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
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.
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
"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
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.
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
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?
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?"
'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
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.
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'
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!
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
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!
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
Members of the National Guard, in almost waist-deep floodwater, sandbag a sewage pumping station as water from the Cedar River continues to rise Wednesday June 11, 2008 in Vinton, Iowa. Flood waters have inundated the electric plant in Vinton and the entire city is now without power. Officials are preparing for the Cedar River to crest at record levels all across the state. AP Photo/Steve Pope
Overtopped levee in Daviess Co. forces evacuation~A high-tech aircraft used to photograph illegal drug operations will cruise across Indiana skies today to survey the damage caused by the recent floods.
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
Eating Crow~Polly Jackson~Acrylic on canvas, 30 x 42"~painted 2nd week of Federal Flood 2005 Editilla gotta tol'yaz~Gentle'rillas know that at times like these, words just don't always get it. Sometimes we need Fine Artists to Get It! The Ladder Thanks this Artist for sending us their work.
Day 29 - Hunger strike suspended after huge political gains Best Drinks In New Orleans ~Chowhound Editilla gotta Milk Punch~This is really funny because that lede showed up today in one of my search engines, as now news, but the initial post was actually from July 17th of 2007...errrrah, meaning that nearly a year later Nolaholics are still leaving recommendations in the Comments Box! Ya'gotta love'em! That is definitely why I love Chowhound.
Oh, ick~Chasing Ray Editilla icks, ticks and flicks Oh'My~Meghan McCain, daughter of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, is trying her hand at being a children's author?
Coralville reservoir dam. Iowa City~Reservoir goes over Coralville spillway~Flood waters went over the spillway at the Coralville Reservoir about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday night. As the water goes over, the uncontrolled waters from the reservoir will reach the Burlington Street bridge in Iowa City about three hours later. ~USGS Gage Readings: Iowa River below Coralville damn ~Excellent Flood Map Mash'ups here. Corps loses Coralville Lake control Water pours over the emergency spillway Tuesday, June 10, 2008 near Iowa City. According to the Quixotic Corps of Engineers the water officially topped the spillway at 8:30 p.m. Photo: Brian Ray/The Gazette ~UPDATE -- 5:40 PM~The Iowa River Power Dam Pedestrian Bridge, connecting Iowa City and Coralville and a popular flooding sightseeing spot, is closed now. That is among the latest news as the Iowa City-Coralville area goes through the long wait -- which could be a week at least now -- before water hits a record level on the Iowa River and produces a 500-year flood. This article's link is continuously updated.
UPDATE~Saylorville surge seen producing more water, less damage downtown~Water had flown completely over the emergency spillway at Saylorville Dam and over the road by 4 a.m Wednesday. Photo: Eric Rowley/The Register UPDATE~Downtown Des Moines residents should be ready to go~the situation is worse than was announced at the press conference this morning, official says. There was water in the street on both the east and west sides of the river downtown as manholes begin to lift off the street. The Saylorville Lake reservoir also is expected to peak a bit higher than before at 891.26 feet. The top of the spillway is 884 feet.
WAVCIS~Wave-Current-Surge Information System for Coastal Louisiana Note~ Gentle'rillas can use these interactive sites together fo'da sights: 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
Wisconsin checks other dams for flood damage This photo courtesy Joseph Leute, shows an aerial of flooding in Lake Delton, Wisc. on Monday June 9, 2008. A Corps of Engineers-built embankment forming the side of the man-made Lake Delton failed pouring water out into the nearby Wisconsin River. The 245-acre X 5 foot deep lake emptied, sweeping away three homes and tearing apart two others.
An aerial view shows homes flooded near Lawrenceville, Ill., after a Corps of Engineers-built levee break along the Wabash River Tuesday, June 10, 2008, in eastern Illinois near the Indiana border. (AP Photo/Mark Carlson) This aerial photo from video released by Brent Perrott, Lawrence Co. Emergency Management Agency, shows a Corps of Engineers-built levee break along the Embarras River near the Indiana line in southern Illinois Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Officials say levee breaks in the area are forcing some evacuations, and the flooded area so far is mostly farmland and prairie. (AP Photo/courtesy Brent Perrott, Lawrence Co. Emergency Management Agency)
Viola, Wisconsin is seen mostly underwater Monday June 9, 2008. A Corps of Engineers-built earthen dam along a man-made lake gave way Monday, unleashing a powerful current that ripped several homes off their foundations and down the Wisconsin River. (AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Steve Apps)
Editilla truly humbly asks... HAVE YOU HAD ENOUGH YET, AMERICA? The Quixotic Corps' Malfeasant Engineering is obviously NOT merely a New Orleans problem--as we have been telling the nation over the past 3 years. Please do not allow the Corps public relations spokespeople to spin these catastrophic levee failures as simply the result of Mother Nature, as they tried to do in yesterday's Wired Magazine and New Orleans' own Gambit weekly. (Duly dusted by yer ever arrant, vigilant Editilla) The Corps employs highly paid Public Relations firms, like the ASCE, to place these articles in media across the country. Flood control failures do not happen over night, but take decades of hard myopia, dedicated corruption and damn'near Sisyphean mismanagement to fuck up this badly across the entire country! The Corps of Engineers knows their levees will fail. Hence, they have deployed an army of public relations spokes'hos to do the advance work, set-up the Marks. The Corps structures across the entire country were built by the same people who built our levees in New Orleans, and the same people who stuffed newspaper in those levees to repair them after their historic failure in August of 2005. The same people whose levee "repairs" are leaking all over our city now. Is it not high time to replace these criminally insane incompetent bastards? Please demand the 8/29 Commission!
Source Asks "What is the Real Water Policy of the United States?"~Georianne Nienaber ~This journalist Gets It! Take that, Axman! Editilla ssschin'schillas~Oh! Blessed Fortuna! As Gentle'rillas are well aware from climbing this Ladder, Goddess takes care of Fools and Arrant Troubadours. But, such a nod as this is more than even poor Ignacius could have hoped on the long road'ho, the back hand path to écrasez l'infâme! Now it's started, the game is a'foot... (and in my mouf!:)...T'anks Grrrrrrl! Purple Prose? I prefer to think of these Tilla'Rants as more like bloody graffiti in the spirit of NOLA Rising on the face of the Gray Ghost of the Great Nothing. That'jus me'doh'in though, Whoa SHIIINOLA!
The Great Unknown Known ~Citizen K Editilla O'rillappreciates- T'anks K, fo'da hat tip here. But really, you lay far too nicely on my deep fondness and affection fo'da Don'Punky Rummy Rumesfield. Gentle'rillas may well figure how I just love the man like a chigger! We go way back, Punky'n'Editilla. Why I remember the first time I spotted His HinnyessThat Dashin Ass'Assin when he tried to brake-line at the gates of Hell. Oh yeah...Rummy was going to get there first with front row tickets for The Dark Lord --and just screw everybody else who'd been waiting in there for ever...or at least since 8/29/05 ...but, Who In Hell Is Counting Time ??? His point is well taken though: the failure of the Corps-built levee system and subsequent Federal flooding of New Orleans ain't just about New Orleans and the bridge failure in Minnesota ain't just about a bunch of betrayed Lutherans...and the failure of all infrastructure across the country ain't just about the gullibility of the American Tax'Payer. All of this has one thing in common. Would Gentle'rillas care to venture a guess? Wanna'go where yer Editilla fears notto tread?
Come gather 'round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You'll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin' Then you better start swimmin' Or you'll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin'.
Come writers and critics Who prophesize with your pen And keep your eyes wide The chance won't come again And don't speak too soon For the wheel's still in spin And there's no tellin' who That it's namin'. For the loser now Will be later to win For the times they are a-changin'.
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled There's a battle outside And it is ragin'. It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls For the times they are a-changin'.
Come mothers and fathers Throughout the land And don't criticize What you can't understand Your sons and your daughters Are beyond your command Your old road is Rapidly agin'. Please get out of the new one If you can't lend your hand For the times they are a-changin'.
The line it is drawn The curse it is cast The slow one now Will later be fast As the present now Will later be past The order is Rapidly fadin'. And the first one now Will later be last For the times they are a-changin'. Bob Dylan
Katrina Meets Kucinich ~David Swanson Article of Impeachment--Katrina ~First Draft ~Editilla just can't get enough of this real'food. Thanks Scout Prime! Hell, I could easily fill this Ladder with nothing but posts on this valiant and courageous legislation, but unfortunately the entire heart of the country is flooding right this very minute due to the failure of Corps of Engineering structures in at least 3 states. But then again...that is the point, eh?
Avocado Mayonnaise ~Serious Eats No, Avocado Mayonnaise is not the name of a whole'food new age punk rock band--though it sounds like almost as much fun, eh? And if that don't git'tcha then scoot over to their Ice Cream section. New Yorkers...FORKIN-A!
Iowa City flooding 
Cedar Rapids flood recedes but cleanup remains
Earth Observatory ~NASA
