http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRMWNhkH24g&feature=player_embedded
May 7, 2011 - MEMPHIS, Tn. - It's like an ocean," he said. Meanwhile, the Coast Guard closed a stretch of the swollen Mississippi to barge traffic upstream Friday, then reopened it later in the day. Any prolonged closure could cause a backup along the mighty river. Farther south in Memphis, police went door to door, warning thousands of people to leave before they get swamped. Emergency workers in Memphis handed out bright yellow fliers in English and Spanish that read, "Evacuate!!! Your property is in danger right now." All the way south into the Mississippi Delta, people faced the question of whether to stay or go as high water rolled down the river and backed up along its tributaries, breaking flood records that have stood since the Depression. Because of levees and other flood defenses built over the years, engineers said it is unlikely any major metropolitan areas will be inundated as the water pushes downstream over the next week or two, but farms, small towns and even some urban areas could see extensive flooding. "It's going to be nasty," said Bob Bea, a civil engineer at UC Berkeley who investigated levee failures in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. How bad it gets depends on how well the flood protection systems have been built and maintained, he said. In Tennessee, Bob Nations, director of emergency management for Shelby County, which includes Memphis, said there was still time to get out. The river is not expected to crest until Wednesday. "This does not mean that water is at your doorstep," Nations said. -SF Gate
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