Thanks for flooding coverage

I'm a cellist in the National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C. My orchestra visited Paducah, Ky., in March as part of our American Residencies program in that state. Having never been a visitor to that part of the country before, except to pass through it, I was pleasantly surprised at the sense of community in the area and how pretty the town of Paducah is.

I walked along the floodwall in Paducah, learning a little about the town's history by reading all the signs, and of course I visited the quilt museum and ate at one of the area's fine restaurants near the Ohio River.

It was with some consternation that I heard about the flooding in your area, and I started following the story as well as I could from this distance (there's not much coverage in Washington, D.C., about your area.) The day the Corps of Engineers blew up the levee at Birds Point I literally couldn't stop checking online to see what was happening.

I've used three resources to keep on top of the situation: a web page set up by NOAA, the live webcams of the West Kentucky Star, and your excellent paper. I happened upon semissourian.com by accident, but I check it daily now. I wanted to thank you for your coverage, without which I would have no idea what's happening, how people are doing and what the main issues are.

Thank you so much. Keep up the good work!

YVONNE CARUTHERS, Arlington, Va.