"The folks in Iowa are pretty darn hardy and tough. They will rebuild the structures which were damaged, they will clear the damaged crops from the land. This fall, they will prep those same fields for planting next spring."
Another story which received very little play was the mega-storm which hit the mid-west on August 10th. Not only is it a big story, it is also a sad story indeed. The farmers in Nebraska, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa were having a pretty darn good year. The corn was thick and huge, the soybeans looking excellent. The moisture received for the year was more than adequate. All they needed now, was some dryer weather around harvest time and they would have another "bin buster" this year. Then on August 10th, all hell broke loose.
A derecho hit. A somewhat rare weather phenom which is becoming more common as of late. It is the convergence of many thunderstorms into one giant storm. The winds are more than impressive - they are cataclysmic. Iowa took the brunt of the storm. In particular, the area around Cedar Falls and Waterloo. It damaged over 8,200 homes, flattened 13 million acres of corn (about a third of the state's crop), and left tens of thousands without power.
It would have almost been better if Iowa had been hit by a dozen tornadoes. As it was, the derecho was like an inland hurricane. It is big, and it was bad. The winds often time, gusting to over 100 mph. In past derecho events, winds have been clocked as high as 130 mph. A field of corn is no match for winds like that.
Not only were houses damaged, businesses were damaged, crops and storage bins destroyed, and the power grid took a real hit. There is not much we can do about protecting our agri-business and structures against future derecho events, but we can sure protect and improve our grid. Our grid is not only vulnerable, it is way too centralized. We need to update our grid not only in Iowa, but also nation wide. Maybe the upcoming smaller and more efficient nuclear plants will offer some hope. I will address that technology in a future article.
As bad as the storm was in Iowa, and as decimated as Iowa's corn crop is, here is the ray of hope for the nation. Corn is grown (to some extent) in most of our 50 states. Iowa produces the most, but Minnesota, Nebraska, and Illinois are right behind Iowa. Even with losing 1/3 of Iowa's crop, the nation should still have a good harvest. We can still feed not only our country, but also ship corn overseas to help feed the world.
The folks in Iowa are pretty darn hardy and tough. They will rebuild the structures which were damaged, they will clear the damaged crops from the land. This fall, they will prep those same fields for planting next spring. Some might need federal dollars (it is estimated the damage will be at least $4 billion), so that should be immediately distributed.
Are more derecho events possible in the future? Unfortunately, yes. Some say the increased number of these things might be from climate change. And they could be. Maybe we should send the clean up bill to China and India, since they are the biggest contributors to global warming. What say you ALGORE?
No comments:
Post a Comment