CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) - 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.So, what's missing from this picture? In 2005 levees failed after a big storm caused historic flooding to a major American city, and all we've heard since then is how it's the government's fault. Cheney blew up the levees, Bush wanted New Orleans to flood so he could drive black Democrats out of Louisiana or just kill them outright. It's still early, but somehow I doubt we're going to hear that kind of talk coming out of Iowa or other flooded "middle states".
Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.
"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."
About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.
Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.
"We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring," said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "We're in uncharted territory - this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine."
Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.
Why? Because the people in flyover country don't have time for that garbage. They don't spend their days sitting around waiting for their next government check and trading conspiracy theories about how Bush and Cheney stole the election and are out to get them. Cedar Rapids is not a city full of drug-addled slackers who commit crimes for a living. It's amazing how self-reliance tends to give you a different outlook on life when troubles come your way. Of course, this description doesn't apply to all of the residents of New Orleans, but given the city's massive crime, drug and unemployment rates prior to Katrina, the description applied to a significant percentage of the population.
Thankfully, we also don't hear any nonsense about how these floods are God's wrath on an evil city, nonsense that was promoted by a number of televangelists after Katrina. They were just as wrong as the "Cheney blew the levees" crowd.
And finally, we can already see the difference in the political leadership in the affected states from what we were stuck with during Katrina. Louisiana was rife with politicians who were overwhelmed or just plan imcompetent. So far the political leadership - from both parties - in the flooded and battered states has been impressive. They're not looking for someone to blame, they're looking to fix the problems and help their people.
It's going to be a mess in middle America for a long time to come, but they'll recover and will do it without complaint. They always do.
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