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Iowa Floods As Devastating As Katrina ?

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Boom_70, Jun 16, 2008.

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  1. Rosie

    Rosie Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    K, kids, the thread's title is "as devastating" not "more devastating."

    Let's not forget that tornadoes tore through a good part of Iowa last weekend, as well as southern Minnesota. I have never been through a hurricane, but I have been through a tornado or two and from my experience and what I've seen on television after a hurricane, damage is damage.

    If your house has been reduced to a pile of kindling, does it *really* matter if it was a hurricane, tornado or straight-line winds? Your house is still gone.

    As far as the floodwaters being "relatively slow" in rising, there are still levees breaking in this natural disaster and that means fast-rising water. The USGS's water site has gauge readings if you're interested in seeing just how fast the water is rising. I know this weekend many of those gauges were under water and not sending out readings.

    Just as Katrina wasn't just New Orleans, the Flood of 2008 isn't just Iowa.

    Either way you slice it -- apples, oranges, or what-have-ya -- what happened after Katrina was a mess; what is happening now in the Midwest is a mess. My opinion, for what it is or isn't worth, is that a pissing match about which is worse isn't solving any problems.
     
  2. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Smarter victims?
     
  3. Big Chee

    Big Chee Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Common sense lives in this post.
     
  4. outofplace

    outofplace Well-Known Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    I believe that pissing match was the goal from the post that started the thread, Rosie.

    These situations are very different. How much time passed from the passing of the tornadoes and the beginning of the flooding?
     
  5. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Really, the only difference between the California fires, the Iowa floods and Hurricane Katrina is that the people in California and Iowa did what they were told and got the fuck out of dodge.
     
  6. Big Chee

    Big Chee Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Minus the slow gradual rise of water which took days compared to the flash flood which engulfed half a city in a matter of hours.

    I see a pattern here.
     
  7. Rosie

    Rosie Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?05482000

    This gauge is in Des Moines. Gauge height rose more than four feet in less than 24 hours on June 11, continued to rise and is now starting to come back down.
     
  8. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Yeah, I don't think anyone can minimize what happened/is happening in Iowa.

    Fortunately, Iowa hasn't had anywhere close to the casualties that Katrina did, but that shouldn't be an indication of how devastating the flooding is.
     
  9. Big Chee

    Big Chee Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    I don't think anyone used the amount of casualties as some sort of measure, and if they did, they're idiots.

    I'm just puzzled at how some people are comparing the responses by the victims of both disasters as if they transpired along the same lines.
     
  10. Mizzougrad96

    Mizzougrad96 Active Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    You're 100 percent right.
     
  11. crimsonace

    crimsonace Well-Known Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    Iowa is getting hit a lot harder than we did in Central Indiana a couple of weeks ago, but we had some massive flash flooding in our region, and several mid-sized communities (Terre Haute, Martinsville, Columbus, Franklin) were heavily damaged. We also had tornadoes rip through that area (and the rest of Central Indiana ... one of my former stringers lost his house & about 30 trees) for the full week prior to the floods, creating a big-time double-whammy.

    I live about 40 miles north of the flood zone, but it appears FEMA and the state have been working together to try to get aid to those affected. Maybe my compadres in the hard-hit areas can shed some light on things a little more.
     
  12. Boom_70

    Boom_70 Well-Known Member

    Re: Iowa Floods As Devastating Than Katrina ?

    More resourceful and independent might be more apt. I've spent a pretty fair amount of time in Iowa and as a group there are few populations that are more resourceful in getting things done. I do think a lot has to do with the farming influence. You are pretty much on your own with no one telling you what to do next on a farm.
     
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