officials are trying something new to stop the massive oil leak now. it s called a top hat this time and it s now in position. chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is in venice, louisiana this morning. yesterday it was garbage. today it s a top hat. explain. reporter: i know. feel like i m doing commentary for a fred an astaire, ginger rogers movie. no, it s deja vu all over again, chuck and savannah. this is a smaller containment dome called a top hat because it is shaped like a top hat. it is making its way down to the seafloor as we speak. they think this may work because unlike the large containment dome that failed over the weekend this one is being pumped full of hot water and methanol and that they say should keep those gas hydrates, those ice krifrls from forming inside the dome and making it buoyant and clogging the pipe that is
failure of fail-safe equipment may have caused the explosion. right now, crews are waiting for a 100-ton concrete and steel dome to completely settle into the mud to contain all that gushing oil. nbc chief environmental affairs correspondent ann thompson is live for us in venice, louisiana. so ann, with a good morning, the containment efforts, how do things look so far? what are you hearing? reporter: well, so far, so good. alex, they were able to get that dome, first of all, into the water. and now it is settling on the sea floor bed, above the biggest leak down there. and so all of that is very good news. the next hurdle is, will it settle, and then once it settles, can they connect a pipe to the top of it? they will use robotic submersibles to achieve that task. and then once that is done, they that pipe will stretch some 5,000 feet all the way up to the surface of the water. and that pipe will be attached to a boat, a tanker boat up
temporary dams to try to protect their properties. the u.s. army corps of engineers says it may open two more floodgates sometime later today. reps for the army corps say the goals right now are to protect baton rouge and new orleans. whether they choose to evacuate or stay put, louisiana residents whose homes now line the path of these raging floodwaters are facing certain disaster. still, there may be good news for those who live further south. and nbc news chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson is covering this story for us live in bachelor, louisiana. so with a good morning to you. i know we try to look at a silver lining angle on a story like this. is there an up side to this for the folks in new orleans, anne? reporter: there is. and that is, alex, that they re doing this to prevent new orleans and baton rouge from flooding. they want to keep the river levels below the height of the levees down there, and they want to make sure that those levees are not impac
solving this crime. and it is a list that is drawing outrage. a columnist compiles a list of the hottest female sex offenders. is this some sort of sick joke? good morning, everyone. i m alex witt. welcome to msnbc sunday. we re just past 11:00 a.m. in the east, 8:00 a.m. out west. let s get to what s happening right now out there. huge story developing right now in the south. floodwaters gushing into farmlands in louisiana from rain-swollen mississippi river. torrents of water have been pouring into the region ever since the army corps of engineers opened the floodgate on the morganza spillway. 25,000 people and 13,000 buildings are now in danger. the floods are expected to hit the state s cajun swamplands in the next couple of days. let s go now to nbc news chief environmental affairs correspondent anne thompson. anne is covering the flooding for us in batchelor, louisiana. that is right near the morganza spillway. those waters are churning behind you. i ve noticed that pick up c
morganza spill way. and louisiana residents whose homes line the path of the flooding are facing this major disaster. and the new chief environmental affairs, ann thompson, in louisiana. let s talk about the evacuees and how they are coping. reporter: one of the fascinating things about the story is that it really pits the city versus the country. i think that s what fascinates all of us about what is happening here in louisiana. because the flood that you see behind me may actually save the city of new orleans. and in an absolutely dramatic breath-taking example of the power of the mississippi river, one of the bays was opened here yesterday at the morganza spillway, and that set in motion a series of events that could cost 25,000 louisianans their