Here is a portion of an article written by Iza Wojciechowska for Inside Higher Ed highlighting the struggles and achievements of the University of Iowa following the Flood of 2008.

A Flood of Information

Perhaps one of the largest initiatives to arise from the disaster is the Iowa Flood Center, founded in spring 2009 as the country’s first centralized and federally funded center devoted to the study and research of floods.

“If this happens again, [Iowa] will go broke — there’s no way that the state can absorb another event of this magnitude,” says Witold Krajewski, director of the Iowa Flood Center and a professor in the Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research. “This realization, coupled with the fact that there is a lot of expertise on campus, was a big factor in establishing the center.”

As soon as the flood hit, Krajewski and other faculty members in the hydraulic research institute began to collect time-sensitive data such as contaminated sediment samples and measures of flood water elevation. Jump-started by small emergency grants from the National Science Foundation, but denied a competitive NSF Science and Technology Center award, the center eventually received $1.3 million from the state legislature and, this month, a four-year $10-million contract from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Institute scientists had been studying floods for years, but had never received this kind of recognition until the director of the NSF toured Iowa cities immediately after the 2008 flood. Krajewski says the funding and the immediacy of the situation helped accelerate the transition of the scientists’ work from theory into practice.

To date, the center has laid the groundwork for 50 sensors (at $3,000 each) attached to bridges to monitor water level; developed new flood inundation maps to identify at-risk areas; supported 20 students in their studies in the field; and overseen a slew of research projects related to rivers, flood forecasting and flood preparedness.

Though still in its early stages, the center is gaining momentum and attention. Krajewski hopes it can become a national center in coming years.

“The first argument is that the nation needs a center, not that Iowa needs a national center,” he says. “There were several big events this year alone, and there will always be floods.”

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Officials prep for the next big flood

By Richard Johnson
Globe Gazette

Photo courtesy of the Iowa Flood Center. An Iowa Flood Center technician installs a sonic sensor on a bridge. The sensors, developed by the IFC in coordination with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, gauge water depth in streams and creeks to provide advance information on potential flooding.

MASON CITY — Severe flooding has led to 14 disaster declarations in Iowa since 1990, said State Rep. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids.

The 2008 flood caused an estimated $3 billion in damage in Cedar Rapids.

“If we don’t change after 2008 and 1993, what’s it going to take?” Hogg said. “Let’s have a dialogue about some of the things that we can do. We all need to take responsibility.”

He joined other state and local officials this past week for a seminar, “Anatomy of Iowa Floods: Preparing for the Future,” at North Iowa Area Community College.

Panelists discussed flood plain management strategies, water quality issues, building rural-urban watershed coalitions, state and public policy issues, and increasing precipitation and water run-off in Iowa.

Cedar Falls Councilman Frank Darrah discussed his city’s re-written flood plain ordinance, which includes no new development in what’s now called a 500-year flood plain.

Charles City Mayor Jim Erb said he’d like an alliance of urban and rural interests.

“I don’t think without both we’ll be successful in making much progress,” he said. “We clearly have been very successful in draining the land, but in doing that we’re taking a lot of water and accelerating how quickly it goes into the river, so therefore you get higher levels quicker.

“I’m all in favor of a regulatory approach to flood plain issues,” Erb said. “I congratulate them on putting together the program, and I hope we’re able to pursue a positive plan for the entire watershed.”

Increased water retention and infiltration would reduce pollution and flood damage, said Bill Ehm, water policy coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

“Let the flood plain be a flood plain,” he said. “Keep it undeveloped.”

Hogg noted that disaster mitigation was funded this year through the I-JOBS initiative, and legislation has passed to mitigate future flood damage.

He said all communities should be involved in the National Flood Insurance Program, and suggested paying landowners who help in floodwater prevention, and improvements such as rain gardens.

“We need to change,” Hogg said. “We need to organize.”

The seminar was hosted by the University of Iowa’s Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, the Rebuild Iowa office, the University of Northern Iowa Center for Energy and Environmental Education, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa League of Cities, and the Iowa State Association of Counties.

Did You Know?

• Annual rainfall plus snowfall in Iowa has increased by 19 percent since the 1870s.

• Rainfall increase has been largest in spring and early summer, except in southeast Iowa, where fall rains have increased.

• Days with rainfall in excess of 1.25 inches have been more frequent.

• Stream and river flow have increased by 20 percent in the past 20 years.

• Spring soil moisture has been near saturation more frequently.

• Rainfall in the next 10 to 15 years will be like the past 20 years.

• Drought frequency in the next 10 to 20 years will be more like the 1950s to 1980s than the 1990s to the present.

• A wider variation between rainfall extremes will emerge in the next 30 years and beyond.

— Iowa State University Climate Science Program (http://climate.engineering.iastate.edu).

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Flood gauges going up on North Iowa bridges

By Richard Johnson
Globe Gazette

Iowa Flood Center receives grant to draw floodplain maps

By Tyler Harris
Daily Iowan

Iowa residents will be able to better determine if and how often they are likely to experience a flood thanks to a grant recently given to the University of Iowa’s Iowa Flood Center.

The center, created after the flooding in 2008, received $10 million in Community Development Block Grant money to fund the Iowa Floodplain Mapping Project.

Researchers will use the funding to create floodplain maps of the 85 Iowa counties declared federal disaster areas during the 2008 flood to be available on the Iowa Flood Center’s website.

“These maps will become a basis for a variety of regulations…”

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Hansen: Experts warn that ‘these floods aren’t going away’

By Marc Hansen
Des Moines Register

Christopher Anderson is a scientist in the Iowa State University agronomy department. When it rains day after day after day, he doesn’t sit around and grump about it like most of us.

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Flood talk fuels residents’ frustration

Expert panel says action is needed.

By Christinia Crippes
The Hawk Eye

Still recovering from the 2008 Flood, and the many flash floods since then, southeast Iowa residents were not ready to hear the words of a panel of experts on how to build smarter and better prepare for future disasters.

A panel representing an alphabet soup of state agencies that are by now familiar to many eastern Iowa residents held the first of five meetings across the state in Burlington on Wednesday evening. The seminar called “Anatomy of Iowa Floods: Preparing for the Future” featured experts on everything from trends in runoff to water quality issues to state policy proposals.

The last of those subjects caused much of the consternation, as southeast Iowa residents have long feared the proposals would unduly punish the rural corner of the state in the interest of protecting the population centers.

While the question and answer section of the seminar — which lasted the last 30 minutes of a two-hour meeting — was tense, it ended on a positive note, if only slightly.

“We need to have these conversations,” said Lori McDaniel, Iowa Department of Natural Resources water resources section supervisor. “To me, it’s more what’s the risk we’re willing to take and where we fall in that line.”

That led one frustrated resident to conclude the meeting with, “We’d like to invite you back for further conversations.”

Despite frustration with the suggestions, the residents sat quietly and listened for the first hour and a half of the meeting to the information the experts presented.

The panel consisted of people representing the University of Iowa’s Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education, Iowa DNR, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa League of Cities and the Iowa State Association of Counties.

Offering proof that change is possible, one of the panel members was Cedar Falls City Council member Kamyar Enshayan who talked about the ordinances his community passed to better prepare for future flooding.

Though the current state law makes it legal to live in a 100-year floodplain, the city council last December unanimously passed ordinances saying residents had to build outside the 500-year floodplain. He compared the current state laws to allowing people to park on the state’s interstate highways.

“Floodplains have critical functions; it’s not an idle piece of land waiting to be developed. We’ve got to be able to see the floodplain as the floodplain,” Enshayan said. “What is it going to cost? It didn’t cost a penny for the city to pass that ordinance … ordinances don’t cost, they pay.”

Enshayan admitted, though, that there are more issues — and didn’t mention whether the city addressed them — regarding homes already built in the floodplain.

Bryan Bross, a Burlington engineer, expressed the frustration of many that the people downstream would suffer due to the actions to protect Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. State Sen. Rob Hogg, D-Cedar Rapids, acknowledged it’s going to have to be a combination of law changes up and downstream.

“We’re not going to prevent floods … by working in the watershed, that’s water that is going to go somewhere to reduce the amount that goes down the watershed,” said Chuck Corell, DNR water quality bureau chief, adding that there’s going to have to be a combination of moving buildings out of the floodplain and retaining water in the watershed.

Corell also advocated how better watershed planning will also lead to better water quality.

Witold Krajewski, director of the Iowa Flood Center, said the center is working on ways of better tracking the water, including sensors at various bridges along the rivers.

Two presenters showed that there are likely to be more events like 2008 unless there is action, due to increases in rainfall trends and increases in the amount of runoff.

One resident blamed shopping centers and their asphalt parking lots, but Corell said city limits account for about 3 percent of land, whereas corn and bean crops account for about 60 percent.

Hogg laid out some of the legislation that he and other lawmakers tried and failed to bring forth during the last legislative session. While he supported more discussion, Hogg also said action is necessary.

“After that devastation, if the Floods of 2008 don’t get Iowa to make some changes, what’s it going to take,” Hogg asked. “We kind of need that spirit of the sandbag … people kind of want to hope that it won’t happen again, but inevitably, it’s going to flood again.”

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Click here to view To The Point with Becki Malicki’s report on “What Caused the 2008 Floods?”  This program includes interviews with “A Watershed Year” editor, Connie Mutel, and chapter author Wayne Petersen.

The show was originally aired on Saturday, June 12th by KCRG-TV 9.

RIO Press Release

FIVE FLOOD SEMINARS EXAMINE 2008 FLOODS AND HOW IOWANS CAN PREPARE FOR FUTURE DISASTERS

Panelists Highlight Protection Efforts, Future Flood Predictions and New Book on Flooding

(DES MOINES) – Community seminars to help people better understand the 2008 Iowa floods and how Iowans can better plan and prepare for future flooding will take place in five communities beginning June 16 and ending July 19.

The events, which are free to the public, are titled “Anatomy of Iowa Floods: Preparing for the Future,” and will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. in Burlington, Cedar Rapids, Waverly, Mason City and Ames.

Topics to be covered include trends in Iowa precipitation; trends in water run-off; work of the Iowa Flood Center; floodplain management strategies; water quality; the Cedar Falls Floodplain Initiative; rural-urban watershed coalition building; and a review of state public policy issues. The presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.

“We are excited to be a part of this effort to educate Iowans about what communities can do to reduce future flood damage,” said Rebuild Iowa Office Executive Director Lt. General Ron Dardis. “Nearly 700 Iowa communities were impacted by the 2008 disasters. Events like this help ensure Iowans are better prepared for future disasters and are knowledgeable about what possible flood protection measures are available for their communities.”

Following each forum, refreshments will be served and a limited number of free copies of the book, “A Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008,” will be available to attendees.

The seminars are being hosted by the University of Iowa’s Center for Global & Regional Environmental Research, Rebuild Iowa Office, UNI Center for Energy and Environmental Education, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa State University Extension, Iowa League of Cities and the Iowa State Association of Counties.

Flood Seminar Schedule, 4 to 6 p.m.

• June 16 – Burlington City Council Chambers in Burlington
• June 21 – Kirkwood Community College Training & Outreach Services Bldg. in Cedar Rapids
• June 30 – Waverly-Shell Rock High School Auditorium in Waverly
• July 14 – North Iowa Community College Muse Norris Center in Mason City
• July 19 – Ames City Council Chambers in Ames

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Flood Sensor Gives Early Warning

Residents in one North Iowa community will be more prepared the next time heavy floods hit the area.

The city of Greene, IA entered into a pilot program with the Iowa Flood Center to install a sensor on the Gates Bridge in Floyd County which is about five miles north of Greene.

The Shell Rock River flows right through Greene. With the sensor, city officials will be able to detect rising river levels upstream before the high water hits town.

“It’ll give us a little time and then we’ll know if it’s still coming up or going down or we’ll just at least have a little info to go by rather than having to put a stick out on the shore and seeing what’s going on,” said Greene City Clerk Jayne Knapp. “Anybody that has a business or house at least it gives them time to empty out their garage or get some of their equipment out of their shops or get their stuff moved up a little bit.”

The new sensor will cost the city $25 a month. Once the pilot program is over, the city will have the option to purchase the sensor at a reduced price.

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Reported by KIMT News 3

RIO Press Release

WORKING TO RECOVER: IOWA FLOOD CENTER PROVIDES KNOWLEDGE, TOOLS TO UNDERSTAND FLOODS

Iowans Directly Benefit from Research Done on Watersheds, Floods and Flood Predictions

DES MOINES – Iowans must understand flooding in order to learn how to live with and prepare for floods, said Witold Krajewski, director of the Iowa Flood Center. Through collaboration and research, that’s exactly what the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa is doing.

The Flood Center was created by the Iowa General Assembly and Governor Chet Culver in 2009 as part of the College of Engineering at the University of Iowa.

“One reason for the Iowa Flood Center’s creation was to ensure the best research and scientists stay in Iowa,” said Governor Culver. “We have some incredible resources here, both people and institutions, that can and will lead the nation in flood research and preparedness.”

In the aftermath of the 2008 floods, consulting firms from outside Iowa were conducting flood-related studies for communities and other organizations across the state, explained Krajewski. That means knowledge was leaving the state, along with the money being paid to the firms.

“By creating our own flood center, we are able to benefit the people of Iowa through the research being done, and we can continue to build on that research,” he said. “Additionally, students at the University benefit from working at the center, and the money brought in for research stays in Iowa.”

The University was selected as a location for the Flood Center because it was identified as a place where river and watershed research has been done for the past 90 years. Additionally, the University of Iowa is a natural setting for collaborative work.

This wide collaboration with government and non-profit agencies, as well as other universities, is one reason the Flood Center is unique. Another is that research results are directly put to use in Iowa communities. Often, similar research done at universities is circulated and retained at the academic level for some time before being brought to the public, Krajewski said.

“The priority of the Flood Center is to research and focus on efforts that will benefit Iowans,” Krajewski said. “I really emphasize that to my students, and in all that we do here.”

The Flood Center’s Managing Director Carmen Langel noted that students working at the center do hands-on, cutting-edge research, then see the application of their work immediately, which is unusual in an academic setting. It is a win-win for everybody, she said.

Currently, the Flood Center is designing and constructing inexpensive community-based stream-level sensors and soil moisture monitors. These monitoring projects are intended to create data networks which will help scientists and citizens of Iowa see how rainfall will affect areas downstream and ultimately be better prepared for flood events.

The center, working with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, is implementing the first 50 stream-monitoring units this summer to test their system. The Flood Center will be working with communities which will maintain the units and pay the monthly cell phone fee required for the data communication, Krajewski said. The units are powered by solar panels and a cell phone connection is used to transmit data.

“What we are doing does not replace anything that is out there, but rather complements it,” Krajewski emphasized. For example, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) already has about 100 river flow gauges around the state to track discharge and the level of larger rivers in Iowa. The project being tested at the Flood Center could lead to monitors being placed on many bridges situated on smaller streams in Iowa. These monitors would then provide data on the stream levels at each monitor location, resulting in a clearer picture of Iowa’s waterways.

“All these smaller streams feed into the larger streams. By collecting the data from the smaller streams, we can provide some understanding of when that water may reach certain areas,” he said.

The Flood Center is also working on two additional projects. One project creates flood inundation maps for several Iowa communities. The other involves adding soil moisture probes to existing rain gauges across Iowa to monitor soil saturation levels, which play an important role in flood events.

Through these and other projects, the Iowa Flood Center is working with public and private partners to solve some of the important aspects of watersheds, flooding, as well as flood prediction and forecasting. This important work is identifying them as a national leader in flood research.

“In fact, we think we are unique enough we would like to propose a national flood center whether it would be located here or at a different place,” Krajewski said. “Other natural disasters, fires, earthquakes, etc., all have national centers. Usually they are a collaboration among federal agencies and academia.”

“We need to have one place, like the Iowa Flood Center, where these agencies can all come together; where there is the flexibility to look at things more broadly and differently.” Krajewski said.

RIO Media Contact:
Tina Potthoff
Rebuild Iowa Office
(515) 242-5232 (0)
Fax: (515) 242-5006

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