chunk: The story begins with an account of how geologists in the mid-1960s came to understand that the "Kiowa fault" in the state of Colorado was actually part of a larger fault system running along the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains from Texas to the CanadaâUS border. In the summer of 1973 the land east of the fault slips downward, slowly but inexorably over the next few months, until the major rivers of the region (including the Mississippi) flood the new lowlands. The process is slow enough for people to flee eastwards, though conditions become more and more hazardous as the flooding increases.
  The story recounts how, during this time the various authorities such as the Federal government and the State governors, try to quell panic by invoking patriotism or, in the case of the governors, the stalwart nature of the people of the "great Southland".