What a disastrous trip! In our travels, we observed the results of the natural disasters that have struck our country. While we drove through Ruidoso, NM with our windows down for the cool, piney air, it was evident that wildfires were still burning. It didn't take an engineer to notice that the Mississippi River and its tributaries were overflowing tremendously.
The effects of flooding were felt by friends and family in mid-Michigan after 10 inches of rain drenched the land in 2 days. Streets were closed, basements were flooded, and people just went along with the flow...taking detours, cleaning basements, hauling ruined belongings to the trash.
The drought shortened the lives of thriving corn in Oklahoma -- what once was green is as golden as wheat before harvest, and the extreme heat caused havoc on motorists as their vehicles overheated leaving them stranded on the roadside.
Uprooted and sheered trees, flattened building rubble and new construction (and road signs for volunteers) were indications of the powerful, deadly tornado that swept through Joplin, MO.
Yet, I often wonder, how cyclical these "disasters" are. Hundreds of years ago who would have cared? The bulk of human lives weren't in danger or affected by these natural occurrences. How did those thriving metropolises (if any) survive or deal with the disasters? Has technology with the "here and now" capabilities affected our awareness to an extreme? It certainly has helped save lives, indeed. But I still wonder how cyclical weather and natural occurrences are.
