Mississippi River Flooding: La. Braces for Wall of Water

With the Army Corps of Engineers opening two additional gates at the Mississippi River's Morganza Spillway on Monday, Louisiana residents are bracing for a wall of water to barrel down on them, which is likely to swallow up their homes, their business, and their memories.

Water is now flowing into the spillway at a rate greater than that of Niagara Falls, more than 100,000 cubic feet per second.

At that rate, it would take just over an hour and a half to cover the entire island of Manhattan in a foot of water.

So far only 11 of the 125 gates have been opened and the Corps plans to open more as the river rises.

The action is intended to be the surest way to spare cities like New Orleans from another tragic flood.

But cities like Butte La Rose, La., which sits on floodplain to the south, are being sacrificed in order to prevent larger areas from massive flooding.

The Corps began flooding the spillway on Saturday, opening the floodgates for the first time in 40 years.

The goal is to divert the record high waters of the Mississippi away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, choosing to risk smaller communities in an attempt to avert disaster in the most populous cities.

"It's really heart wrenching, that we here are going to be sacrificed for others. And it's a numbers game I guess," said Guy Comier, Parish President at St. Martins Church in Butte La Rose.

The Mississippi River crest is not expected to arrive at the Morganza spillway for at least a week, and mandatory evacuations are already under way in many places.

Neighborhoods in the water's path have turned to ghost towns with sheriff's deputies and members of the National Guard going door to door telling residents to pack up and get out.

Kate Buchannan, another Butte La Rose resident, says that she certainly isn't going anywhere -- though she is shipping out her prized possessions. She stands to lose not only her home, but her business too -- Kate's Place is the one and only bar in town.

"Everybody is stoic, they understand, Buchannan told ABC News. "People in New Orleans got it a few years ago. There's a lot fewer people here. These folks are made of much sterner stuff here. We're not gonna whine and cry."

Some residents are attempting to protect their homes through a variety of do-it-yourself tactics.

One resident is wrapping his home in plastic, while Max Doucer is banking on a combination of sandbags, dirt and hope.

"People are strong here, they are going to rebuild better than ever. They love it. Its home for a lot of people, its camp for a lot of people. It's God's country. People love it here so they will be back, bigger and better than ever," Doucher said.

President Obama echoed his message of hope after he met privately Monday with families and local officials affected by the flooding in Memphis. He heard their stories and praised their resilience.

Following the meeting, Obama delivered a commencement address at Booker T. Washington High School where he spoke of the response to the series of natural disasters that have hit the country this spring.

"The success of our economy will depend on your skills, but the success of our community will depend on your ability to follow the Golden Rule -- to treat others as you would like to be treated," he said. "We've seen how important this is even in the past few weeks, as communities in Memphis and all across the South have banded together to deal with flood waters and to help each other in the aftermath of terrible tornadoes."

Mississippi River spillway opened as towns brace for floodwater

Authorities could open two additional floodgates Sunday, sending water from the swollen Mississippi River gushing toward homes and farmland in an effort to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans from severe flooding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers opened one floodgate on Saturday for the first time in nearly 40 years.

"As the river needs it, we'll open it," said Col. Ed Fleming, the Corps' New Orleans district commander.

Fleming said that depending on water levels, the Corps may open more than two gates.

The opening of the Morganza spillway prompted the National Weather Service to revise its flood forecasts for the lower Mississippi River.

The revised forecasts have lowered projected cresting levels in some Louisiana cities and towns, according to the weather service.

The Morganza spillway is about 115 miles northwest of New Orleans.

The spillway's opening has also moved up the dates the river was previously predicted to crest in those cities.

In Baton Rouge, where the weather service had previously predicted the Mississippi would crest at 47.5 feet on May 22, the latest forecast shows the river will top out at 45 feet on Monday.

In New Orleans, the river is now expected to reach its crest at 17 feet on Sunday, instead of 19.5 feet on May 23, according to the weather service. The New Orleans levees are built to withstand 20 feet.

The river is also predicted to crest Sunday near Arkansas City, Arkansas, at 53 feet -- 16 feet above the flood stage, the National Weather Service noted on its website.

In Vicksburg, Mississippi, the river is expected to crest at 57.5 feet Thursday, which is significantly above the flood stage at Vicksburg of 43 feet.

Residents near Vicksburg counted on a levee for protection. In addition to the mainline levee along the river, starting near Vicksburg and extending northeast for more than 20 miles, a so-called backwater levee offers shelter.

The backwater levee is designed to keep water from backing into the Yazoo River delta and is designed lower than the mainline levee so that water can flow over it.

"We estimate that every home built on the river side of the levee from Memphis all the way to the Louisiana line is flooded," said Mike Womack, executive director of the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency.

Flood stage is the level at which the river may begin flowing over its banks. That crest, or high point of water, has been moving slowly and steadily southward for several weeks.

No storm systems that could reverse the lowered cresting forecasts are expected to pass through region within the next five days, said Royce Fontenot of the National Weather Service.

Fleming said the difficult decision to open the spillway, and similar ones made in recent weeks, was done to address a historic excess of water in the Mississippi River system, including its tributaries. While the opening of the spillway is expected to divert water away from Baton Rouge and New Orleans, parts of low-lying south-central Louisiana will be flooded.

By Saturday afternoon, all those "within the first 24 hours" -- meaning, those who should see flooding caused directly by the spillway's opening -- had evacuated, Fleming said.

The opening came after several days of warning as residents in the flood zone prepared to move to save their lives.

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said the high water resulting from the Morganza spillway opening could affect 3,900 people and 2,600 structures.

"Right now, a lot of people are real nervous about it. It's sad," said Larry Doiron, a resident of Stephenville, a town facing flooding because of the spillway's opening.

"We need to have protection so that they don't flood us."

He said his subdivision would likely be fine because it was built at a relatively high elevation, but his neighbors were building additional levees and putting out sandbags.

Seven Louisiana parishes -- Pointe Coupee, St. Landry, St. Martin, Iberia, Iberville, St. Mary and Terrebonne -- will likely be affected by the first opening of the spillway since 1973, according to the Corps.

Fleming said Saturday that the spillway will likely be open for weeks, and it will be at least that long before those who have evacuated can safely return. It will take considerable time -- in some cases, weeks -- before the river falls back below the flood stage.

Morgan City, which sits on the banks of the Atchafalaya River, is also among those communities expected to see rising water.

"Really, we're just waiting," said Evie Bertaut, who has lived in the city for 50 years.

Officials believe that the levees will protect the city from flooding, but some are taking preliminary precautions, she said. At Sacred Heart Church, where Bertaut works, people spent the day Friday moving important documents such a baptismal, marriage and financial records to the second floor.

"Most people are getting their photographs together, things that you can't replace in case you have to go," she said.

The river's slow pace has given emergency responders more time to prepare, forecasters said.

Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said.

Farmers who have crop insurance and whose crops have been damaged by the flooding will be eligible for crop insurance in accordance with their policies, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.

Memphis and New Orleans brace for historic flooding

Residents in Memphis, Tennessee, are bracing for potentially historic floods Tuesday when the Mississippi River is expected to crest at a near-record level and Louisiana appears to be next in the path of the bloated river.

One of the Memphis residents in peril was Latisha Bowles. Her neighborhood had been swallowed by flood waters but so far but her home was the last one at the waters' edge.

"It wants to come up here, but I've been praying every day it don't," Bowles told CNN affiliate WMC Monday. "I got three kids and I'm not ready to move out of my house over this."

Memphis is one of the many cities now menaced by the Mississippi River. The river level stood at 47.8 feet Monday evening and is expected to crest at 48 feet, forecasters said.

President Barack Obama signed a disaster declaration for the state of Tennessee Monday, which will help direct federal aid toward recovery efforts in areas hit by severe storms, flooding and tornadoes since early April.

The Mississippi is the highest it's been at Memphis since 1937, when it crested at 48.7 feet -- 14.7 feet above flood stage. That flood killed 500 people and inundated 20 million acres of land, said Col. Vernie Reichling, the Corps' Memphis District commander.

The river covered the lowest parts of the city's historic Beale Street and had already forced about 400 people from their homes Monday, Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. said. Another 1,300 remained in low-lying areas, he said.

Many others know what Tennesseans are going through as eight Midwestern and Southern states were dealing with or bracing for historic flooding.

The latest flooding in the Mississippi and Ohio river valleys is largely the byproduct of torrential rains throughout the region. Over one two-week stretch, there was about 600% more precipitation than usual, forecasters said.

In Louisiana, the river's crest was expected to begin arriving next week. So far, 21 parishes have issued emergency declarations ahead of expected flooding, said Gov. Bobby Jindal. He said 400 National Guard troops were active helping prepare for the flood.

In Missouri and southern Illinois, flooding continued even though the Mississippi and Ohio river crests have moved south and despite efforts by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Last week, the Corps intentionally breached a levee in Missouri as part of its effort to reduce the pressure on other levees, flooding 130,000 acres of agricultural land over the objection of state officials and some farmers.

"I'm very sad. I look at that and I don't have a home," Marilynn Nally said, pointing to her flooded family farm. "I feel like we're having to suffer for somebody else."

The Corps also opened a spillway north of New Orleans on Monday in an effort to calm the rising Mississippi River.

The weather appears to be working in the flood fighters' favor. Only minimal rain is expected over the coming days, with daytime temperatures forecast to be in the upper 80s and 90s through Thursday, at which point the water levels should begin to creep back down.

But for some, especially in Louisiana, the threat of the floods was frightening.

"I went through Katrina," said Lynn Magnuson, a New Orleans resident who submitted footage of the flooding to CNN iReport. "I would not wish flooding on anyone, and this city is the last place on Earth that needs any more high water."

More evacuations in Memphis as Mississippi rises, but some still hang on

As the Mississippi River continues to rise slowly toward possible record crests from Memphis to Louisiana, some people are trying to hang on to normalcy just a bit longer.

With the river just feet from her single-story Memphis home, Shirley Woods had the grill going in the backyard Sunday, cooking ribs, pork chops, chicken and hot dogs. She decided there was time to at least celebrate Mother's Day at home with relatives.

But Woods says if the water gets any higher, they're on their way.

Then there are those who are coming in to have a look. One man says the river is probably the biggest tourist attraction in Memphis right now.

The river threatens to crest at 48 feet, just shy of the record, set by a devastating 1937 flood. It's expected to reach its peak Tuesday in the Memphis area.

Tornado kills 1, injures 11 in La.

A tornado slammed a southwestern Louisiana town Saturday, killing a woman and injuring 11 other people. More than 100 homes were damaged, many of them destroyed, authorities said, and about 1,500 people were forced out because of natural-gas leaks.

The 21-year-old woman was killed when a tree fell on her house, said Maxine Trahan, a spokeswoman for the Acadia Parish sheriff. Debris was littered throughout Rayne, a town of about 8,500 people, after a line of thunderstorms moved through the area.

Trahan said the natural-gas leaks, which were later fixed, delayed damage assessments.

The system that hit Rayne quickly moved east and drenched New Orleans, where several Mardi Gras parades either were delayed, started earlier, or canceled because of the weather.

Suspected Tornado Hits Louisiana Town, 1 Killed

A woman was killed and 11 others were hurt Saturday after a suspected tornado hit the southwestern Louisiana town of Rayne.

Acadia Parish sheriff's spokeswoman Maxine Trahan said the 21-year-old woman died after a tree fell on her house.

Authorities say about 1,500 residents have been forced to leave their homes after natural gas leaks were reported. Trahan said the residents must stay away until at least Sunday.

At least 100 homes have been destroyed or damaged in a swath of destruction a quarter of a mile wide and three miles long.

"There are houses off their foundations," State Police Trooper Stephen Hammons said.

Authorities said the 11 injuries were minor and that those people had been treated at area hospitals.

Meteorologist Donald Jones said the National Weather Service in Lake Charles was trying to determine if the high winds were a tornado. The destruction hit the Acadia Parish town of about 8,500 at around 10 a.m. as a line of violent thunderstorms moved through the area.

A storm system was moving across Louisiana, and Jones said it could make its way through Mississippi and Alabama in the next day or so.