Will it Ever Stop?

[hops_scout]

<p>The rain, the snow, the tornadoes, the flooding. Will it ever end? The Midwest just continues to get pummeled. The Army Corps of Engineers has many hard decisions to make and it’s getting ugly in the area where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers come together. They are talking record water levels and flooding. In Cape Girardeau, MO they got a little over 20 inches of rain in the month of April. The average rainfall in April is about 4.5"! Yesterday there was concern that Interstate 55 which runs between Memphis and St. Louis would become flooded. That would all but shut down traffic throughout Southeast Missouri preventing relief efforts from coming in. </p>

<p>Unfortunately relief is not in sight… they are calling for even more rain over the next 36 hours or so! Then they may get a day or two, but more on the way!</p>

[anon94785555]

<p>We need to remember all of the water (we got a lot of snow in April!) when the next drought conditions hit. Summer, or next year, is coming. Great Lakes levels cycle from far above to far below average- live here long enough and you experience it all. Last year was an early spring, this year- the warmth may never come…</p>

<p>Is it an El Nino or a La Nina year as the cause?</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>

So when will we finally get out of this Cycle of Wide Weather Extremes that’s the strongest in about 1,000 years? Well, this particular cycle usually lasts about 70 years. Since it started around 1967, it probably will not peak until at least 2038 and possibly will become the worst such climatological cycle in at least 6,000 years.

</p>

<p>Hard to moan about not being able to grow tomatoes when tornado season is early.
:o
[More</a> Extreme Weather may be in Store for at Least Another 20-30 Years](<a href=“http://www.longrangeweather.com/ArticleArchives/MoreExtremeWeather.htm]More”>More Extreme Weather may be in Store for at Least Another 20-30 Years)</p>

[hops_scout]

<p>About 40 minutes ago the order was given to breach the Birds Point levee along the Mississippi River just south of where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers come together. It is expected that the Birds Point-New Madrid Floodway will be flooded in hours which will consume approximately 132,000 acres of farmland. The estimated cost that I have seen is over $300Billion over the long period of time.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>A town nearby where many of my relatives farm, flooded so much they moved the town.</p>

<p>

The Great Flood swept through Pattonsburg on July 6, 1993, exactly 84 years after the community’s first major flood disaster on July 6, 1909. In a well-rehearsed ritual, the villagers cleaned up their homes and shops, and moved back into the floodplain.</p>

<p>Then the Great Flood came back a second time. On July 23, the Grand River sent another sickening surge of muck and debris back through the community. This last flood was the last straw, bringing home the realization that Pattonsburg could not continue to survive in conflict with the river. In the fall of 1993, more than 90 percent of the residents voted in favor of relocating their town and rebuilding it on higher ground.

[New</a> Pattonsburg, Missouri - Operation Fresh Start](<a href=“http://www.freshstart.ncat.org/case/dpnewpat.htm]New”>http://www.freshstart.ncat.org/case/dpnewpat.htm)</p>

[gloworm]

<p>hops,</p>

<p>Wasn’t that the tough decision they made in order to save Cairo? If so, according to news reports up my way (IN, on IL border), this decision weighed heavily on the minds of the area authorities.</p>

<p>Easter weekend I was in Indy, and took US 41 part way home. This past weekend I would not have been able to take that same route, as the Kankakee River has closed that road.</p>

[busdriver11]

<p>They just declared that my city had the coldest 30 days in April in recorded history (120 years).</p>

<p>And here they were promising global warming. When’s it coming? I can’t wait.</p>

[emeraldkity4]

<p>And here they were promising global warming</p>

<p>Global warming is inaccurate- it would be more accurate to say climate * change*
[Lower</a> Mississippi River flooding could set records - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/weather/floods/2011-05-02-ohio-mississippi-river-floods_n.htm]Lower”>http://www.usatoday.com/weather/floods/2011-05-02-ohio-mississippi-river-floods_n.htm)
[Peter</a> H. Gleick: A Cost of Denying Climate Change: Accelerating Climate Disruptions, Death, and Destruction](<a href=“HuffPost - Breaking News, U.S. and World News | HuffPost”>A Cost of Denying Climate Change: Accelerating Climate Disruptions, Death, and Destruction | HuffPost Impact)</p>

[blackeyedsusan]

<p>Crazy! I don’t think we’ve had ANY rain here for the past 2 months.</p>

[midmo]

<p>hop scout, I read that the levee breach plan was only activated once before, (20s or 30s), and it didn’t accomplish anything. Cairo flooded 24 hours later anyway. That is one of the reasons many Missourians are unhappy with the solution.</p>

<p>However, the plan has been on record for decades, so it is not a big surprise. The MO Gov. (Jay Nixon) hasn’t had much to say, to my surprise.</p>

[hops_scout]

<p>gloworm, yes that’s the same decision.</p>

<p>midmo, the Missouri people have done everything they could to make it a “Cairo vs Missouri” thing and that really is not the case. Yes, they hope the levee breach does prevent Cairo from being flooded. But it is also supposed to help alleviate pressure from Kentucky Lake, Tennessee farms, and all the way down to the Gulf of Mexico. It also sounds like they may have to blow up levees in Louisiana to open up additional floodways down there. Unfortunately there is nowhere for the water to go!</p>