The Pleistocene Glacier Advance. Tell me this isn't where record floods are finding their headwaters?
There is major government infrastructure under water in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. All this could have been prevented with the heeding of warnings for five decades now. And this isn't the worst of it. This is your governments at work. Congratulations America, you DON'T pay attention ! A simple question is all anyone needed to ask. "What are we doing to stem human induced global warming?" Simple question with simple answers, "Stop using fossil fuels and seek alternatives in transporation and energy." Simple. So simple.
One aspect to all this that no one points to is the 'long view history' of this region. It was at one time covered by glaciers. I have consistently stated for some time now, that Earth is trying to 'recap' itself but can't because of the warming due to carbon dioxide. If all this percipitation that the mid-continent is receiving was frozen, it would be under a growing glacier by now.
Glacial Landmarks Trail: Iowa's Heritage of Ice (click here)
The Cedar Rapids Public Library (center right), Ground Transportation Center (left) and the Cedar Rapids Science Station (bottom left) in downtown Cedar Rapids as seen from the air on Thursday, June 12, 2008.
A confluence of unlikely weather events has created a Cedar River flood crest that defies historical records.
The predicted 32-foot crest expected to arrive Friday exceeds by nearly 12 feet the previous record — 20 feet, set in 1929.It all started with record and near-record snowfall last winter across the watershed of the Cedar River, said Steve Kuhl, meteorologist in charge at the National Weather Service in the Quad Cities.
The melting snowpack combined with spring rains sent the Cedar to a 17.1-foot crest in Cedar Rapids on April 27, Kuhl said."All that water saturated the soil and primed the river for more flooding," he said.
Then in May a consistent southwest-to-northeast upper air flow enabled storms moving through the Midwest to tap abundant moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in frequent heavy rains across Eastern Iowa, including those on Thursday, Kuhl said.
As of Thursday, Cedar Rapids had recorded 24.09 inches of rain for the year — more than 10 inches above normal — and other parts of Eastern Iowa within the Cedar watershed recorded from 15 to 20 inches of rain between May 10 and June 10, he said.
Heavy rains accompanying the May 25 storm that spawned killer tornadoes in Parkersburg and New Hartford raised river levels throughout Eastern Iowa and saturated already sodden soils.
When more heavy rain fell Sunday across the Cedar watershed, "all the smaller creeks and tributaries draining into the Cedar contributed to its historic levels," Kuhl said.
Swollen by record flows on the Winnebago and Shell Rock rivers and Beaver Creek, the Cedar smashed flood records in Cedar Falls, Waterloo and Vinton en route to its record Cedar Rapids crest.
