Flooding in Midwest

My family in Iowa were spared, barely, from the flooding. What is the bigger issue than my family? Failure of our government to monitor and repair old infrastructure. It's a shame that levees failed again. Levees that should have been and could have been better maintained. Now, we see families, business and entire communities destroyed, and we can expect rising prices for food. Of course, these prices will be further escalated by the futures markets, and we will suffer the consequences of that while our Congress sits on its derriere.

Info on the extent of the flooding, from my favorite weather man, Dr. Jeff McMasters:

Preliminary damage estimates from the June 2008 Midwest flood puts agricultural damage in Iowa alone at $1.0 billion. At least another $1.0 billion in property damage has likely occurred--$762 million of that in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The price tag is sure to grow, as many locations downstream are facing record flood heights this week. Levee overtopping is possible in at least 28 locations along the Mississippi River and its tributaries in the coming days, according to the Army Corp of Engineers. This year's flooding is one of the ten most damaging non-hurricane flood events in the U.S. since 1980, according to the list of billion dollar weather disasters maintained by the National Climatic Data Center. The damage from this year's flood will not come close to the record $26.7 billion in damage from the catastrophic 1993 flood, though.

Jeff McMasters wunderblog