Levees at Breaking Point: Midwest Battles Floods
DOBBS: We're going to return now to the heartbreak in the Midwest, the worst natural disaster in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in fact. Whole communities are now submerged as a result of the flooding. Thousands of acres of farmland turned into lakes. Illinois and Iowa racing against the clocks tonight at this hour. Floodwaters could top literally dozens of levees but it won't stop there. The Mississippi River isn't expected to crest in St. Louis, Missouri, far to the south, until next Monday. The Illinois National Guard and local residents around the town of Blandstone are preparing for the worst. They're hoping the sandbags put in place will save the levees and save their property and hold back the water. Of course, this disaster has completely changed the landscape, wiping out crops along the way. Beyond the local suffering that is likely to send food prices soaring across the country for some time to come as much as 46 percent of some of the crops, almost half of those crops are threatened. President Bush has promised to be in the region Thursday. In Iowa tonight, an entire community is under water, inundated after a levee there failed. More than two dozen other levees are on the verge of breaking or being topped possibly within the next few hours. Sean Callebs has been reporting from Burlington, Iowa. Much of that town is under waist-deep water. Sean, what is going on there? I mean, it's obvious flooding is extensive. What have you got for us?</s>SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you can see how the Mississippi River has jumped its banks, swamping this community of about 25,000 people. And Lou, as bad as it looks, this water has actually moved up to Third Street so you can figure out how far it jumped. They have a couple cameras. If you pan across this way, you can just see the big money, how it jumped its banks. It should be beyond that second tree line. The real problem here, right across the river, Gulf Port, Illinois, you talked about those levees that are at risk. A levee gave way over there. We have some really dramatic pictures, Lou, I want to show you from the air. You see this water just pouring in and that instantly flooded thousands and thousands of acres of farmland. You talked about that ripple effect and we're certainly going to feel it down in that area. And you know what, Lou? We had a chance to speak with some business owners down in this area, these same people who got punished in 1993 during the flood. Virtually everyone I talked with said no, I don't have flood insurance. I say, why? Why do you not have flood insurance? They said A, it's so expensive, and B, there's so many restrictions on it, it just isn't worth it. They said they just wouldn't get the payout over a period of years that they really need. And Lou I know we've focused a lot on what FEMA did in New Orleans area where I live now. A lot of people here are worried about what FEMA is or isn't going to do for them. they focused a lot on upstream. We have a map that just shows the number of cities up there that have been inundated; Iowa City where the University of Iowa is, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines and now here. What Burlington fears is those much larger cities where tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated, they are going to get the lion's share of attention from Director Paulson and his agency. And down here they're worried they're going to be overlooked because look just to the south of here. St. Louis, you talk about this water here -- you know what, Lou -- it's going there. There's no stopping it. It's going to flood. The question: how bad will it be -- Lou?</s>DOBBS: These are, as you said, those are just incredible pictures of that levee breaking where you're standing. Is there some indication that we're going to see relief for those people any way soon, this water breaking through the levee? What do the next few days hold?</s>CALLEBS: You know it's interesting because Illinois's punishment, that levee breaking where it flooded that way, it basically redirected all the water from the river. Instead of coming over here, it's pouring into Illinois. We have another camera over here. If you look, you can see the water line on this building across from me. It's actually dropped about an hour. This river was supposed to crest later on this evening. Who knows if that's going to happen because so much water is going through that levee. Once it gives way, instantly, instantly, it continues to flow to the flat land until basically it has stabilized. So there's nothing to stop it except farm after farm after farm. So you know what that means, heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak.</s>DOBBS: Absolutely. Well Sean, thank you very much. Sean Callebs reporting -- take care. Up next here, a panel of top China experts will join me. They'll be weighing in on America's soaring trade deficit with communist China and what American trade negotiators are incapable of doing. We'll be checking in as well with three of the most influential radio hosts. We'll find out why their Independent listeners have a lot to say about these two presidential candidates. Stay with us. We're coming right back.