PBS Newshour 5/4/2011
I wish ALL my fellow citizens well in recovering from this extreme weather and the damage caused.
Having said that, the flooding along the Mississippi River:
This problem is 100+ years old, it is what happens when human beings live and build in what Mother Nature set aside as flood planes.
I have been in countries that deal with flooding, like the Philippines and the Monsoon season floods. What they do is:
- Build homes/cities ABOVE the possible flood level.
- OR their homes/buildings are at least two-story, the bottom floor only for parking (garage) or storage of non-perishables, the upper floors for living. Even bamboo homes do this.
So the question for Americas along Mississippi River is, why haven't you moved your cities and homes higher, out of the flood planes? Leave the flood planes for what they are good for (in human terms), farming. It is the rich silt left by flooding that makes the flood planes good farmland. Flood planes are NOT good for homes/cities.
I do remember from past reading that some cities have already done what I suggest. I also see some homes built on top of high mounds, you can see all the flooding around them but the home is safe.
The bottom line, while we all should sympathize with Mississippi River flood victims, we should ask them, "Why are you rebuilding in a way that your problem will repeat WHEN the next flood happens?"
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