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American Morning

Wisconsin City Braves Flood

Aired April 20, 2001 - 09:01   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: Our national correspondent Bob Franken is standing by live in flooded Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin; and CNN's Eric Philips is live near the fire front in North Port, Florida.

Let's start THIS MORNING with Bob -- morning, Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

And Prairie du Chien -- the water has risen. We are moved back a little bit from where we were yesterday. It's not really clear if the river has crested yet. There is an expectation it will be crested before the day is through. The governor toured here yesterday, ordered the national guard to be available to help local officials as needed. They're getting a bit exhausted dealing with the sandbags mainly being used by people who are trying their dead-level best to stay in their homes.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(voice-over): Officials say this is the second-worst flood in history here; the record-setter came in 1965. But many of the people who live now along the Mississippi lived here then and they learned their lessons about how to protect their homes.

Lesson No. 1, don't scrimp on the sandbags.

MORRIS LESSARD, FLOOD VICTIM: Lost some of my stuff in that '65 flood and now -- '67 and now, but all I can do is just keep building her up -- the dike up higher and higher.

FRANKEN: And for those who weren't around in 1965, there's always someone to give advice.

JILL BODE, AMERICAN RED CROSS: A lot of parents are saying to their kids, here's what we did and here's how we kept the waters down in our basement or what have you.

FRANKEN: The lessons experience teaches are simple: sandbags to keep the water out, pumps when the sandbags are not enough. So far, so good. City officials say that as high as the water is, no more than 50 homes have suffered any real damage.

But there is another lesson experience has taught: when to get out. Rose Serpe stops by her house to check on her cat, now residing alone on the second floor. Rose herself moved out on Wednesday.

ROSE SERPE, FLOOD VICTIM: The water's about to come in the house. I've got probably an inch or two to go before it's on the first floor. It's just not safe to stay in the house.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FRANKEN: Now, a lot of people are worried about the weather, that heavy rains could cause problems; and downstream in Davenport, Iowa there could be problems.

I would like to point out that some people don't consider this as big a problem as they do an opportunity. A gentleman fishing, as a matter of fact, a few minutes ago here on what normally is Main Street is just a sportsman opportunity for him. The river has well exceeded its banks and he decided that he would see if he could catch something.

Now I have to say, Leon, that I'm not quite sure that I would want to eat something that came out of these waters. I'll put it delicately: What you don't know is that there is a very distinctive odor about where we are right now.

HARRIS: OK, I'm going to guess that there is a little sewage spill happening there, huh?

FRANKEN: That's a good guess.

HARRIS: All right, good del. In that case, be careful and stay clean, Bob; we'll check with you later on. Bob Franken reporting live this morning from Prairie du Chien.

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