RED OAK, Iowa (AP) – Engineers with the Iowa Flood Center are mapping the East Nishnabotna River as part of an effort to better track areas at risk of flooding when heavy rainfall occurs.  The Daily Nonpareil reports that the data collected by the engineers on Wednesday will be used to create computer models and maps that’ll show what land likely will flood at a variety of river levels.

Engineer Tony Loeser sat on shore with a laptop Wednesday while his colleague, Dan Gilles, kayaked the river in a zig-zag pattern.  Gilles’ kayak had two pieces of equipment to help map the river. He had a sonar device that measured river depth by bouncing sound waves off the river’s bottom. He also had a global positioning device to measure latitude, longitude and elevation.