Lack of media coverage midwest flooding?

Todd Friskey

Todd Friskey

EF1
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
53
Location
Joplin, MO
Is it me or does it seem there is a lack of media coverage of the Midwest flooding from the big three TV networks. I watched the Today show, GMA, and CBS this morning. They seem not to mentioned much about it, other than during their weather segments. I am originally from Illinois near Peoria (lived in SWMO since '86). I remember the Illinois river in the 70's flooding. Yes the 1993 floods were bad, family on my wifes side in the STL metro. During hurricane Katrina, it seemed thats all we heard about for weeks. Yes, I know that was a somewhat different circumstance. Midwest blood runs through my veins and I just wish I could get more sources for news, especially when something new happens. So to get what info I can, I've been reading online the STL Post Dispatch, Alton Telegraph, Quincy and Hannibal papers.
 
Fox News has a update every hour or two. I guess the other networks are not as concerned.
 
Not just lack of coverage in the media but also here on ST... The scope of this disaster is massive. In terms of number of people directly affected, and who have lost everything they have, this is orders of magnitude larger then other recent high-profile natural disasters such as Greensburg (not to in anyway trivialize that - and I was there 2 weeks after that happened).

In Cedar Rapids alone, probably the hardest hit community with several hundred city blocks under five or more feet of water, the cost should top $2 billion. What was Katrina? Something like $100 billion? In Iowa City and Coralville, there is also widespread devastation with hundreds of blocks flooded. A significant portion of the University of Iowa campus is under water. In the Coralville business district, floodwaters are up to the roofs of many buildings.

If you get 5 feet of floodwater in your house or business, everything is ruined. You must gut the building to the frame and rebuild from scratch - you're better off if an EF4 blows everything away. there are major sanitation issues. It's not just water but mud and sewage - several area sewage treatment facilities are under water and out of commission, so when you flush the toilet, guess where it goes? Last, but definately not least, is the enormous impact to agriculture. This is a devastating year for farming here in Iowa and surrounding states, and everyone's going to be affected by it in terms of higher food prices and broader effects on the economy.

Update: floodwaters are slowly receding in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids, and the problem's are moving downstream - to the Mississippi. It seems like there's a lot more coverage of flooding in the mainstream media today.

- bill
 
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I've caught a bit from the Iowa Floods and surrounding areas on the afternoon shows when they are talking about the economy. Latest stats have nearly 9% of Iowa's agriculture may be ruined for this year, that accounts for more than 1% of the nations food and other resources. It may not sound like much, but just check out the corn prices from the last 2 weeks and you can see how big of a hole in the pocket that may end up being. A graphic shown by one economic study indicated that at the price of corn due to the Iowa agriculture loss turns out to raise the cost of every other food by multiple percentages, meaning come this fall look for food prices (especially meats) to skyrocket; if not sooner.

I can't say I've been watching a lot of the national news networks lately, but the midwest flooding definitely didn't seem to be the highlight for too long. I think the economy guys might be talking about it as much as the actual news guys...
 
There hasn't been much about the flooding on the National TV news that I've seen. I have however heard them mention my hometown and where I live now, and it gives me the chills.

We had 4 more levee breaks overnight and my husband is not sure if he will be able to get to work tomorrow. He may need to work from home, which is totally ok. Our house is not in danger, but our town's flood wall is sure being tested. It wasn't there in '93, so I guess we'll see how strong it is. The whole downtown area here would be underwater if it gave way.

Most of the news I'm getting is from the local TV stations, and they have websites if you want to check them out... www.khqa.com and www.wgem.com. You can also go to www.hannibal.net and www.whig.com for the local paper's websites.
 
While there is little coverage being seen here on ST and on the national television networks, there has been a lot of interest from various stations across the U.S.
I spent last Saturday and Sunday filming the flooding across Iowa City, Coralville, Cedar Rapids, and the smaller outlying areas. This was for 13 different stations across the U.S. who had requested special coverage and video footage not shown or available from every other network. The farthest station away is from New Mexico and the closest, other than Iowa, was Missouri. The lack of coverage is obviously being noticed by various media companies and stations to go to the extent of contracting out to get the coverage they want.
The devastation is huge across these areas whether it involves businesses, housing, crops, or the economic impact. To see the hundreds upon hundreds of men, women, children out in the various weather conditions helping to fill and place sandbags is heartwarming to say the least. They have huge operations ongoing and it is working like clockwork. Then you go 10 blocks away and see all of their work gone as the waters rise and go over the sandbag walls or see the walls wash out. One of the most heartbreaking parts is to see the hundreds of people who are standing around wanting to go back and check on their property and belongings. They are virtually homeless until all of this is over. I watched one man who could not cross the National Guard and Police line to get something from his house which was the first house in front of the barricades. He had to literally give his house key to a National Guard man and let him get what he needed. He took it very well and seemed to really understand the "rules."
No matter what coverage you see on TV or the Live Streaming I was doing, it does not show even a tiny percentage of what is really there. I was also going over the hundreds of photographs last night I took, in addition to the video, and it really does no justice to the situation.
 
I agree with everyone else here. I was helping about 100 people in the small community of Park Hills last week by filling up sandbags and making a sand wall to stop the flooding that was close to several houses. At the time it was about 10 feet from my Aunt and Uncles house. The sand wall saved thier house. If it was not for me and many others who came to help make this wall they would lose most of thier nice finished basement and have to spend alot to fix it.

Looking at RedRock I saw houses that could soon be under water. This is just a possesion of thiers and they would still be alive but it is thier home and without it they may not have anywhere to go. How would you feel if your home was taken away from you by a natural disaster?

I was also in Iowa City,Coralville and Cedar Rapids. The devestation and crowds of people with no where to go is just unbelieveable. Words can not describe what I saw and I hope I never see flooding as bad as this ever again.

Not even the Parkersburg tornado got the attention it deserved. Yet if Greensburg is mentioned people will not be quite about it. Alot more people were on the Greensburg tornado so mabey that contributes to some of the discusion but still the Greensburg tornado get's alot of discusion yet the Parkersburg tornado which in my oppiniun was worse does not even get a full page of discusion. I think there is favoritism to TX,OK,KS and NE since alot of people at this site live in those states. Any event that occurs in those states always get's more attention. I have even seen now threads for pathetic storms in OK yet when we tornadic storms in Iowa sometimes there is no discusion from people here at ST. Sorry if this offends anyone as that is not my intention and just my thoughts on the current topic.
 
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I haven't noticed the floods being "ignored" by national news. The story is front-page material on the following sites: CNN.com, MSNBC.com, ABCnews.com, CBSnews.com, news.yahoo.com, and news.google.com. I've heard it mentioned numerous times while flipping through the cable news networks today, including CNBC, etc. Granted, it has been ongoing for over a week now, so many news agencies have already devoted a lot of time to the story.

Now, the discrepancy in the amount of coverage, attention, and discussion between the Greensburg EF5 and Parkersburg EF5 has been very noticeable. On Stormtrack, I think this is largely because of the relatively limited number of folks who chased the Parkersburg tornado compared to the number of chased the Greensburg cell. Naturally, fewer chasers on the storm result in less discussion of that storm given that this is a forum of storm chasers. Sure, there is room of meteorological discussion, but fewer chasers having "experienced" the event naturally reduces the amount of discussion, reports, etc. On the news side, however, perhaps the relatively low amount of coverage is attributed to the fact that Parkersburg is "just another EF5" that doesn't have the label of being the "first" EF5 or the first F5/EF5 in 8 years. In addition, there have been many stories this year on tornadoes as a whole owing to the large number that have occurred so far. The difference in coverage and "tone" of discussion between Greensburg and Parkersburg, however, has been very noticeable to me. Will there be a special section for the Parkersburg event on Storms of 2008 (assuming there is a So2008)? For whatever reason, mentioning "Greensburg" tends to provoke much greater response and emotion than mentioning "Parkersburg". Again, in this case, I think it's largely because of the lower number of chasers who were on the Parkersburg cell, so we haven't heard too many stories of rescues, damage clean-up efforts, etc, that were so prevalent after the Greensburg tornado.
 
Hey everybody. I know the on-line news sources are covering it. I thought this mornings network shows would have hit it more. I know when more levee's break (just got home, haven't checked news yet) there will be more coverage on national news (i.e. morning shows). I feel for you guys in Iowa and downstream. I wish my boss would allow me to take off the next two days, to help somewhere with sandbagging. Clarksville, MO looks like its could be real bad there or anywhere along the mighty MI, duh!
 
All in all, there is very minimal coverage of the flooding compared to other weather events, especially considering the magnitude of the flooding disaster.
The vast number of people affected plus the loss of property is overwhelming.
This event far outweighs most any other weather disaster that has occurred in some time. The economy will be suffering in many areas because of this flooding. Just because there may be some articles written on some websites, the coverage is not there that is warranted and that would seem to be the norm. So Todd, Bill, and most others, I must agree that the coverage is not what it seems it should be.
 
Jeff Snyder said:
Now, the discrepancy in the amount of coverage, attention, and discussion between the Greensburg EF5 and Parkersburg EF5 has been very noticeable. On Stormtrack, I think this is largely because of the relatively limited number of folks who chased the Parkersburg tornado compared to the number of chased the Greensburg cell. Naturally, fewer chasers on the storm result in less discussion of that storm given that this is a forum of storm chasers. Sure, there is room of meteorological discussion, but fewer chasers having "experienced" the event naturally reduces the amount of discussion, reports, etc. On the news side, however, perhaps the relatively low amount of coverage is attributed to the fact that Parkersburg is "just another EF5" that doesn't have the label of being the "first" EF5 or the first F5/EF5 in 8 years. In addition, there have been many stories this year on tornadoes as a whole owing to the large number that have occurred so far. The difference in coverage and "tone" of discussion between Greensburg and Parkersburg, however, has been very noticeable to me. Will there be a special section for the Parkersburg event on Storms of 2008 (assuming there is a So2008)? For whatever reason, mentioning "Greensburg" tends to provoke much greater response and emotion than mentioning "Parkersburg". Again, in this case, I think it's largely because of the lower number of chasers who were on the Parkersburg cell, so we haven't heard too many stories of rescues, damage clean-up efforts, etc, that were so prevalent after the Greensburg tornado.
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I think what makes the Greensburg situation unique is the size of the tornado. You don't see a lot of tornadoes a mile wide, and even fewer that are closer to two miles wide. Almost the entire town was engulfed and about 90% of it received severe damage. The media buzzes like "first F5 in 8 years" and "first EF5" are all nice and well, but the tornado's size is what has always made Greensburg unique, at least in my opinion.
 
Here in Iowa they have covered them pretty well, mostly on friday and saturday, but the national coverage was covering it for a while, but now they seem to have turned to other news. The local level is still ok, but nothing like last week.
 
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