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(CNN) -- A near-record crest is forecast in Greenville, Mississippi, Tuesday as the bloated Mississippi River makes its relentless march toward the Gulf.
By the weekend, flood waters are expected to peak at record levels in Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi, as well as in Red River Landing and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.
"It is very difficult to grasp the idea of the possibility of our communities flooding," said Mary Beth Hanks, who has a home in New Roads and a fishing camp in Batchelor, Louisiana. "What would we do? Where do we go?"
In Louisiana's Atchafalaya River basin, residents packed up treasured possessions and scrambled to build makeshift levees as federal authorities diverted more water from the swollen Mississippi in an effort to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
"I moved everything out of the bottom and put everything I could upstairs and brought it to my mother's house," Neil Rabeaix of Butte Larose told CNN affiliate WWL.
Butte Larose, about 35 miles southwest of Baton Rouge, was a virtual ghost town Monday as residents heeded a voluntary evacuation order in the community of about 600 homes.
It wasn't certain how high waters would eventually get, although some authorities predicted structures in Butte Larose would be up to 15 feet underwater.
Brandi Chiassom loaded a truck full of personal belongings from a home that had just been remodeled.
"All that work. There's nothing we can do. We just pray for the best," Chiassom told CNN affiliate WGNO. "We pretty much know our house will be under water so we're trying to save everything we can."
In Morgan City, Louisiana, the rising Atchafalaya was already lapping at a downtown riverwalk Monday evening.
Mike Stack, a Corps of Engineers spokesman, told CNN's "John King USA" that 20,000 to 25,000 homes could be flooded, but the agency and Louisiana authorities are working to limit the damage.
"The system is under tremendous pressure, and it will be for a long time, so our key concern is making sure that we're vigilant," Stack said. "We're out there on the system, making sure the system stays intact while we're still working with the communities to try to help with the flooding."
Officials say the spillway's gates are likely to be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.
The diversion will drain water from the Mississippi through the Atchafalaya basin to the Gulf of Mexico at Morgan City.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal offered at least a ray of hope to his state's residents on Monday, saying the decision to open the spillway has lowered crest projections in parts of the state.
Just as important, river observations now suggest the Corps may need to divert less water from the spillway than initially thought, he said. But based on historical estimates, damages to agriculture alone in Louisiana could total $300 million, Jindal said.
The Corps of Engineers opened two gates in the Morganza Spillway on Saturday, the first release from the facility since 1973. By Monday night, 15 of the structure's 125 bays had been opened, diverting about 102,000 cubic feet (763,000 gallons) of water per second, Corps spokeswoman Rachel Rodi said.
The plan is eventually to open about a quarter of the spillway, according to the agency.
At the Bonne Carre Spillway, which feeds into Lake Ponchatrain, 330 of 350 bays are open, with water coursing through it well above its rated capacity, manager Chris Brantley said Monday
"On the river side of the spillway ... the water flowing was rather calm, but as the force of water rushed through the bays, you see its tremendous power," said Diane Truax, a Norco resident, who has been keeping a close eye on the river.
The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937 and has so far affected nine states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have already covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said.
As many as 22 cities and communities where river levels are monitored by the U.S. government remain flooded, some of them weeks after both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers climbed out of their banks.
The weather service predicted the Mississippi River will crest at 45 feet in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana capital, on Wednesday. That is 2.5 feet lower and nearly a week earlier than the weather service had forecast prior to the opening of the Morganza spillway. On Monday, it was 44.6 feet.
In New Orleans, the river on Monday was already cresting at 17 feet, one week earlier and more than two feet lower than previously projected by the National Weather Service. It is also four feet lower than the historic level recorded in New Orleans in 1922.
The Crescent City is protected from floodwaters up to 20 feet.
In Melville, Louisiana, 110 miles to the northwest, the rising waters brought back bad memories from the records floods of 1973 and a sense of hopelessness as the Atchafalaya River encroached on homes.
"To be honest with you, we don't have no money to start over," Wendy Moreau told CNN affiliate KALB. "I don't know what we're going to do, we just live day to day and try to survive."
By the weekend, flood waters are expected to peak at record levels in Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi, as well as in Red River Landing and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.
"It is very difficult to grasp the idea of the possibility of our communities flooding," said Mary Beth Hanks, who has a home in New Roads and a fishing camp in Batchelor, Louisiana. "What would we do? Where do we go?"
In Louisiana's Atchafalaya River basin, residents packed up treasured possessions and scrambled to build makeshift levees as federal authorities diverted more water from the swollen Mississippi in an effort to spare Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
"I moved everything out of the bottom and put everything I could upstairs and brought it to my mother's house," Neil Rabeaix of Butte Larose told CNN affiliate WWL.
Butte Larose, about 35 miles southwest of Baton Rouge, was a virtual ghost town Monday as residents heeded a voluntary evacuation order in the community of about 600 homes.
It wasn't certain how high waters would eventually get, although some authorities predicted structures in Butte Larose would be up to 15 feet underwater.
Brandi Chiassom loaded a truck full of personal belongings from a home that had just been remodeled.
"All that work. There's nothing we can do. We just pray for the best," Chiassom told CNN affiliate WGNO. "We pretty much know our house will be under water so we're trying to save everything we can."
In Morgan City, Louisiana, the rising Atchafalaya was already lapping at a downtown riverwalk Monday evening.
Mike Stack, a Corps of Engineers spokesman, told CNN's "John King USA" that 20,000 to 25,000 homes could be flooded, but the agency and Louisiana authorities are working to limit the damage.
"The system is under tremendous pressure, and it will be for a long time, so our key concern is making sure that we're vigilant," Stack said. "We're out there on the system, making sure the system stays intact while we're still working with the communities to try to help with the flooding."
Officials say the spillway's gates are likely to be open for weeks, and it will be weeks before the river falls below flood stage and those who have evacuated can safely return.
The diversion will drain water from the Mississippi through the Atchafalaya basin to the Gulf of Mexico at Morgan City.
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal offered at least a ray of hope to his state's residents on Monday, saying the decision to open the spillway has lowered crest projections in parts of the state.
Just as important, river observations now suggest the Corps may need to divert less water from the spillway than initially thought, he said. But based on historical estimates, damages to agriculture alone in Louisiana could total $300 million, Jindal said.
The Corps of Engineers opened two gates in the Morganza Spillway on Saturday, the first release from the facility since 1973. By Monday night, 15 of the structure's 125 bays had been opened, diverting about 102,000 cubic feet (763,000 gallons) of water per second, Corps spokeswoman Rachel Rodi said.
The plan is eventually to open about a quarter of the spillway, according to the agency.
At the Bonne Carre Spillway, which feeds into Lake Ponchatrain, 330 of 350 bays are open, with water coursing through it well above its rated capacity, manager Chris Brantley said Monday
"On the river side of the spillway ... the water flowing was rather calm, but as the force of water rushed through the bays, you see its tremendous power," said Diane Truax, a Norco resident, who has been keeping a close eye on the river.
The flood is the most significant to hit the lower Mississippi River valley since at least 1937 and has so far affected nine states: Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Indiana, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
Across the South and lower Midwest, floodwaters have already covered about 3 million acres of farmland, eroding for many farmers what could have been a profitable year for corn, wheat, rice and cotton, officials said.
As many as 22 cities and communities where river levels are monitored by the U.S. government remain flooded, some of them weeks after both the Mississippi and Ohio rivers climbed out of their banks.
The weather service predicted the Mississippi River will crest at 45 feet in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana capital, on Wednesday. That is 2.5 feet lower and nearly a week earlier than the weather service had forecast prior to the opening of the Morganza spillway. On Monday, it was 44.6 feet.
In New Orleans, the river on Monday was already cresting at 17 feet, one week earlier and more than two feet lower than previously projected by the National Weather Service. It is also four feet lower than the historic level recorded in New Orleans in 1922.
The Crescent City is protected from floodwaters up to 20 feet.
In Melville, Louisiana, 110 miles to the northwest, the rising waters brought back bad memories from the records floods of 1973 and a sense of hopelessness as the Atchafalaya River encroached on homes.
"To be honest with you, we don't have no money to start over," Wendy Moreau told CNN affiliate KALB. "I don't know what we're going to do, we just live day to day and try to survive."
