Iowa and The '08 Midwest Floods

[sandgk]

Cedar Rapids has (rightly) captured the headlines as it has suffered greatly during this flood.

As Cedar Rapids gets a little (though much needed) respite as the waters recede much damage is revealed. (AP at HuffPost)

Of concern now are the communities downstream - including Iowa City, mome to Big10 school the University of Iowa. The Iowa river splits that campus - and already 20 buildings, including the arts complex on the West Bank have suffered significant damage. The more elevated sports stadia may escape damaging flooding.
Photos of students and local volunteers chipping in to place sandbags on the Iowa campus.

Though waters are now projected not to reach highest feared levels the crest is still expected to be history making, and any more rain would only make matters worse.

 

[Gatorubet]

Why do those people live there?

They should act responsibly, move to higher ground and not leach off of the tax payers for $$ to repair the damage to their property, all because they choose to live where they'll flood.

 

[NorthShoreBuck]

Hey

I don't want anymore of the NOLA crowd moving to the northshore. Take the $60K and raise your home!!!

I just read where they OK'd a 1400 home housing development north of here.

Seems we are all blessed with some form of natural disaster lurking just around the corner. Always good to see people pitching in to help each other.

 

[buckeyefool]

"George Bush hates Hawkeyes"

 

[utgrad73]

news: Environmental group ties floods to global warming

"In the year and a half since the release of this report, we have seen a summer of extreme drought end with intense flooding, a winter of record snowfall and now a spring ending with some of the worst flooding in recent memory," Keith Reopelle, senior policy director at Clean Wisconsin. "Many of the impacts of global warming are occurring much sooner than predicted."
While no single weather event can be attributed to global warming, the increasing intensity of weather patterns suggests we may be witnessing the first major impacts in Wisconsin, the organization said.

Global warming, the extreme precipitation that recently fell in Iowa and Wisconsin may be natures way of refueling. Maybe that's just putting a positive spin on a natural disaster, if that is even possible. I just left that area, and the amount of water that fell and collected was staggering. No one should have to deal with that much water everywhere.

Global warming myths and realities...

Global Warming - Myth or Reality

Climate Change Facts and Uncertainties
What do we know with certainty about the climate system and its future?
The following items are based primarily on observations of the global climate and do not depend on models of the global climate. The scientific community is in broad agreement on these issues, even those who are skeptical about future global warming. * Water vapor is the most abundant greenhouse gas, but its concentrations are closely related to global temperatures and are relatively constant. Atmospheric concentrations of other greenhouse gases are increasing due to human activity. Carbon dioxide concentration is rising due primarily to the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Atmospheric methane concentrations are increasing due at least in part to natural emissions from wetlands, termites, and oceans being augmented by emissions from ruminant animals, rice paddies, natural gas operations, and landfills (considerable uncertainty exists in quantifying sources of methane, but the rise in total atmospheric methane concentration is indisputable). Concentrations of nitrous oxide are increasing, in part due to continued use of nitrogen fertilizer. Most chlorofluorocarbons have no natural sources.