Iowa Reels From Bout of Severe Flooding

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• GWEN IFILL:

  We begin with the latest on the historic floods in the Midwest and what residents are bracing for after the waters recede.

  As the record flooding moved into a second week, towns throughout the Upper Midwest bore the brunt of seemingly unending rainfall and rivers swollen by the deluge from Wisconsin through Michigan, Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.

• FLOOD VICTIM:

  There's just total devastation. I don't know really what to say.

• GWEN IFILL:

  In hard-hit Iowa, five people have died in the flooding, and tens of thousands are now homeless; 83 of the state's 99 counties are disaster areas.

  Waters that crested over the weekend began to recede Monday in the state's largest cities, Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and the capital, Des Moines.

  But the University of Iowa, which is bisected by the Iowa River, still had waters running through its campus today. Sixteen buildings were flooded, including the art museum. The collection, which includes works by Picasso, Miro, and Matisse, was moved to Chicago.

  The floodwaters could be a menace for the foreseeable future.

• SCOTT LARSON, Assistant City Engineer, Coralville, Iowa:

  We're looking at sustained flooding levels for probably upwards of two to three weeks.

• GWEN IFILL:

  In Cedar Rapids, where power and clean water service may not be restored for weeks, some residents were allowed back in to survey the damage.

• FLOOD VICTIM:

  Everything's ruined. Everything we worked so hard for is just gone.

• GWEN IFILL:

  But elsewhere in the ravaged city, officials set up checkpoints to stop homeowners from visiting their ruined properties. Nerves were frayed.

• FLOOD VICTIM:

  You give me 10 minutes, and I can get a ride going here, and we'll all be down there.

• FLOOD VICTIM:

  This is frustrating. This is just too frustrating.

• GWEN IFILL:

  A city spokesman asked for more time.

• DAVE KOCH, Cedar Rapids Spokesman:

  I mean, we realize people want to get back in just as soon as possible. We'll do everything possible to do that.

• GWEN IFILL:

  While residents took stock of the damage in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere, much of the flooding focus moved to the southeastern reaches of the state, as waters flowed toward the Mississippi River.

  Towns along that route are trying to avoid the same fate as Cedar Rapids. In Hills, Iowa, a sandbag wall a mile long has been built.

  Mayor Russ Bailey.

• MAYOR RUSS BAILEY, Hills, Iowa:

  We're going to stay and fight, and we believe we can save our community and protect the residents and the citizens of Hills.

• GWEN IFILL:

  The floodwaters empty into the Mississippi, and the towns along the river expect high water throughout the week. At Keokuk, Iowa, the river will be at 28 feet Wednesday. Flood stage is 16 feet.

  At Hannibal, Missouri, Mark Twain's hometown, the river will reach 32 feet Thursday. And at St. Louis, the Mississippi will hit 39 feet on Friday, nearly 10 feet above flood stage.

  The massive flooding is already making commercial river traffic difficult or impossible. Nearly 300 miles of the river in Illinois and Missouri is shut down because a dozen locks are closed.

  Elsewhere in the Midwest, Wisconsin towns along Lake Michigan slogged through another set of storms.

  In Wisconsin, the Rock River is close to inundating towns where residents have been furiously sandbagging.

• DOUG ADKINS, Flood Victim:

  We think we can save our place. We don't want to give up.

  I brought a bunch of friends of mine from Illinois up here. There's probably 30 friends of mine. And then we have all the neighbors' friends and family.

• GWEN IFILL:

  The Fox River is swelling at flood stage in Kenosha County, south of Milwaukee, and is flowing over the border into Illinois, already past flood stage. Homes in the Chain O' Lakes and Antioch areas of Illinois also flooded, as the river crested there today.