Now that the floodwaters are receding, it's time to look not just at the immediate needs but also the lessons that must be learned from last week's storm.

* One of the easiest lessons is a familiar refrain -- quickly finish the Little Calumet River Basin Development Commission's levee work. That project has dragged on many years longer than it should have.

The state has historically been too slow to provide the local funding match that the federal money required.

And find out why the levee near Cabela's broke. Was it a structural problem or just the result of the project not being finished?

* It is now obvious the Little Calumet isn't the only stream to cause flooding in urban areas.

Hart Ditch also needs work to prevent the massive flooding of the kind that caused St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers' Dyer campus to be evacuated and suffer damages in the millions. It now will be an estimated four to eight weeks before the hospital is fully operational.

Lake County Surveyor George Van Til should press hard to build consensus on the Hart Ditch solution and the way to fund it.

* The flooding on the Borman Expressway is inexcusable. This is the region's main transportation thoroughfare, the main entrance to the Chicago area from the East Coast, and yet the Indiana Department of Transportation allowed a portion of the roadway to be built in a floodplain.

INDOT needs to apologize for its apparent unwise design and say how it plans to raise the roadway and channel the displaced water more efficiently.

If INDOT drags its feet, Gov. Mitch Daniels should name a panel to review the expressway design and identify solutions.

* The Borman flooding, which closed the expressway for days and forced heavy traffic onto local streets, also reinforces the need for alternative highways like the Illiana Expressway.

These additional highways must be quickly engineered and constructed to handle the growing traffic and to provide alternatives when one of the area's main roads must be fully or even partially closed.

* Finally, where have Governor Daniels, U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, U.S. Sens. Dick Lugar and Evan Bayh and other politicians been?

Flood victims in Northwest Indiana saw Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and others tour flooded areas west of the Indiana state line.

The Indiana politicians' absence has been noticed. Showing they care requires showing up after a major natural disaster.

Consider this flood a harsh teacher, but let us learn so the lesson isn't repeated.

Your opinion, please

What lessons have you learned from the flooding?

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