Burrowing muskrat causes levee to fail

[MnFats]

Source: startribune.com

Burrowing muskrat causes levee to fail in Missouri; floodwaters threaten 100 homes


WINFIELD, Mo. - A heroic effort by hundreds of townspeople, volunteers and National Guardsmen to hold back the Mississippi River failed Friday — undone by a burrowing muskrat.

The furry rodent dug a hole through the earthen levee in this eastern Missouri community, allowing water to penetrate the floodwall, which failed shortly before dawn.

"It's so disappointing," said Linda Wilmesherr as she peered through binoculars at water pouring through a gap that appeared to be 30 feet wide. "With all the guns in this county, couldn't we kill a muskrat?

Read more: www.startribune.com

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tooo ttoo much

[Forkboy]

1. Muskrat Flood

[Arctic Dave]

2. I'm not feeling the "muskrat love"

I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself, I need help.:P

[VermeerLives]

17. LOL! Very good!

Now I'm going to have that silly song in my head....Captain and Tenille (sp?) - remember that?? But I'm dating myself now...

[annm4peace]

3. yeah,, it is the muskrats..

damn you muskrats.

(must not blame the us corp of engineers, must not blame the us corp...)

[ben_meyers]

7. The corp of engineers should have killed all the muskrats?

Maybe Man's arrogance in trying to "change the course of mighty rivers" is to blame.

[maxsolomon]

4. if you build it, they will dig

sorry, folks, nature finds a way.

[phantom power]

5. Somebody should inform Ms. Wilmesherr...

that when you try to contain a continental drainage basin in earthen levies, rodents and firearms are not going to be your biggest problem.

[XemaSab]

21. Word

We've got a perennial problem here in California with habitat values versus the Corps.

The levees are vegetated, providing the only riparian habitat along the Sacramento and other Valley rivers, but the Corps wants to remove ALL the veg, all the oaks, willows, cottonwoods, alders, walnuts, ashes, and so forth in order to improve the flow of water and protect levee stability (supposedly).

[Deja Q]

6. Must be a terrorist. Was it Al Quada that trained it?

:yoiks:

[rug]

8. That was hard work..

[Critters2]

12. Awwww!!!

Destroying whole towns really takes it out of ya! Get some rest, little guy!

[MikeE]

9. You know, I have to agree with the poster who said

the arrogance of man. This whole flood thing, not just this one, but all of them, well, I can't help but remember us learning in school how the Egyptians used the floods thousands of years ago and timed their planting around them. That, (the floods) is what made the land so fertile. I guess most adults really aren't smarter than a 5th grader.

[jimnasium]

10. That explains it...

It was the fucking nutria that caused the levees to collapse during Katrina.

Fucking Rodent Bastards!

[knitter4democracy]

11. You don't shoot muskrats, lady.

You trap them. My brothers had a trap line for awhile when we were kids. They couldn't handle all the killing (I know, duh, but they were teens at the time and thought it would make them money).

Muskrats are really cute and do good work a lot of the time, keeping the wetlands wet, but maybe they should've, I don't know, looked for one or made sure the levee was sound before the flood hit?

[Critters2]

13. Or left it as wetlands, maybe? nt

[tularetom]

15. Our levee district paid us two bits per muskrat when we were kids

They weren't native to this area but when the fur became valuable in the early 20th century they were released into the streams and canals and multiplied rapidly. Musksrat and beaver predation was a large part of levee maintenance in those days as it still is today in the Central Valley

And actually yes we did shoot them. Looking back I'm not particularly proud of it but our dad was farming there and washed out levees meant loss of crops and subsequent loss of income for us.

[knitter4democracy]

16. You shot them? Really? You have to be a great shot, then.

They present such a small target, and they disappear in a flash. That's part of why my brothers trapped them--it was easier.

[tularetom]

18. Yep, we found that out fast

When we first started we used our .22. We weren't patient enough to wait for good shots and we didn't do so well. Finally we talked our father into letting us use a 20 ga shotgun with cylinder (no choke) so the pattern spread fairly quickly. When we learned to sit still on the canal bank and fire at them when they were swimming we did a lot better.

But we definitely were not skilled marksmen. I was 11 or 12 and my sister 13 or 14 at the time. I could not tell you how much money we actually made but our mom finally rebelled at driving us to the canal district with a gunny sack full of dead muskrats in the trunk of the car and made us quit. Eventually the district hired professional trappers who could do the job a lot more efficiently than a bunch of raggedy ass kids. But they still had to come back every year.

[knitter4democracy]

20. I would think that they'd have to.

Muskrats are quite tenacious when it comes to territory.

Still, you guys were good shots. :)

[rainbow4321]

22. In a online different article it was said that the Nat'l Guard was killing them

Didn't use the word, it was re-worded but it pretty much could have said "shooting".
Then the following paragraph said that according to the state law their, the muskrats could be killed if they were endangering someone's home.
Of course, now with THIS story coming out, do you think I can find the original article by googling the words muskrats and kill? Nope...the first 20 Google pages are about the lady's "with all the guns in this country.." comment!

But even if they had killed that one little muskrat, there were probably 8 more waiting in the shadows to take it's place.

[ReadTomPaine]

14. Sorry but this is part of the UPKEEP for a structure

You might was well blame the Minnesota bridge collapse on the weight of the people driving on top of it when it failed or blame the 'wind' for the Tacoma Narrows disaster instead of inadequate engineering. People are to blame here.

[Zuiderelle]

23. Agreed. Like blaming the single straw that broke the camel's back.

[Auggie]

19. Where he failed with gophers perhaps he can succeed with

muskrats

[Nihil]

24. Morons.

> A heroic effort by hundreds of townspeople, volunteers and
> National Guardsmen to hold back the Mississippi River failed Friday

If they'd had a few brain-cells between them then
1) they wouldn't be living in a frigging flood plain
2) they would spend the time evacuating people instead of filling sandbags
3) they wouldn't blame a sodding muskrat for their own incompetence at 1 & 2.

"Heroic effort" my arse.

> "It's so disappointing," said Linda Wilmesherr as she peered through
> binoculars at water pouring through a gap that appeared to be 30 feet
> wide. "With all the guns in this county, couldn't we kill a muskrat?

That's because the muskrat is smarter than you lady!

[Thothmes]

25. So when the 8.5 hits Frisco

its their fault for living in earthquake prone peninsula. The next Hurrican that hits New Orleans is their fault because they shouldnt be living in frigging flood plain.

[ThePowerofWill]

27. Basically yes.

If you live in a disaster prone area you should be well aware of the risks. Not saying these people are stupid, or should not live there, but they should be aware, and assume responsibility for the risk they are taking.

[Thothmes]

28. I believe the people along those rivers

in Iowa and Missouri were quite aware of the risks and assumed the responsibility for the consequences. Saw several weeks of evening news clips showing hundreds and hundreds of peoples filling sand bags to try and save their communities from the waters. Didnt see a lot of them sitting on their asses wondering when the National Guard or FEMA was going to show up to save their property.
.

[ThePowerofWill]

29. And ?

You gotta save try to save your own ass first. If you wait for someone else to try to you'll likely end up on the short side of the stick. They did what they should have, nothing more, nothing less.

[Thothmes]

30. That is 100 % correct.

[kskiska]

26. Maybe inspired by Mrs. O'Leary's cow

who started the Chicago fire by kicking over a lantern.