Midwestern Floods of 2008
DATE: June 2008
LOCATION: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
DEATHS: 24
ESTIMATED COST: $15 billion*
WHAT HAPPENED: Despite lasting just weeks and breaching only a few dozen levees, these Midwestern floods still caused serious damage, partly because more people and property were at risk than in the 1993 floods that affected many of the same areas. In the 15 [...]
By: Ryan Blitstein | October 12, 2009 | 05:00 AM (PDT) | 
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DATE: June 2008
LOCATION: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Wisconsin
DEATHS: 24
ESTIMATED COST: $15 billion*
WHAT HAPPENED: Despite lasting just weeks and breaching only a few dozen levees, these Midwestern floods still caused serious damage, partly because more people and property were at risk than in the 1993 floods that affected many of the same areas. In the 15 years between the two storms, the population in the areas’ 500-year floodplain increased by 17 percent, with the number of the people living in the area flooded in 1993 rising by 18 percent.
*All costs estimated in 2009 dollars.
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Written By:Ryan Blitstein
Ryan Blitstein is a freelance journalist based in Chicago and a Miller-McCune contributing editor. As a staff writer at the San Jose Mercury News, SF Weekly and Red Herring,, he covered everything from spray-can artists in San Francisco to homeland security start-ups in Tel Aviv. His writing has also appeared in the New York Observer, the New York Daily News and The Seattle Times. He holds degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Stanford University.
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