Associated Press:  Memphis, TN:  The Mississippi River crested in Memphis at nearly 48 feet on Tuesday, falling short of its all time record, but still soaking low-lying areas with enough water to require massive cleanup.  To the south, residents in Mississippi Delta prepared for the worst.  National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Borghoff says the river reached 47.85 feet at 2 am local time Tuesday and is expected to stay very close to that level for the next 24 to 36 hours.  Hitting the high point means things shouldn't get worse in the area, but it will take weeks for the water to recede and much longer for inundated areas to recover.  "Pretty much the damage has been done," Borghoff said.  In states downstream, farmers built homemade levees to protect their crops and engineers diverted water into a lake to ease the pressure on the levees around New Orleans.  Inmates in Louisiana's largest prison were also evacuated to higher ground.  The Memphis crest is below the record of 48.7 feet recorded during the devastating 1937 flood.  Surrounding Shelby County and four others were declared disaster areas by President Obama, which means that they'll be eligible for much-needed federal disaster aid.  Bob Nations Jr., Director of the Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, described on Monday what he expects to be a slow and costly retreat by the high water.  "They are going to recede slowly; it's going to be rather putrid; it's going to be expensive to clean up; it's going to be labor intensive."  The slow-moving disaster is headed downstream to Mississippi and Louisiana, where residents are bracing themselves.   Scott Haynes estimated he will spend $80,000 on contractors to build levees around his house and grain silos, which hold 200,000 bushels of rice that he can't get out before the water comes.  Heavy equipment has been mowing down his wheat fields to get to the dirt that is being used to build the levees and he expected nearly all of his farmland to flood.  This is just one of the many, many stories in the areas of devastation.  

 My Comments:  You can believe this is not only going to devastate many farmers, unless we pray and call on the name of the Lord for help, but it will also effect the already crushed economy.