"S.D. area residents believed safe swept by floods" by A.G. Sulzberger, New York Times / July 31, 2011
DAKOTA DUNES, S.D. - The homes on Spyglass Circle and Pebble Beach Drive have been evacuated and the 18th hole is under six feet of water, as miles of levees strain to keep this community from surrendering to a historic flood.
Many residents here at the southeastern tip of the state, where it borders Nebraska and Iowa, say they never imagined this chain of events....
As governor of South Dakota, Mike Rounds visited many flooded communities during his two terms. But when he left office this year, he moved into a house in Pierre, the state capital, on the Missouri River. He was forced to evacuate just months later.
Like many state residents, he thinks the flood is largely the result of mismanagement by the Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the dams. (The corps said the releases were forced by unprecedented snow and rains.)
“If I had to do it all over, I’d still purchase the same lot,’’ Rounds said. “I really do think it’s an aberration.’’
Most of the major cities of the region - including Sioux City, just across the way in Iowa, a few miles east of Dakota Dunes - were settled on riverbanks. But even as many experts warn that climate change is increasing the frequency and severity of flooding and other natural disasters, developers continue to build homes in flood-prone areas....
As the trailers, hot tubs, and decks that have bobbed down waterways in recent weeks suggest, there is also an element of willful disbelief behind the decision to move close to rivers.
That comes with the climate change cultists.
The Dakota Dunes used the twin attractions of river views and low taxes to attract wealthy professionals from the three-state Sioux City metro area. Though developers initially urged residents to get insurance, they noted that the Missouri had been successfully controlled since the dam system was built.
As the years passed, those who dismissed a flood as unlikely started talking about it almost as an impossibility....
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