Mardi

Flood project's cost estimate explodes, Louisiana Citizens, American taxpayers ask: WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT???
The proposed 72-mile Morganza-to-the-Gulf levee system that would protect the Houma area could cost between $10.7 billion and $11.2 billion, according to a preliminary estimate prepared for the Army Corps of Engineers by a contractor.
That's at least 12 times the most recent $882 million estimate for the project, and dwarfs even the $1.5 billion estimate that state officials have said they expected from post-Katrina inflation.
The corps' Task Force Hope Director Karen Durham-Aguilera said the six-volume, 2,736-page estimate prepared by Arcadis Corp. and other contractors, labeled as 95 percent complete, was a "working product," and the actual price might be much lower.
The new standards were developed by the corps-sponsored Interagency Performance Evaluation Task Force, IPET, consisting of more than 150 scientists and engineers from around the world and peer reviewed by several scientific and engineering organizations.
Editilla bites the sound that feeds us~
Oooh so this is why I had the dishonor of finding Corps Public Relations Pukes showing up in this Ladder's comment section to sucker-punch our reader anonymously, as well as on other blogs around the internet, masked as "nameless bloggers" like Tim Ruppert. He was already hard at work for his Punk'Masters at the Corps/ASCE, attempting to pre-spin the blog'o'spheric view of reasoned opposition to their imminent (they swear) IPET STUDY: that bit of White-Wash "Peerless Review" performed "for the Corps of Engineers" by the ASCE (and the Corps of Engineers)--(note the broad'brush mis-description of this as yet thrice delayed "peer review", from Corps' Task Force Hopeless Director Mxrs. Aguilera, who was recently transferred from Oregon district and is Not licensed to practice engineering in the State of Louisiana). But though selling this faux study to the public for over $25 M reeks, this 11 Billion Dollar Ass'Fuck is why they have been delaying the IPET report's release?
Rather than release the study to Real Peer Review, Mxrs. Aguilera releases press statements with no substantiation of what she decrees, for example, about "more than 150 scientists and engineers from around the world and peer reviewed by several scientific and engineering organizations". IPET was done by the ASCE for the USACE--and roundly disputed here.
THAT IS KNOWN AS A SOUND BITE!
Textbook, PT Barnham Circus Coming to Town Carney Sound Bite!
But it is not just that particular butt'wipe "Peer Review" that Nameless Tim was spin'filtrating, and Mxrs. Aguilera attempts to ram down our throats, eh?
10-12 Billion Dollars is a lot of Contracted Project Engineering Work for assholes like Tim Ruppert. Oh yeah. Just as with the grotesquely expensive, neoengineering failure known as: the Iraq War, Mxrs. Aguilera would have us again accept the word of Contractors that they have hired to build and prosecute this tax-payer rape.
This is like playing football with Syphilitic Gorillas.
Hey, Mxrs. Aguilera, what is with the condescension?
"But Durham-Aguilera said there's little chance the corps will change its construction standards in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita."
What?
To whom do you think you Speak?
We already know for whom your bell tolls, but who do you think actually buys your lies these days?
Are you talking down to We the People of Unsubstantiated Rants (WPUR), "unsubstantiated rants, who know nothing of science, who conduct no research and present no facts or evidence to support their propositions" (as Tim Ruppert is so fond of referring to any Corps Opposition)?
Or are you talking down to We The People who have, and continue to suffer from your malfeasant engineering?
Or are you talking down to We The People and our great, great, great grandchildren who will be paying dearly for your engineering product liability into the next century?
Who are you talking down to, Mxrs. Aguilera?
Are you talking down to the citizens of Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinoins, Indiana, Ohio, Nevada, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri...the rest of the nation---who are running from YOUR GODDAMNED FAILING LEVEES AND DAMS RIGHT NOW???
Is this unmitigated horse shit you shovel actually an attempt to misdirect the public view from that 800 Pound Gorilla pissing in America's living room?
With friends like you and Nameless Blogger Tim Ruppert, who needs zealot terrorists? I'm shaking already. Indeed I have already stuck my shaking hands up to my elbows in your unsubstantiated "repair job" at the 17th Street Canal Levee.
Where would you have us stick it next?
One of your new 11,000,000,000 dollar dikes?
Who will you be talking down to this coming August after another Cat 2 storm like Katrina misses the city, yet again is erroneously blamed for the needless deaths of 1000s of its citizens and destruction of over 200,000 homes and businesses
--AFTER YOUR LEVEES FAIL...AGAIN?
Tim Ruppert, Mxrs. Aguilera, ASCE, USACE...all of you lying bastards, it is my fervent goal in life to see the very same Rising Tide that washed your deadly detritus into my life, my lovely city, will take you back out to sea to restore our disappearing coastlines and feed our wandering pelicans.

NOAA: New Orleans at risk from Cat. 2 hurricane~Cain Burdeau

Demand the 8/29 Investigation, Senate Bill 2826

The US Flood Epidemic: Nature or failing infrastructure?
~Sandy Rosenthal
~Levees.Org was founded in November of 2005 by Sandy Rosenthal and her son Stanford, while living in Lafayette, Louisiana after evacuating from New Orleans. They returned to the city and grew the organization to over 20,000 members. The non partisan grassroots group's mission is education that metro New Orleans was destroyed not by a natural disaster, but by the worst engineering failure in the world since Chernobyl.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before~Louis Maistros

Clueless Iowan Asks: "Are you watching us, New Orleans?"
~Des Moines Register
Editilla stands in awe and abject embarrassment before my fellow New Orleanians~I suppose this Pitch'Forkin Cork'Suckin Icehole has not been watching the New Orleans News Ladder since June 7th, as we became the "IOWA FLOOD NEWS LADDER"! I apologize, New Orleans, for considering what happens to our sisters and brothers upstream in Iowa vitally important enough to stay awake for days to cover it on this Ladder...to the detriment of other, more important New Orleans news like today's top lead. What the Hell was I thinking in trying to defend these highly tax-payer-subsidized white folks in at least 2 Nola blogs? Jeez Louie. This is obviously a discussion that needs to be had since I have always thought that we are, all of us, Americans in this country, and we, all of us suffered in the Federal Flood of New Orleans--just as we, all of us, have suffered with Iowa through these latest Corps Infrastructure Failures.
You break my heart, Iowa.
Ok, Nolabloggers...Editilla say, SICK'EM!!!
And, Iowa...How's Your House?



A Town That Looked at Leaving the Floodplain but Stayed On
~This is not the first time this tiny city in a valley of rolling hills 70 miles northeast of Des Moines has been mostly under water, as it is now, a soaking casualty of the swollen Iowa River, the Otter Creek and this endlessly wet spring.
“There were comments made at the time, ‘Why would anybody want to live there?’ ” Mayor Roger Ochs said of the last flood. “ ‘Why would anybody stay there?’ Well, this town is safe and quiet. Many had lived in their houses for years. Most people in town preferred to stay where they were.”

Iowa Congressional Leaders Push to Relieve Flood Financial Aid

When the Waters Recede
~Shira bat Sarah

Flood victims,
states downstream worry:
What's in the water?

Levee funding not fast enough to save Iowa neighborhoods, Corps of Engineers begins counterspin "blame game"
Editilla to wit'tas: Congress, Local Governments, Kiwanis Club, Mother Nature, Katrina the Clown, everyone but...WHO DESIGNED AND BUILT THEIR LEVEES?
But hey, Iowa, who ya'gonna believe? Me?
New Orleans? Or your own Lyin'Eyes?
New Orleans IS watching you, Iowa.
Please WAKE UP AMERICA, do not let the Corps of Engineers pit you against us.
We all live on this river.
Please WAKE UP AMERICA, do not allow the Corps/ASCE PR Machine turn this tragic discussion away from real information as to who designed and built your
failing flood control infrastructure.

Flooding Worsens In Iowa, Hot Conditions In South & East

Feds: 26 levees could overflow if sandbags fail

Illinois Levee Compromised At Carthage Lake; President Bush Addresses Those Affected By Midwest Flooding...in a couple of days (yawn)

Quixotic Corps contending with lake levels in Missouri

Missouri River Flooding

Indiana-'Everybody's frustrated'
~U.S. Rep. Steve Buyer, R-Ind., told the crowd that FEMA is a different organization post-Katrina, having responded to criticism of its handling of the hurricane that ravaged the Gulf Coast in 2005." The FEMA you talked to today is not the FEMA of yesterday," he said. "
I saw no weakness with regards to the response plan." Buyer urged patience.
"The response here, while it may not fit your personal timeline, is moving pretty quick," he said. "I have been impressed with how everyone is moving together and trying to help you." For residents seeking assistance, the frustration mounts.
"Everybody's frustrated," said Kim Gibson, 36, whose house on Court Street in Franklin was swamped with 10 feet of water. "It's nobody not caring," she said, adding she will visit the recovery center to learn more about her options. "It's just not enough people with knowledge."

<-Click to enlarge.
MS River
MO River
above
St. Louis
(lower right)
WAVICS
Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

U.S. Midwest Floods Head to Mississippi River Cities

American Red Cross: Disaster funds are depleted~Related Article


Flood Recovery Likely to Be Slow

Audit faults KBR's prices
~Pentagon report alleges cases of post-hurricane overcharging

Lessons from an angry planet
~Grist

Seattle church builds, donates organ to recovering Bywater congregation

The World That Made New Orleans~Citizen K
Editilla chin'shillas~I posted this dated review of Ned Sublette's book for a couple of reasons: (1)-Ned is turning out to be a formidable piece of badass as I just started reading the book and (2)-this blogger has become a great friend of da'Ladda--and, as Gentle'rillas well know, I listen to those who listen...to New Orleans...and (2.1)-It is a great book review of a great book. Here is a more recent post that I should have snagged the other day: Lost in the Flood. D'OH!

Radio Activists~Gambit

Lundi

Investigation is everyone's business~Sandy Rosenthal
Note-The above article is from June 7th, the very first day the rising water in Iowa began to climb this Ladder. As the week passed we witnessed the coming of the next deluge as it grew and grew. Below is a Press Release from levees.org as well as notice of action today on MRGO MUST GO!
United States Flood Epidemic:
Nature or failing infrastructure?
The flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa over 700 feet above sea level, has been accurately compared to the flooding in New Orleans when levees breached during Katrina. Also mirroring New Orleans is a Wisconsin town 1100 feet above sea level when an embankment of Lake Delton breached last week and emptied the lake into the nearby Wisconsin River. Add this to the January midnight levee breach in Fernley, Nevada, a whopping 4200 feet above sea level that flooded 800 homes, and a scenario is emerging that suggests levee failure and flooding is not a distinctly New Orleans problem.

The group Levees.Org, founded after levee breaches during Hurricane Katrina, has campaigned to educate the nation that what happened in New Orleans is a case of federally directed civil engineering failures, not a simple case of a natural disaster. They contend that the flooding within the City during the August 2005 storm could have been avoided had levees been at the right height, and had they been built to withstand a few hours of water overtopping them. Responsibility for the design and construction of levees in New Orleans like most levees in America belongs to the US Army Corps of Engineers.
Levees.Org claims that what happened in New Orleans could happen anywhere, but this problem is not being addressed.

"There are more people in the state of California in danger of catastrophic levee failure than in the states of Texas, Louisiana and Florida combined," says Sandy Rosenthal, Founder of Levees.Org. "This is not just a New Orleans issue." The group has been clamouring for the 8/29 Investigation, Senate Bill 2826 filed by Senator Mary Landrieu D-LA because the organization responsible for the levees, the US Army Corps of Engineers sponsored the official investigation as to why the levees failed.
That, says Levees.Org is a conflict of interest.
---------
Contact: Sandy Rosenthal, Executive Director 504-722-8172

Today Levees.Org will join with St. Bernard Parish President Craig Taffaro, the MRGO MUST GO Coalition, and the Delta Chapter of the Sierra Club in urging the public to take action to make sure the job gets done.
WHEN:
Speakers: 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Distribution of signs: 11:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
WHERE:
8201 West Judge Perez Dr,
Chalmette, LA, 70043
Click here for a map.
WHAT: A broad coalition of groups will launch a new public action campaign on Monday to ensure the controversial MS River Gulf Outlet (MRGO or "Mister Go") is finally and truly plugged, and that formerly protective wetlands it helped destroy are restored as Congress directed. Please click da'pic to enlarge.
Concerned citizens can help in two ways:
1. Come to 8201 W. Judge Perez Drive to pick up FREE yard signs, stickers, and decals saying: MRGO MUST GO.
2. Send a personalized email to the White House to make sure this critical work gets done. Louisianans can call the White House if they prefer at 202-456-1414

For more information contact: Juanita Constible (337-255-2831, constiblej@nwf.org)
or Sharyn Stein (202-572-3396, sstein@edf.org)
www.levees.org

Crests along Miss. River now expected to top '93 levels
~USGS Flood Guage
-Mississippi River at St. Louis, MO

Missouri Governor orders more resources in flood response



<-Click to enlarge.
MS River
MO River
above
St. Louis
(lower right)
WAVICS
Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa. This is active data.
I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

Team fills thirst for flooding data
"Man, this is amazing," said Goodrich, 55, a supervisor with the U.S. Geological Survey's data collection team. Staring down at his laptop, Goodrich studied lines showing the speed and direction of currents below.
"The water levels, the flow, everything, it's so much worse than it was back in 1993," he said.

36,000 Iowans homeless as floodwaters reced
Brian Gibson, a member of the urban search and rescue unit Iowa Task Force One, uses his hand to indicate the water level in the basement of an evacuated house in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday. Emergency and utility crews begun the long process of examining each house in the flood zone to make sure they were safe for residents to return. Photo-Seth Wenig, AP
~USGS Gauge Readings
-Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, IA

Update: Debris, home inspections, water, bridges, animals, buses

Mold a concern in flooded buildings

Firefighter Kurt Woode marks a house with a 'not safe' symbol after noting that the foundation was compromised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Sunday, June 15, 2008. Emergency and utility crews begun the process of examining each house in the flood zone to make sure they were safe for residents to return. AP Photo/Seth Wenig

Each home or business was given a red, yellow or green placard. Red homes were off limits, yellow could be entered with some restrictions and green homes could be entered by two adults — no more, no less — on foot.

A frustrating day of heartache and anger

An angry resident that tried to drive around a security checkpoint is stopped by law enforce- ment. Rick Blazek, 54, was arrested a few moments later. Photo~AP

Tempers rising for frustrated Palo residents
"It was condescending," said Bisson, a 39-year-old contracts manager at Rockwell Collins. "The biggest news to come out of there was that we could maybe get in at 2 p.m." But traffic through the checkpoints was a trickle Sunday afternoon, and groups of visibly frustrated residents stood in front of the squad cars — as they have for the last couple of days.
"Last night (Saturday) I got so mad I almost had a heart attack," said Don McCluskey, who lives in a mobile home on Vinton Street. "These people have been stopping us for two days."
Residents must walk into town through one of the checkpoints, and drop off identification so they leave the way they came in. People whose homes have been deemed safe can make unlimited visits, City Council member Paula Gunter said.

Editilla really gotta ax'ya~Who are the property owners here and what rights do they have to be on their property?

Reporter arrested while covering Des Moines flood

The Mississippi River as seen from Burlington, Iowa June 15, 2008. Officials moved paintings, books and documents out of harm's way on Sunday as record flooding in parts of the U.S. Midwest partly submerged the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City. Photo-Eric Thayer

Burlington fills sandbags, watches levee~There's flooding in Burlington in southeastern Iowa, and sandbagging is under way to try to keep it from getting worse.

Coralville Reservoir has Crested
~USGS Gauge readings:
-Iowa River below Coralville damn

Iowa Officials Stunned By Aerial View Of Crop Loss

Corn Jumps to Record as Floods in Midwest Threaten U.S. Crops
Stalks of corn rise out of
flooded farmland outside Hills, Iowa. Flood ravaged Iowans were to begin the first stages of recovery under sunny skies Monday but officials warned it could be two weeks before river levels returned to normal and the damage will be in the billions. Photo-AFP/Getty Images/David Greedy

Flooding Pere Marquette River to peak Monday afternoon
Flood waters continued to rise Sunday in parts of western Michigan as the state tried to recover from a second straight weekend of severe weather.

Ludington dam not damaged from flooding~An inspection by the State Department of Environmental Quality found the dam that separates the lake from Lake Michigan was not damaged by lake water that rose 2.7 feet Thursday night during a 12-inch rainstorm, said Mason County Administrator Fabian Knizacky.

IL Governor declares county disaster area as rivers are expected to stay at flood stage

Midwest flooding impacts Amtrak service~BLET

America's Midwest floods are the worst in half a century

CNN: “Biblical Flood 2008″
~Church of God News
Here we come,
Walkin' down the street.
We get the funniest looks from
Ev'ry one we meet.
Hey, hey, we're the Monkees
And people say we monkey around.
But we're too busy singing
To put anybody down.

Floods in China kill 57, 1 million godless communists flee

FEMA director defends giving away hurricane supplies
~Hat T'n'T~Voices of New Orleans

A Bit More on the FEMA Ice Controversy~slabbed
Editilla finds a stigmata point~Not to be confused with the ICE FEMA controversy?

Forum on Gulf Coast insurance issues is being held in New Orleans today

New Orleans pastor returns to Ithaca

N.O. schools set for building boom

Some New Orleans streets flood during thunderstorm

Arts students get intensive training this summer

I do fit in!~Kiss My Gumbo

Student Group Supports Hurricane Katrina Relief
Four times a year, the Aztec student group travels to the New Orleans area to assist with recovery efforts. They rebuild homes, help with cleanup and assist overworked social service providers.
This month, 25 students will be going.
Twenty-one local artists created pieces pertaining to New Orleans or Hurricane Katrina that were auctioned off at the benefit. Proceeds will help fund the work of the SDSU student volunteers, or "Nawleanteers" as they call themselves.

Go Fish New Orleans~Fly Talk

New Orleans Iced Coffee
-A Summer Treat
~A Taste of Carolina

4am New Orleans
~Trailing Xtabay

Ned Sublette Interview~BOMB




Tomato, Seafood, and Zydeco Festivals

“Guitar Yakuza” Matsumura Takashi , awesome Japanese blues guitar player

Music Makes You Feel ____.

The "City That Care Forgot" is put to music by Dr. John ~Louisiana Weekly

Dimanche

Iowa City flooding
~Officials and volunteers in Iowa City and Coralville continue to try to fight off record floodwaters, particularly at the University of Iowa. Nearly all of the areas shaded blue and green on this map, which shows much of the cities' flood plains, were flooded as of midday Saturday.
<-Please click on Map to enlarge

Hundreds ordered to flee homes in Iowa City

Flood of 2008 timeline

Culver: 'We will rebuild Iowa'
~“But we will rebuild Iowa, and we will be stronger at the end of the day,” Culver said. “Iowans are at their best when their backs are against the wall.”
Cedar Rapids flood recedes but cleanup remains

When Kathy Wiebold moved into her ranch-style house a couple years ago, people assured her it wasn't in the flood plain and had never flooded. So she didn't purchase the extra insurance. Now, she's planning to ask her sister from New Orleans how she bounced back from Hurricane Katrina.

Receding Cedar Rapids flood reveals wide damage

Levee breaks along Iowa River, flooding town of Oakville
~USGS Gauge readings:
-Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, IA
-Des Moines River near Saylorville, IA
-Iowa River below Coralville damn
Earth Observatory ~NASA

Offiicials will push for levee improvements

Obama tours Illinois flood area

Mississippi River Levee Bursts in Western Illinois

Fox River hits flood stage in Algonquin, IL

Flood crests in Missouri now expected to top '93 levels

River dams won't prevent floods

More rain stalls WI recovery

China flood toll increases to 70

Speaking of boats and dreams...


Our Version of Katrina
~We Could Be Famous

Father’s Day 2008
~Toulouse Street

Jindal is blackmailed~NO Bull

Samedi

An aerial photograph shows flooded area of downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, June 13, 2008. Interstate I-380 can be seen in the center. Floodwaters inundated about 100 city blocks of Cedar Rapids, Iowa's second-largest city. It has a population of 200,000.
Photo: Ron Mayland/Reuters

Floods swamp Iowa town; Drinking water near gone

"We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. "We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding."

Editilla gotta ax~Pastor Hagee?
Can I get a witness?
Om Ah Hum Hri Om Mani Padme Hum
Editilla must thank Gentle'rillas for their support and encouragement in this Ladder's coverage of the flooding upstream. For me attention to rising water whereva remains an ineluctable no'brainer, especially in light of the New Orleans News Ladder's raison d'être...to wit: what is the very last thing one might need in a flood?
I am very gratified as well in the attention and actualization paid to this National Disaster by the Nola blogger community, given many many of the citizens now now running from floodwaters upstream across the heart of our country have themselves been traveling back and forth to New Orleans to help with The Recovery of our City over the past three years. As we all had to run for our own lives, we know what it means.
Editilla also fervently hopes that this points a big middle finger at the US Army Corps of Engineers and their larger national flood control infrastructure management failures.






People were not the only creatures in need of rescue.
Cedar Rapids fire- fighter, Jeremy Wagner, saves a cat from a flooded home. Photo: Scott Olson-Getty Images



~USGS Gauge readings:
-Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, IA
-Des Moines River near Saylorville, IA

Des Moines under mandatory evacuation as levees breach
~The 100-foot-wide breach occurred about 3:45 a.m. in the city's Birdland Park area. It was spotted by people assigned to walk the levy, looking for problems.
"We have a pretty strong gush of water coming through that area," said Des Moines police Sgt. Vince Valdez.
UPDATE~ 2nd levee breached; 'total evacuation' necessary
~Des Moines Fire Capt. Tony Merrill said all emergency workers and city crews have moved out of the area around the Second Avenue breach, headed east, and that some people in the overrun area had to be forcible evacuated.
"We're on Plan B and a half," he said. "That one breach put an entire different spin on the situation." He did not know how many people resisted or whether they faced arrest. "If we can't be there, and we're emergency responders, then the public shouldn't be there either," he said

Water moved quickly after Saturday's levee breach

Des Moines: Corps plans to assess strength of taxed levee system today
Editilla screams~~Little Late There, Sparky! --Welcome to the goddamned party!
Guess this calls for another one of y'alls vaunted "Peer Reviews"?
Can we get a wit'nassss?
This photo shows the levee breach near Kiwanis River- view Nature Island, due west of New York Avenue in Des Moines, on Saturday morning.
Photo~Todd Erzen - The Register

Iowa City racing against time, water~U of I campus sand-bagging:
'This is our last effort'
Volunteers build a sandbag wall in front of the U of I’s Lindquist Center on Friday. By Friday afternoon, 19 university buildings were either taking on water or in danger of flooding.
Photo: Dave Schwarz- Special to the Register

Heroic story of books
In all the statewide stories of heroism, it would be hard to find more passion than in the snaking line going up the steps of the Main Library at the University of Iowa on the banks of the flooding Iowa River. Hand over hand; all man's ideas were handed.
Philosophy and theatre, science and religion.
Books rising from the basement to a higher level.
A student handed to a professor to a fresh-faced child.
This is Iowa City, after all, where thinking and literature are in the very blood, no less important than a homeowner's prized possession or a building's boiler.

500-year flood physically dividing Iowa City

Iowa City: Water filling Old Art Building, Art Building West

Coralville officials focus on Iowa River Landing development
-Iowa River below Coralville damn

Columbus Junction levee faces 'catastrophic failure'

Louisa County battles floodwaters; Louisa sheriff issues stern warning: Stay off Highway 99; Mandatory evacuation order issued in Oakville; Residents have until Monday

WAVCIS ~Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa.
This is active data. I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.

USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

FEMA Coordinating Federal Response to Midwest Storms

Upper Midwest flooding forces evacuations

The Midwest Flood~How to Make Donations To Help Flood Victims

Help Flood Victims - Donate to Hoosier Flood Relief

Flood relief - How to help
~Agencies accepting donations for their efforts to help victims of flooding in southern Wisconsin

Poseidon's Rage

U.S. Senators ask governor for early disaster declaration
~U.S. Senator Dick Durbin says he and fellow Senator Barack Obama have asked Governor Rod Blagojevich to make an early disaster declaration for the West-Central Illinois counties

Deere Says Flood Waters Have Had No Impact on Tractor Production

Flood damage reports from around Indiana

Gays Mills, WI officials ponder relocating town after flooding

Flooding problems persist for Wisconsin, even with no rain

Floods send corn, ethanol soaring~Editilla gotta ax'yaz~Have we traded in one Evil Landlord for another Evil Landlord? It is getting hard to tell the Forking Ice Hole Devils apart.

Flooding from a weather rut of clashing air masses
Hot sticky air hovers on the East Coast. Cool air is parked in the West. And when they repeatedly collide, it storms over an already saturated Iowa. This has been the stuck weather pattern for weeks and it's led to tornadoes, thunderstorms, heavy rain and eventually record flooding. Add to that La Nina in the Pacific Ocean, which some meteorologists think could be a factor. La Nina, which is the cooler side of El Nino, causes changes around the world, including more rain and snow in some of the Midwest. Even though La Nina itself is falling apart, its effects may still be felt in Iowa and Wisconsin.

Iowa Flood...
the “Katrina of the Midwest”
~Talk Radio News Service
Editilla has been waiting for this shoe to drop.
Dig the source and comments--and please do
let'em know we care, eh? Slooowly I turn...
But I would like to know what sort of context we have here now with this latest absolute National Disaster right before our lyin'eyes?

New Orleans on the Prairie
~The Beginning

Flooding leaves 20,000 homeless in Iowa city
~"This is our version of Katrina," Johnson County Emergency Management spokesman Mike Sullivan said. "This is the worst flooding we've ever seen -- much worse than 1993," when much of the Midwest was hit by record flooding.

Boy Scouts Save Iowa
~Toulouse Street~"No one should be surprised that this sort of fuckmookery has crawled out from beneath the rocks where it lives?"

Don't play politics with hurricane victims

DOD report clears Quixotic Corps in faulty pumps case

Corps of Engineers protects NOLA with duct tape, rope, and rusty pipes~Matt McBride

Announcing the New Orleans Rebirth Volunteer Center
~Le Flambeau

Celebrate the Return of the St. Charles Streetcar

Book Review: From Deep Within The Earth: Book One Of The Eternal Vigilance Series By Gabrielle Faust~Leap Inn The Dark

On the menu in New Orleans: Museum for Southern cuisine, SoFAB

Vendredi

'Uncharted territory' as city floods in Iowa~Hospitals in Cedar Rapids evacuated as river continues to rise as downtown was submerged Thursday by the rising Cedar River. Around 100 blocks were under water, forcing some 10,000 people to flee. Photo~Steve Pope / AP
Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood~The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets. Those train cars were filled with tons of sand and gravel in the hopes of weighting down the bridge enough to withstand the raging current. Photo~Cliff Jette/The Gazette
REUTERS
Ron Mayland->
House boats from the Ellis Marina on the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids lie jammed and destroyed against the Quaker Oats railroad bridge after breaking free from their moorings in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa



1,200 turnout to help save Cedar Rapids water supply
~USGS Gauge readings:
-Cedar River at Cedar Rapids, IA
-Iowa River below Coralville damn
-Des Moines River near Saylorville, IA



UPDATE
~Iowa State Capital Evacutating

Iowa legislative panel creates flood study panel

Iowa flood evacuations rise, losses seen in billions


Soggy Austin, MN pushes back; more thunderstorms to the north
Joel Luker, left, of the Salvation Army and Dick Hinton waded through floodwaters Thursday with sand bags to shore up the makeshift defenses around the Salvation Army headquarters in Austin, Minn. The race against the rising water turned into a community effort.
Photo~Richard Sennott, Star Tribune

Residents Around Wisconsin Start Flood Cleanup Efforts

Flooding major concern in Nebraska

Stephenson Co. Illinois Flooding

Missouri communities prepare for river crests

Missouri Scout camps prepared for hazardous weather
WAVCIS~Wave-Current-Surge
Information System for Coastal Louisiana
Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together to study the flooding in any state: zoom WAVICS sat'view out and "curser" the Map up the Mississippi River to Indiana and Illinois and then zoom'click back down to follow the smaller rivers like the Ohio and the Iowa.
This is active data. I use the USGS maps to get oriented to the states and their flood gauges due to the lack of boundries of the sat'view. I also look up State Maps.
USGS~Flood Stage Levels current 'real-time' guage readings

Had enough yet, America? Didn't think so...

Bad news travels downriver fast
HANNIBAL, Mo. — Here along the banks of the Mississippi River, people are braced for the worst flooding in 15 years as severe storms and major floods batter states farther north.

Communities along the river work to secure water supplies

Midwest floods expose aging, weak protection~Years of neglect of dams, levees put many folks at risk

Corn surges to record for 6th day as Midwest rains flood more crops; crude up slightly

After the storm in Burma
Landing in Rangoon in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, the Human Rights Center's Eric Stover witnessed the impacts firsthand — and now warns of a 'second wave'

The Sisters Told State Farm — What did State Farm Do? ~slabbed

Louisiana House Committee Passes Bill That Would Shift Hospital Funds From New Orleans to Other Regions

Elevation grants set to start flowing

Legislative pay is session hot potato

The pay raise that will try Louisiana's soul
~Your Right Hand Thief

How dysfunctional can things get?~Thanks Katrina
Editilla gotta tol'yaz~I tapped a general link address here, so that everyone might fang down through this blogger's posts to get to the lede. Why? Because JudyB has refined the standard of "Scuzzbucket" to the gimpth degree and included class pictures and emails of the perps.
As she is too much of a Lady with Manners to call them Fuckmooks, Gentle'rillas know, yer oh'so humble Editilla gatz noooo gumption fo'da assssumption.
You Geaux Mz. JudyB! You Editillero!

Lottery? Crap Shoot? Just Shoot Me?~Liptrap's Lament - The Line

On the one hand, I count myself very lucky to have gotten the little guy into a good school.
On the other hand, any parent who has a smidgen of empathy for what other families are going through knows that things could be otherwise.

David Simon pays tribute to 'Wire' fan Ashley Morris
~Shawn Malayter of DePaul’s media relations office said that Simon got in touch with the university after hearing of Morris’ passing, and expressed a desire to speak at the ceremony. Simon had reluctantly turned down the offer to speak when it was originally made several months ago, because he was supposed to be in London editing his new miniseries, “Generation Kill,” which debuts on HBO July 13. But he felt compelled to honor Morris’ memory and their friendship, even though the two men had never met in person.

“So I never got to know him. And that is my loss. And on some weird level, I owe him a trip to Chicago and a morning spent in a funny hat and gown.”
-David Simon

Bluegreen Corporation Enters New Orleans Vacation Ownership Market

Audubon Insectarium Opens in New Orleans
Editilla jus'axin~What is the Audubon Institute doing getting involved in the parentage of the NO City Council...what? OH'D'OH! Incects...Got it. Cool!

Driving me out of my mind
~New Orleans Daily Photo

Weekly Photo Challenge: Tawdry
~Bigezbear
~I Just Want To Be A Tugboat Captain

New Orleans Cooking School - Gumbo, Jambalaya,
Bread Pudding and Pralines
~Menu In Progress

A New Orleans Vieux-To-Do
Celebrating Tomatoes, Seafood
and Zydeco
~Schedule Here ~WWOZ to broadcast live from the French Quarters!

Crab-Stuffed Creole Tomatoes
1 tbs Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Salt or to taste
1/8 tsp Black Pepper
1/4 tsp Dried Tarragon
1/4 c Mayonnaise
1/2 ts Fresh Lemon Juice
5 -7 Fresh Louisiana Crab Meat
5 - 6 steamed Asparagus Cut into 1/2-inch Pieces
2 Hard-boiled Eggs, chopped
1/2 c Cooked Peas
8 lg Creole Tomatoes
Washed Lettuce and Parsley for garnish.
In a mixing bowl, toss together the crab meat, asparagus, eggs, peas, olive oil, salt, pepper, tarragon, mayonnaise, and lemon juice. Blend lightly, then refrigerate to chill.
Cut a thin slice from the top of each tomato and hollow out the center, leaving a firm shell to hold the salad filling. You can save the tomato pulp for another recipe. Sprinkle the insides of the tomatoes with a dash of salt, and turn them upside down on paper towels to drain. Refrigerate the tomatoes until serving time. When you’re ready for the salad, simply fill each tomato shell with about a half cup of the crab mixture. Set each tomato on a few lettuce leaves and add a sprig of fresh parsley.

A Tribute to my Orisha
~American Zombie

Ingrid Lucia & The Flying Neutrinos

Friday Cheers Gets Dirty...
NOLA's dirtiest brass visits the Old Dominion

Daddy Would Be So Proud ~Toulouse Street