The Mississippi crests, but crisis does not
This was no flash flood, and it's going to be no flash disaster either. The misery will last long after the waters leave, reports CBS News correspondent Mark Strassmann.
The Mississippi has leveled off in Memphis. But the crisis has yet to crest for flood victims like Diane White, in North Memphis.
"I've never been through anything like this," said White. "The whole neighborhood devastated. Things you see on T.V. you never think it will happen to you."
Mississippi Delta braces as flooding moves south
Pictures: Mississippi River flooding
Flooding wreaks havoc in Memphis
The good news: most of the city -- built on a series of bluffs -- sits untouched. And where waters pressured levees, the levees held.
"We'll see seepage as the river stays high," said Col. Richtling. "There is no risk of overtopping levees or floodwalls."
But in one swamped neighborhood, "Everyone's basically going to have to start over," said Sgt. Chuck Mays.
Mays patrols where rooftops peek above twelve feet of water. And this water will sit here for another couple weeks.
"People are stressed emotionally because of the loss of their homes," said Mays. "They're stressed financially. There's a huge impact that comes from a lot of different angles involved here."
Another issue: the water is filthy with diesel fuel, household chemicals, pesticides, raw sewage. And whatever's in the water is also in some houses.
And as those floodwater move down downriver, so will the misery.
A series of flood crests will push the crisis all the way to the Gulf through the end of May:
At Vicksburg, the river will crest May 19
Baton Rouge, May 22, with water 12 feet above flood stage.
New Orleans a day after Baton Rouge
In Tunica, Miss., an hour's drive south of Memphis, all 350 homes were lost -- and floodwaters stranded one deer on a rooftop.
Every single resident, homeless. Like Charlotte Smith, who is staying at a Red Cross shelter.
"I'm just really in bad shape," said Smith. "And I'm not admitting it."
And back in North Memphis, in some neighborhoods, police are still keeping away flood victims, adding to their frustration.
