Wow, lots of crazy shit has been happening lately. In addition to the stuff that happened in Joplin, now I know of thousands of people that could easily wind up homeless within a 100 mile radius of my home town. Here are just a few news articles about what's going on: http://www.kptm.com/story/14907383/...-the-water-to-save-their-town?redirected=true http://www.kptm.com/story/14900617/council-bluffs?redirected=true http://www.kptm.com/story/14911401/i-29-from-hamburg-to-rock-port-mo-closed?redirected=true http://www.kptm.com/story/14918336/...tate-29-amid-flooding-worries?redirected=true Basically, the snow storms that happened this past year up in Minnesota and Northern Iowa have caused all of the basins, lakes, and reservoirs to fill to capacity. This happened all winter, and has continued as Spring has led into Summer. Levees have started breaking, and dams are giving away. The US Army Corp of Engineers saw it coming and could have alleviated it sooner by releasing water earlier, but reported in a press conference in my home town that they couldn't due to it potentially affecting some sort of a protected species of fish. So now, they are forced to release more water into the Missouri River. Flow down the Missouri River has been increased to over twice what it has ever seen (and might eventually go higher). The river is flooding into surrounding fields and cities. Everyone is banding together to build new dams and levees to protect farm land, homes, and entire cities. There is currently one town in imminent danger (Bartlett, IA), and two more are under flood warnings and have been issued orders from city officials to evacuate (Pacific Junction, IA and Hamburg, IA). More are expected to come soon. These towns are expecting at a minimum 4 feet of water to cover the entire area.... Some more. Total destruction, plus destruction of thousands of acres of farm land, farming equipment, livestock, and processing stations for ethanol... There are several power plants which are in imminent danger (including at least one nuclear power plant, the Cooper Nuclear Station) http://www.nppd.com/Newsroom/NewsRelease.asp?NewsReleaseID=439 The Mid-American Energy Power Plant is undergoing emergency flood preparations, and has already began cutting power to entire cities. They currently have 6 months of coal on hand to provide power, but expect all railroad track access-ways to/from the plant to be severed, for an undetermined amount of time. http://www.midamericanenergy.com/storm/flood.aspx If that plant goes down, we are looking at several hundred thousand people being without power for a long time. This is serious shit, guys. And wanna know the most depressing part? In the press conference at my home town FEMA provided a statement. They said that because this was caused by man and not a natural disaster, no flood insurance claims will be allowed to be filed through them. Wanna talk about some pissed off citizens? I'm talking about people losing their entire livelihoods. I will upload some pics from friends back in my hometown area in the next short while. ~Will Courtier~
Here are some pics that were taken last week, before they really opened the flood gates to 50% of the expected amount they are planning on opening them to. This was only about 20 mins from my family farm, just outside of Bartlett, IA. ~Will Courtier~
Low ground FTL! My back yard was a swamp until a few weeks ago. Just a nuisance thankfully, I pity the folks losing homes and livelihoods. The farm near our house for example, no soy beans this year. It was too wet, the field is full of weeds.
Weird part, is that this isn't even considered low ground! These areas haven't flooded in my lifetime, and they are talking about record flooding. Higher than has ever been recorded. Here is another local news site with viewer photos of the area: http://www.ketv.com/missouri-river-flooding-extended-coverage/22755226/detail.html ~Will Courtier~
i just feel bad for the people who never got flood insurance because it seemed pointless considering their location. any home insurance should include flood damage
We can now get it. We paid 3800 bucks to proove that the FEMA records were wrong by 2'. Now we're not on US guvernment records as being in the floodway and flood fringe. They had fucked up records and we had to pay to make them accurate.....go figure.
I read where there's a chance that near Baton Rouge, the Mississippi River may change course into the Atchafalaya basin, basically going SW instead of turning SE towards New Orleans. http://blogs.forbes.com/christopher...e-atchafalaya-river-captures-the-mississippi/
Now imagine a 250' rise in sea level. It's going to happen faster and faster every year and it's already a 16' rise in 40 years. Ironically, the financial centers like SF and NY will get pasted.
16'? really Wiskas? If the oceans had risen 16' over the last 40 years most of the major cities in the world would be under water already. Over the past century the average sea level rise has been 1.8 mm a year, around 7" in the last 100 years. They have on the other hand come up around 16' in the last 7000 years.
Ooops ( " ....frigging shift key) http://www.countercurrents.org/glikson290511.pdf Say we cut greenhouse gases use by 30%. The earth's population is rising by more than that. Why bother? I say: let the cities flood. 2' (feet by 2040) http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/sea-levels-map.php but then again, scientists are befuddled at how the polar icemelt is accellerating way faster than anyone predicted and computer models have indicated........way faster. http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/earth/geophysics/arctic-ice.htm
So, things are starting to get bad. Possible problems with the local nuclear power plant: http://www.kptm.com/story/14979155/nuclear-plant-flood-wall-collapses?redirected=true Update on the flood insurance issues: http://www.kptm.com/story/14967526/...ome-council-bluffs-homeowners?redirected=true Sewage systems are backing up due to high water table level: http://www.ketv.com/missouri-river-flooding-extended-coverage/28367386/detail.html People waited until the last minute to leave: http://www.ketv.com/missouri-river-flooding-extended-coverage/28351828/video.html As of right now, almost the entire town of Pacific Junction, IA has been evacuated. Right now, the evacuation line is about 2-3 miles away from my father's home... Hopefully he stays dry! ~Will Courtier~
Oh, here's a video from a helicopter flying over the nuclear power plant back home.... Thank God it's all shut down! http://www.ketv.com/missouri-river-flooding-extended-coverage/28370250/video.html ~Will Courtier~
Manitoba's weather does wierd shit when it falls in the upper midwest. Our current weather is supposed to be up in BC where it belongs. I thought climate shift was supposed to take several decades or longer, rather than a measly couple of years.
