Contents
August/September 1993
Illinois
Issues
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Vol. XIX No. 8 & 9
Established 1975
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Flood
and
money
Cover illustration: The town of Meyer, population 120, was
among scores of villages and cities inundated by the floodwaters
of the Mississippi River and its tributaries. This issue contains two
stories about the Great Flood of '93. Jennifer Halperin traces the history of efforts to tame the Mississippi for commerce and asks whether
future policies for flood control will bow to the might of the mighty
Mississippi. Brett Johnson tallies up the cost of the flood far from the
saturated towns, fields and roadways along the river's shores. All the
residents of Meyer, an Adams County community north of Quincy,
were relocated after a levee broke. The grain elevator pictured here is
owned by the Ursa Farmers Co-op Company, according to Adams
County Sheriff Robert Nail. Before the levee broke. Nail reports,
prison inmates worked to place sandbags around the elevator,
and they are now helping with cleanup efforts in the county.
The church building, with its cross visible above the water
line, is no longer used for religious services, Nail says.
Photo by Terry Farmer.
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August & September 1993/Illinois Issues/7
Readers:
Living in St. Louis at the time, I still
remember standing in the mud along the
river. My job was simple: help pile the
sandbags to stop the river from flooding
the southern part of the metro area. It
wasn't my neighborhood, but I wanted to
help. Thankfully, the place where I
provided a little assistance was spared
from floodwater. What I recall even
more, however, is that many people
called that flood of '73 the big one.
Not any more.
The scope of the 1993 "big one" is
almost incomprehensible. The Mississippi
River from Minnesota to Missouri. The
Raccoon River in Des Moines. The
Missouri River in numerous places. The
Illinois River backing up. From June to
August, the story got bigger as the
flooding got worse. Town after town held
its community breath day after day,
hoping against hope that the levees
protecting its businesses, houses and
farms would hold on. In many cases,
perhaps most, the rivers won.
In the midst of it all. Jay Leno
commented that in other places where
natural disasters strike, one common
reaction is looting and stealing by others.
But in the Midwest, what you find is
people helping people with sandbagging,
food, water and donations of money.
People in the Midwest must be different,
Leno noted.
Perhaps so. I'm sure many people
grew weary of seeing pictures and
reading headlines about the flood. But
most disasters — fires, tornadoes and
earthquakes — strike quickly and leave
behind the devastation to be cleaned up.
This flood is different. It developed over
a period of many days and left its
destruction over a geographical area of
thousands of square miles. The story will
not go away. No way. Everywhere I've
gone in the past three months, people
have been talking about, asking about,
wondering about, the great flood of
1993.
That led our staff to discuss how
Illinois Issues could contribute to what
already has been written and said. We
decided to step back from the daily
coverage and raise questions others are
also beginning to ask. We have checked
into what led to the system of levees,
dams and bridges that we took so much
for granted until this summer. To what
extent, if any, are human decisions
responsible for this flood? What is the
cost in economic terms? What do the
answers tell us about what our efforts at
rebuilding should be?
I reminded our staff that at the
magazine's Board meeting in May, board
member Jim Otis of Hanover in
northwestern Illinois advised us to write
about society's attempts to control
nature. It isn't working, he said, and
offered this example: Despite all of the
construction on the Mississippi's flood
plains, the river will eventually win.
When Otis said that, I wrote it down as a
future story idea because a massive
destructive flood seemed possible but not
imminent. (Most of us probably have the
same attitude about the theoretically
likely great California earthquake.)
Not any more. The river has won,
forcing all of us to ponder some very
troublesome questions. Have we
underestimated the power of nature?
Should we rebuild everything? What
should be insured, and what should be
considered too high a risk? The
perspective we provide in this issue is
published to help you reflect on these
kinds of questions.
As important as the flood story is, I
want to add quickly that this annual
"double issue" in August-September also
includes extensive coverage of the spring
legislative session of the General
Assembly, where taxes, education
financing and gambling were among the
major issues. Our statehouse staff gives
you a good summary of what happened,
and looks ahead to the fall veto session.
Congratulations are in order for Rich
Walsh, the former state AFL-CIO
president who was honored July 30 at a
huge farewell dinner in Chicago. Walsh,
who recently left Illinois to become
national director of the AFL-CIO's
Committee on Political Education
(COPE), was a valued member of the
Illinois Issues Board. The turnout of
political power at his farewell dinner —
House Speaker Michael Madigan, Senate
Minority Leader Emil Jones, U.S.
Senators Paul Simon and Carol Moseley-Braun, among many others — was a
visible testimony to the continuing
influence of labor unions in Illinois. On
behalf of everyone connected with the
magazine, best wishes. Rich!
August & September 1993/Illinois Issues/3
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