broke, then the whole system would collapse. so we decided to go in each individual building and bild and island within itself. we have barge traffic in and out of if river. we understand that s an economic issue, too. how hard is the back and forth been? yes. i with understand losing $350 million a day because of this situation we had a critical issue. we asked them to give us a little time to go in and fix that problem. they did. they agreed to do so. 24 hours. 24 hours. do you think you can get it done in that? got do get it done. right. got to get it done. and we will. how much more water you got come sng. we have about another foot. a little more than a foot that will crest saturday at 6.3 feet. you re going to have this water for a long time? at least until june 14th of 15th. after the river goes down, we re going to have a tremendous amount of infrastructure repair that we re going to have to do.
now you heard the mayor there say the coast guard agreed to shut down the barge traffic for 24 hours. we received word that from the coast guard in coordination with the mayor they re prepared to resume barge traffic back in the community. they ve touched basis with the mayor. the coast guard will resume traffic. we ll keep an eye on that. you see the beautiful na trknat bridge. they re high up on the hillside, mostly protected from the floodwaters. the coast guard station is right down along the river. the men and women who normally patrol the mississippi river today are getting an urgent lesson in flood control. as you can see, we re about chest deep here. department of homeland security, this would be the united states coast guard. this is the natchez station, nathchez, mississippi, station of the coast guard. this is the outdoor parking lot. you come over here, it s slow going, trust me. right under here, somewhere, i m
mid-atlantic and the northeast, and we will stay dry along the mississippi river in the short-term period. shepard: and the coast guard has shut down a major mississippi river shipping lane to try to avoid putting extra strain on the levees and that will affect everyone. officials say the river near the port of natchez is closed to barge traffic. that cuts off a crucial route for grain from the midwest of the united states to the gulf. officials say that closing could cost the economy hundreds of millions a day. think of that. and a clear sign of actually, no clear sign of when it will return to normal. and now, gerri s two cents. damage estimates? what are they saying? it is farmers who are getting hit hard.
and wholesale gasoline, a fear that all of the floods would affect refineries and affect the barge traffic up and down the river. well, you see the water being released through the levee and the river is 2 lower we by baton rouge and lower louisiana, so, what happens in the price drops significantly over the last couple of days in wholesale gasoline because the fear or the concern of the unknown, it could be really bad, drives up the price, drives up the price, and you find out it is not so bad the price comes down. and inflation is not a worry, and at least in the for right now, and you have corporate profits moving higher and so many areas where the markets are moving higher, whether the price of commoditieses or stocks, do not worry about the other issues. neil: i worry about you and
barge traffic could put pressure on the levees. obviously, we re mindful and watching the level of the height of the river, but we don t believe that we re in any imminent risk now. in mississippi displaced home owners are vowing to return. we ll be back. it s nothing like it, and the sunset, it s worth it when you go home in the evenings and sit on your back porch and drink a cup of coffee and coke and watch the sunset so we will be going back. reporter: and the national guard continues to work on this temporary flood wall tonight. the governor of this state says they ve already spent 11 million dollars, responding to this disaster, bret, and he he says that the economic damages could total hundreds of million dollars before they re all done. a terrible and tough time for a state that s already dealt with so many man made and natural disasters the past few years. bret. bret: rick leventhal in louisiana tonight. thank you. adding insult to injury for