I’ve been watching the news reports of the flooding situation in the Midwest with concern and more than a passing interest.

Parts of Missouri were flooded to save towns in Illinois; now, parts of the Louisiana lowlands are being flooded to save New Orleans and Baton Rouge.

We all saw the terrible devastation that happened in Japan two months ago , as much because of the tsunami as the actual shaking of the earthquake that preceded it. However, unless you’ve lived through this kind of exerience, it’s hard to understand the force and power of what water can do.

In 1972, my hometown, Wilkes-Barre, PA, was hit by a devastaing flood caused by Hurricane Agnes. The good news is we had plenty of warning and were able to evacuate safely: there was very little loss of human life in this disaster. The bad news is the devastation to the Wyoming Valley was massive.  After the water receded, we slipped and slided through the mud in an attempt to salvage what we could of our belongings and rebuild our lives. Many of the Guardsman deployed to help had just come back from Southeast Asia–they said the devasation here reminded them of Viet Nam only more complete. In Nam, you’d see a village bombed and then one standing unharmed; here everything was destroyed without exception. Water seeks its own level.

FEMA has had a checkered existence, as witnessed by the Katrina disaster. However, in 1972 there was no federal umbrella organization for coordinating disaster relief. The National Guard helped evacuate the area and then returned to help residents clear debris from their houses. The Red Cross came through with emergency food and shelter and vouchers to buy household supplies. Temporary housing was provided by HUD (this is when trailers were first used to house displaced residents), and low interest loans were offered through the SBA. If low interest rate loans interests you, cashcomet.co.uk has a lot to offer. click here to find out more details on how you can apply online. The process was slow and cumbersome, partially because many of the required records were destroyed in the flood, partially because there was no integrated system of emergency management.

Over a period of time, we recovered, rebuilt our houses, schools and businesses and went on with our lives. The local levees were rebuilt higher and stronger by the Army Corp of Engineers, and for the last 39 years they’ve held–though they’ve been tested strongly several times since.

Why do people go back to any area that’s been devastated like this? For many, because it’s home and they don’t know where else to go. But in reality, there is no really “safe” place on earth. Just look at what we’ve seen over the last several years: severe earthquakes, mudslides, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, fires. There is no place that’s guaranteed safe.

So you might as well go forward with your life in a place that’s comfortable for you–as long as you take reasonable precautions. Maybe next time you don’t build in a spillway or along a river bank or an earthquake fault. But you also get a clear understanding of what really counts: Not the house or the furniture or the crops, but the people and memories that are irreplacable. And you work to safeguard those.

You also develop a strong respect for Mother Nature. We can’t live a day without water, but we can’t survive a minute in the midst of a tsunami or flood. If you choose to live where the natural dangers are clear, understand the consequences and be prepared. Because it’s not the flood itself that’s the problem, it’s what happens when the waters recede that matters.

Good luck to the folks along the Mississippi. Our thoughts are with you.