Word: floods
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...there is any one group that is the driving force behind the metamorphosis of Beijing, it is outsiders like Kuo. Be they born somewhere else in China or half a world away, a flood of migrants has peacefully occupied the capital in recent years, drawn to Beijing to seek fame and fortune or simply out of a burning desire to watch history unfold. The city I first visited--where the lights were out by 9 p.m. and creativity was a dirty word--is gone...
...over 340 flood-and-tornado-ravaged communities across Iowa, thousands of people remain in limbo after what many consider the state's worst natural disaster. Seventy-eight of Iowa's 99 counties are under presidential disaster proclamation. Almost 31,000 people have registered for FEMA aid; more than 9,000 homes have been damaged and 3,000 destroyed; flood repair estimates have surged (to $1.3 billion in Cedar Rapids alone). The government, however, has learned from Katrina. The FEMA "mobile homes," as the government prefers to call them, are arriving (of the 500 requested in the Cedar Rapids area...
This week in Coralville, Dave Metzler watched bulldozers raze the flood-ravaged building that housed his business and home - the Coral Lanes bowling alley, which Metzler lived above. "They're driving over the lanes and tearing them up like firewood at a campsite. It's a terrible sound," says Metzler, standing beside a 14-foot high mountain of debris. But, he adds, "I've cried enough over this. There's no tears left...
Metzler is not among the estimated 1% of Iowans with flood insurance, so he appreciates the help he's received, including $250 in food assistance for the month, $300 a week in "unemployment-type disaster relief" and personal phone calls from a FEMA official. Staying with friends as he awaits a possible FEMA trailer, Metzler is determined to restart his business elsewhere in town. "Heck yeah," he says. "You've got to have a bowling alley in Coralville...
...Thorn's house along the Iowa River, which took in over nine feet of water. "It was awful to see 20 to 30 years of stuff lying in your driveway," Thorn says, but adds, "that's over with. So we get to start over again." Thorn, who did have flood insurance, praises the disaster relief effort so far. "The folks that I've dealt with, although there's been no resolution, have been terrific," he says...