My Hometown Underwater

[Jesse]

This is really to pay respects to the town I lived in from about 5 years old (1959) until I moved to Minneapolis in 1979. My undergrad education was at Coe College in Cedar Rapids. I have a niece, nephew and their families there. My mother and another niece are buried there. I know the streets that CNN has been showing (until the Russert orgy started) well, as I ran them in my misspent youth. I met and married the mother of my children there. On and on.

Anyway, the conditions there are dire, surreal and certain to worsen as the waters continue to rise (though the Cedar river, which runs through downtown Cedar Rapids, has apparently crested).

My niece and other loved ones are safe. I haven't visited Cedar Rapids since burying my 25 year old niece there in August, 2001.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette link:
http://www.gazetteonline.com/

NY Times short slideshow, unbelievable:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/200...-FLOODS_8.html

[jesus marion joseph]

The footage from Cedar Rapids is incredible. Hopefully the waters recede soon and they can start rebuilding.

[Monte Smith]

I thought this was the thread where Jesse finally admits to being a Snork. I see it isn't. Cripes, that's a lot of water in Cedar Rapids.

[shrugs]

I feel for those people.
I imagine many did not have flood insurance. I wonder how the insurance companies will treat them.

[Scott Dolan]

Not very well, I'm afraid.

Those are some heartbreaking images.

[jesus marion joseph]

Originally Posted by shrugs

I feel for those people.
I imagine many did not have flood insurance. I wonder how the insurance companies will treat them.

Probably like most insurance companies when you suggest you might want to recover a small fraction of the premiums you've been paying for years.

[Scott Dolan]

Yeah, but unless things are different in Iowa, recovering much of anything from an insurance company after a flood, without flood specific insurance, is like squeezing blood from a turnip.