ALTON, Ill. — The rivers just keep on rising, spilling over just about everywhere.
But although the river may be changing the view, to the people who call this home, it's still Alton.
"It's something that I'm proud of, but it can also just be so devastating," said volunteer Sydney Shansey.
On Friday, volunteers got to work to show that the Mississippi, while mighty, had met its match.
Alton's fire chief Bernie Sebold put out a call Thursday for volunteers to help fill about 10,000 sandbags before Tuesday. The river is expected to rise at least two more feet by then.
"What we've got is some of our 160 volunteers right here and we're putting them in teams of three," Sebold said. "We've got one person shoveling, one person holding the bag and then another person tying and then carrying the bag over to the piles."
The wall is currently the only thing separating these businesses from the relentlessly rising river.
"its wild," said Shansey. "It shows the power of the river and it's so, so beautiful and we're so proud that we live here and that this is part of our community. But its also, its just devastating."
For Shansey, it's not just the depth that's concerning, it's the number of days they've been fighting it.
"We've actually been in that major flood level in the Mississippi river since March and we haven't dropped out of that major area for maybe more than a day or so," Sebold said.
"I'm really hoping this is not becoming the new norm."