Melissa, the title of the dailykos diary says it all, this level of flooding is "unprecedented".

Here are some more comments that address other consequences of these floods:

"Thanks, DemocraticOz [the author of the dailykos diary whose link has been provided in this thread], from your WI [Wisconsin] neighbor.

...I want to underscore that what DO says is absolutely true: this is an epic situation. The storm has cut a wide swath across the midwest. Iowa has really suffered, as have other midwestern states. I'm so sorry.

One amazing aspect of all this is the magnitude of the disaster's impact. Sometimes these tragedies are relatively confined to a smaller geographic area. This current widespread flooding is beyond our capacity to deal with it. We've been looking at maps and this neverending story and wondering where all the water can go. We always come back to the same answer: flooding is the only option.

Some kids fell into the water in WI [Wisconsin] while trying to clean some things up and accidentally swallowed some water. They both became very ill.

Officials say that there's no guarantee that they can keep the wastewater systems going with all the overflow. Already raw sewage overflowed into major lakes in my area.
by bleeding heart on Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 10:03:35 AM PDT

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"sewage and livestock waste are huge problems that take a long, long time to clear up. Towns and farms get their water from wells which get contaminated. Getting them clear for use again, well, might not happen for many weeks or even months."
by bigforkgirl on Fri Jun 13, 2008 at 11:00:40 AM PD