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Des Moines being evacuated

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Officials on Friday issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown Des Moines, Iowa, and other areas bordering the Des Moines River.

Officials recommended that downtown residents and businesses evacuate parts of downtown on both sides of the river by 6 p.m. Friday. Included are all areas in Des Moines’ 500-year floodplain.

The alert was prompted by rising river levels expected to peak at 8 p.m. Friday.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said officials chose to err on the side of citizens and residents.

The evacuation should begin immediately and be completed by 6 p.m., the mayor said.

In Cedar Rapids, a downtown hospital was evacuated as the Cedar River flooded 400 city blocks. See photos of the downtown flooding

Residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground and a railroad bridge collapsed.

The hospital’s 176 patients, including about 30 in a nursing home facility, were being transferred to other hospitals in the region.

The Cedar Rapids evacuation started late Thursday night and continued Friday morning in the city of 124,000 residents.

Some are frail and so it’s a very delicate process with them, said Karen Vander Sanden, a hospital spokeswoman. Watch how folks are coping in Cedar Rapids

Water was seeping into the hospital’s lower levels, where the emergency generator is located, said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency operations center.

They proactively and preventatively started evacuation basically guessing on the fact they were going to lose power, he said.

Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids fire department, said the river will crest Friday at about 31.8 feet. It was at 30.9 feet early in the morning. In a 1993 flood, considered the worst in recent history, it was at 19.27 feet. iReport.com: Teen takes pics during sandbagging run

We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring, said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa. We’re in uncharted territory — this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine. Watch how weather is bludgeoning the Midwest

Flooding also closed Interstate 80 from east of Iowa City to Davenport. The flooded Cedar River crosses the interstate in Cedar County, about 20 miles east of Iowa City. See a map with photos of the flooding in Cedar Rapids

Iowa Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state’s 99 counties state disaster areas. Nine rivers are at or above historic flood levels. Amtrak’s California Zephyr line was suspended across Iowa because of flooding along the BNSF Railway.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but two men died in their cars in southern Minnesota and western lower Michigan.

In Wisconsin, amphibious vehicles that carry tourists on the Wisconsin River were used to evacuate homes and businesses in Baraboo, north of Madison. Hundreds of people lost power in Avoca, west of Madison, and were strongly encouraged to evacuate due to flooding, said Chief Deputy Jon Pepper of the Iowa County Sheriff’s Department. iReport.com: Duck boats to the rescue

The rising Fond du Lac River forced hundreds from homes in Fond du Lac.

Violent thunderstorms Thursday and Friday brought widespread flooding to Michigan’s Lower Peninsula that authorities say left some roads and bridges unstable or impassable. Authorities in Mason County advised drivers to stay off the roads unless it was an emergency, and the county closed or barricaded more than a dozen roadways.

People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi River expected Wednesday.

Despite all the water in Cedar Rapids, there was precious little for toilets, cleaning, or drinking.

Koch said the city is at critical levels and only one of the city’s six wells was operating.

If we lost that one we would be in serious trouble. Basically we are using more water than we are producing, he said. We really need to reduce the amount of water we are using … even using paper plates, hand sanitizer.

Similarly, the town of Lawrenceville, Illinois, grappled with a broken water system that left businesses with no usable tap water, forcing them to close.

In Cedar Rapids, rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.

We’re just kind of at God’s mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start, Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. We’re going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding. Watch what Iowa has to look forward to

Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff’s office also was underwater, Zeller said.

The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.

found here.

Al-Sadr: New force to fight U.S. in Iraq

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is establishing a new fighting force to battle U.S.-led troops in Iraq, he said in a letter read in Iraqi mosques Friday.

Al-Sadr’s letter said that the resistance will be exclusively conducted by only one group. This new group will be defined soon by me.

Al-Sadr’s militia, the Mehdi Army, has a strong and ubiquitous presence in Shiite cities, towns and neighborhoods.

Sources familiar with al-Sadr said they believe he’s trying to embrace what the U.S. calls Special Groups, the Iranian-backed Shiite militants, including rogue Mehdi Army members who have been fighting American and Iraqi troops despite a cease-fire that the cleric declared in August.

The mainstream Mehdi Army has operated under the cease-fire, which dramatically reduced violence in Iraq. During that time, however, there has been fighting between U.S. and Iraqi troops and members of the Mehdi Army, with many of the battles this spring in the southern city of Basra and Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood.

In the latest fighting overnight, American-led coalition forces killed five and arrested two Special Groups members near Hilla, south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

found here.

Spring wedding, backyard disaster

(CNN) — The promise of saying vows in an intimate setting and under springtime foliage can be a dreamy inspiration for brides-to-be, but for homeowners hosting a wedding in their back yard it can turn into a nightmare.

The logistics of it can certainly be challenging, said Sofia Linn, the wedding sales manager for A Legendary Event, an event, design and catering company in Atlanta, Georgia.

I would definitely say there are some hidden surprises, she said, sometimes [clients] don’t realize how involved it can be.

Whereas rented spaces often have tables, chairs and bar services included in the cost to rent, at-home weddings need to budget for those kinds of amenities separately, Linn said.

And then there are the bathrooms.

Jiwon McCartney, the managing director of Allure Event Meeting Productions, a boutique event and meeting planning company said, Everybody thinks, ‘well, we have plenty of bathrooms.’

But McCartney pointed out that even larger homes could have big problems when there are 50 people needing to use the bathroom at once.

They don’t realize how much toilet paper goes down, she said.

found here.

Memorial day massacre nba

The Greatest Play Ever

ok, so here’s the mail where i explain why i suppose the immaculate function is the greatest play ever … and will in any case be the greatest play till the end of time unless at some goal, on the last move of the super bowl, a team is trailing five and the quarterback throws a hail mary pass that is …

Idea For A New Commercial

Outside providence

legions of nba titles on the floor: 30cost of a courtside seat: $22,000watching the lakers blow a 24 point lead in the nba finals: irreplaceable
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Bush meets with Italian ally on Europe tour

ROME, Italy (CNN) — U.S. President George W. Bush’s farewell tour of Europe took him to Rome on Thursday, where he met with his friend and ally, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Iran and Afghanistan were high on the agenda but at a news conference Bush was also asked about a U.S. Supreme Court blow to his administration’s war on terror policies.

Bush said he disagreed with the ruling that Guantanamo Bay detainees have the right to challenge their detention in federal courts, but he would abide by it.

Congress and the administration worked very carefully on a piece of legislation that set the appropriate procedures in place as to how to deal with the detainees, he said. Watch analysis of the decision

We’ll study this opinion, and we’ll do so with this in mind to determine whether or not additional legislation might be appropriate so that we can safely say, truly say to the American people. ‘We are doing everything we can to protect you.’ Watch more from Bush on the ruling

During a joint news conference with Berlusconi, Bush said Iran must give up its ambitions for nuclear power for the sake of peace or else face continued sanctions and isolation.

Bush insisted there was still a diplomatic way to solve the Iranian nuclear issue but that the choice is up to (Iran), saying that it’s the Iranian people who are suffering and whose lives could be more hopeful.

Bush said that all countries have a right to seek nuclear energy but only for civilian use. The U.S., and some other Western nations, believe Iran’s program is a mask to develop nuclear weapons.

Berlusconi, known for his flamboyant style, has remained one of Bush’s staunchest allies in Europe over the years. The Italian began his second term as prime minister in 2001, months after Bush entered the White House and shortly before the September 11 attacks.

Berlusconi has remained one of Bush’s staunchest allies in Europe over the years.

In exchange for easing fighting restrictions on its soldiers deployed in Afghanistan, as requested by NATO and the United States, Italy wants a greater role in dealing with Iran’s nuclear threat.

Iran was also a major topic during Bush’s stops this week in Germany, where he met with Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Slovenia, where he met with Slovenian and EU leaders.

Berlusconi’s support for Bush has been important, especially where the issue of troops for Iraq and Afghanistan have been concerned. Italy initially contributed troops to the war in Iraq but no longer has troops in the country; it still takes part in the NATO mission in Afghanistan.

Iraq could have also been one of the things that cost Berlusconi reelection in 2006. Polls show a majority of Italians oppose the war, and voters clearly didn’t believe Berlusconi when he said he tried to convince the U.S. president not to invade Iraq. But Berlusconi still won reelection in April this year.

found here.