Green Daily

So much of Iowa is underwater right now, it might be better to ask what regions are not. All of the Upper Midwest has experienced massive flooding in the past two years including Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Michigan, despite being a peninsula, seems to have avoided the plague thus far.

Working in Minnesota, I've covered a lot of flooding. I once spoke to a man who was managing a controlled burn of his house. A rush of water swept the house off the bluff side and into the road. The landfills were too full to accept the ruins of his home, so the fire department gave him permission to burn. This man's story reminded me that everyone in a tragedy has a story and needs to tell it.

The human tragedy is only a fraction of the story, but this year, so far, I've been pleased to see how communities have begun to take lessons on environmental management.

For example, in Austin, Minn. flooding has been the norm for likely 100 years. Every four years, the mayor told me, it floods. So the city bought up land in the flood plain, every flood, a little more. It's recreating the watershed and berms to absorb water.

However, sometimes the plan is just to sandbag like hell and pray.