The Army Corps has officially declared the flood over. And does this declaration matter, even in the slightest? No.
The flood may be “over”, but the pain and devastation will last for years. In some cases it will last lifetimes and generations.
The immediate impact is obvious: levees need replacing, dams need repairing, and in some areas entire highways must be rebuilt.
But there will be a lasting impact to the families, especially the farming families, in these flooded communities. As the water recedes it will take with it the livelihood of these rural families and replace it with ten feet of sand where their soil used to be.
The newly-flooded land was once among the most fertile in America, and now it is nothing. It will be worth nothing.
The real cost of this flood is insurmountable. It’s impossible to even estimate in actual damages.
But this flood is harder to swallow than most. Because when Mother Nature is responsible you can blame it on bad luck, the weather, God’s plan, whatever. This is entirely different. This flood was the result of bureaucracy.
This was bad planning, red tape, and ignorance. This was the effect of twenty years of environmentalism run amok in the federal government.
And it will happen again and again until the government gets its act together and sorts out its priorities.
Don’t hold your breath.
- B.H.
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