Janesville Update II

the rock river has crested. but as the janesville gazette notes, it appears to be in no hurry to recede:

Floodwaters have receded an infinitesimal amount since cresting Saturday.

At Newville, floodwaters have gone down 0.15 of a foot, that's 1.8 inches; at Indianford, 0.12 foot, that is 1.44 inches ; and at Afton, 0.09 foot, that is 1.08 inches.

Want some perspective on those numbers?

The river at Afton, which remains more than 4 feet over flood stage, has gone down the width of a fork tine.

The river at Indianford has gone down the width of two toothpicks.

At Newville, it’s down the width of a No. 2 pencil eraser.

If you’ve got 2 feet of water in your kitchen, those numbers aren’t very promising

as of this morning, here is where the river water stands:

-- Newville: 14.97 feet after cresting at 15.12 feet. Flood stage is 10 feet.

-- Indianford: 18.21 feet after cresting at 18.33 feet. Flood stage is 15 feet.

-- Afton: 13.42 feet after cresting at 13.51 feet. Flood stage is 9 feet.

so while the national news continues to focus on the mississippi river and iowa and missouri, remember those other town in the midwest that have not fared well.

of course, the biggest impact beyond the millions of dollars with of damage that will hit these towns is the millions it will cost everyone else once the full impact on the corn crop comes into focus. remember all the corn now used for ethanol gas...? and gas prices already remain around $4 a gallon.

and don't look for any great price cuts on fresh corn this summer. what shall everyone do this Independence day?

not to mention the feed for animals which will increase in cost which will increase the cost of eating the dead animals everyone seems to insist on eating day after day.

so what i'm trying to say is, it's a mess people. and while i'm almost certain the bush administration had something to do with this whole flooding mess (i mean, they've fucked up everything else, right? surely they're involved) - i can't prove it quite yet... but this will not help an already flagging economy and a war overseas that continues to increase our national deficit.

2009 can't get here fast enough....

obama '08.

e.

p.s. parents are still fine... my dad could even golf the other night. go fig.