Still more on flooding and the rural Midwest

I heard a segment on NPR yesterday afternoon on Bush's visit to Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. I noted that he said something about the smaller places also affected by the floods, so I did a search this morning to see if I could find the exact quote. I haven't found it yet, but I have found several stories focusing on the rural angle. Here are some links.

• Small Towns Suffer Big Losses as Rivers Rise That is on Yahoo News, by an AP writer, dateline Oakville, Iowa.
• Small Missouri towns fight to contain Mississippi River That is on WTOP radio's website, again by an AP writer.
  
• Small towns fight to contain Mississippi River That is on MSNBC, but is the same AP story as on WTOP, with dateline Foley, Missouri.

In these, the journalists again play the gemeinschaft card, playing up the neighbor-helping-neighbor, attachment to place angle. It provides a positive spin on the tragedy besetting these towns, and I find myself hoping it is really still true.