Ground Zero - below high water mark

Beaner's Godfather lived in one of these houses. Piles like these go on for blocks and blocks and blocks. It boggles the mind and tears at the heart. These photos are from NE Cedar Rapids. These are only two snap shots... only snap shots. The entire picture is much more sobering. No photo can accurately show the devistation. No words could describe the lives now ruined. No imagination can possibly see behind the tattered walls, the moldy floors, the sour smell to comprehend what once (only five weeks ago), will no longer be the same... EVER. The houses are all empty... and neighborhoods have become ghost-towns. The statistics are staggering. More than 5000 people are homeless. Of 1,800 missing city school kids, only 1,600 have been found, and of those kids, most will move again before school starts. With nearly 2,000 homes destroyed and (appoximately) 500 FEMA trailers provided (88 of which have been returned with mold)... where are the extra people (families) going to live?

How many of these owners lost their jobs? Who pays the mortgage on these empty homes? Who pays the insurance on these (now worthless) properties? Mitigation and financial resolution may not be availabe for 18 - 24 months. What are they to do for this period of time?

Nasty, nasty, nasty and very sad stuff. We don't know these people, but their in our thoughts, they're in our prayers.