scrub away all signs of the bombing. i had a chance to walk down boylston street a little earlier and take a look. this is the site of the first explosion. the first bomb went off right here at 2:50 p.m. on marathon monday. they re filling it in right now so it s all closed off before the streets really open to the public this morning. let me show you something. look at this building. marathon sports. the fourth floor, all the way up to the fourth floor here, they have windows boarded up. those were shattered by the force of the blast. one other thing i saw on the sidewalk there, and this is before 5:00 a.m., there were already flowers on the street there on the sidewalk on boylston street. but again the good news is right behind me, it is open for business today. and this morning there is another new development, a delegation from the u.s. embassy in moscow arriving in dagestan to attempt to interview parents of the bombing suspect with the cooperation of the russian government.
blame for fourth deaths. governor jay nixon declaring a state of emergency after rain drenched that street. jim, how bad is it, and the big question, is it expected to get worse? reporter: just take a look leer, zoraida. this is sort of a boat terminal. usually this is dry land, and there s a road here between where i m standing and the terminal. the mississippi river has come out of its banks here. to give you a little context, right now the river is at 35 feet. they believe that s how high it s going to get. it will crest later today. flood stage is 30 feet. normal is 15 feet. last year during the drought, it was as low as 3 feet. what an incredible shift, a change from last year to now during this flooding. we believe that things are going to start getting slowly better down here in the st. louis area. up in fargo, north dakota, they re just getting ready. this spring s storms, spring rain is accelerating the melt of
jim, paint the picture for us. it s pretty dire out there. take a look, this is st. louis. we re just below or just north of the famous gateway arch. this is sort of a boat terminal here. usually not under water. today under about five feet of water above flood stage. you can see how high this water has come up. similar circumstances here on the mississippi river. especially in these lower riverside communities. yesterday we were on another river, the illinois river, where we saw several of these low-lying communities just inundated with water. now we think it s cresting here today in st. louis. and that will be similar story in this part of the river system in the next day or two. cresting and then the slow process of the water receding. up north, in fargo, north dakota, it s a different story. warm temperatures there, it s going to cause accelerated snow melt. they re laying in sandbags and preparing for the worst up there in fargo. so even as it crests down here, this spring storm
long from over, zoraida. still wreaking havoc. how does the current flooding compare to other years? well, take a look. this is about 35 feet of water. flood stage is about 30 feet. the mississippi river here in st. louis normally at about 15 feet. last year, during the drought, it got as low as three feet. incredible change from three feet to 35 feet in less than a year. just shocking to see how fast it can change. all right. jim spellman reporting live for us. thank you. 46 minutes past the hour. coming up next, the feds versus lance armstrong. the government trying to get back the $40 million that it paid the tarnished cycling legend. you re watching early start.