WaPo: Iowa Flooding Could Be An Act of Man

[CornField]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/18/AR2008061803371.html?hpid=topnews

...

Enshayan, director of an environmental center at the University of Northern Iowa, suspects that this natural disaster wasn't really all that natural. He points out that the heavy rains fell on a landscape radically reengineered by humans. Plowed fields have replaced tallgrass prairies. Fields have been meticulously drained with underground pipes. Streams and creeks have been straightened. Most of the wetlands are gone. Flood plains have been filled and developed.

"We've done numerous things to the landscape that took away these water-absorbing functions," he said. "Agriculture must respect the limits of nature."

Officials are still trying to understand all the factors that contributed to Iowa's flooding, and not everyone has the same suspicions as Enshayan. For them, the cause was obvious: It rained buckets and buckets for days on end. They say the changes in land use were lesser factors in what was really just a case of meteorological bad luck.

But some Iowans who study the environment suspect that changes in the land, both recently and over the past century or so, have made Iowa's terrain not only highly profitable but also highly vulnerable to flooding. They know it's a hard case to prove, but they hope to get Iowans thinking about how to reduce the chances of a repeat calamity.

...

[rurallib]

1. If not caused by man certainly enhanced.

Sadly, I ain't too sure we are out of the woods yet. Lot of summer left to go yet.

[CoffeeCat]

3. It's interesting that you say that...

...because we do have a lot of summer left and heavy rains would really be terrible.

My children and I have been keeping track of the Saylorville Lake levels since June 1. I usually
call the Lake, and write down all of the totals. I haven't written down anything for 10 days, but
I called the Lake today, and I was astounded that the lake levels are still so high! Like you said...
we still have a lot of summer to go!

The water is still pouring over the emergency spillway at Saylorville, but that is expected to end
soon.

The lake level today is 884.56 feet above sea level. The river below the dam is at 804.60 feet above
sea level--and 810 was the peak--on June 12--less than 10 days ago.

I haven't heard anything about long-term weather patterns in Iowa. It's obvious that the system
that kept looping in those heavy rains has now changed. I wonder what's in store for the rest
of the summer...have you heard anything?

Stay dry!

[Debi]

2. I sandbagged with him n/t

[IowaGirl]

4. Thanks for this link...

Hope we're done for the summer. We've got a little houseboat and have been afraid to put it back in the Cedar River so far. :scared: