The email below was shared with many IFC friends this morning by IFC Director Witold Krajewski and IIHR Director Larry Weber. Time is of the essence, so please act today! See links to related stories below their email.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Yesterday, we learned that the Republican legislative budget proposal for next year zeros out the $1.5 million that supports the Iowa Flood Center.  This would effectively eliminate the Iowa Flood Center.

This proposed cut will have a devastating impact on the Flood Center’s ability to continue to provide flood mitigation and real-time flood support to communities, businesses, emergency managers, public works professionals and citizens that have come to depend on the Center’s efforts.

These cuts will result in the end of the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS) a powerful on-line tool which supports flood alerts and flood forecasts, more than 250 IFC real-time river and stream gauge sensors, more than 50 soil moisture/temperature sensors, flood inundation maps for 22 Iowa communities and rainfall products for the entire state.

 It would also jeopardize Iowa’s $96 million  federal Iowa Watershed Approach HUD grant and the Center’s ability to continue to implement projects in nine Iowa watersheds.  

With so much at stake, we are reaching out to interested parties to encourage them to communicate with their state legislators about the value of the state’s investment in flood prevention and resiliency work.

 We urge you to contact your state senator and state representative TODAY to share your concerns. The cuts are contained in the Education Appropriations Bill that is moving through the legislature today and tomorrow.  This bill is expected to move very quickly so it is imperative you reach out as soon as possible.

 You can call your legislators at the Capitol. The Senate switchboard number is 515-281-3371, and the House switchboard number is 515-281-3221. You can also find your legislators and their emails at https://www.legis.iowa.gov/

 Let us know if you have any questions.

 Thank you for your support!

 

 Larry Weber and Witold Krajewski
 
Larry J. Weber
Director, IIHR Hydroscience
        and Engineering
Edwin B. Green Chair in Hydraulics
The University of Iowa
100 C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory
Iowa City, IA 52242-1585
319-335-5597 (ph) 
319-335-5238 (fax)
http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/lweber/
 
Witold Krajewski
Director, Iowa Flood Center
Professor and Rose & Joseph Summers Chair
   in Water Resources Engineering
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
The University of Iowa
http://www.iihr.uiowa.edu/wkrajewski/biography/

Media Stories:

Local official says legislative budget proposal would be detrimental for local flood relief efforts — Decorah Newspapers

Republican budget would eliminate Iowa Flood Center — Bleeding Heartland