This week's national convention marks the second time this year Iowa Republicans have seen severe weather affect one of their gatherings. In June both the Republican and Democratic state conventions in Iowa were delayed due to flooding in Des Moines.

Now Iowa Republicans watching the effects Hurricane Gustav is having on the Gulf Coast are hoping for the best for residents of the affected areas, but at the same time some are wondering if a focus on new natural disasters will pull attention away from the parts of Iowa still recovering from the June floods.

"The media's kind of got a short attention span. I think it's our responsibility to remind people that Iowa's still hurting," said Sarah Henderson, a resident of Cedar Rapids who saw the effects of flooding up close this June when she was flooded out of her workplace. "Instead of leaving people hanging out there while you deal with the next disaster they should have taken care of it in August."

Todd Henderson, Sarah's husband, said "in Iowa it really hits home" watching other communities deal with disasters. Henderson said he knows Cedar Rapids residents who are still "in limbo" due to uncertainty over federal recovery funding.

"There are still people that have been affected and are still devastated -- haven't recovered yet -- and Dave Loebsack and the Democratically-controlled Congress went on recess," Henderson said. "Katrina had funding on the way in less then a week -- they had it approved in less than a week. And here we are three-and-a-half months later and we haven't even had the discussion yet."

-- By Mike Schramm

Labels: RNC2008