martin savidge. back to you. meteorologist jen delgado joins us from the world weather center. >> a very slow process with the river actually cresting in several parts, right along the mississippi river. we are expecting today the river to actually crest in vicksburg. later on this morning and we're talking about 17.4 meters, that's roughly around 57 feet, incredibly high. record levels up and down the mississippi river. it looks like it will stay that way, cresting at least for the next five days. it's going to be dangerously high through many parts along the mississippi river. as we talk more about vicksburg and how it's been affecting the region, how widespread this flooding is. if you want to get an idea of the area affected, we're talking roughly the size of italy. 200,000 square kilometers. typically right along vicksburg, the mississippi river is roughly around 1 kilometer. well, because the flooding is so bad and so widespread, we're