How sad..people spent 4 days sandbagging, and it was unsuccessful

[SoCalDem]

Does sandbagging EVER really work? Usually in this type of flood, the water is so powerful, it seem to me that it just follows the topography and takes sandbags with it:(

The time before a flood might be better spent MOVING stuff out of the about-to-be-flooded area..just my 2cents..

Every time something like this happens,. I am reminded of the town that voted to MOVE the whole town to higher ground..

Perhaps many small towns will consider this, and just let the river be the river..and allow land for it to flood..

States would probably save money in the long run if they bought flood-able land from people, and turned that land back to "natural spaces", for public use..

We seem to always be spending BILLIONS of dollars trying to restrain rivers, and in the end we usually lose anyway :(

[K Gardner]

1. "just let the river be the river"... beautiful.. excellent post SCD :-)

[Eurobabe]

2. How sad, people spent 4 days eulogizing Tim Russert

when they should have been in Iowa SANDBAGGING!!

:spank: :spank:

[Quakerfriend]

3. How true!

Somehow I feel this proloooooooooooooooooonged eulogizing of Tim is to cover up the national tragedy occurring in our midwest.

[elocs]

7. Absolutely!! I smell a conspiracy here.

I think his death was even planned to coincide with the flooding. Then, of course, people were obligated to spend 24/7 doing nothing but eulogizing Tim Russert with no time at all for sandbagging. First things first.

[elocs]

4. Yes, sandbags do sometimes work.

They are usually the desperate method of last resort when there is no time for anything else. I know they have worked in my community on the Mississippi River.

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. They do work sometimes

but in reality the best preparation is to shore up those dikes with structural elements well before you need to fill the first sandbag

We haven't invested in any of this for it seems decades now

[SoCalDem]

8. Sacramento is in danger too.. Apparently there are several

housing developments that got the okay to build below a BUNCH of realllly old and endangered levees.. They keep putting off "fixing" them..and because we are in a perpeutal state of drought, they think it doesn't matter anyway :grr:
http://envplan240.pbwiki.com/Sacramento+Levees+Saving+the+River+city

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. The flood of the Sacramento Valley will come

in my lifetime I fear...

But it will come and then all those folks will learn a lesson they should have known before, DO NOT build in a flood plain

There's a reason why it is called a flood plain

And yes my dad bought on one, and soon I hope to sell and get OUT of the flood plain

[PeaceNikki]

6. My coworker successfully kept the river out of his him via sandbagging.

Then the sewers backed up into his basement.

He's got 4 feet in there now.

[SoCalDem]

9. Damn.. That's awful..

All that hard work..for nothing :cry: