Comments on: Thousands Flee Rising Waters In Iowa, Ill.

Breaking Levees Flood Des Moines, Western Ill.; Streets In Cedar Rapids May Be Underwater For Two Weeks

[fishinfool43]

From one Jim to another, I really hope your optimism is not wasted. I hope everything stays good your way. We have lots of really nice lakes with beaches that you cant swim in for bacterial reasons. Alot of people dont like to come here just for the fact they get tired of smelling pig manure. At least once a year we have a manure "spill" in my county that kills off 25 to 50 miles of waterway. It really irritates me because it screws up my fishing.

[downsteamjim]

FF43: This may be part of the reason most of the beaches in SW La. are closed due to bacteria. But please, don''t come to La for swimming. We have the nastiest beaches in the U.S., maybe world. The reason is that there is little sand. Mudflats make for a messy swim. Still our fishing is as good or better than most places.

[fishinfool43]

exactly, now what about all the hog manure from our thousands upon thousands of our 2000 head buildings. Granted corn is our #1 and Hogs are tied for #1 nationally. Thats an awful lot of poop.

[downsteamjim]

To fishingfool43: They worst effect the rains cause is indeed fertilizer runoff. With corn prices what they are fertilizer usage has to be up. The problem begins when it gets to the Gulf of Mexico. We get algae blooms which die off creating low/no oxygen dead zones.

[fishinfool43]

Sure, I agree with that, but what I am saying is, the flood of 1993, (Iowa''s 100 year flood) made a noticible difference, But this is Iowa 500 year flood. Just my guess it''s at least 3 times worse. Which brings up my next issue. What about all the farm chemicals that are washing down with all that water?

[downsteamjim]

To fishinfool43: In Katrina, the Mississippi River levees were never breeched. In fact, no flood waters touched her levees either from inside or out. By the way, floods help fishing [fresh nutrients etc.] but hurricanes are really bad. The wind fills the waters with leaves that decay and suck up the oxygen.

[fishinfool43]

Trust me downsteam, you better at least have some sandbags ready for the reason being, not much has been done since New Orleans'' last episode.

[downsteamjim]

Iowa seems like a nice place & I''m sorry about the flooding, but it could be worse, Ray ''Chocolate City'' Negan could be on his way.

[gheemaster38]

I''''ll bet you won''''t read about swarming groups of blacks raping and pillaging since the levee failed. You will hear about neighbors helping one another, heroic deeds and people getting fed and helped in an orderly fashion. Once again, the country will prove that Katrina was because of the population, not because of the government. People won''''t sue because they were too stupid to leave.

Posted by MyOpinion1

You live a sheltered life don''t you? Maybe you watch to much Star Trek? The major thing Katrina proved was just how unprepared this country was for a natural disaster or terrorist attack at that time. As far as pillaging, if you were abandoned for days, you to would "pillage" for food. The only thing the World saw was the most powerful Continent on Earth abandon one of it''s major cities for days adn watched it''s people die. Notice how the US of A popularity plummeted after that event worldwide? Not even on the recommended tourist list anymore. Everyone in the World knows that all other States in this country had many years to prepare after Katrina for such a disaster.

[okcnfrcr]

The difference between New Orleans and Iowa has a lot to do with the local and state government corruption and incompetence. The bottom line is that corruption in New Orleans was/is prevelant. The city has endured through the years providing shipping and close to oil field refineries and off shore rigs. The welfare system has been alive and well for years, the police department is believed to be corrupt and obviously something wrong where officers "abandoned" their posts during time of crisis. The NFL/NBA security people warn their players not to go out into the night life much as the fear of carjackings, robberies, murders are ever present ( and believe me I have first hand knowledge of this warning to the players). The city has made it''s living off of being a "party place" where practically anything goes. the city is below sea level which allowed building to be poorly planned and obviously if a lot of the city residents were warned to get out and were too stupid to remove themselves then nobody is to blame more than the locals. Quit trying to shame the whole country, Bush administration and concentrate of fixing your own political problems and community problems first. Americans give more than anyone else but some people need to start working and making something happen on their own instead of whining. If whoever doesn''t want Iowans to give then feel free to move back to Louisiana

[downsteamjim]

To fishinfool43: The lower Mississippi can easily handle this amount of water. So far the only effect we''ve noticed is an extended season on Atchafalaya basin crawfish.

[irliberal]

Where do you think all this water we have in Iowa will be flowing? You might have to get out a map and take a look.

Posted by fishinfool43 at 01:21 PM

LOL that''s a very good point.

[fishinfool43]

We need to stop pouring money into that pit New Orleans and send it to Iowa where it will be used for what is intended for.


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Posted by DemWatcher at 09:39 AM : Jun 14, 2008

Where do you think all this water we have in Iowa will be flowing? You might have to get out a map and take a look.

[irliberal]

Wow lots of right wing bumpkin bigots spamming this article today. It''s amazing they denigrate those that live in New Orleans and went through flooding.

Good luck Iowa - hang in there it can''t last too much longer.

[jerr11]

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[newsreader5]

response to jgs95-
As an Iowan who spent 64 days in New Orleans following the chaos, I can say that many of the thousands of other volunteers like myself didn''t need you to ask for a "band-aid" - we helped because we could and because we knew you''d take a "band-aid" if we offered. I promise you that the vast majority of midwesterner''s hurt for New Orleanians just as you are for us now.
Comparing these two events is impossible. They are two differnt scenarios. I can tell you that the people of Iowa are better prepared for this flood because of what happened in New Orleans. It was a real eye-opener to Fed, state, and local Emergency Management offices throughout the nation following Katrina-Rita, and a lot of improvements to policy, awareness, and preparedness(sp?) were made in this state at all levels - and I think it''s showing. New Orleans didn''t have that luxury.
The lingering story that will come from this event will be rising costs. I think everyone is GREATLY under-estimating the affect that these last few very rainy weeks in Iowa will have on the rest of the nation and the world. The window of time for a successfull corn and soybean crop has pretty much come and gone. We''ve already lost 1 out of every 5 of the BEST producing ag acreage in the world. In the spirit of the NBA finals - this is like taking Kobe off the floor and not being able to sub. This is adding gas to a fire that doesn''t need any more fuel.

[creeper00]

Hey DemWatcher and MyOpinion1,
As a New Orleanian living in St. Louis, I can tell you first hand that I would lay my life ANY DAY in the hands of a fellow New Orleanian before I would ask a Midwesterner for a band-aid.
Posted by jgs95 at 10:06 AM : Jun 14, 2008

Please don''t tar all Midwesterners with the brush that should be used on these two. I would submit to you that their meanness is a function of their political beliefs and not of where they live.

With a very few exceptions, these two being classic examples, Midwesterners would give you the shirt off their backs. The vast majority of Iowans remain horrified at the disaster that was Katrina and its aftermath. How could we not? We live that experience every few years.

[jgs95]

Hey DemWatcher and MyOpinion1,
As a New Orleanian living in St. Louis, I can tell you first hand that I would lay my life ANY DAY in the hands of a fellow New Orleanian before I would ask a Midwesterner for a band-aid. You both have exemplified in your idiotic comments that you have never experienced ANYTHING like these tragedies. Even with as heartless and calloused as I believe you both are, may you never have to because it''s the closest to Hell you may ever feel. People in and from New Orleans hurt for those in Iowa because we have been through it and it is really easy for us to have empathy, of which both of you are obviously incapable.

[lovemynola]

The front page of the New Orleans Times-Picayune yesterday showed a picture of Cedar Rapids with the caption "We feel your pain." People in NOLA could have "gotten fed and helped in an orderly fashion" if help had shown up. By the time help arrived many people had been reduced to acts of desperation. Besides that, MORE PEOPLE IN NEW ORLEANS WERE RESCUED BY PRIVATE CITIZENS THAN BY ALL BRANCHES OF THE MILITARY OR THE GOVERNMENT COMBINED. I wonder if the government will close down Cedar Rapids for a month or more and try to kill that city and bankrupt its people as well...

[demwatcher]

"You can blame the local and state government as well, but the facts are the facts, and your thinly veiled racist comments won''''t change the fact that racism trapped the people in that city and what could at best be called callousness by our federal government left them there.

Posted by cgb312 at 09:34 AM : Jun 14, 2008"

They were stuck there because they were/are STUPID! They had a day or more to get out.

Also, what MyOpinion1 wrote was NOT racist, is was FACTUAL. Read a newspaper sometime and see what is happening in the REAL world.