In 1993, a flood covered large swaths of the entire Midwest

[Sogo]

in the area of the Missouri and Mississippi River Valleys and was considered the largest flood event in US history. Thank goodness it has not repeated since then; hopefully it will have been a 500 year event, as how it was also described.

At the time, we were criticized for where we were living and where we were farming which put us in the path of a multi-billion dollar disaster....


But, wait a minute, we thought; we've been told this is a 500 year event.

[MiniMe]

1. I remember that, I flew cross country

It was really interesting to fly over that flood.

[bluedigger]

2. I was working in eastern Iowa.

My first time in Iowa. Got sent out from the East coast to do an archaeological survey for Iowa DOT. We had a 40 mile corridor to survey, and after two weeks all but 12 miles were under water. We left when there was only one road open from the town we were staying in out to I-80. Also, the local bar we were hanging out at kept their kegs in the basement, and they went under water, so that wasn't going to work...

[Picaro]

3. I was there in '93

The flood just wouldn't end. We thought the worst was over in then the levees broke on the Missouri and Earth City and other low lying areas were suddenly under 20' of water. The flood waters didn't recede for a couple months. When they finally receded 20' of river sand was covering some of the most fertile farmland in the U.S. It was so deep that even deep plowing was impossible. My favorite driving range was closed for six months after the flood ended because it was in the Missouri river bottom.

I saw if from the air a couple of time when the flood was in full swing and saw that that triangle of land was covered in water. A weird sight indeed.

I find myself mourning the planet. We've completely screwed the pooch. Humanity in the collective is fatally stupid. There are brilliant individuals. But as a group we're pretty damn dumb.

I'm coming to believe that it is too late. We've walked ourselves into a corner.

The only way out is some geo climate engineering project. But we could be doomed.

[pstokely]

8. and they built the world's longest strip mall in that flood plain

https://stlexplorer.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/chesterfield-commons-and-downtown-st-louis/

[halfulglas]

4. Weren't a number of towns completely relocated after that?

I think because the money for rebuilding was predicated on all those buildings and streets had been built right on a flood plain and although it was a huge event, many of those towns flooded periodically, although not to the same degree of being completely destroyed. If they were to get money to rebuild it had to be on higher ground.

The importance from time immemorial for building alongside a river was water, cheap sanitation, commerce, all things that do not have need for towns and cities being built right on a river.

Now most commercial insurance companies have left Florida altogether because of the hurricane liability, but the state set up its own insurance fund. You would think with all the money in Florida, they would be aggressive about protecting their investments and the planet against further warming. But they have to be Republican.

I remember I think it was the 1950s or late 40s that the Democratic mayor of Pittsburgh got together with the steel industry executives for a novel idea at the time - quit using bituminous coal in the steel mills to help clean up the polluted atmosphere in Western Pennsylvania. One of the reasons the industry leaders went along with it was they had trouble getting executives to move there because of the smoke. Look at some of the old pictures of Pittsburgh from the '40s. Some days laundry hanging on clotheslines turned black.

Beach front property is expensive. You would think all Floridians would want to save it. But that would mean going along with facts and (horrors) Democrats.

I think the hurricane coverage makes me sad for us all.

[Sogo]

5. I don't recall any towns being relocated in my state of Iowa.

I'm a regular visitor to a couple of the larger cities on the Mississippi in Iowa, and they had significant flooding in their downtown areas which are right on the shore, but most of the housing is on high hills and bluffs above the river. What's nice is that those downtown areas have gotten a nice face lift from all the re-building....


I do feel the sadness you speak about re hurricaine coverage. The build-up along the coasts that get hurricaines has to be walked back, but how? Are we going to have to pass laws that restrict building in hurricaine districts, just like flood plain building restrictions in other areas? How are we going to keep footing the bill for these disasters?

[halfulglas]

7. We might have to do something drastic, like no public monies for insurance

and definitely not for rebuilding in certain areas after something like this (and there will be more of these extreme events). The building on every place that has a beautiful view of the water is damaging the ecosystem. The federal government probably can't pass laws restricting building except on federal seashores, but underwriting of the rebuilding and rebuilding of these structures close to the water has to stop and this may discourage building if they can't be reimbursed for catastrophe. The trouble is, so much of the beach area that is underwritten by the National Flood Insurance, the people build structures, the government insurance pays out and the people rebuild in the same area, sometimes an even more extensive structure in the very same place. There has to be a limit because it encourages more and more building in coastal areas. These same people complain about erosion of the beach and want the beaches "replenished" to make their properties more valuable. I think government insurance right now is encouraging this because there is no consequence to owning beach property.

[UpInArms]

6. Pattonsburg, Missouri was relocated

I moved to nw Missouri in 1993 … the year of the flood …

It was an interesting time to come here and try to start a new life … still here after 30 years

[mnhtnbb]

9. My husband was flying us home from a family trip

to Georgia to visit his family. Both sons were with us. They kept the airport at St Joseph, MO--which was actually across the Missouri River in Kansas -- open for us and had a pilot ready to fly the plane back out right after we landed. All other planes had been evacuated. The road out of the airport was sandbagged and water was already lapping at the sandbags. That night the levee broke and the airport was flooded. If we hadn't gotten back when we did, my Jeep that was parked at the airport would have been covered in water.

We saw the flood from the air in the little plane. It was incredible.

https://www.newspressnow.com/news/local_news/the-great-flood-25-years-later/article_04dba31a-23c6-5f18-8907-f7f2cc022696.html

[Kaleva]

10. You are actually talking about small strips of the entire Midwest

If you look at the map below, just a very small percentage of the Midwest was hit by record flooding.


https://images.app.goo.gl/FGhKqFUhWYMqqyoL7