Midwest Floods: 24 death, 148 injuries so far! Who knew?

[Shoelace]

these figures were just released today. Last I heard this am, there were 5 fatalities. I also wonder how many farm animals dies in these floods.

AP: by Eileen Sullivan, 1 hour ago
>
Twenty levees have already overflowed this week, the Army Corps of Engineers said. The other levees could overflow if sandbagging efforts fail to raise the levees' levels.

The levees in danger protect rural, industrial and agricultural areas — not heavily populated towns. The levees protecting large towns are not as at risk of overflowing, officials said.

Record-breaking storms and flooding across six states this month are still forcing thousands of people to evacuate. Since June 6, there have been 24 deaths and 148 injuries because of the storms and flooding, according to federal briefing documents obtained by The Associated Press.

As of Wednesday morning, the federal government has provided about 2.5 million liters of water; 146 generators, more than 213,000 meals, more than 10 million sandbags and 1,200 rolls of plastic sheeting, according to FEMA and Army Corps tallies.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j3OztdlstXailp0dOCP9zBcqKD9gD91CJ8SO0

[Bluerthanblue]

1. the numbers are

surprisingly low- but terrible none the less- considering the magnitude of this disaster.

We have got to focus more on the natural domestic terrors that continue to happen, and which will likely only continue and increase in the forseeable future.

My heart goes out to all struggling to get through this-

peace~

[Shoelace]

10. nothing like Katrina fatalities but still...

way more than I've heard on the news so far. I always figured that we never really heard the truth about the actual fatality count from Katrina. I think the official count was something like 1200 but bet it was way higher than that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. It was higher than that...

I even covered back then how they pulled that neat trick...

In 1927 he official numbers were low, historians found something else in decades to come

[Shoelace]

16. how did they do that?

who did they NOT count and how did they pull that off. I suspected it from the get-go and had warning dreams months before it happened that showed thousands who perished in great floods.
Awful thing is, I just had another warning dream about killer tornadoes in Kansas. I don't pay attention to these things much but after Katrina, I do wonder how that works.

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. Easy and I have seen it happen

not in the US, but the trick is easy as pie

If you, and everybody in your family is dead, and nobody claims you... you are not counted in the official numbers

It is such an easy trick to pull off. And I suspect whole families perished and nobody claimed them

And since parish records went down river, it will be harder for historians to put this one together in decades to come

[Shoelace]

22. ah now that makes sense

you are a veritable encyclopedia of disaster knowledge and surely that is what happened, especially during the levee break in that one ward.
What I heard was that over 6000 were still reported as missing, 1200+ children included.

This blogger is apparently trying to keep up with the newly posted numbers of deaths on his website. I'm going to bookmark his site to see what else he finds. Interesting figures there:

http://robertlindsay.blogspot.com/2007/03/katrina-death-toll-passes-4000.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

23. I used to do this for fun with the Mexican Red Cross

I wore way too many hats... as well

most of the time I was just a Medic and a Field Training Officer\ instructor

[Shoelace]

27. medics do great works

so I suspect your work was very valuable to them given the magnitude of their disasters in recent years. I followed the disaster during Hurricane Dean last year. Here's some info on that hurricane here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Dean_(2007)

[uppityperson]

30. Thank you for that website. k&r for IA and for Katrina'd people.

[EFerrari]

26. Just wait until deaths and illness from contamination come in.

:(

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. Why I did the PSA the other day about the Oral Rehydration Solution

which incidentally I had to use MYSELF the other day... damn tomatoes

[Sequoia]

2. Which city is that photo from?

CR ?

[bullwinkle428]

3. That picture is definitely Cedar Rapids

[Shoelace]

4. yes, it's Cedar Rapids, BBC posted alot of pictures of the floods

way before it became news here in the US.
Here's more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/7453323.stm

Also, I just watched a couple of videos of the damage to downtowm CR on gazzetteonline. They have several videos that really show the magnitude of the damage:

http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080618/NEWS/709407354/1006/news

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. Both the British and Mexican Presses have been doing yeoman's work

and putting our own press to shame, AS USUAL

And this is the NATIONAL press, not the locals who ARE doing yeoman's work

[Debi]

13. Here's a local blogger's site that has some incredible pics and video

www.essentialestrogen.com

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Been following her, she is doing extremely good work too

[Debi]

17. She lives in Marion so all the mess in CR is in her back yard. n/t

[Shoelace]

18. yes, she's done an outstanding job of reporting

and I follow her blog regularly.

[Debi]

21. Outside of her flood coverage

she's awesome as well.

Her coverage of the ICE raid on the Postville meatpacking plant is more detailed than any of the newspapers/television stations in Iowa.

[Shoelace]

24. I wish KCRG should hire her for reporting these stories of the aftermath

though I must say, I listened to their live feed news nonstop during the 3 days of the worst flooding there and they did a great job of reporting. By the 3rd day, the tv folks looked so worn out, they were about to doze off on the job!
Still, it's the aftermath of flooding that seldom get's the attention it deserves.
The tornado in Greensburg, Kansas comes to mind.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Hold it, the news embargo is over?

What has happened in the midwest strangely reminds me of the massaged news in places like the USSR, where folks didn't learn
of disasters, or how extensive they were either

[Shoelace]

8. our news had downplayed every major weather related news story for a long time

I think it's because they didn't want people knowing how disasters have increased both in intensity and and numbers due to global warming/climate change, a subject that has been taboo for the Bushistas for so long.

A hat tip to the Weather Channel though, which has done a great job of bringing these facts to light, thanks to Dr. Heidi Cullen and other climate scientists who have worked with them. They also do good work informing people in terms of what to do before, during and after disasters of all kinds.

I wonder if things have gotten worse or better in the USSR in recent history?

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. You mean in RUSSIA, the USSR has been gone

and until Putin it was from a news perspective

Oh and I expect the discussion on Peak Oil and global warming to finally occur once the next admin takes over, assuming Obama wins

Mostly no choice

[Shoelace]

12. oey, you're right! momentary brain lapse

geez and I pride myself on keeping up with international events!:shrug:

Well if they continue to raise the price of gasoline (a contrived thing methinks) it will all be about "drilling offshore, drilling anywhere to continue our gas guzzling lifestyles. That has to be dealt with somehow so that America looks to longterm solutions, not just quick fixes.
If Obama can effectively do this, then he'll win, if not then we are back to base one and that would be a terrible tragedy for our nation (and the world).

It's going to be a helluva struggle, but one we must win.

[nadinbrzezinski]

14. I'm already biking to many places to get the things I need

and this is part of the future.

As to oil drilling, they have the licenses, they just have chosen NOT to

[Shoelace]

19. 75-80% of oil leases are untapped

so says this article which says:


ut at the Center for American Progress, energy expert Daniel Weiss says those same execs have been making excuses for years that they can't keep up with the government drilling permits they already have. By some estimates, 75 to 80 percent of existing leases are untapped.

Daniel Weiss: Why would they want us to open up new areas if they don't even have the infrastructure capacity to explore and develop existing leases? I think it's about something more fundamental: greed.

Some lawmakers are pointing back at the oil companies, complaining they can sit on a lease for 30 years or more without producing a drop. All the while, the idle holdings can still be used to inflate their theoretical reserves -- and boost their stock prices.

http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/05/23/untapped_us_oil/

I believe they want to open up new areas for drilling before we kick their sorry asses out of DC!

[KG]

7. the GOP - keeping america safe!

:rofl:

[proud patriot]

25. I wish the media was covering more of this

[Shoelace]

28. Weather Channel has done a pretty good job

except after 6pm when they switch to HD format. I've seen many really good reports from them. Actually in the am, CNN has shown alot of video reports from the field in various flood hit areas too. Still, in the evenings, CNN get's Glenn Beck, and/or Follywood gossip.