Flooding in the Midwest

[UGAalum94]

This was the last paragraph in an article in the Atlanta paper:

"The American Red Cross said Monday its disaster relief fund has been completely spent, and the agency is borrowing money to help flood victims throughout the Midwest."

Seems like it would be worth pointing out closer to the lede.


Phi Gam: Maybe Kanye remains confident that Bush will continue to care about the predominately white people in the midwest, should it come to that level of federal response.

ETA: It just seems like we can learn from the successes even if they aren't as sexy, KSig RC. Evacuate early, etc.

[PeppyGPhiB]

Here's my take on why we're not seeing the desperate coverage and calls for assistance to the Mid West the way we did with New Orleans. Those of us over here on the west coast are used to seeing stories about the mid west getting flooded, and tornados. Of course this is far worse than what is typical, but many folks probably don't realize it. These photos of flooded out landscapes look the same to them as the flooded out landscapes we seem to see every year from that part of the country. They won't start to notice it until they go to the store this summer and wonder why the corn for their bbq is so expensive.

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Here's my take on why we're not seeing the desperate coverage and calls for assistance to the Mid West the way we did with New Orleans. Those of us over here on the west coast are used to seeing stories about the mid west getting flooded, and tornados. Of course this is far worse than what is typical, but many folks probably don't realize it. These photos of flooded out landscapes look the same to them as the flooded out landscapes we seem to see every year from that part of the country. They won't start to notice it until they go to the store this summer and wonder why the corn for their bbq is so expensive.

That makes sense to me in terms of the amount of attention the average person is actually paying to the story, but it doesn't explain why the press isn't doing a better job with actually covering the reality (500 year flood), unless we've all just kind of accepted that they feed us the news that they think we want to watch.

ETA: if you just pull up the basic front page of the Atlanta paper: ajc.com, I don't even think a flood story appears, but they've got room for a link on horse vasectomies, wth?

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by PeppyGPhiB

Here's my take on why we're not seeing the desperate coverage and calls for assistance to the Mid West the way we did with New Orleans. Those of us over here on the west coast are used to seeing stories about the mid west getting flooded, and tornados. Of course this is far worse than what is typical, but many folks probably don't realize it. These photos of flooded out landscapes look the same to them as the flooded out landscapes we seem to see every year from that part of the country. They won't start to notice it until they go to the store this summer and wonder why the corn for their bbq is so expensive.

I can't even describe to you how minimal yearly flooding is in comparison with what is happening. However, pictures could, so yeah - news.











Seriously, it's pretty much just because people didn't die - the extent of the damage is extraordinary.