louisiana today as bp keeps trying to stop the leak. nbc s kristen dahlgren is in venice, louisiana. let s start with the latest from bp. the top kill operation is continuing. some may perhaps be a little reluctant to believe what bp says. that after yesterday all day on tv they talked about progress being made when they had actually stopped pumping the mud into the well about midnight the night before, concerned that too much of that mud was escaping. they now say it could take another 24 to 48 hours to tell if the top kill is working. they are also working on other options, depending on what will happen if that top kill does not work. that as new flow estimates now say that the oil could be going into the gulf at two to five times what we were originally told, and 39 million gallons may already have poured into the gulf that is much bigger than the exxon valdez spill. president obama will be seeing the damage firsthand, also talking to people here in this area as he vis