Flooding in Gulf Port, Illinois

I saw this article over at CNN.com the other day and I had to comment.

Let me say that I feel truly, truly sorry for everyone that is dealing with flooding in the Midwest right now.  I can’t even imagine what it would be like to lose everything you own in a flood.  The helplessness those people must be experiencing is unimaginable.

Gulf Port, Illinois sits right on the banks of the Mississippi.  Last week the town was completely decimated when two levees near the town failed and water rushed into the town.  According to CNN, only 28 of 200 residents had federal flood insurance.  Now, residents are mad at the federal government because they felt they were misled about not needing flood insurance, and they felt they were led to belief the levee would provide them needed protection from the river.  The levee was rated to withstand a 100 year flood, but not a flood the size of what we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks.

Just a couple of quick thoughts in response to this:

• If you live on the banks of one of the biggest, if not the biggest, rivers in North America, you should really have flood insurance.  The Mississippi is prone to flooding and unless you’re high up on a bluff, you should expect a flood no matter what.
• I feel like the faith put into FEMA is misplaced.  FEMA’s recent track record isn’t the greatest in the world when it comes to natural disasters and flooding.  Additionally, weather and nature isn’t the most predictable beast.  No one is ever 100% sure of what weather and nature are going to do.
• The flooding in New Orleans is a very clear reminder to expect the unexpected.  The levees were designed for a 100 year flood.  This isn’t a 100 year flood; its much, much worse than that.

I really hope that the families that have lost their homes and lives are able to find a way to recover from this catastrophe, and I hope that they never have to experience anything like this again.  It just doesn’t sit well with me that people are trying to blame someone else for repercussions of decisions they ultimately made themselves.  There are multiple points of failure that are being exposed here, and hopefully those points of failure will be remedied in the aftermath of the flood.  I just hope that everyone involved is willing to do a self-assessment to determine where they could have made a better decision to improve their situation.