Word: waterous
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...about trying to prevent more flooding that is already devastating many communities, from Iowa's second largest city, Cedar Rapids (pop. 124,000), to one of its smallest, Chelsea (pop. 276). Later, it will be about dealing with the aftermath - the nasty consequences of flood water that Iowans remember all too well from the miserable clean-up of homes, businesses, and farms after the floods...
...home on the afternoon of Friday the 13th, I see my neighbor mowing the lawn, dogs barking, kids playing, normal life. It's sunny and dry. But I've just received an e-mail that in downtown Des Moines, about 10 minutes away, a voluntary evacuation is underway as water levels on the Des Moines River fast approach the top of the levee. Worried friends and family are starting to call and e-mail. And I've received a dire-sounding e-mail earlier in the day from the disaster volunteer center set up at the United Way office just...
...they filled sandbags, some people shared updates, about conditions in various parts of Des Moines, Polk County and Iowa. For days, we Iowans have been comparing notes, sharing stories of water-soaked basements, flooded-out cars, water bursting out of manhole covers. We've been reminiscing, not fondly, about the flood of 1993 - when Des Moines lost its water supply for days (something we've been assured won't happen again, thanks to beefed-up flood prevention measures...
...road closures (including portions of Interstate 80); looking at wrenching images of flood scenes near and far: a woman crying on her Des Moines doorstep as she's told to evacuate; a couple row-boating through their mobile home park in Altoona; an Iowa City police officer wading through water with a little boy on his shoulders; an astonishing aerial view of downtown Cedar Rapids where downtown buildings look like rafts in an ocean. But mostly, my fellow sandbaggers work quietly, diligently, steadily, shoveling sand, filling bags, heaving them into piles and hoping for the best while preparing...
...estimated 5 million Taiwanese who traveled to China last year, or to the 1 million who now live and work on the mainland. It is expected to aid Taiwan's economy and ease tensions across the combustible Taiwan Strait, the 112 mile (180 km) wide body of water separating mainland China and Taiwan. The direct-flight deal was reached by two semi-official bodies representing Beijing and Taipei in their touchy diplomatic contacts: Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation and China's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. The two sides hadn't met since 1999, when Taiwan's then...