Evacuations ordered as Wisc. levee gives way

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LESTER HOLT, anchor: We want to turn now to a story developing in the Midwest tonight. There is an immediate evacuation order in effect in central Wisconsin where a levee is failing. Flooding across the upper Midwest has so far driven hundreds from their homes. NBC 's Jeff Rossen joins us now with the latest. Jeff :

JEFF ROSSEN reporting: Hi , Lester , good evening. Right now the biggest problem, as you mentioned, is in Wisconsin . A levee is giving way, which could send water gushing into the city of Portage , Wisconsin . Emergency officials are now asking everyone in that area to evacuate, worried that neighborhoods will entirely flood out. A -- police, fire officials and paramedics even say once that levee breaks, Lester , they won't be able to reach people in even high-level areas. This is happening, as you can see on this map, along the Wisconsin River , affecting 15,000 people who live there. This comes after days of pounding rain that has plagued the Midwest . In Northfield , Minnesota , this weekend, a local river overflowed, flooding many city streets, ruined many stores in town. The water came in so fast, even got so high it submerged a local high school football field. In nearby towns dozens of homes were damaged and roads were closed there as well. This weekend the governor of Minnesota declared a state of emergency in 34 counties. Now, there is some good news here. At this hour we've learned the river is receding, the floodwaters are receding, and many towns are going into cleanup mode at this point. But, as we mentioned, the ongoing problem is in Wisconsin where that levee is eroding by the hour, and the evacuation plan is active.

Lester: And, Jeff Rossen , following it all for us tonight. Jeff , thank you.

HOLT:

Evacuations ordered as Wisc. levee gives way

An immediate evacuation order is in effect for Central Wisconsin, where heavy rains are contributing to the failure of a levee. NBC’s Jeff Rossen reports.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.