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American Morning

Efforts Continue to Keep Floodwaters at Bay

Aired April 20, 2001 - 11:02   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 get back to the efforts to keep the floodwaters at bay as they continue along a big stretch of the Mississippi River and the upper Midwest. Today, some areas face their biggest battle as the bloated river reaches a crest. One of those waiting on the crest is Prairie Du Chien, Wisconsin, where our national correspondent Bob Franken has been waiting around for a couple of days -- Bob.

BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's time for a little bit of show-and-tell, Leon. This is how deep it is if you want to take a little stroll down North Main Street. I'll tell you that's three-and- a-half to four feet of water.

The Mississippi River would normally be on the banks beyond the tree line over there. But as you can see, it has come a very long way. The crest has not arrived yet.

Now over here, you see one of the other forms of transportation, which is to say little boat ride along the street. A little while ago as a matter of fact, we had somebody who was fishing. As I told you earlier, I sure wouldn't want to eat whatever you caught out of this water.

But people are trying to do the best they can to protect their houses. The water is very high here on this particular street. Many of the houses are empty.

Now in several other streets, people have been able to put up their dikes with sandbags. And they've been able to put up pumps and that kind of thing and have been able to stay in their houses. But the fact of the matter is right now it's a real fight against this river.

And the river has not crested yet. They're expecting now that the crest they originally predicted for 1:00 a.m. today did not happen then. They're now saying it might not come until 8:00 tomorrow night.

The fellow, by the way, who is going into that house is somebody we spoke with earlier. He's 86 years old. He's lived in this house for 66 years. But he said now he's finally had it. He and his wife are going to be moving out. They've had enough of these floods. But as you can see, he's going into house that he had to abandon earlier this week. In any case, they're expecting the crest now to come tomorrow night. And then they're worried about what's going to happen downstream in Davenport, Iowa. That's a city that did not ever build permanent structures against the flood, although the Army Corps of Engineers has now put up a temporary structure. But the fact of the matter is thus far the floods have caused some damage, but not as much as people had feared.

They are worried if there are heavy rains over the weekend or something like that. The ground, which is very saturated, could in fact send the water spilling over more. This is now the second worst flood since 1965. Of course, they would have to worry that it would equal that awful flood, which caused an awful lot of problem here.

I will say that that gentleman and many others have stayed in their houses since 1965. But as I mentioned, Leon, he's getting out.

HARRIS: So, Bob, you didn't tell us whether or not that guy down the street actually caught anything? Did you see him catch something?

FRANKEN: Any carp?

HARRIS: Did he catch anything? You were watching, right?

FRANKEN: There's a very high yuk factor here.

HARRIS: All right, good deal. If nothing else, don't you catch a cold. Bob Franken in Prairie Du Chien this morning, stay dry. We'll get back to you later on.

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