The floodwaters have largely receded in Davenport, weeks after the Mississippi River crested at its highest level on record and flooded parts of downtown. The city is known for its progressive approach to flooding, giving the river more room to ebb and flow while other communities build walls. But the recent flooding is testing this philosophy of resilience.

The floods in March showed us that mother nature can be unpredictable. A lot of people believe they’re the result of poor levees but in our investigation, we found out that it's much more than that.

With the help of my colleagues at IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering and the Iowa Flood Center (both at the University of Iowa), I created this timeline with information on recent extreme weather events.

The Mississippi River at Davenport crested at a new record height last week after a flood protection barrier broke near the city's downtown, inundating several blocks with murky and contaminated floodwater.

Larry Weber discusses flooding issues in Iowa.