crest in vicksburg. later on this morning and we're talking about 17.4 meters, that's roughly around 57 feet, incredibly high. record levels up and down the mississippi river. it looks like it will stay that way, cresting at least for the next five days. it's going to be dangerously high through many parts along the mississippi river. as we talk more about vicksburg and how it's been affecting the region, how widespread this flooding is. if you want to get an idea of the area affected, we're talking roughly the size of italy. 200,000 square kilometers. typically right along vicksburg, the mississippi river is roughly around 1 kilometer. well, because the flooding is so bad and so widespread, we're talking 40 kilometers wide in some parts. you can see i

residents along the mississippi evacuate as severe flooding hits new highs. evacuate as severe flooding hits new highs. the worst may be yet to come. captioning funded by cbs thanks for joining us, i'm betty nguyen. president obama visits ground zero here in new york today, where the world trade center towers once stood. this morning's trip follows mr. obama's decision not to release pictures of osama bin laden's body, or his burial at sea. the president told steve kroft at "60 minutes" that it is important the very graphic pictures do not become a propaganda tool, or incite violence. the president also said america doesn't, quote, trot out this stuff as trophies. we don't need to spike the football. randall pinkston is at ground zero with more on this. good morning, randall. >> good morning, betty. as a candidate he came here to ground zero, but this is the first time president obama has been here since he was elected. it's a significant pilgrimage, coming just six days after he ordered the attack on osama bin laden's compound. president obama will visit gro