Cedar Rapids Flooding: This is NOT our Hurricane Katrina
by Jim ~ June 14th, 2008. Tags: Cedar-Rapids, current-affairs, iowa, New-Orleans, Reflections.This week my current hometown, Cedar Rapids, has been affected by the most devastating river flooding in the history of the city. It’s far beyond anything that has ever been seen here and greater than what most imagined would happen. Other communities like Iowa City and Coralville are also currently experiencing flooding beyond anything they’ve experienced before.
One thing I’ve been hearing over and over again, on the radio, on the TV, in the newspaper, and by people just chatting about what has happened is this; “This is our Hurricane Katrina.” While damage is certainly beyond what people here could imagine, I absolutely object to this statement and to this comparison.
Folks, this is NOT our Hurricane Katrina. Why is that? Well, here are at least a couple of reasons:
1.) We have not had less than three days to convince an entire metropolitan area of over a million people that they need to move out of harm’s way before a hurricane passes, followed by a week of search and rescue operations over an entire urban area totally submerged in flood waters.
2.) We have not had a dozen hospitals, scores of nursing homes, a handful of housing projects, or thousands of people who because of a lack of resources and access to public transportation could not leave town before the levees broke.
3.) 90% of our city will not stew in flood waters for several weeks as we wait for the Army Corp of Engineers and others to try to figure out how to dam up breached levees before the water will even begin to recede from the area.
4.) Search and recovery efforts were not severely hampered by rioters and looters nor by others seizing the moment to create a situation of mayhem, nor were there significant political conflicts between city, state, and federal officials that got in the way.
While we are experiencing a disaster that is beyond comprehension to many of us here in Iowa, it is no where near the magnitude nor level of circumstance that makes a comparison to New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina anywhere close to appropriate.
June 15th, 2008 at 8:21 am
Jim:
Been thinking and praying for you and Lori all week and following the news from IA. Hope all is getting better in town and that your churches aren’t too bably affected.
Also, I just read the “Great Deluge” while traveling for study leave this week. One of the few books that made me downirght angry as I read it.
Dave
June 15th, 2008 at 9:52 am
Everyone down in New Orleans is thinking of the people up in Iowa constantly this week. No, it’s nothing like what happened here but still, it’s a tremendous disaster for the people affected.
June 15th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Dave, thanks for your prayers and thoughts. The Great Deluge sure is a great, eye-opening book. Today we’re beginning to get a little touch of the incredibly arrogant bureaucracy that FEMA can be. In that regard many here are starting to understand the reality of what New Orleans faced during Katrina as FEMA took over. Hope you and Kim are well!
Thanks Mark for your comments. I love New Orleans and lived there for nine years before returning to the midwest where I grew up.
June 15th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
Jim, thanks for the thoughtful reflections, which I appreciated as I searched the internet to find out how you and Lori and your churches were faring. Iowa folks are in our thoughts and prayers. Heather and Steve Huston
June 16th, 2008 at 8:53 am
My partner, Daniel, who happens to be from Grand Forks and lived through the big flood that hit the city in ‘97, also said this was not the same as Katrina and I agree. It’s a pretty lazy analogy.
June 20th, 2008 at 3:48 am
This is the time for reflection and it is very sad that the whole world seems affected by these later days of chaos, poverty and calamities. Let’s all pray together for one another and thank the good Lord for keeping us safe.
July 1st, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Thank you for sharing. Some of my family members have received forwarded emails lately about this same issue. I’m going to link to this post on my blog. Praying for recovery and sending clean-up buckets!
July 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am
Jim, I would appreciate your assessment of the situation in Cedar Rapids in terms of the flooding. In the area impacted by the severe flooding in which private housing sustained damage that might be covered by flood insurance:
How many homes might be affected?
What happened to the churches in these areas? did the damage affect their ability to meet as a community of believers? were these churches able to meet the house mud out and rebuilding needs of member families greatly affected by the damage?
What is the “churching possibility” of families fitting the above situation? That is engaging these unchurched families in such a way that they could be bring into either existing churches or into new communities of believers?
Jim, your insights of being the church guy (geek) on site would be very helpful, thanks, joe
July 20th, 2008 at 8:57 am
Jim, in addition to responding in your blog, could you also send me the same information on email to the address that I provided to you, thanks, joe
July 21st, 2008 at 3:43 pm
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