Living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa I can offer an eyewitness account of the devastating flooding that has taken place in the Midwest this summer. 10 sq miles of our city, including our downtown area and a lot of the older housing inside of town was recently under water. You might not think that this would affect the availability of local foods, but it has. Local food systems in America are still very fragile and vulnerable, but yet they are also a major support line in the event of an emergency.

You see, our large farmer’s markets are in our downtown areas. The normal Saturday morning farmer’s market takes place in a parking lot right next to the river. Our bi-monthly large farmer’s market happens in the central business district, and extended onto the river with road closures on the bridges. This year the bi-monthly market had increased from 95 vendors to 144, a large increase.

But it’s not just flooding that has caused problems, but the rainy weather that has water logged and backed up the incoming crops, by at least a week or more. People are also dealing with the disaster that is a flood. Roads and bridges were closed, or washed out. People have their attention in other areas. Farmers who work jobs and raise crops are dealing with difficulties in both areas, as a large portion of businesses were flooded as well. Customers have turned their attention to other things and therefore the demand necessary to support the local farmers isn’t there. Local food systems are growing nationwide, but they are still fragile beasts right now, and need to be constantly nurtured and supported. When natural disasters strike it’s hard to do that.

Money is tight with 20% of the city flooded out of their houses, and the other 80% busy donating time, materials and money to the relief effort. Everyone has had to deal with it. It’s a strange situation. After experiencing a natural disaster like this I am even more convinced of the importance of local food supplies to avert a food crisis in the event of some type of disaster. I know I felt more confident in my families’ ability to cope with this disaster since we had food put up for emergencies, much of it locally grown. The problem is that our current local food systems are too fragile to be able to rebound from disasters like this.

This situation has also bolstered my belief in having some private gardening space. I have a garden in my backyard, and it has been my family’s saving grace for eating locally. The garden plot I rent from the city was flooded out by this disaster, and I’m not sure when it will be useable again. But having some food in our backyard has allowed me more control over what we’ve eaten in the wake of this disaster. In the event of a serious disaster, one in which food from any source wasn’t available, the garden and the food we have stored in the basement would be our sole sources of food. It’s comfort to have that plan.

While on occasion it has seemed silly to focus on local foods, and homegrown foods, when there is so much available at the store, in the face of this natural disaster, it has really helped my family weather the challenges and has prepared us to be able better help others recover. It’s easy to think that you won’t have an emergency in your area, but it can happen. The people in NH didn’t think they would have a tornado in their area. If you live in an area that is frequented by natural disasters be they wildfires, tornados, floods, hurricanes or other disasters you should really think about having some emergency food stores, creating some garden space and also nurturing local farmers who can supply your area with local products. But if you live an area that doesn’t have regular natural disasters don’t think it would make sense to be at least a little prepared, just in case? Think of it like a sort of insurance policy.

If you need more info on local foods try Local Harvest. Good luck!

Mosaic courtesy of this Flickr link.

Street photo courtesy of the NY Daily News. (For what it’s worth, this is 2nd St. 2 city blocks from the river’s edge.