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New Government Report Details Impacts of Extreme Weather on the U.S.

More Extreme Weather Expected for U.S.
June 19, 2008 : 20-Year Intense Downpours to Occur Every 6 Years

In Burlington, Iowa, the rain-swollen Mississippi has swallowed part of downtown. It's the second record-breaking flood in the past 15 years — and the second time Dennis Standard's riverfront restaurant has been ruined. "It's not supposed to happen. It's supposed to be every 500 years. I thought I'd be gone by now," Standard said, laughing. "But it's changing." Scientists say he's right.

As President Bush toured the Midwest flood zones today, a new administration report on extreme weather warns that human-induced climate change is making heavy downpours more intense, with storms that used to occur every 20 years projected to occur every six by the end of the century.

"As greenhouse gasses increase, the faster they increase, the more extreme weather and climate events we'll be seeing," said Thomas Karl, co-editor of the report and director of the National Climatic Data Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate offers the administration's first major compilation of existing scientific research examining the present and future impact on the U.S. from more frequent heat waves, more intense rainfall and flooding, potentially stronger hurricanes, drought and even wildfires.

More ABC News: More Extreme Weather Expected for U.S.

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Government and Volunteers Team Up Against Flood...

FEMA: 'There Have Been No Shortfalls'
June 19, 2008 - Fresh Lessons From Katrina Help in Flooding Crisis

As President Bush flew over the flood-ravaged Midwest today in a helicopter tour of the area, the views he took in were nearly as awe-inspiring as they are devastating. Entire towns, now evacuated, sleep soundly under the rushing mighty Mississippi or Iowa Rivers. Thousands of acres of crops, usually swayed only by the wind, are now pushed about by the water's current. More than one levee was breached today and over two dozen more are still in danger.

Yet when President Bush disembarked from Air Force One in Iowa today, he smiled and looked at ease. According to a recent Federal Emergency Management Agency teleconference, there may be reason behind his composure. "The FEMA of today is not the FEMA of 2005. We took the lessons of Katrina and applied them," said Glenn Cannon, assistant administrator in the Disaster Operations Directorate of FEMA. "We have risen to the level that the public expects from us."

Though the flooding crisis is more than a week old, FEMA officials claim that their agency is now an "active" agency rather than "reactive," citing the 3.6 million liters of drinking water, nearly 200,000 Meals Ready to Eat (MREs) and nearly 13 million sandbags FEMA and its partners have deployed in flooded or endangered areas. And more are on the way. According to David Garratt, FEMA deputy assistant administrator, more than 33,000 applications for individual assistance have been filed with FEMA, each of which received an answer in an average of "10 seconds or less."

More ABC News: FEMA: 'There Have Been No Shortfalls'