Fire & Flood
Because of drought conditions we are currently battling wildfires in Butte County, Monterey County, and Santa Cruz County in northern California, a major fire in southeastern Colorado, and another fire in eastern North Carolina.
Meanwhile in the middle of the country we have terrible flooding:
…Illinois emergency authorities said a levee along the Mississippi River in far western Illinois burst Saturday morning, and voluntary evacuations were under way in Keithsburg, a town of about 700 residents.
“The levee broke in two places,” Keithsburg Alderman George Askew, 76, said of the town some 35 miles (56 kilometers) southwest of Moline. “We’re getting under water.”
Parts of southern Wisconsin have been dealing with flooding for days. West of Milwaukee, in Summit, authorities Saturday found the body of a 68-year-old man near his vehicle on a flooded road.
Iowa’s worst damage so far was in Cedar Rapids, where the Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet (9.75 meters), 12 feet (3.66 meters) higher than the record set in 1929…
As usual the Shrubbery is on a vacation, and FEMA will spring into inaction real soon now…
5 comments
i’ve long thought we’d have been safer if the hedgemony took more and longer vacations, but i’m begining to see a correlation here… do you suppose fire and flood and famine move in to fill the wake of departing evil?
It might be something that Cheney does when no one’s looking.
Isn’t that bizarre? In some states, there is all that fire, and in other states, all that rain. California is having a horrible drought. The fires that flare up aren’t able to be contained quickly. It’s too bad there’s not a way to control all that water being dumped on the midwest.
Ashes, ashes, all fall down…
The winds shifted yesterday, and a black cloud of smoke and ashes from the fire in the Santa Cruz Mountains came billowing our way here in the South SF Bay area. At 5PM it was like dusk outside and the entire southern sky was this horrible brown color. My Jeep was covered with ashes this morning.
But we don’t need FEMA here, just fire crews. Unfortunately, thanks to the Shrubbery’s budget cuts, the USFS doesn’t have the budget left to loan us fire crews to fight the four (!!!) fires burning in the area, they could get emergency authorization if the Shrubbery were to declare a state of emergency, but (duh) the Shrubbery be on vacation, and god forbid that we disturb him while he’s on vacation. GAH!
– Badtux the Smoky Penguin
I know what you mean, OWL. I hope you are well away from any rivers because this mess is headed South.
With a continuing drought and all of the problems you just know that they “trimmed” the Interior Department budget. Most of the first have connections to National Forests in California, and the Colorado fire is on a military base, but the USFS is broke. What a country, what planning.
My brother evacuated during the San Diego fire, but it picked the next valley north to head to the West so he escaped damage. It all depends on which valley the wind selects, as to where it is going to go.
Stay safe and wear a mask. Don’t forget to add some lemon juice or vinegar if you wash off the ash with a bucket, it’s alkali.