Isaac's Floods, Ranchers Try Coping

     Hurricane Isaac came ashore as a category one storm with surges and monsoon like rains reaching all the way up to twelve feet; overpowering the old, poorly sturctured levees along the Mississippi Delta.
     The level of human impact equals out to an enormous loss.  Not only were seven people killed in the flooding of Isaac's aftermath, but 400 head of cattle along with other natural wildlife perished as well.  Hurricane Isaac took some of the best cattle land along the Mississippi river delta and turned into a swamp land of nothing. Many people think that loosing cattle is not that big of a deal, but when you are a rancher and that is how you make your living it is astronomical.  With 400 head of cattle killed it equals out to roughly 400,000 $ lost; and that does not include the costs of mending fences or restoring pastures.  Ranchers in the area said that it could not have come at a worse time because they will now need to sell a majority of the remaining cattle but the market for that is terrible due to the cattle being sold off already because of the drought the United States is in. 
      Alot of measures could have been done to better prepare for the flooding of Isaac on an individual scale.  One could have been to gather your herd in a concentrated area to keep accountability of them all; but when you take a step back and look at it, it is clear to see the main prevention strategy that failed.  The prevention strategy that failed were the levees that broke along the Delta that protected farm country south of New Orleans.  The levees that failed were build in the 60's and 70's and were clearly not up-to-date. 
     Now that the damage is said and done, the army corps of engineers will be working with local authoriteis to build the levees back up again.  In my mind it is crazy how action, initiative, and planning always seems to take place after a disaster strikes but not before.

http://www.weather.com/news/isaac-ranch-herd-losses-20120911