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American Morning

Mississippi River Rises to Highest Levels in Decades

Aired April 18, 2001 - 10:01   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: We begin with the Mississippi River and the problems surging into its bordering states. Hundreds of homeowners now have fled to higher ground as the river races toward its highest levels in decades. Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois are in the path of the creeping menace, and countless folks are stacking sandbags to contain the threat. CNN's Keith Oppenheim has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JERRY HAAS, RESIDENT OF MCGREGOR, IOWA: You never know what's going to happen up north. You get more rain, this could all change in a minute.

KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The changes are coming quickly to the shores of McGregor, Iowa. McGregor resident Jerry Haas took us on a tour in his motorboat.

This stretch of the Mississippi between Iowa and Wisconsin is now a good 15 feet above normal for this time of year. Haas told us the currents are so strong, this five-ton buoy got moved a mile from its original position.

Indeed, there are some houses that are flooded here. But for the most part, the dike system built after record floods in 1965 is working. The concern is more rain in the forecast, which could overwhelm this community.

HAAS: We hope the forecast of the 23 feet, five inches on Thursday here will work out because we're prepared for that. But then you have to rush all of a sudden if that changes, you've got to rush like mad to keep up with it.

OPPENHEIM: In town, pumps draw water that is slowly creeping higher. A park is submerged. A hotel is flooded as well.

None of this is quite as bad as what you see in this birds-eye view of Abel Island about 20 miles to the south. Island dwellers, some here say, live closer to the danger of floods. Those on the mainland just hope the weather won't cause their situation to get out of control.

TERRY WALL, MCGREGOR RESIDENT: I think we could hold it for about another two feet. I think if it got up about another four or five feet, it would be pretty dangerous for everybody.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We'll be checking with our Keith Oppenheim later on. Right now, let's check with our Jacqui Jeras, who is standing by at the weather center this morning. How is it looking for these folks out there, Jacqui? Any relief out there for them?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've been seeing quite a bit of relief this week already, Leon. The past couple of days have been dry.

And you can see that our current radar picture is showing some very dry weather throughout upper parts of Mississippi River Valley. But things are going to be changing.

The next 24 still look pretty good. This is the precipitation outlook through tomorrow morning. You can see the wet weather, though, is just out to the west. And that is going to be heading in.

Now, this is our outlook for the next five days from Tuesday until Saturday night. And we are predicting more rain could be heavy at times.

At least for now, it looks like the worst of it is going to be around Minneapolis-St. Paul, down towards Mason City, Iowa and clipping into northern eastern parts of Iowa. We're looking at maybe half an inch to an inch as you head down toward the quad cities and around Dubuque area.

Of course, any more rainfall at this point certainly not welcome. And this will all have a huge impact on just how high those river levels will go and whether or not we are going to be seeing some records. And I want to say that this could change significantly between now and then. This is just our preliminary forecast because that is still a couple of days away.

So it looks like things are going to be dry with our next system coming in between today and tomorrow. But by tomorrow night, we will start to watch for some of those showers and those thunderstorms to develop.

On Friday, most of it we think is going to be just to the north of the warm front here. So we'll be especially watching parts of Minnesota.

Now as we head into Saturday, again, most of it staying up to the north. And then we'll watch this next low coming in from the Rockies into Sunday. And that means the rain could be heavy by the end of the weekend. Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: All right, thanks, Jacqui. Let's go back out now to our Keith Oppenheim, who is standing by in Guttenberg, Iowa this morning -- Keith.

OPPENHEIM: Hi, Leon. You know, I was just talking to one of the residents here. And you pointed out that about 25 percent of the homes in Guttenberg are flooded. But that's due to groundwater that is sort of bubbling up. It's not really directly from the river.

Let me show you what's going on with the Mississippi over here. The dike system wall that I'm standing on right now is doing a real good job of keeping the water at bay. This dike system was built after really terrible floods here in 1965.

And the water level right here is close to 21 feet. It may go up about another foot-and-a-half over the next couple of days. But even so, that would not really cause a great threat to this town here.

We're going to pan over to Abel Island. That's still on the Iowa side of this Wisconsin-Iowa border here. You can see the homes there are really well submerged. It's no surprise because when the Mississippi River gets even close to this, high that's an unprotected area where are going to expect there to be a significant number of problems.

When you go downriver from here about 100 miles, you're going to get to the quad cities area. And next week, the National Weather Service is talking about increased crest predictions for that area. Davenport, Iowa, which had a tough time in 1993, Leon, they don't have a flood wall like the one I'm standing on right here.

They talked about making one. But there really isn't that much of a system there for protection. So there's obviously a great deal of concern as we head south from here. Back to you.

HARRIS: We, Keith, as you talk about that and as we talk about the rains that may be moving into that area fairly soon, in the next couple of days or so, the folks who are evacuating, how far are they having to go?

OPPENHEIM: Well, they don't have to go that far. I mean, that island is sort of an unusual example of several hundred people who have had to leave their homes.

Most of the homes around here are relatively dry. They may have some basement flooding from groundwater. It's really a concern of what is going to happen next.

As you mentioned, the rains coming in the next few days could be a problem for communities like McGregor, which is about 20 miles or so north of here. They don't have as good protection here. Prairie du Chien, which is on the Wisconsin side, has also had a number of homes that have been flooded. It's not huge numbers yet. But, again, the rain that is coming creates unpredictability.

HAYNES: All right, Keith Oppenheim, reporting live this morning from Guttenberg, Iowa. Stay dry. We'll get back to you later on.

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