Posted on 03/20/2008 6:08:25 PM PDT by dragnet2
FENTON, Mo. (AP) — With more than a dozen people killed by floodwaters and rivers still rising, weary Midwesterners on Thursday weighed not just the prospect of a sodden cleanup but the likelihood that their communities could be inundated again.
Families in some areas have been forced from their homes multiple times in the past few years, making the routine of filling sandbags and rescuing furniture into a familiar drill.
The first day of spring brought much-needed sunshine to some flooded communities, but many swelling rivers were not expected to crest until the weekend in Arkansas, Missouri, southern Illinois, southern Indiana and Kentucky.
The worst flooding happened in smaller rivers across the nation's midsection. Major channels such as the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers saw only minor flooding.
Parts of Missouri got a foot of rain over a 36-hour period this week, causing widespread flash flooding and swelling many rivers. Five deaths have been confirmed in Missouri and hundreds of people were forced from their homes. Many families will return to find their property badly damaged or destroyed.
Police in Pacific, Mo., went door-to-door evacuating about 50 homes in low-lying areas.
In Batesville, Ark., antique mall operator Marcia Weaver stood along the banks of the Spring River and watched as pieces of lives were washed away.
In the tiny community of Edgewater, Ohio, relatives helped Judy Lambert move out of her double-wide mobile home. Her detached garage had a foot of water in it from the flooding Great Miami River.
Levee breaches in southeast Missouri forced hundreds of people from their homes and left many major roadways impassable.
President Bush declared a major disaster in Missouri on Wednesday night and ordered federal agencies to assist state and local authorities in flooded areas.
The Black, Big and St. Francis rivers in Missouri were also expected to flood significantly.
At least 15 deaths have been linked to the weather over the past few days, and three people were missing.
Searches were under way in Texas for a teenager who was washed down a drainage pipe, and two people were missing Thursday in Arkansas after their vehicles were swept away by rushing water on Tuesday.
Government forecasters warned Thursday that some flooding could continue in the coming days because of record rainfall and melting snow packs across much of the Midwest and Northeast.
I live in that area. Move, for Pete’s sake if it floods repeatedly, how stupid do you have to be. If it floods once, MOVE.
Will there be debit cards for lap dances and free trailer homes? Are the school buses gassed up and ready to move people out? Or are these just Poor White Folk so it’ll be considered an ‘Act of God’ versus a blatant ‘Act of Racism?’
(Sorry. The Cynic in me rises to the surface once in a while...)
BTW, we’re getting another 4-8” of freakin’ SNOW up here in Wisconsin. We’re flooding in parts, too. Not enough drowned yet to hit the MSM Radar yet, though. *SHRUG*
Bush’s fault..
Well, if it makes ya fell better, the Communist Chinese earthquake made breaking news here yesterday...This story only rated front page.
My eyes! My eyes! *SHUDDER*
This heartbreaking story in today’s Columbus Dispatch:
In Clinton County, 54-year-old Cindy George clung to a tree in the cold water for nearly three hours before her husband found her. She died of hypothermia.
The scene that unfolded in Clinton County was a frantic one.
It began just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, when the water in Todd’s Fork Creek wasn’t terribly high. Just above the headlights of the Chevrolet Lumina.
And although her vehicle wasn’t even close to being submerged, George made an unfortunate decision. Authorities say the Wilmington woman got out of the car in the dark and apparently tried to walk or swim through the rushing water to safety.
She was a wisp of a woman — not much more than 100 pounds — and was wearing heavy boots and a long, quilted winter coat that would have quickly weighed her down.
Swept away, George clung to a tree branch and yelled for help.
Her husband, concerned that she hadn’t returned from her second-shift job to their home at the Maple Grove Campground, searched for her. He found the car in the rising water at the base of the hill near the campground. He couldn’t see his wife in the darkness but could hear her cries.
He called 911 about 4:30 a.m. and summoned the campground’s owner for help.
By the time her husband finally made it to her, she had begun to lose consciousness. “It was a pretty awful scene,” said Mark Wiswell, assistant chief of the Wilmington Fire Department.
“I cannot imagine being able to hear my wife beg to be saved, to hear her scream and not be able to help.”
George’s rescuers had their own dilemma. The fire department’s boat was being used elsewhere, and they couldn’t wait for it to arrive. In the dark, they used ropes and a tractor to try to make their way across the swiftly flowing water to the stranded woman.
Eventually, her husband, Joe Coelho, and two other men made their way to shallower water and drove the tractor across. They pulled George from the tree and placed her in the tractor’s bucket to bring her back.
By then, it was too late.
“Everyone fought like crazy,” Wiswell said. “Every single person there did all they could.”
Coelho and George had been married for 23 years. They moved to Clinton County, about 60 miles southwest of Columbus, from California late last year.
You, too, can live on a floodplain.
I have friends who have lived in a home over 40 years. It had never flooded until the last huge flood in Houston.
I’m in southwest Missouri. It’s not just the rivers flooding. The ground water level is so high we had water shooting out from around the top of our well head. We also had a spring develop in an area that never had a spring before. There is a lot of water pressure.
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