North Dakota flood fight far from over

Minot, North Dakota (CNN) -- Minot and other North Dakota cities dealing with record flooding will continue to be threatened by the Souris River for days to come, even though the water is no longer rising along parts of the river, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commander said Monday.

Although the river crested in Minot early Sunday morning, it has only dropped a fraction of an inch since -- leaving crews with the tense, around-the-clock job of constantly inspecting and shoring up emergency levees built to protect critical structures, said Lt. Col. Kendall Bergmann, deputy district engineer for the Corps' St. Paul District.

"We're 99% complete, but it's an ongoing fight," Bergmann said Monday.

The river had crested in Minot and appeared to be cresting in the downstream community of Velva, Bergmann said. The remaining communities along the U.S. portion of the river -- which begins in Canada and loops back into that country downstream of Minot -- do not appear threatened, he said.

Overnight, crews had to deal with floodwaters seeping through storm sewer drains and levees, but none of those issues posed major threats, he said.

Workers had to build another ring levee near the Broadway Bridge to protect that critical north-south route through Minot from being cut off, Bergmann said. National Guard helicopters also had to drop one-ton sandbags around a school to keep it from flooding.

The Souris River crested Sunday at Minot at nearly 13 feet over flood stage -- below earlier predictions, but still almost 4 feet above an 1881 record, according to the National Weather Service. The river had fallen about 6 inches as of Monday morning, according to the weather service, and is predicted to remain above the 1881 record into next week.

The state was scheduled to open three recovery centers in North Dakota on Monday -- two in Minot and one in Bismarck -- for residents in the throes of the record-setting floods.

Residents can visit the locations to find out about assistance programs and have their questions answered, Gov. Jack Dalrymple told reporters. But, he said, it is not necessary for residents to visit the centers to register for disaster assistance, which can be done by telephone or online.

Dalrymple said a tour of the area Sunday was "sobering, to say the least."

A boil-water order, issued as a precaution Saturday, remained in effect. Minot officials told residents that tap water should be boiled for at least a minute before consuming in order to kill any dangerous organisms.

Republican Rep. Rick Berg said he had been in touch with officials in Washington -- which has authorized FEMA to grant assistance -- and expressed optimism that the government will work well with residents to overcome the challenges.

"You're seeing people at the highest levels working together, putting politics behind them," said North Dakota's lone congressman.

Many residents of Minot who evacuated ahead of the rising water returned to the area Sunday against the recommendations of the city officials, hoping to catch a glimpse of their homes, said CNN's Jim Spellman.

Spellman said when he toured the hardest-hit area by boat, several residents gave him their addresses and asked him to check on their homes. Everyone was hoping his or her home might be the one that was spared, he said, but he had to bring back bad news.

"It's a somber feeling, sitting here," said resident Steve Knab. He recalled "listening to the sirens go off, and they evacuated us, and coming back the next day and seeing this ... it's disheartening."

But, he said, "We'll get there. We're healthy."

Evacuee Robin Taylor said residents have been helping one another. When her family had to evacuate in a hurry, neighbors on both sides pitched in, she said.

Jim Sarroll has lived in Minot his entire life. He has sandbagged his home, located just outside the evacuation zone, with the help of neighbors, and said Sunday it was dry so far.

He was, however, very concerned about the water. "I flushed my toilet this morning, and the water was red," he said.

Still, he said he was able to see the positives, when neighbors, relatives and friends bond to get through a disaster the best they can.

CNN's Ed Payne, Alexandra Steele, Mike Pearson, Holly Yan, Phil Gast and Sara Weisfeldt contributed to this report.

CNN

Flood berm bursts at nuclear plant

The Fort Calhoun plant remains secure, its owner saysSome of the grounds are under waterThe plant has been shut since April

(CNN) -- A water-filled berm protecting a nuclear power plant in Nebraska from rising floodwaters collapsed Sunday, according to a spokesman, who said the plant remains secure.

Some sort of machinery came in contact with the berm, puncturing it and causing the berm to deflate, said Mike Jones, a spokesman for the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), which owns the Fort Calhoun plant.

The plant, located about 20 miles north of Omaha, has been shut since April for refueling.

"The plant is still protected. This was an additional, a secondary, level of protection that we had put up," Jones said. "The plant remains protected to the level it would have been if the aqua berm had not been added."

Parts of the grounds are already under water as the swollen Missouri River overflows its banks, including areas around some auxiliary buildings, Jones said.

In addition to the berm, authorities have put in place floodgates and other barriers to help protect the facility, like sandbags.

The 8-foot-tall, water-filled berm, 16 feet wide at its base, surrounded the reactor containment structure and auxiliary buildings, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"We built the plant up high enough based on history, based on the flooding in the past. If the flood would rise for some reason above that level we have taken precautions, again, per our procedures to sandbag the important equipment for the reactors," said Dave Van Der Kamp, with the NRC.

He said the chances of floodwater getting into the building where the core is kept are almost zero.

The plant is designed to withstand waters up to 1,014 feet above mean sea level, according to the OPPD. The river currently stands at 1,006.3 feet and is not expected to exceed 1,008 feet, the Power District said.

Heavy rainfall in Montana and North Dakota, combined with melting snow from the Rocky Mountains, have sent the Missouri surging downstream this summer. The river washed over and punched through levees in nearby northwestern Missouri, spurring authorities to urge about 250 nearby residents to leave their homes.

The 6 to 12 inches of rainfall in the upper Missouri basin in the past few weeks is nearly a normal year's worth, and runoff from the mountain snowpack is 140% of normal, according to forecasters.

It was catastrophic flooding from Japan's March 11 tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in three reactors melting down and producing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. This year's Midwestern flooding has also led to a spate of rumors about the Fort Calhoun plant that OPPD and the NRC have been trying to knock down.

The utility has set up a "flood rumor control" page to reassure the public that there has been no release of radioactivity from the plant. An electrical fire June 7 did knock out cooling to its spent fuel storage pool for about 90 minutes, but the coolant water did not reach a boiling point before backup pumps went into service, it has said.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.

CNN

Flood berm bursts at U.S. nuclear plant

The Fort Calhoun plant remains secure, its owner saysSome of the grounds are under waterThe plant has been shut since April

(CNN) -- A water-filled berm protecting a nuclear power plant in Nebraska from rising floodwaters collapsed Sunday, according to a spokesman, who said the plant remains secure.

Some sort of machinery came in contact with the berm, puncturing it and causing the berm to deflate, said Mike Jones, a spokesman for the Omaha Public Power District (OPPD), which owns the Fort Calhoun plant.

The plant, located about 20 miles north of Omaha, has been shut since April for refueling.

"The plant is still protected. This was an additional, a secondary, level of protection that we had put up," Jones said. "The plant remains protected to the level it would have been if the aqua berm had not been added."

Parts of the grounds are already under water as the swollen Missouri River overflows its banks, including areas around some auxiliary buildings, Jones said.

In addition to the berm, authorities have put in place floodgates and other barriers to help protect the facility, like sandbags.

The 8-foot-tall, water-filled berm, 16 feet wide at its base, surrounded the reactor containment structure and auxiliary buildings, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

"We built the plant up high enough based on history, based on the flooding in the past. If the flood would rise for some reason above that level we have taken precautions, again, per our procedures to sandbag the important equipment for the reactors," said Dave Van Der Kamp, with the NRC.

He said the chances of floodwater getting into the building where the core is kept are almost zero.

The plant is designed to withstand waters up to 1,014 feet above mean sea level, according to the OPPD. The river currently stands at 1,006.3 feet and is not expected to exceed 1,008 feet, the Power District said.

Heavy rainfall in Montana and North Dakota, combined with melting snow from the Rocky Mountains, have sent the Missouri surging downstream this summer. The river washed over and punched through levees in nearby northwestern Missouri, spurring authorities to urge about 250 nearby residents to leave their homes.

The 6 to 12 inches of rainfall in the upper Missouri basin in the past few weeks is nearly a normal year's worth, and runoff from the mountain snowpack is 140% of normal, according to forecasters.

It was catastrophic flooding from Japan's March 11 tsunami that knocked out cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, resulting in three reactors melting down and producing the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. This year's Midwestern flooding has also led to a spate of rumors about the Fort Calhoun plant that OPPD and the NRC have been trying to knock down.

The utility has set up a "flood rumor control" page to reassure the public that there has been no release of radioactivity from the plant. An electrical fire June 7 did knock out cooling to its spent fuel storage pool for about 90 minutes, but the coolant water did not reach a boiling point before backup pumps went into service, it has said.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann contributed to this report.

CNN

Australia flood costs soar to Aus$7bn (AFP)

SYDNEY (AFP) – The damage bill from massive floods which hit northeastern Australia a few months ago will likely be Aus$6.8 billion (US$7.3 billion) -- $1 billion more than previously thought -- an official said Sunday.

Queensland Treasurer Andrew Fraser revised the cost of the natural disaster which affected an area the size of France and Germany combined and was followed within days by the destructive Cyclone Yasi after getting further estimates.

"As well as the tragic human cost, there has also been enormous damage to infrastructure and significant costs incurred in managing the response and recovery process," Fraser said in a statement.

"Such a big damage bill underlines the enormity of the task ahead."

Australia suffered historic floods in December and January which swamped coal mines, ruined roads and other infrastructure and destroyed crops and farmland in Queensland.

The first estimate was that Aus$5.8 billion of damage had been caused by the floods which swamped thousands of homes and paralysed the state capital Brisbane.

Fraser said the revised figure was due to local councils increasing their estimate for repairs by $900 million to more than $2.7 billion.

The floods, which claimed more than 30 lives, also helped Australia's economy to its heaviest contraction for 20 years in the first three months of 2011, according to data released last week.

"It wasn't surprising the economy contracted by 1.2 percent in the quarter, with the floods and cyclones estimated to have sliced 1.7 percentage points from growth," national Treasurer Wayne Swan said in his weekly note.

Swan said the floods and cyclones in both northern and western Australia had cost $12 billion in lost production, some $6.7 billion of which was in the March quarter, chiefly in the key coal mining industry.

Australia is home to the world's largest coal export port and sends millions of tonnes of the fuel annually to Asian steelmakers and power companies, with total 2010 shipments worth Aus$43 billion.

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Mississippi town awaits record flood

Vicksburg, Mississippi (CNN) -- Nervous anticipation. That is the feeling permeating through Vicksburg, Mississippi, as it awaits a historic flood crest to wash through the area later this week.

The Mississippi River, already at record levels, is forecast to peak early Thursday more than a foot over the record set in the city in 1927.

As the waters rise, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is keeping a watchful eye on the Yazoo Backwater Levee.

"Once we hit the crest on the 19th, it's not over," Henry Dulaney with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers told CNN affiliate WLBT-TV. "Water is going to be on the levee for another month. And so everything that we've told people, they need to be wary of that for another month, month and a half."

The persistant danger means days off are canceled for Vicksburg police officers.

"We're now finding ourselves having to blanket this city with an added number of officers," Chief Walter Armstrong told WLBT. "Don't walk through it, don't drive through it, and we encourage parents to not allow their children play near or around the floodwaters."

Downstream in Vidalia, Louisiana, residents and officials tried to counter flooding from the rising Mississippi by stacking large containers two- and three-high around riverfront properties.

The U.S. Coast Guard reopened a section of the river there Tuesday that it had closed to prevent damage to levees from passing barges.

But officials said only one tow vessel at a time will be allowed to pass through the 15-mile area near Vidalia and Natchez, Mississippi. And they warned they could shut the waterway again if water levels rise to 62.5 feet.

"We will continue to closely monitor transits through the area to ensure the safety of the communities, as well as the towing vessels and their crews," Coast Guard Capt. Michael Gardiner said in a statement.

Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland told CNN's "John King USA" the prospect of flooding was a devastating threat in a city that relies on its Mississippi River waterfront and now faces the prospect of extensive infrastructure repairs.

"It's a lifeline of our communities. ... Sometimes it tells you, 'Hey, you think you have me controlled. Let me show you. ... Hopefully, one of these days we can control it a little bit more than we have, but it's the mighty Mississippi," he said.

The river drew to within a finger's length of the highest level recorded at Greenville, Mississippi, Tuesday as the flood continued to slink its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Levees along the length of the river appeared to be holding and water diverted through spillways seemed to be rising more slowly than expected, but Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal warned residents there's plenty that could go wrong.

"There's still an awful lot of water headed our way, and it's going to be here in many cases for weeks, not just a few days," he said.

Louisiana officials Tuesday issued advice to residents in flood-impacted areas on how to prevent snake encounters and bites.

Of the 22 species within the Morganza Spillway, three -- the copperhead, cottonmouth and canebrake rattler -- are venomous.

Officials said the spillway gates are likely to be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.

In Vidalia, two medical facilities, a hotel and the city's conference and convention center are being protected by temporary flood control barriers, said city spokeswoman Sheri Rabb.

Despite the canceling of convention meetings for May and June, people in the coastal city are going about their daily routine, Rabb said.

"We're big-time open for business," she said.

Sandbags are keeping water out of the convention center, Rabb said Tuesday afternoon, but water covers parking lots and other portions of the riverfront. "We hope to reopen by the end of June."

The city's water supply is thought to be in good shape.

The U.S. Coast Guard reported river closures Tuesday near Berwick and Morgan City, Louisiana, and at Bayou Chene, where workers submerged a barge to divert floodwaters into wetlands and away from populated areas.

In Mississippi, 4,937 people have been displaced by flooding so far, said Jeff Rent, a spokesman for the state Emergency Management Agency.

In Louisiana, more than 4,000 people had evacuated, Jindal said, citing figures compiled by parish authorities. But, he said, no shelters have been opened in the state.

By the weekend, floodwaters also are expected to peak at record levels in Natchez, Mississippi, as well as in Red River Landing and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the weather service.

For the first time in its history, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has opened three floodways, one in Missouri and two in Louisiana, to ease pressure on levees along the length of the river and reduce the possibility of devastating flooding in highly populated areas.

The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937 and has so far affected nine states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Despite the misery and destruction, some residents in flooded areas are trying to make the best of a bad situation.

"You know I always wanted to fish off my front porch, but I never wanted to do it this way," former Poinsett County, Arkansas, Judge Doyle Hillis told CNN affiliate KAIT-TV in the community of Weona. "We've had a lot of laughs over it, but we've had a lot of sad minutes."

Hillis, who has lived in Weona for 66 years, said he would have never thought the water could get that high.

While he wasn't able to land a big catch, he said the fishing helps to keep his mind off the devastation.

"It's going to be a crying shame when the water goes down and they're actually going to see the damage they are going to have," Hillis said.

CNN's John King, Ed Lavandera, Martin Savidge, Ed Payne, Ashley Hayes, Ben Smith and Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

CNN

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Obama to meet with flood victims

Butte La Rose, Louisiana (CNN) -- Unleashed by its U.S. Army minders, the Mississippi River continued pouring across Louisiana lowlands Monday on its way to inundate thousands of homes and businesses as the Corps of Engineers fights to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

"Hope you appreciate this Baton Rouge. You're welcome," read one sign posted outside a home in the path of the flooding.

The waters were rising early Monday in St. Martin Parish, one of the areas that will be affected by the opening of the Morganza Spillway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, parish council President Guy Cormier said.

"It just tears my heart up to know that these peoples' lives are fixing to change," he said.

The flooding has affected eight states, from Missouri south to Louisiana and Mississippi.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to travel to Memphis, Tennessee, Monday to meet with families displaced by the flooding, as well as state and local officials, emergency responders and volunteers.

As many as 22 cities and communities where river levels are monitored by the U.S. government, remain flooded, some of them weeks after both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers climbed out of their banks.

Six days after the Mississippi River crested in Memphis, the waterway remains 11 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

The swollen knot in the river is currently passing through Louisiana.

Residents of towns along the river on Sunday packed up their valuables and made last-ditch efforts to place sandbags and makeshift levees outside their homes, trying to protect themselves and their homes from rising waters.

"I have never experienced anything like this in my life," said Brett Ansley, 24, as he was hitching up his trailer home in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, to move it to higher ground. "It's crazy. It's unreal."

The Ansleys and their neighbors have been forced to flee their homes because of a government decision to divert water from the Mississippi River into south central Louisiana to spare the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans from severe flooding.

To do so, Corps of Engineers is opening the floodgates at the Morganza Spillway for the first time in almost 40 years. As of midnight Monday, the Corps had opened nine gates, two on Saturday and seven on Sunday, according to agency spokesman Ricky Boyett.

The plan is to let out water from as many as one-fourth of the spillway's 125 bays. So far, the controlled release of water from the swollen Mississippi River has lowered the projected flood levels for five communities and cities where the Corps maintains monitoring gauges. That includes Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which is 115 miles southeast of the spillway.

But will affect nearly 4,000 people who live along the river, as it sends water toward homes and farmland in the Atchafalaya Basin, according to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"We wasn't too happy when they opened the Morganza," Leona Patton told CNN affiliate WGNO. "But we didn't have no choice. We had to do what they said. Put it in God's hands."

"I just hope everything goes all right," Patton said, holding back tears.

Nearby, her husband, Dwayne Patton stacked piles of sandbags against the side of their Gibson, Louisiana, home. Leona Patton said they've only had the house for two years.

Officials say the spillway's gates will likely be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls safely below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.

Upriver in Shelby County, Tennessee, Dean Hallowood and some of his neighbors are getting around by boat, according to CNN affiliate WMC. Some Shelby County roads remained closed Sunday even though they're no longer under water, WMC reported Sunday.

"Be careful because there's a bunch of big cracks in the road right now," Hallowood said. "They're going to have to come out and repair potholes and everything else."

Shelby County Roads and Bridges Manager Terry Waits told WMC that flood damage to area roads could be a big problem after they dry out.

"When the water leaves the roads, you're still going to see the barricades up because we've still got to inspect the roads," said Waits. "We've got to inspect all of the drainage structures, the bridges."

Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have already 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.

Authorities in Louisiana's St. Landry Parish issued a mandatory evacuation that affected about 2,000 people -- including about 750 people living in 240 homes in Krotz Springs. Residents in other areas were under a voluntary evacuation, with authorities encouraging but not ordering them to leave.

Don Menard, the parish's president, said Sunday afternoon that water levels in Krotz Springs appear lower than expected -- though he said he thought they'd rise considerably after midnight, and especially if and when more floodgates are opened.

"It's the fear of the unknown," Menard said, noting estimates that the water could rise 10 to 15 feet in spots. "These are predictions, no one knows for sure what will happen."

CNN iReporter Faisal Abou-Shahla posted a video of flooded homes in St. Francisville, Louisiana, about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. He said he shot the video on Saturday, after the first gate was opened on the spillway. Abou-Shahla said he lives in Baton Rouge and was visiting his fiancee's parents in St. Francisville.

Some city residents "were waiting until the last second to leave," he said Sunday, while others used whatever they could to try to minimize damage to their homes for when the high waters roll in.

"There were a few seemingly futile attempts to put sandbags up," said Abou-Shahla.

While the floodwaters rose in St. Francisville, they were leveling off in Baton Rouge, just inches shy of 45 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service on Sunday predicted the Mississippi River will crest at 45 feet in the Louisiana capital on Tuesday. That is 2.5 feet lower and six days earlier than the weather service had forecast prior to the opening of the Morganza spillway.

Authorities previously opened gates on the Bonnet Carre Spillway, located upstream from Morganza. The opening of the Morganza floodgates on Sunday drew gawkers seeking to witness the rush of white-capped water through the spillway.

Among them was CNN iReporter Chad Digirolamo, 31, who drove over the spillway to have a look.

"There was a lot of traffic, a lot of people riding over to take pictures," Digirolamo said.

In New Orleans, the river on Monday was already cresting at 17 feet, one week earlier and more than two feet lower than previously projected by the National Weather Service. It is also four feet lower than the historic level recorded in New Orleans in 1922.

The weather service said the river was also cresting Sunday in Reserve, Louisiana, because of the spillway operations. At Reserve, the river was cresting at 28.2 feet, above the historic 1929 flood level of 26 feet.

Already on Sunday, waters in Vicksburg, Mississippi, had reached record levels of 56.2 feet , the Weather Service reported. This is well above the 43-foot flood stage, but still short of the forecast crest of 57.5 feet on Thursday. Levels in Natchez, further south, were two feet higher than the record set in 1937 on Sunday, but just under three feet shy of the 63-foot crest expected Saturday.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, Martin Savidge, Justin Lear, Jacqui Jeras, Ashley Hayes and Ben Smith contributed to this report.

CNN

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Manitoba controlled flood plan appears to be working (Reuters)

VANCOUVER (Reuters) – Manitoba's plan to open a dike on the swollen Assiniboine River to avoid a potentially catastrophic unplanned flood appears to be working, officials in the Canadian Prairie province said on Sunday.

Water is flowing through the cut made in a dike east of the community of Portage la Prairie on Saturday, and is spreading over the flat land of southern Manitoba were farmers would normally be planting wheat, canola and vegetables.

Officials estimated on Sunday the flood would cover up to 72 square miles (180 square km) of land over the next few days, but that is down from the 90 square miles (225 square km) they had estimated on Saturday.

The release has helped eased pressure on other dikes along the rain-swollen river that authorities had feared would fail and flood more than 520 square miles (1,300 square km).

"Today, even though more water is coming down the Assiniboine River, water levels downstream of the controlled release have not risen," the provincial government said in a statement on Sunday.

The flood threat has forced more than 3,300 Manitoba residents from their homes, including 1,300 in Brandon, the province's second largest city, which is upstream from where the dike was opened.

About 1,500 military troops have been called in to help local volunteers with sandbag operations.

(Reporting Allan Dowd; Editing by Peter Cooney)

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Obama set to meet flood victims

Butte La Rose, Louisiana (CNN) -- Unleashed by its U.S. Army minders, the Mississippi River continued pouring across Louisiana lowlands Monday on its way to inundate thousands of homes and businesses as the Corps of Engineers fights to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

"Hope you appreciate this Baton Rouge. You're welcome," read one sign posted outside a home in the path of the flooding.

The waters were rising early Monday in St. Martin Parish, one of the areas that will be affected by the opening of the Morganza Spillway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, parish council President Guy Cormier said.

"It just tears my heart up to know that these peoples' lives are fixing to change," he said.

The flooding has affected eight states, from Missouri south to Louisiana and Mississippi.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to travel to Memphis, Tennessee, Monday to meet with families displaced by the flooding, as well as state and local officials, emergency responders and volunteers.

As many as 22 cities and communities where river levels are monitored by the U.S. government, remain flooded, some of them weeks after both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers climbed out of their banks.

Six days after the Mississippi River crested in Memphis, the waterway remains 11 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service.

The swollen knot in the river is currently passing through Louisiana.

Residents of towns along the river on Sunday packed up their valuables and made last-ditch efforts to place sandbags and makeshift levees outside their homes, trying to protect themselves and their homes from rising waters.

"I have never experienced anything like this in my life," said Brett Ansley, 24, as he was hitching up his trailer home in Krotz Springs, Louisiana, to move it to higher ground. "It's crazy. It's unreal."

The Ansleys and their neighbors have been forced to flee their homes because of a government decision to divert water from the Mississippi River into south central Louisiana to spare the cities of Baton Rouge and New Orleans from severe flooding.

To do so, Corps of Engineers is opening the floodgates at the Morganza Spillway for the first time in almost 40 years. As of midnight Monday, the Corps had opened nine gates, two on Saturday and seven on Sunday, according to agency spokesman Ricky Boyett.

The plan is to let out water from as many as one-fourth of the spillway's 125 bays. So far, the controlled release of water from the swollen Mississippi River has lowered the projected flood levels for five communities and cities where the Corps maintains monitoring gauges. That includes Baton Rouge and New Orleans, which is 115 miles southeast of the spillway.

But will affect nearly 4,000 people who live along the river, as it sends water toward homes and farmland in the Atchafalaya Basin, according to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.

"We wasn't too happy when they opened the Morganza," Leona Patton told CNN affiliate WGNO. "But we didn't have no choice. We had to do what they said. Put it in God's hands."

"I just hope everything goes all right," Patton said, holding back tears.

Nearby, her husband, Dwayne Patton stacked piles of sandbags against the side of their Gibson, Louisiana, home. Leona Patton said they've only had the house for two years.

Officials say the spillway's gates will likely be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls safely below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.

Upriver in Shelby County, Tennessee, Dean Hallowood and some of his neighbors are getting around by boat, according to CNN affiliate WMC. Some Shelby County roads remained closed Sunday even though they're no longer under water, WMC reported Sunday.

"Be careful because there's a bunch of big cracks in the road right now," Hallowood said. "They're going to have to come out and repair potholes and everything else."

Shelby County Roads and Bridges Manager Terry Waits told WMC that flood damage to area roads could be a big problem after they dry out.

"When the water leaves the roads, you're still going to see the barricades up because we've still got to inspect the roads," said Waits. "We've got to inspect all of the drainage structures, the bridges."

Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have already 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.

Authorities in Louisiana's St. Landry Parish issued a mandatory evacuation that affected about 2,000 people -- including about 750 people living in 240 homes in Krotz Springs. Residents in other areas were under a voluntary evacuation, with authorities encouraging but not ordering them to leave.

Don Menard, the parish's president, said Sunday afternoon that water levels in Krotz Springs appear lower than expected -- though he said he thought they'd rise considerably after midnight, and especially if and when more floodgates are opened.

"It's the fear of the unknown," Menard said, noting estimates that the water could rise 10 to 15 feet in spots. "These are predictions, no one knows for sure what will happen."

CNN iReporter Faisal Abou-Shahla posted a video of flooded homes in St. Francisville, Louisiana, about 30 miles north of Baton Rouge. He said he shot the video on Saturday, after the first gate was opened on the spillway. Abou-Shahla said he lives in Baton Rouge and was visiting his fiancee's parents in St. Francisville.

Some city residents "were waiting until the last second to leave," he said Sunday, while others used whatever they could to try to minimize damage to their homes for when the high waters roll in.

"There were a few seemingly futile attempts to put sandbags up," said Abou-Shahla.

While the floodwaters rose in St. Francisville, they were leveling off in Baton Rouge, just inches shy of 45 feet, according to the National Weather Service. The weather service on Sunday predicted the Mississippi River will crest at 45 feet in the Louisiana capital on Tuesday. That is 2.5 feet lower and six days earlier than the weather service had forecast prior to the opening of the Morganza spillway.

Authorities previously opened gates on the Bonnet Carre Spillway, located upstream from Morganza. The opening of the Morganza floodgates on Sunday drew gawkers seeking to witness the rush of white-capped water through the spillway.

Among them was CNN iReporter Chad Digirolamo, 31, who drove over the spillway to have a look.

"There was a lot of traffic, a lot of people riding over to take pictures," Digirolamo said.

In New Orleans, the river on Monday was already cresting at 17 feet, one week earlier and more than two feet lower than previously projected by the National Weather Service. It is also four feet lower than the historic level recorded in New Orleans in 1922.

The weather service said the river was also cresting Sunday in Reserve, Louisiana, because of the spillway operations. At Reserve, the river was cresting at 28.2 feet, above the historic 1929 flood level of 26 feet.

Already on Sunday, waters in Vicksburg, Mississippi, had reached record levels of 56.2 feet , the Weather Service reported. This is well above the 43-foot flood stage, but still short of the forecast crest of 57.5 feet on Thursday. Levels in Natchez, further south, were two feet higher than the record set in 1937 on Sunday, but just under three feet shy of the 63-foot crest expected Saturday.

CNN's Ed Lavandera, Martin Savidge, Justin Lear, Jacqui Jeras, Ashley Hayes and Ben Smith contributed to this report.

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Army Corps blows up levee to flood 130,000 acres in Missouri

(CNN) -- With a series of blasts that briefly illuminated the night sky like lightning, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began blowing up a Mississippi River levee overnight, flooding about 200 square miles of rich farmland in an effort to bring down historic river levels and spare the city of Cairo, Illinois and other communities.

The controversial decision to breach the Birds Point-New Madrid levee appeared to be working, said Col. Vernie Reichling, commander of the Corps' Memphis district.

The Ohio River at Cairo peaked at 61.72 feet just before the blast late Monday -- the highest level on record, according to the National Weather Service. By 6 a.m. Tuesday, it had fallen to 60.62 feet, according to river gauge readings provided by the Corps. Even that still exceeds the previous record of 59.5 feet set in 1937, according to Weather Service records.

The breach could cause river levels to fall by three to four feet over the next few days, according to Maj. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the Corps' Mississippi River Valley Division.

Without an intentional breach, authorities had warned of massive flooding that could wipe out the city of Cairo, which sits at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Cairo's mayor had already ordered the city's 2,800 residents to evacuate.

Missouri officials took the Corps to court over the plan, questioning the agency's authority to intentionally breach the levee. The state argued the flood waters would deposit silt on the some 130,000 acres of farmland that Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon described as "literally the most productive part of our continent."

The silt, he said, would take years to clear, causing long-lasting damage.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case on Sunday, clearing the way for Walsh's decision to blow the levee.

Nixon estimated it will take tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars to recover from the intentional flooding.

Walsh said the fate of Cairo was just one of many factors in his decision, saying he hoped the move would alleviate issues throughout the Mississippi River system. Water levels and flooding have hit record highs in many spots, putting severe strains on systems meant to prevent uncontrolled floods and the resulting loss of life and property.

"Nobody has seen this type of water in the system," he said. "This is unprecedented."

He called the decision to inundate the farmland and about 100 homes "heart-wrenching."

"I've been involved with flooding for 10 years and it takes a long time to recover from something like this," he said.

The initial series of blasts happened late Monday. Engineers then set the second charges overnight and planned to detonate them early Tuesday. A third series of detonations will follow, according to the Corps.

The governors of Illinois and Missouri said authorities in both states are prepared for the blast and subsequent flooding, according to prepared statements.

"I urge Missourians to continue to cooperate fully with state, county and local law enforcement, as they have at every stage of this process," Nixon said. "Together, we will ensure that Missouri families stay safe in the coming days. And together, we will recover and rebuild."

A statement released by Quinn's office called the decision to breach the levee "an important step to ensure public safety as we respond to this crisis."

Even as the river was falling, Walsh did not rule out similar moves elsewhere along the Mississippi and its tributaries, saying the levee system is already under unprecedented pressure and warning water levels could rise again.

"This doesn't end this historic flood," he said.

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Red River Valley flood fight shifts north of Fargo

By Scott Olson, Getty Images

A cemetery sits under flood water in the yard of a rural church April 10 near Gardner, North Dakota. The Red River crested yesterday about 25 miles south of Gardner in Fargo, North Dakato at 38.5 feet.

EnlargeCloseBy Scott Olson, Getty Images

A cemetery sits under flood water in the yard of a rural church April 10 near Gardner, North Dakota. The Red River crested yesterday about 25 miles south of Gardner in Fargo, North Dakato at 38.5 feet.

Fargo officials said the metropolitan area appears to be in good shape, but urged residents not to travel outside the city. About 60 miles of roads were closed in Cass County, where Fargo is located, and another 10 miles of roads were washed over, officials said. Interstate 29 north of Fargo was closed for about 25 miles.

Some tributaries of the Red River were at record levels.

"In the southern part of the valley, it's quiet," Fargo Mayor Dennis Walaker said Sunday. "In the northern part of the valley, especially in Cass County, they're having extreme problems."

About 425 National Guard members were on duty in Cass County and were ready to help with evacuations if needed, North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple said Sunday. He said there haven't been "many very serious situations," but officials were monitoring the rise of overland flooding.

"Things are pretty rough in the county," Dalrymple said.

One man was rescued by a Cass County Sheriff's Department airboat Sunday when he became stuck in his tractor near Argusville after the flooded road gave out beneath him, National Guard officials said. Five other people and a dog near Argusville were evacuated by airboat when a dike reportedly gave way.

Residents in Harwood, north of Fargo, and Casselton, west of Fargo, were told to stop using water because their sanitary sewer systems were starting to back up. Several other communities asked citizens to restrict use of water.

The National Weather Service reported Sunday that the river crested in Fargo about 6:15 p.m. Saturday at a level of 38.75 feet. The only higher floods were 40.84 feet in 2009, 39.72 feet in 1997, and 39.10 feet in 1897. Flood stage for the river is 18 feet.

This spring's flood threat was set up by high moisture in the soil after back-to-back wet years, followed by an extremely snowy winter. The Red River Valley's extremely flat topography also makes it prone to flooding in any year.

Heavy rain fell at times in the Fargo area on Sunday, but the weather service said it shouldn't impact the Red River level. Dry weather was forecast for most of the week.

"We're still looking at high waters for a while," said Jim Scarlett, weather service meteorologist. "The threat is not over, but it's subsiding."

Scarlett said the added rain would prolong overland flooding in the county "and that's a bad thing."

Fargo and Moorhead officials reported few problems with clay levees and sandbag dikes. About 10 people reported minor problems with pumps overnight, said Tim Mahoney, Fargo deputy mayor.

"Tomorrow we'll talk about plans for taking sandbags out of the neighborhoods. Do some things to promote more normal activities," Mahoney said.

Fargo was already scraping mud off the streets from the delivery of clay and sand. In one neighborhood, city commissioner Mike Williams said, "You could eat off the street."

Fargo was trucking some of its clay to Harwood for the construction of levees, Mahoney said.

"They're in a fight," the deputy mayor said.

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