The aftermath of the Missouri River flood

"Receding Missouri River reveals badly damaged land"

This is one of those post-hazard stories we talked about in class the other day that doesn't get much time on the news, so I figured I would try to feature it in my blog. This article is about the aftereffects of the flooding on the Missouri River.

This article focuses specifically on farmers, and the impact that this flooding has had on their low lying cropland. A farmer named Scott Olson took a bunch of aerial photos of all the land that was damaged because of this flood. Below is a picture of the flood as it affected his land.

Apparently this is going to be more than a short term fix. The soil is so heavily damaged and the chemical composition is so messed up that according to one farmer this would take 5 years to get back to normal.
What with this and the fires in the south, the United States has taken a major agricultural hit this summer.

Texas drought worsens from 'abysmal'

Lack of Nate rains and prospect of La Nina winter fuel drought

Okay if this is worsening from "Abysmal", things must really be getting horrible in Texas. The La Nina effect is apparently only going to make this drought worse because La Nina causes warm dry conditions to happen in the South. The US drought monitor said that "Texas and Oklahoma would need 9 to 23 inches of rain in the next month to emerge from the drought." Texas and Oklahoma don't get that much rain so it sounds like they might be in trouble. Below is an image of the severity of the drought.

Oh and to add to the problem the drought in Texas has resulted in a 5 Billion dollar hit to Agriculture.

More storms on the East coast; Tropical Storm Lee causes more havoc

"Swollen Susquehanna River prompts evacuation orders"

It looks like the East Coast is running into more problems with hurricanes. One of the latest storms, named "Lee" is currently causing problems for many residents in the states of New York and Pennsylvania. Nearly 100,000 people have been told to evacuate the towns that border the Susquehanna River, because the water is expected to rise to a level that is going to exceed the height of the levees currently in place.

The last line of this article irks me a little. I quote from the story: "Ninety miles down the river crews put up sandbags to protect the governor's mansion in Harrisburg."
Nice to know that the important people are being protected while the "less important" citizens have to evacuate.