Thursday, December 31, 2015

Missouri, Illinois Face 'Slow-Motion Disaster'

At least 21 people have been killed in Missouri and Illinois and there have been widespread evacuations in the wake of a powerful winter storm. Two rivers have risen to record levels set in the so-called "Great Flood" of 1993.

Videos and story at the link

9 comments:

bagoh20 said...

They need a new river. I think it's broken.

Methadras said...

I find deaths like this disheartening because in many respects, there is ample warning. Not tornados so much, but rather big storms that come through and yet, people hunker down thinking they won't be the ones and they end up being the ones.

Shouting Thomas said...

That's my hometown, Watseka, IL, in the center of the flooding.

ricpic said...

Slow-motion disaster is right. It will continue to flood for at least the next half month in Mississippi and Louisiana as the flood tide flows to the gulf.

john said...

The newsfeeds show a lot of housetrailers being swamped. Not saying that isn't a tragedy for those folks, but there is are reasons they were there: either unzoned development in the floodplain, or floodplain zoning where so-called permanent housing is not permitted.

That and the levees, which exacerbate the problems once the water gets around them. You would be correct in calling them man-made disasters.

Shows us we didn't learn much from the 1993 flood, which taught us we didn't learn much from the 1973 flood, which indicated we also learned nothing from the 1937 flood. And so on.

AllenS said...

You can't change Mother Nature if you wanted to. Humans have seen this since the beginning of time.

ampersand said...

So far I have been near or in five "100 year" floods. The one that hit me directly we had no warning for. The heavy rains happened 3 or four days before the flood. It was a sunny day.
I fell asleep on the couch and woke to see people canoeing down the street.

bagoh20 said...

"So far I have been near or in five "100 year" floods."

You look good for your age.

William said...

I prefer slow moving disasters to the high speed ones. At my age it's difficult to dodge lightening bolts and volcano eruptions. Give me a mud slide over a tsunami any day of the week.