Memphis braces for record floods

Memphis, Tennessee (CNN) - Waging war on a flood of historic proportions that has already affected thousands in eight Midwestern and Southern states, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers flooded a spillway north of New Orleans in an effort to calm the rising Mississippi River.

A crowd gathered near the gates of the Bonnet Carré Spillway to watch cranes slide open the gates to 28 of the spillway's 350 bays built beginning in 1929 after a devastating flood two years earlier.

Upstream in Memphis, Tennessee, residents and authorities anxiously waited for Mississippi to crest at a near-record 14 feet above flood stage. Read More
CNN"s Ali Velshi speaks to Mayor A C Wharton, Jr., Mayor of Memphis about the current conditions in his state.