Opinion: The Midwest’s floods are catastrophic. What happens once catastrophe is commonplace?
By Bob Kerrey March 21 at 3:20 PM Bob Kerrey, a Democrat, is a former governor and U.S. senator from Nebraska.
Second, the peaceful, flowing rivers beside which we love to build our houses, our farms and our ranches are almost always at their normal level when we decide where to locate structures. The wider river is visible only when unusual conditions deliver a larger volume of water down the river bed. We plan on the water rising in the spring as the snow and ice melt and head downstream. But we cannot plan beyond that.
One grim aspect of the disaster is that the freeze and flooding occurred during calving season. Nebraska is a cattle state. There are more cows than people. The business of raising and feeding cattle contributes $12.1 billion to Nebraska’s economy. The average herd size is fewer than 100, and most of the cattle give birth to their calves outdoors. It is terrible to watch a young calf die.
The final truth is that disasters such as this one bring people together. I have no doubt that the most common question Nebraskans are asking today is: How can I help? Selflessness is on display in every stricken community, in hard-hit Iowa and Wisconsin, too. The nasty political debates that are tearing the country apart have disappeared as men and women unite to begin the process of rebuilding their lives.
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