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41 Comments
- justok, on 06/23/2008, -4/+2550 some diggs and no comment. I thought this post would be flooded.
- justjoehere, on 06/23/2008, -0/+8FTA: "But 15 years later, more homes than ever exist in the Midwest floodplains, and few projects to improve levees have been undertaken" Let's see... Let's move into a floodplain because land is cheap and let's not fix the levee, and then, and then, feign surprise when we get washed away.
- doctechnical, on 06/23/2008, -1/+8As long as the taxpayers are willing to subsidize stupidity (by way of cheap FFIPS flood insurance) you can expect development into flood plains to continue.
- Duositex, on 06/23/2008, -0/+7Wait a second.. that one in 1993 must have been REALLY bad with no global warming to help it. I mean.. the current one would be paltry without Bush in office right?
- ankeshk, on 06/23/2008, -0/+7This quote from the article says it all:
"As Gerald Galloway, a professor of engineering at the University of Maryland, put it a few months after Hurricane Katrina: The half-life of the memory of a flood is very short.”
Sad... - inactive, on 06/23/2008, -0/+5Just a second. The weather is Cyclical? Nooooooooooooooo
- intercom, on 06/23/2008, -0/+4I have been following the floods quite closely.
Amazing, the difference in attitude from the people in Iowa, and the people
from the Big Easy and the mainstream media's response to each.
from The National Review:
Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for
help in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal
government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and
trailers) are? Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa
people to free hotels in Chicago? When will Spike Lee say that
the Federal Government blew up the levees that failed in
Des Moines? Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?
Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and
big screen television sets? When will we hear Governor Chet
Culver say that he wants to rebuild a "vanilla" Iowa, because
that's the way God wants it? Where is the hysterical 24/7 media
coverage complete with reports of cannibalism? Where are the
people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?
How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa
flooding ever again? - 9bpm9, on 06/23/2008, -0/+3The next big flood isn't due for a bit. The big floods have been coming at an interval of like 23 years or something for a while now.
- inactive, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2zing!
- behn1220, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2They call it a "500 year flood" because there is a 0.2% chance, or 1 in 500, that this type of flooding will occur. It is a silly phrase, but it basically gets the point across. As to whether or not this years flooding is worse than 1993, in Cedar Rapids where I live, the water reaching 19 ft in 1993 and 32.5 feet this year. The levee near wher eI live is 22.5 feet high. Simple math will show that, in Cedar Rapids, this year's flooding was FAR more devastating than the flood of '93.
- inactive, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2Ziiiiiing
- ProfessorRiffs, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2Cedar Rapids here. The smell of Crunch Berries FTW.
- inactive, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2I blame the levy system. Compressing the water in certain areas causes it to expand in others. The ribvers could not drain off like they needed to and caused the lesser tributaries to overflow. Poor planning and a huge miscalculation by the USACOE.
- sndream, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2I warned you fools god would not allow a blasphemy like gay marriage to exist, now California shall be flooded and sunk into the depth of the ocean to repent their sin!!!! Oh wait, the flood are in midwest and California still exist? Hey look, it's a bird. *Run
- inactive, on 06/23/2008, -0/+2why are they calling these 500 year floods?
- NightRiderkami, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1True, and some of the worst floods are barely known to anyone. Take the Red River flood of 97 as an example
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gI33--nneyM - kickingback77, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1We've only been tracking weather consistently since 1886. 120 years is not enough data to confrim or deny some significant change in the weather patterns. I believe it's just a cycle, but if not we should be buying recycled goods including something like polywood "made from recycled milk jugs" to do our part for the environment.
http://www.diyhomecenter.com/polywood/
"Waste not the smallest thing created, for grains of sand make mountains, and atomies infinity." ~E. Knight - megamod, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1i see what you did there!
- pathouston22, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1"history is repeating itself as some residents who moved into the floodplain since 1993, with assurances from FEMA and other officials that they would be safe, have seen their towns submerged this month, creating personal financial disasters for people who in many cases have no flood insurance. "
Wait...so people listened to FEMA, moved into a floodplain, and didn't buy flood insurance?
My heart DOES NOT go out to those people. Don't give my tax dollars to them. - donkevin, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1I see what you did there.
- girldrinkdrunk, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1In Grand Forks, ND, it's the Great Icestorm, Flood, and Catastrophic Fire of 1997.
- ricksite, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1While it was much worse for Cedar Rapids, Des Moines was much better off than in 1993. Des Moines was without water back in '93 but with improvements to the levee, the water treatment plant was fine. They also added a 6ft extension to the emergency spillway to help moderate the flow to downtown Des Moines.
- iluvhatemail, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1because the news channels need ratings to survive
- donkevin, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Southeast Nebraska had the flood and an ice storm in 93, and Peru, Nebraska had a little tiny earthquake the same year.
- cjacks9, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Boooo.
Ahh, fugg it. Dugg you anyway. - snullbug, on 06/23/2008, -2/+3I'm glad you asked. This phrase is a politician's equivalent of saying "it's not going to happen again in my lifetime, so I'll just let someone in the future deal with it." Then when it happens 15 years later everyone acts surprised that nothing has changed.
- alvarezg, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Our pathetic piles of dirt called levees in the US hardly meet the 100-year flood standard. Why don't we hear about floods in Holland? Because they design for 10,000-year floods on the coast and 1,250-year floods inland. That is how intelligent people take care of themselves.
- gaapgod, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1Where is Oprah doing a week of live shows and give aways?????
Where are all of the Hollywood celebrities holding telethons asking for help
in restoring Iowa and helping the folks affected by the floods?
Where is all the media asking the tough questions about why the federal
government hasn't solved the problem? Asking where the FEMA trucks (and
trailers) are?
Why isn't the Federal Government relocating Iowa people to free hotels in
Chicago?
When will Spike Lee say that the Federal Government blew up the levees that
failed in Des Moines?
Where are Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks?
Where are all the looters stealing high-end tennis shoes and big screen
television sets?
When will we hear Governor Chet Culver say that he wants to rebuild a
'vanilla' Iowa, because that's the way God wants it?
Where is the hysterical 24/7 media coverage complete with reports of
cannibalism?
Where are the people declaring that George Bush hates white, rural people?
How come in 2 weeks, you will never hear about the Iowa flooding ever again? - inactive, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1The floods will be good for the economy. Plenty of reconstruction jobs!
- ProfessorRiffs, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1For us here in Cedar Rapids, IA, it's a lot more than reminiscent. This flood was almost twice the water level of that in 1993.
- sndream, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1You should post that article on digg. See will it get on front page.
- vengefuldrx, on 06/23/2008, -0/+1Well, it kinda is. We have had 1993 and Katrina from which to learn about the "natural disaster+population center = ZOMG-Death" equation. Plus the people that control the nations purse strings are too busy sucking each others ***** after making so much money off the war that we are paying for... instead of our infrastructure.
- monsterman1994, on 06/24/2008, -0/+1Tell this to the poor folks of Cedar Rapids who couldn't bathe for 5 days... Yes, I was a part of it and downtown was absolute hell.
- dragnonfly310, on 06/23/2008, -1/+1In all seriousness, I read stories like this and my heart breaks. It is my sincere hope and prayer that you guys that have to go through this will be treated better than we were after Katrina. Sure, the aid agencies and volunteers/missionaries will flock to your region willingly. However, you and them will be bashed in the media. :(
- kerrmudgeon, on 06/23/2008, -0/+0I blame the "levy" system: the mechanism in which the US Army Core of Engineers relies on tax "levies" on state and local levels to provide funding necessary to build taller levees. They definitely want to do that if they could raise the funding; someone with the means and will should give it to them...
Like Congress. Congress should acknowledge that Federal tax revenues could directly help people and the economy by upgrading this infrastructure. Those whose farms and cities have been inundated by the flood would have incentives to rebuild. The rest of the country would enjoy inexpensive food prices and a more stable economy.
Taller levees would have prevented floods this year. They would have prevented overtopping in '93. A tall levee would prevent the next 500 year flood in the coming decade or so. They simply need funding to build and maintain. It can't possibly be more efficient for those affected to drop what they're doing to fight the threat of floods every few years, fail every fifteen to thirty years, and then rebuild. These floods are predictable and each time result in the massive destruction of real wealth.
Maybe we should respond to the problem.... - Teradoc, on 06/23/2008, -1/+1This one is as bad if not worse than 1993. Looks at Cedar Rapids (hometown) where all the coverage is. In 1993 the river did not spill its banks in the majority of the city, it was only 19 feet high. I believe they are calculating this flood in the losses of around 1 billion or better.
The problem with comparing 1993 flood and 2008 is....where did the flooding occur? In 1993 it was concentrated along rivers in central Iowa near Des Moines and Northeastern Iowa such as the Mississippi, where flooding occurred due to heavy rainfall in MN and WI.
Where as 2008 is different as it was more concentrated on the Cedar and Iowa rivers (some in Des Moines also).
But really, tell that to someone who has lost they're house----they will without a doubt say that flood that effected them was the worse. So comparing is really a flawed science - kerrmudgeon, on 06/23/2008, -0/+0The widespread destruction of wealth hurts everybody no matter who foots the bill, some sooner than others. Your position is dumb.
How about this: Can we give your tax dollars to the Corps of Engineers so they can build proper levees and then have no need for FEMA in those parts ever again?
The history being repeated is the USACOE could not accommodate a predictable disaster despite plenty of time to design and build. Presumably, it's because they lacked the funding... Supposedly the Corps has interest in building, and what government agency doesn't like to grow in scope and expand in personnel for a feather-in-cap project that saves the day??
I for one like buying grain and meats as cheaply as I had been, and if Congress *has* the money, it might be a pretty worthwhile investment to keep the river out of these people's factors of production for the next hundred years or so. - kerrmudgeon, on 06/23/2008, -0/+0That's what they've been calling it since 1993. Sorry it took so long for you to catch up.
- dk911, on 06/23/2008, -2/+1The comments here are missing something... what.is.it?? Oh yeah. This is all Bush's fault.
Yeah, it's trolling, but someone had to do it. - inactive, on 06/23/2008, -3/+2Just a second. The weather is Cyclical? Nooooooooooooooo
- inactive, on 06/23/2008, -3/+1Wow "The Great Flood of 1993" that sounds truely like it has a quality of old timeyness to it. Not so much the fact its only 15 years behind, but just the way it sounds.
Pff, the 20th century..
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