(Radio Iowa) – The University of Iowa is launching a new research center to improve flood prediction. Engineering professor Ibrahim Demir says the country has a lot to learn from Iowa, as he says the UI stands out for its emphasis on projects that help residents better understand their flood risk locally. As an example, The Iowa Flood Information System, or IFIS, can be used by homebuyers to better understand a properties potential for flood damage.

“You cannot really find any information easily from FEMA or other websites,” Demir says. “When you go to IFIS in Iowa, you can enable these flood maps at 100-year flood map, 500-year flood map, and you have all this 8 different periods, you can just find out your business or new land or new house you are purchasing will be in the flood zone and its potential for some damages.”

Prior to 2009, there was a flood gauge in Cedar Falls and another in Cedar Rapids. This offered relatively little data for predicting floods like the one in 2008 that rocked the region. Fast-forward to 2023, there’s a network of sensors all along Iowa’s rivers and streams. Larry Weber is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the UI.

Prof. Larry Weber (U-I photo)

Weber says, “We provide hundreds of forecast points between those two locations so every small community, every homeowner, every farmer or land owner in that space between Cedar Falls and Cedar Rapids in the past was left without information, now has ample information.”

The Center for Hydrologic Development joins a cooperative of other research institutes sharing approaches like this with its peer institutions. Iowa will receive $21 million from the collaborative.

(reporting by Zachary Oren Smith, Iowa Public Radio)