Origins of the IFC

  • Iowa Has a Flooding Problem

    Iowan communities across the state have experienced scenes like this one

    A flooded street scene in a small Iowa town.

  • Iowa Floods of 2008

    The University of Iowa campus suffered $1 billion in damages

    The new University of Iowa art building west underwater during the 2008 floods.

  • Record Flooding in Cedar Rapids

    Every Iowa county has had at least four flood-related presidential disaster declarations in the last 30 years

    A Cedar Rapids street and several vehicles underwater during the 2008 flood.
123
Two men stand on the riverbank with the Stanley Hydraulics Lab in the background.

Iowa Flood Center co-founders Witold Krajewski (left, now director of the IFC) and Larry Weber.

IIHR’s Larry Weber and Witold Krajewski co-founded the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) after the record-setting 2008 floods that devastated Eastern Iowa.

In the midst of flood recovery and research, they saw the need for an academic center focused on floods. With several Iowa lawmakers, Weber and Krajewski led the effort to establish an Iowa-based center for flood research and education.

In 2009, the Iowa legislature established (and funded) the new Iowa Flood Center. The new center required a new outward-facing philosophy focused on direct service to the people of Iowa. The IFC is now actively engaged in flood-related projects that help Iowans understand their flood risk and better prepare for flooding.

Among the IFC’s projects:

  • A cost-efficient sensor network to better monitor stream flow
  • A library of flood-inundation maps for more than 30 Iowa communities
  • Floodplain maps for all of Iowa’s 99 counties
  • A strong workforce with knowledge of flood research, prediction, and mitigation for the state of Iowa

Many other projects to help Iowans be more flood-resilient are either complete or currently underway.

Iowa Legislation creating the Iowa Flood Center