right now. we ll worry about the dollars that happen after this and the recovery later on right now we re in a massive flood fight across a wide swath of the state. a flood fight that will be brutal until tomorrow night. any last message. it s going to be 28 degrees. if you re out, make sure you re dressed for it. don t drive into moving water. just because the water starts going down, it doesn t mean we re leaving. we ll be back. it provides population, great workers. we ll be out there in it with folks today. governor nixon, thanks so much for taking the time to speak with us. we know you re busy but it s an important message. you are in the middle of a flood fight. i hope the people of your state are listening.
up in some areas and, of course, we re inundated with a lot of water. yes. russell, obviously that the true. it s a little bit of delay, folks. we ask for your patients. we ve seen a lot of roads and highways and freeways have been closed through that area. as you mentioned, some of the water has receded through some of those areas. talk about the closures and are folks heeding the call to stay off the roadways? yes. people are staying off the roadways. interstate 44 is now closed. that s a huge concern for the whole area. that s our connection to st. louis, obviously. the most direct connection. and it is closed this morning. we re showing you a map right now, in fact we can pull it up one more time, the dates that the mississippi river is expected to crest. you can see literally over the
reporter: the governor declaring a state of emergency and activating the national guard. as officials predict river levels could exceed the great flood of 1993. that claimed nearly 50 lives and damaged or destroyed some 50,000 homes. the most devastating in modern u.s. history. in the town of west alton, near st. louis, the mayor urging his 500 residents to evacuate after water levels overtopped the levee. this is your notice, this is serious. you need to get final preparations and go. reporter: parts of union, missouri under water with homes, cars, restaurants completely submerged. and one photographer even capturing video of this cabin floating away. authorities urging drivers to stay off inundated roadways, fearing they ll get stuck and swept away. the vast majority of deaths we ve had, i can t stress this enough, is people driving into water, especially driving into water at night. reporter: it s the race