Iowa Legislature notebook for Feb. 15, 2011
The following is an excerpt from the Iowa Legislature notebook for Feb. 15, 2011 as printed in the Quad-City Times:
MAY FLOWERS: In time for April showers, the Iowa Flood Center will activate a website providing have real-time, street-level flood information data. The website will make it possible for residents to plug in National Weather Service stream gage numbers to see how they will be affected, according to Larry Weber of the Iowa Flood Center at the University of Iowa. Weber and Witold Krajewski, also of the center, presented an update of their activities to the Transportation, Infrastructure and Capitals Appropriations Subcommittee. The website, which Weber expects to announce in the next couple of weeks with Cedar Rapids officials, will show the water surface area when flooding occurs. The Google-based maps go to street-level, he said. “It’s usable information in the hands of community members,” Weber said. For public officials, the data, which can be gathered from stream gages deployed across the state, will be useful in making decisions about flood preparations, including evacuations, he said.
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