I drove through areas like this last week on the way to South Dakota – and three weeks before that when we were in Minneapolis. It has been raining, and raining and raining. And it still is. There are thousands of square miles of farmland in Manitoba, the Dakotas and Minnesota under water, and it has nowhere to go.
A few years ago when a late spring snowstorm caused the “Great Manitoba Flood” that threatened Winnipeg and devastated Grand Forks, ND (where several downtown buildings burned after being inundated with flood waters) – I explained to others that to understand why the Red River “Valley” is so prone to flooding, one needs only to do this simple experiment:
a) Place a cookie sheet on a table.
b) pour a quart of water on it.
Yes! To feel the awesome power of Nature, and of the Weather! Standing in it, drenched within moments, and thinking: This has gotta be a monsoon, or a tropical storm, and yet……it is neither of those!?! So- what is it? Does the weather run in twenty year cycles? Or is this because of something else?
It runs in cycles. There were similar wet years in the 1950’s.
Well, I tried your test, and my cookie sheet never experienced no flood. Could it be the big hole in the end of it? … what a mess…. Kidding of course.. don’t even now how to make cookies, that’s what stores are for.
The flood cycles are natures way of making that whole area fertile again to feed all the migrating animals. Totally normal, humans just get in the way, and in the age of capitalizing on any disaster through communication, we here about it instantly.
I’m just 2 hours away from Brandon now. Just inside the Manitoba border. The scenes all the way from Winnipeg here were incredible. Entire fields of crops looking more like lakes than fields, with beautiful blue looking water. It’s awe-inspiring. But, now, on Sat. It is over 30C and humid as it gets in dry Manitoba. South western Ontario is seeming cooler! Not too many with AC out here.
I understand the experiment, Kate. I can immediately foresee the end result and apply it to the Red River Valley.
Unfortunately, I’m pretty sure the average person lacks the intellectual ability to do this. I know. Today I was reminded of this in a failure to get through to people.
Case in point: I was waiting for a takeout pizza in a rental car today and observed a young dude working inside a nearby hobby store wearing a t-shirt with a crucifix with a circle and bar overlaid on it and the words “Bad Religion”. Where were the police to arrest him for expressing hatred of an identifiable group according to the Charter? Nowhere. Now, if I wore an anti-Islam t-shirt in public, do you think I could get away with it? Didn’t think so.
Tried to explain the difference to someone, and that ultimately it’s the Liberal gov’t that’s responsible for this discrimination and double standard, regardless of the Charter. I failed, unfortunately.
I am like many of you on SDA: I live among people who are so brainwashed they cannot learn anything contrary to their almost-forced programming at the hands of the state.
um…. glub-glub!
“The flood cycles are natures way of making that whole area fertile again to feed all the migrating animals.”
That’s correct. The only problem is that human’s have screwed up that natural process. All of the flooding today causes sewer systems to back up and fields covered with chemicals (fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides) to wash into the river water. As we speak, all those chemicals are being swept up in flood water and deposited in Lake Winnipeg. There they will create huge algae blooms and create problems for years to come. I don’t think that was part of nature’s plan. See CBC article.
Remember the time it rained forty days and forty nites?
Eastend, Sk got a half inch!
Cry Me A River………
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Clarkson’s surgery a success
Globe and Mail – 9 Jul 2005
Ottawa � Gov. Gen. Adrienne Clarkson underwent a successful operation to install a pacemaker Saturday and was recovering in a Toronto hospital. �The Governor General is resting comfortably,� said her spokesman Randy Mylyk. …