palallin posted:breezinup posted:"A monster." Sounds like more than just rain as the factor. Quite an unusual combination.
Catastrophic flooding in Nebraska has wiped out roads, overtopped dams, and left at least a third of the Offutt Air Force Base submerged, highlighting the ongoing threat that extreme weather poses to both people’s lives, and national security.
A massive winter storm created a “bomb cyclone” over parts of the country last week, and dumped snow and rain on Nebraska. Rain slicked off frozen ground, snow melted, and ice thawed on rivers — kicking off devastating floods that killed at least two people in the state and destroyed hundreds of homes. “This was a monster, no question about it,” Greg Carbin at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center told the Omaha World-Herald.
Now, the Omaha World-Herald reports flooding of at least a third of Offutt Air Force Base, including part of the runway and at least 30 buildings. The floods forced aircraft to evacuate, but the headquarters of US Strategic Command, which oversees the US nuclear arsenal, remained unflooded, according to the World Herald. This kind of extreme flooding threatens military readiness and, in this case, our nuclear capabilities, according to Francesco Famia, CEO of The Center for Climate and Security.
Fairly typical contemporary "news" reporting. One of the truly damaging developments of the way the news is reported is ratings-driven weather reports. Sensationalization is sort of expected in political reporting, but its distortions are ruining the utility of weather reports. Words like bomb and monster have no place in weather. Such things follow the trend of naming winter storms and issuing breathless warnings about an anticipated 4" of snow and 0 degree temperatures: "Get to the store and buy your milk, eggs, and bread: we are issuing a French Toast Day Warning!"
This flooding is tragic, but it is hardly unprecedented. What we have here is more journalistic irresponsibility. Give us the facts; keep the hype.
I agree, that words used to describe this series of events were designed to be a bit dramatic. However this flooding was definitely unprecedented. My house is located on a high point near a flood control levy, and we were evacuated. Luckily for us the levy held and returned home to dry basement and life went on. The whole state has been affected with this weather. You were either buried in snow, or looking for higher ground to escape flood waters. all the while pretty much every road was closed. As of this writing, almost every road that crosses the Platte river east of Highway 81 is closed & damaged due to flooding with little hope of reopening soon.
Gavins point dam on the Missouri River, rests on the Nebraska & South Dakota border. This is last dam on the Missouri River and plays an extremely important role in flood control from Yankton, SD all the way to St. Louis, MO. In 1997 we experience the "great flood" on the Missouri, dam releases from Gavins topped 70,000 CFS. In 2011, we head another that dwarfed 1997, releases at Gavins topped out at 160,200 CFS. These two floods were due to excessive snow pack and run off from Montana, and aerial flooding statewide in Nebraska wasn't a concern like it is now.
This time around the flood stage on the Missouri river in Omaha beat records set from both floods from 1997 and 2011, but Gavins point dam only topped it's release at 90,000 CFS and that was only for 12 hours. In 2011, we sat at 160,000 CFS for weeks! All of the tributary streams, creeks, and rivers in Nebraska running into Missouri near Omaha are to blame this time.
So yes, the situation in Nebraska is extremely series. Hardly anyone would know this due national media coverage which up to now has been zero.
