Crossfire

Things are settling down somewhat in the great fly-over. People are heading out to survey the damage and destruction. Most are still a tad bewildered by the events. Photo-ops are being scheduled, frank assessments of the available resources are being conducted and inventory is being salvaged.

Still and all, the most commonly heard comment is "It could have been worse"; "It has been worse". This usually precedes the muttered oath, Gawd, don't send FEMA!
Freshly planted fields washed away, scrambling for replacement crops that might soften the blow. Going back to work. Making the best of a bad situation. Doing what needs to be done.

Hardy folks these flatlanders. Resourceful too. Innovative, but not too. They've learned hard lessons before, they've adapted and overcome before, they've been knocked down, but never out. They promise to continue doing what they always have done. It's just their way.

That fallow field and outcroppings of trees are purposeful in their world. They've learned where not to plant or build. They know you can definitely stretch the boundaries, but it ain't a particularly good idea.

Disguised among them are some disingenuous types. The ones duped by developers into buying the farm one subdivided lot at a time. Preeminent among these are the residents of Lake Delton, Wisconsin.

You can't pave paradise, can't leave insufficient run-off and absorption and expect to fool Mother Nature. This may have been a "100 year event" for the area that began transforming in 1927, but the added weight piled on over the past 30 years, without regard to rational limits, can't have helped.

You can heed the Lorax or follow the Nazgul (developers). Learn a bit of humility and modesty or continue trying to show off your nouveau richness. It may be as simple as the difference between river-folk and lake-folk; especially the man-made lake-folk. People on and along the rivers have been warning us all along. Old cranks, dinosaurs and fossils they are called, but if it were at all their style they'd be laughing right now. A bunch that cashed in and fled the onslaught of the invasion are probably having a snort or two about now.