The flooding in the mid-west is in an area with mush lower population density. NOLA and parts of the gulf coast were densely populated. The numbers of people affected will be smaller and the area also smaller.

The area outside the flooding are largely unaffected. Travel a quarter mile away from the flooding and things are mostly normal. After Katrina the coast was devastated and the are for a hundred miles inland damaged. People inland had to save themselves before they could help those on the coast.

The average income of the mid-westerner is much higher than that in NOLA, one of the poorest areas in the US.

The mod-west is politically important in the upcoming election cycle. Federal aid will be swift and sure. The federal government will not be keeping rescuers and aid away from the people in trouble. FEMA simply failed to act in NOLA. Worse than that it actively worked at keeping rescuers and aid out of NOLA after Katrina. This aggressive let-them-eat-cake attitude was made possible because the PTB were of a different party than the locals and the gulf coast was not seen as politically important.

The flooding is terrible but help is on the way and the people are, on average, better off than the worse hit areas after Katrina. Expect to see the area rebuild rapidly.