The state of Iowa is serious about preparing for future floods.

Even in a difficult budget year, the state has appropriated $1.3 million to the Iowa Flood Center (IFC) at the University of Iowa to support the center’s fiscal year 2012 operations.

The continued funding of the two-year-old center is essential to support the IFC’s continuing contributions to flood preparedness in Iowa, says IFC Director Witold Krajewski.

The IFC (http://www.iowafloodcenter.org/), which was created in response to the 2008 Iowa floods, works to help Iowans better prepare for, predict, and monitor flooding. The IFC website is a place where Iowans can learn about flood-related research, education, and other activities.

During its first two years of operation, the IFC created a series of tools available to help Iowans understand how and when flooding may affect their communities. The Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS) offers a user-friendly, Google Maps-based online interface to help Iowans understand the river basins in which they live and how upstream rainfall may affect their towns. IFIS also provides information on rainfall data, stream levels, and flood travel times. With this knowledge, property owners and decision-makers can make better informed choices.

IFC researchers and students also developed a new, relatively inexpensive stream sensor that is attached to bridges, providing a real-time online database for monitoring river levels. Researchers at IFC also supplemented 100-year and 500-year flood maps in several Iowa communities with new flood inundation maps that show which areas may be at risk during a predicted flood.            `

Located on the UI campus in the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory, the Iowa Flood Center was established in 2009. Iowa Flood Center research and education program collaborators include: Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Iowa State University, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USDA—National Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – Rock Island District, and many Iowa communities.

For additional information, visit the IFC website.