Corn Futures Hit Record High

I was just reading this next story at Yahoo News, and it concerns the new "high" for corn prices, in the wake of flooding, and propsects of even more devastating rains preparing to inundate the Midwest:

Corn futures extended their climb, rising to a record for a third straight session Monday as heavy rains flooded fields and battered crops in Midwestern states.

Other commodities traded mostly lower, with crude oil retreating more than $4 a barrel and gold, silver, copper and wheat also falling.

Farmers are worried that excessive rain in the U.S. Corn Belt will damage recently planted crops and hurt yields, adding to the food inflation that has driven up the price of everything from eggs to meat to bread. Last week's rain-fed jump in corn prices was the largest one-week rally in the contract's history.

Corn prices are poised to go even higher, analysts say. Weekend showers dumped as much as eight inches of rain over parts of Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, and forecasts predict more bad weather later this week.

link to full corn futures story

Midwest Copes With Floods, East With Heat

It is another soggy day in Iowa City, and most of the Midwest, as areas are declared disaster zones, and eight people are confirmed dead, from the weekend storms, and flooding. There is this story at Yahoo News, and at the bottom is a second link to a local Iowa Press-Citizen story concerning the area flooding that is expected this week:

Temperatures rose toward the triple digits along the East Coast on Monday as Midwesterners braced for more rain that could add to days of deadly floods.

Eight deaths were blamed on stormy weekend weather, most in the Midwest. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle declared an emergency for 29 counties and President Bush late Sunday declared a major disaster in 29 Indiana counties. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said nearly a third of his state's 99 counties need federal help.

Flooding was expected to be a continuing problem this week in the Midwest as rivers are swollen with the runoff from heavy weekend rainfall, topped by the 11 inches that fell Saturday in Indiana.

link to full midwest storms and eastern heat story

link to iowa city coralville flooding and related stories

Midwest Besieged By Severe Weather

As the "End of Days" continues~~ the Midwest is getting clobbered with severe weather again today, with many areas flooded or preparing to be flooded as creeks and rivers swell past their banks. This may not be a by-product of global warming, but it is definitely causing a catastrophe for many who live here, and it may spell disaster for farmers now, and consumers later, as crops cannot even be put in many fields due to the flooding.
This story was current a little over an hour ago:

A possible tornado toppled trees in Nebraska and record flooding chased people from their Indiana homes early Sunday as the Midwest braced for still more violent weather.

At least one person downed in the Indiana flooding and one was missing since more than 10 inches of rain swamped the state this weekend. Twenty-one counties had been declared disasters, said John Erickson, a spokesman for the Indiana Department of Homeland Security
.
In Michigan, two delivery workers for The Grand Rapids Press drowned early Sunday when their car became submerged in a creek that washed out a road, the newspaper said.

The National Weather Service forecast more damaging weather Sunday in the Midwest, and posted severe storm warnings for parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
"We not out of the woods yet," weather service hydrologist Al Shipe said.

link to full story