California Rains Spread Fear

It wasn't so long ago that the Santa Anna winds blew the wildfires all around Santa Barbara and other places, destroying all the trees and ground cover and many homes. Now the homes that are left are in danger of mudslides. When there is nothing to hold the ground from slipping, it will. Those people living near the areas that were scarred by recent wildfires are sandbagging around their homes. In some places they were urged to leave their homes on Tuesday as a storm approaching from the Pacific brought a threat of floods and mudslides.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzeneger ordered state agencies to prepare to aid local organizations in case of disaster. He said that the state stands ready to help local governments protect lives and property. There is a low-pressure area about 700 miles off the coast that was heading northeast and could bring an inch of rain through Thanksgiving and up to 4 inches in the mountains.

Missouri and Mississippi Rivers Converge

Well now it has happened. The two rivers, which are flooding, are converging in Missouri. The flooding was the very worst of all in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Now it is in Missouri and those poor people are sandbagging and it isn't doing any good. You just can't fight the water and there is more coming down the rivers. A number of roads, both highways and gravel roads are completely washed out in places. Railroad bridges are down and trains are changing routes and are limited in where they can go. If traveling in these states, be sure you check ahead. Your road may be gone and whatever you do, don't go around a road block or drive through water, you will probably be sorry and could lose your life.

Korea Summit Delayed Over Floods

North Korea has asked for a historic summit with the South to be postponed because of severe flooding which may have made 300,000 people homeless. The meeting in Pyongyang, now delayed until October, will be only the second between the leaders of the two states, which technically are still at war. North Korea has made a rare appeal for international aid to tackle the floods which have killed hundreds of people. Damage to farmland could deal a serious blow to this year's harvest.

North Korea Floods Devastate Farmland

Severe flooding in North Korea has destroyed more than one-tenth of the country's farmland. More than 11% of rice and maize fields were submerged, buried or washed away as of August 14. Government officials also told aid workers in the region that 300,000 people may have been left homeless. Aid teams visiting the area warned of a need for emergency shelter and food.

Flooding

It is a beautiful sunny day and we have about 14 inches of snow on the ground. It is melting fast and the ground is frozen so there is nowhere for the water to go. The neighbors have a literal lake right in front of the deck to walk through to get onto the deck to get into the house. The snow that is left where you walk has turned to very very slippery ice. No wonder the ER's at the hospitals are full of people who have fallen and really injured themselves. It is going to stay in the 40's for a nunber of days now so it is going to become a problem of flooding and there is little anyone can do about it. Since the big storm last week some people still have no electricity so no sump pumps either. That makes for bad basement flooding that normally wouldn't happen. We have to keep a close eye on the house we watch for friends while they are in Arizona. Last winter the eves filled up and rain went directly into their basement and it was quite a chore to climb ladders and clean out the eves and redirect some of them to stop the flooding in the basement. However, we got it done and it dried out in time. We are enjoying this much warmer weather though.