Iowa floods

[Father Demon]

I get what you're saying, Yeti, and I've been thinking about it since you posted this.  Both were hugely devastating - I read that the Iowa floods will easily surpass $1B in damages, but Katrina caused over $80B in damages.  However, NO had three days notice that a hurricane was coming, while Iowa had no real warning that the rivers would flood as high as they did.  Now, towns and cities down river on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers have about a week to prepare for the coming floods.

However, a couple things come to mind about why they seem so different.

a) In NO, ~1M people were affected directly, and in Iowa it's been around 25,000 evacuated (based on some numbers I've read), so the scope is very different.
b) In Iowa, people were able to drive away when an evac order was issued, but in NO many people didn't have private transportation, and the bussing situation went from bad to worse in a matter of hours.

However:
c) In Iowa, you see people working to save themselves and their community, where in NO the perception was that people sat around waiting for the government to help.  Not everyone, IGY, but there did seem to be a disproportionate people looking for help instead of helping
d) No looting in Iowa

Is FEMA involved in Iowa?  Honest question.

[The BIGSTUD]

I don't know if it has anything to do with the effects, but NO is in much worse shape sea level-wise than Iowa. That could have something to do with it.

[ice grillin you]

how did i know from the start this would turn into a thinly vieled black people are lazy thread


lol @ sitting around and waiting for the govt...thousands of people went thru extraordinary circumstances to do whatever they could to get themselves and their families from their destroyed neighborhoods to the superdome and the airport...what were they supposed to do walk to chicago?


and neighborhoods on the gulf coast were absolutely leveled...thousands of people died in katrina like 20 have died in iowa...liteally half the city of new orleans was sent to other parts of the country FOREVER...new orleans population went from 500k down to about 150k after the hurricane...POOF! well over half of an entire city gone just like that ....people in iowa will get their basements pumped and be back living in their homes in a few weeks


as for not having advanced warning bullshtein...everyone knew the river was gonna flood....shtein it happened in 1993...this particularly flood was much worse than anything theyve had recently but rivers flood there all the time...its not like new orleans which had last had levee breaks before any of the katrina victims were born

and if you dont think theres been looting in cedar rapids youre nuts...theres always going to be bad people in situations like that...the difference is when white people loot it doesnt get shown by the media in the same light and when they do it its fighting for survival when blacks do it its a bunch of animals running wild...there were white people who looted in new orleans...hell some white cops got caught looting and subsequently fired...did you see that replayed on the nightly news 4000 times?


again bwahaha @ comparing an F5 hurricane hitting a city of a half million people to a river flooding in the mid west...but we all know thats not what this thread is really about

[Yeti]

I respect the opinions of everybody on this board.  That's why I asked the question here.  And the question pretty much was the local government and people in Iowa better equipped to handle a flood.  To imply that my question was racially motivated I find highly offensive.           

[ice grillin you]

your initial post was fine and wasnt insensitive imo it was just a laughable comparison...the thread has since turned ugly

[ThirdStreetMafia]

id also like to add that the iowa floods didnt come equipped with 100 mph winds that flattened much of the city and also that this could be the single dumbest thread ever started on the internet...unless yeti was trying to be funny and not honestly asking the difference btwn a F5 hurricane and a flood

Yeah seriously... I read to this point and was just waiting for someone to mention that

And honestly, can we get the hell over NO already

[Phanatic]

I really think the scale of people effected is the key here. In NO your talking about a high concentration of people over a geographical area all trying to evacuate. Roads jammed, buses full and the superdome smelled like musty feet. In the coverage I don't remember seeing people sit in their front yard waiting to be picked up. They were trying to get to pick up areas to get out of town if they didn't have transportation. I don't think there's a major city in America that could handle that kind of evacuation to be honest. Especially considering the large amount of lower income folks present in every major US city.

Iowa doesn't have that kind of concentrated population so it's easier to handle. They also probably don't have that number of lower income folks needing a ride.

Imagine what a flood would do to Chicago. I guarantee it would be the same type of cluster you see in NO.

[ice grillin you]

I really think the scale of people effected is the key here. In NO your talking about a high concentration of people over a geographical area all trying to evacuate. Roads jammed, buses full and the superdome smelled like musty feet. In the coverage I don't remember seeing people sit in their front yard waiting to be picked up. They were trying to get to pick up areas to get out of town if they didn't have transportation. I don't think there's a major city in America that could handle that kind of evacuation to be honest. Especially considering the large amount of lower income folks present in every major US city.

Iowa doesn't have that kind of concentrated population so it's easier to handle. They also probably don't have that number of lower income folks needing a ride.

Imagine what a flood would do to Chicago. I guarantee it would be the same type of cluster you see in NO.

these are all good points....but also dont forget the rural areas that katrina hit specifically in mississippi...the destruction there was epic

[ThirdStreetMafia]

Here's a surefire shteinstorm question... but it is an honest question and I dont mean anything by it... just something I thought of the other day

Black folks in America constantly talk about equality and how there is still a lack of it in this country. Bu then  why is that black people refer to themselves as African American, as opposed to just Americans? I dont say that I'm Swiss German American. I'm just American the same as any other race of person who is an American. A good friend of mine was born in South Africa and immigrated here several years ago. IMO, He is African American.

My question is... is it really equality that people are after. I don't think so

[Phanatic]

I really think the scale of people effected is the key here. In NO your talking about a high concentration of people over a geographical area all trying to evacuate. Roads jammed, buses full and the superdome smelled like musty feet. In the coverage I don't remember seeing people sit in their front yard waiting to be picked up. They were trying to get to pick up areas to get out of town if they didn't have transportation. I don't think there's a major city in America that could handle that kind of evacuation to be honest. Especially considering the large amount of lower income folks present in every major US city.

Iowa doesn't have that kind of concentrated population so it's easier to handle. They also probably don't have that number of lower income folks needing a ride.

Imagine what a flood would do to Chicago. I guarantee it would be the same type of cluster you see in NO.

these are all good points....but also dont forget the rural areas that katrina hit specifically in mississippi...the destruction there was epic

True. It was, however logistically easier to bring help to folks in rural areas and get them out if need be. There's also less to rebuild as compared to massive urban sprawl.

I think the theory that there are people out there not willing to help themselves living off the government is a bit of a misnomer. Practically on the ground that's not how things work. Folks just live there lives and most will take the easiest path. If there's a tax loop hole a millionare will exploit it at the governments expense the same as if there is an easy way for a poorer family to get some extra money around the house through welfare or whatever is available. Water takes the easiest path to the ground. So do people. If folks just deal with that and govern that way you might have things figured out.

[Father Demon]

IGY, while you were hating me for my opinions on the matter, you missed my points.  I said it was a scope of magnitude in difference, and I also said that transportation wasn't available. All you did was focus on black vs. white (which I didn't say - but good job with reinventing my words).  Then Phanatic said the same things without calling "your people" lazy, and you congratulate him on his post.

BTW - the flood occurred in a 500 year flood plain.  By definition, these things DON'T happen all the time.

[Phanatic]

Kumbaya My Lord.... Kuuuumbaya.....

[ice grillin you]

Here's a surefire shteinstorm question... but it is an honest question and I dont mean anything by it... just something I thought of the other day

Black folks in America constantly talk about equality and how there is still a lack of it in this country. Bu then  why is that black people refer to themselves as African American, as opposed to just Americans? I dont say that I'm Swiss German American. I'm just American the same as any other race of person who is an American. A good friend of mine was born in South Africa and immigrated here several years ago. IMO, He is African American.

My question is... is it really equality that people are after. I don't think so

i suppose then we should shut down the chinatowns and little italys that exist in america?

should we not refer to chinese people in america as chinese but rather americans...what about cuban americans?...russians in america?...the term tex mex should not be used to desctibe restaurants in america?


also i dont know a single black person that has ever referred to themselves or any other blacks as african americans...only place i ever hear it mentioned is on news casts mostly when talking about voting blocks and i believe its on census forms...seems to me its a political term not a man on the street term

[ThirdStreetMafia]

man whatever... you hear it all the time. hell mcnabb uses the phrase all the time

and you dont hear people say I'm chinese American. I've never heard the term Cuban American either

[ice grillin you]

man whatever

exactly