Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Floodwaters Do Major Damage Across Upper Midwest; Forecasters Say Worst Yet to Come

Aired April 18, 2001 - 09:10   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Floodwaters are doing some major damage across the upper Midwest this morning. Forecasters say the worst is yet to come, because of rain and melting snow. Sixteen counties in Minnesota and nine in Wisconsin are now under a state of emergency. Ten counties in Iowa have been declared disaster areas already, and a 400-mile stretch of the river between Iowa and Minnesota is closed.

Flooding is making life miserable in places like Guttenberg, Iowa.

CNN's Keith Oppenheim is up to his knees there. Let's go to him now for the latest -- Keith.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Actually, Leon, my feet are dry. This is a very picturesque spot, but it's also a good place to see the power of a rising river. We're going to give you a quick visual tour here. I'm standing on the wall of a dike system here, and as you can see, it's doing a pretty good job, as of this moment, of keeping the water back.

Right here in Guttenberg, they're telling us that the water level is at 20.15 feet. It will go up about only 1.5 feet, according to predictions, by Saturday. That should prevent any problems -- that's if the predictions go as they're forecast.

We're going to pan over to show you an area that is not protected by any flood wall or dike system. That's called Abel Island. It's on the Iowa side of the Iowa-Wisconsin border here. Those homes, as you see, are well submerged. But that's not really a surprise when the flood gets this high, because there really is no protection for a couple of hundred residents there, who have had to get away from the island.

Now, there are a couple of concerns to talk about. One is rain in the forecast. There is expected to be rain over the next several days, and that could cause some severe problems in this area, but probably even greater ones downriver from here, maybe 100 miles downriver, Leon: The Quad Cities area, according to the National Weather Service, could see some really serious flooding, perhaps close to record levels set back in 1993. They are bumping up the crest predictions for that area -- Leon.

HARRIS: There's a sense that it could get worse before it gets better there.

Keith Oppenheim, reporting live this morning from Guttenberg, Iowa. Thanks much. We'll talk to you later on.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com