I tend to agree with the above, about the resiliency of Midwesterner's, and a different.... work ethic probably isn't the right word, but captures it properly.

Additionally though, Cedar Falls doesn't have nearly a million people to evacuate and shelter. The entire state is essentially a bread-bowl so most can eat, it's a pretty well-confined flood (as opposed to NO where problems were up and down the gulf coast) and they had decent notice to leave.