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Show : V ... HERALD DAILY Friday, June 20, 2008 A5 Midwest flood victims feel misled by FEMA Tammy Webber and Maria Sudekum Fisher THE ASSOCIATED GULFPORT, PRESS Juli 111. Parks didn't worry when water began creeping up the levee that shields this town of about t 750 from the Mississippi River not even when volunteers began piling on sandbags. After all, local officials had assured townspeople in 1999 that the levee was sturdy enough to withstand a historic flood, and FEMA had agreed. In fact, some relieved homeowners dropped their flood insurance, and others applied for permits to build new houses and businesses. Then on Tuesday, the worst happened: The levee burst and Gulf port was submerged in 10 feet of water. Only 28 property M. SPENCER GREENAssociated Press owners were insured against the damage. A grain elevator stands surrounded by flood waters from the Mississippi River Thursday in Meyer, "They all told us, 'The levees III., after a levee failed Tuesday, flooding the farming community. are good. You can go ahead and build,"' said Parks, who did not buy flood coverage flood insurance and have never plain. That means homeowners swamped by a breach of a lebecause her bank no longer claimed that levees eliminate living there do not have to buy vee or dam should be required federal flood insurance. to buy flood insurance. the risk of flooding. required it. "We had so much Sen. Christopher Dodd, L amid the disasconfidence in those levees." But now However, some FEMA Around the country, thoutrous flooding across Iowa, Conn,, has sponsored a bill floodplain maps are 20 years old and seriously outdated, some Illinois and Missouri sands of residents who relied passed by the Senate that based on old evaluations of lewould require just that. It on risk maps from the Fedpolicymakers are demandvees and river conditions, ', would also require FEMA to eral Emergency Management ing the government come up with more accurate, assess the risks more accu- - V FEMA, which administers Agency may unknowingly flood-ris- k face similar dangers. assessments, inform the National Flood Insurance rately. Homeowners and businesses the public better of the danProgram, has spent almost "People put all their hopes behind levees or downstream in those levees, and when they gers, and require nearly all ho- $1 billion since 2003 so far to modernize its maps, which of dams "are often unaware of do fail, the damage is catameowners to buy coverage if the risks to their properties" Buckley said are for insurance strophic," said Paul Osman, the they live hear dams or levees. National Flood Insurance ProFEMA relies on outside enpurposes, not to indicate people and so don't buy flood insurance, Dodd said. gram coordinator for Illinois. gineers whose job is to certify are safe. "When these manmade "New Orleans is the epitome; a whether a levee can withstand Moreover, some of this flood structures fail, the effects can lot of those people didn't even a that is, a year's floods exceeded the flood so big that it has only a 1 realize they were in a flood-plai- n benchmark, including be dangerous and devastatuntil the water was up to percent chance of happening Gulfport's flood, which was ing," he said in a statement. ' a "With no insurance coverage, in any given year. If FFMA their roofs." deluge, the Army Mike Buckley, a FEMA the process of rebuilding their Corps of Engineers said. agrees with the certification, FEMA said it is up to Conhomes and their lives becomes deputy assistant administrator, then the homes and businesses not the to decide whether evlevee are said agency officials encourgress by tremendously difficult for famiprotected lies and businesses.". considered to be in a flood- eryone whose home could be age everyone to buy federal . te 100-ye- 100-ye- 500-ye- Colo, study: No health crisis from gas drilling ' ASSOCIATED THE doctors are aware of potential PRESS issues. A two-yeThe study, funded in part RIFLE, Colo. from a fine on the oil and gas study has found no health crisis in Garfield County from a industry, stemmed from conboom in natural gas drilling, cerns about possible health effects from increased gas operabut it said people close to gas tions in the western Colorado operations may face higher rates of cancer and other ilcounty. Garfield County led the state lnesses. o The study by the last year in the number of drillResearch Institute at St. ing permits issued with 2,550, Mary's Hospital in Grand Junc- compared with 796 in 2004. tion said health risks could be Some residents living near lowered if energy companies wells have complained of headrecovered gas that is currently aches, respiratory problems and other illnesses. vented, and wells were located farther from homes and The Saccomanno Research schools. Institute worked with Mesa The report, unveiled this State College on the study. week at a public meeting in RiAlthough it found no health crisis related to the drilling fle, also recommends that Garfield County monitor trends, boom, "That is not to say that some people haven't had health such as increases in respiratory problems, and make sure problems that could be related Sacco-mann- Call Dental Catftt to resume Btctrtcat rtuamtm Help Needed to manage medical billing system, answer phones, must be fast learner, good Inskills. terpersonal Previous billing ex p. Excellent pref'd. benefits & pay. Send to resumes hrffutahradlplpay.c om II i Donna Gray, a spokeswoman for Williams Production, a major gas producer in the county, declined to talk specifically about Tuesday's presentation but said the company has hired a toxicologist to review e the study. 250-pag- Wanted lei; Light Duties. Sahr DOE Fax resume or 5 I L Call Having PAYSON $725 Super Loc. 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FT. it,i3,MT'Pr Apartmnfs Wanted Office DENTAL ASSISTANT I. years." to have your classified ads in this section! 0 Medic It Wanted Fun, Fast Paced, Dental Office lookfor ing energetic, Fax oil and gas rules address odors and other conditions that people living near gas fields have complained about. Coons said the health assessment creates a base of inf on nation that didn't exist, "We have some trend data looking backward, but not a lot, and the industry hasn't been in the area for a real long time," Coons said. "So for some of the health effects that you might think of as more chronic results of exposure aren't going to show up for a number of LOOK WHAT'S NEW TODAY! JSP Help to the industry," said Teresa Coons, senior scientist at Saccomanno. "There certainly are individual differences in susceptibility to exposure to toxic materials," she said. An environmental risk assessment, based on mathematical modeling of emissions from a single well, found that people close to oil and gas operations may face higher health risks, including cancer, because of higher rates of benzene. Benzene, a byproduct of gas wells, causes cancer. The modeling also found that people farther from gas operations may face lower health risks from potential benzene exposure. Some of the proposed rules state regulators are considering as part of an overhaul of cab truck,Automatic,AC. Smooth riding and very dependable. Needs a new tail gate. Call at Jason - A new free report has recently been released that reveals how break- a through I medi- cal technology Bel-lom- risk we have pretty good understanding of," Bellomo said, "There's not a question of if you should buy fire insurance, but there is a lot of aversion to flood insurance." Communities protected by the 52 mile Sny levee, along the Mississippi River near Quincy, -- 111., worked hard to persuade FEMA in 2004 to accredit , the levee, rebuilt after failing in 1993, as providing protection against a flood, FEMA relented, even though the decision was based on 1979 data and an unpublished Army Corps of Engineering study indicated that elevations in the river had risen substantially. Now, the Sny is in danger of failing and many people no longer have flood insurance. Parks said she was told that flood insurance on her Gulfport home would cost more than $1,000 a year. But Osman said that in Illinois, policies average s $400 a year for those in and $ 120 to $3 17 for people like Parks who are not in a designated floodplain. At least 22 levees in the three flood-plain- oi-deba- spinal decompression has a high success rate for treating desurgical bilitating back pain including sciatica and multiple herniated discs. It looks like this breakthrough in medical : now." Tammy Webber reported from Chicago. Associated Press reporter Deanna Bellandi contributed to this story from Pleasant Hill, III. I On the Net: Federal Emergency Management Agency: httpJI www.fema.gov te Tim Huber THE Mine. Smith said the proposal seems to violate that legislation by requiring that belts be 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS CHARLESTON, W.Va. Coal mines could continue what critics call the dangerous practice of using conveyer belt tunnels to pump fresh air underground under new rules proposed by the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration. belts, fire prevention and detection in belt tunnels and federel ap proval also would be required under rules MSHA published in the Federal Register on Thursday. "The objective of this proposed rule is to improve mine safety by significantly reducing the hazard of conveyor belt fires in underground coal mines," MSHA director Richard Stickler said in a statement. Banning belt air outright would do even better, United M ine Workers spokesman rather merely than nonflammable. "The MINER Act calls for nonflammability of the belts. That's not what's in the rule, or at least that's not what's in the press release," he said. "It means it won't burn. To us, that's very important." Additionally, the UMW is concerned that MSHA has ignored a Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 requirement that mines demonstrate that using belt air will improve safety, Smith said. "There is no indication that the proposed rule actually mandates that." According to MSHA, mines would have to buy belts once belts they're using now wear out but only a year after the proposal be- "We've always maintained that the Mine Act says that you can't use belt air," he said. "We believe it's a dangerous practice as demonstrated at Aracoma." A National Mining Association spokesman did not immediately return calls for comment. The proposal is required by federal legislation passed after e accidents in 2006 that killed 19 miners, including two in a belt fire at West Virginia's Aracoma Alma No. place heat sensors with carbon monoxide monitors and install smoke detectors, among other things. Other requirements would include lowering dust levels in belt tunnels used for ventilation and requiring primary escape routes to have higher ventilation pressure than belt tunnels. Public hearings on the proposal are planned for August in Utah, Kentucky, West Virginia and Alabama. Flame-resista- Phil Smith said. IF t, flame-resista- comes final. ' Mines also would have to "New Breakthrough in Techcall We pay your first 3 mortgage payments Volunteers, ages 8 and older, who have been diagnosed and are currently experiencing moderate to severe atopic dermatitiseczema (i.e., itchy skin, scaly rough patches, bleeding or swelling of the skin), may be eligible to participate in a research study involving an investigational medication. when you buy a home from COUNTRYSIDE ESTATES Qualified participants will receive study medication, d physician visits, lab work, and financial compensation for time and travel. study-relate- toll-fre- non- - "Everybody was happy; that meant the village could build and thrive," he said. "People can decide if they want to take that risk or not and rebuild, But I don't know what happens Safety at heart over belt air in mines high-profil- M and listen to the e 24 hr proven that FDA states already flood-stricke- n way. ATOPIC DERMATITISECZEMA non-surgic- al ) nology" Gulfport building and zoning inspector John Carrier said the flood is a blow to the town that was told it was out of harm's re- LD most promising disc treatment today. For your free report Medical trailer. 100-ye- has lead to the entitled, is offering surgery 1113 free new hope for disc pain suffer- V 11 ers. Research has approved technology Dozens more could overflow. In Hull a town of about 500 that was inundated in the 1993 flood but is now deemed only protected by the Sny 44 homeowners still have flood insurance, Osman said. Jerry Rodhouse, who lives on a 1,200-acf- e farm near Pleasant Hill, 111., said if the nearby levee breaks, the land in that part of the Sny drainage system will be under as much as 9 feet of water. But he said he is confident the levee will hold. "We have the finest levees on the Mississippi River north of St. Louis," he said. "We've been working since 1872 to protect our land." It is unclear what, if anything, the uninsured Parks would get in government disaster relief. "We're hoping to rebuild, but it depends what FEMA says and how much we get," said Parks, who is staying with her husband in a horse popular. Many residents and commu-- ? nities strongly resist attempts to force them to buy coverage because of the cost and the belief that it will hurt economic development, said Doug director of FEMA's risk analysis division. "From our perspective, while flood insurance isn't free, it is a way of hedging your investment in property against a "Slipped, Herniated, Or Bulging Disc Pain?" UTAH- have been topped by floodwa-ter- s this week, the Corps said. Larry Larson, executive director of the Association of State Floodplain Managers, said FEMA should not wait for Congress. But he said ne doubts the agency will act on its own, because the move would be too politically un- recorded message for all the details or go to www.911backpaininfo.com. 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