During recent extreme flooding events in Southwest Wisconsin, local residents would maze around a hodge-podge of forecasting information, trying to gain an understanding of what is happening in real time.

With a year of unprecedented flooding in Iowa nearly behind us and our nation witnessing the horrific devastation of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas and southern states, it's clearer now, more than ever, that we need common-sense reforms that help our communities address the increasing threat of flooding.

Year after year, large scale flooding events continue to destroy parts of the Upper Midwest. In the last few years, areas in Western Wisconsin have been some of the hardest hit.

Iowa may be known as a swing state, but Iowa City, home of the state’s flagship public university, has a reputation as liberal.

In 2008, devastating floods across the Midwest left Iowa with an estimated $10 billion in damage. In Cedar Rapids alone, 5,200 homes were damaged or destroyed after two weeks of historic rainfall.

Recurring flooding and water quality woes that have hampered rivers around Iowa and beyond prompted Cedar Rapids to take a different approach to the Cedar River, which is the city's primary source of drinking water and essential to core industries.

Navid Jadidoleslam, a PhD student in Civil and Environmental Engineering, has published two papers in the Journal of Hydrology. Jadidoleslam is also part of two college research centers - the Iowa Flood Center and IIHR—Hydroscience & Engineering.

Eighteen faculty and staff members were honored at the University of Iowa’s annual Faculty and Staff Awards celebration.

The damage and losses for just a sampling of the transportation infrastructure affected by this year's flooding is up to more than $383 million, but Missouri's flood recovery group also learned Thursday about what may be possible with investment in a real-time flood information system.

Iowa Congressman Dave Loebsack has reintroduced legislation to establish a National Flood Center. The primary purpose of the center would be to research flood-related issues, including prevention.