$1.2 million in funding restored for Iowa Flood Center

By Kate Hayden, khayden@charlescitypress.com

DES MOINES — Funding for the Iowa Flood Center is partially restored after the state House Appropriations committee introduced an amendment providing $1.2 million on Thursday.

The funding is still a cut to the center’s current $1.5 million budget, but is a compromise from the Education Appropriations subcommittee’s proposal to slash funding of the University of Iowa center to zero. The proposal, announced on Tuesday, led the Iowa Flood Center and it’s partners to release immediate calls asking Iowans to contact their legislators in support of funding the center.

“The support that we received was nothing that we expected. It was completely overwhelming how supportive our friends and partners were,” Iowa Flood Center Outreach Coordinator Breanna Shea said. “It was humbling to see that kind of support from our partners across the state. We have a lot of thank-you notes to write.”

The Iowa Flood Center is one of several entities that the city of Charles City has partnered with on watershed and flood management. Working with the Upper Cedar Watershed Management Improvement Authority, the Iowa Flood Center has contributed $100,000 in technical assistance over the five-year project that encompasses Charles City, Colwell, Floyd, Nashua and Osage, Shea said.

“We’ve got ongoing relationships with the Iowa Flood Center for a number of years, certainly in the last year. Part of our grant application [for the watershed authority] was donations of financial assistance and technical assistance,” Charles City Administrator Steve Diers said. “They’ve put in a lot of value and time. We need them for that.”

The center also manages the Iowa Flood Information System (IFIS), which offers real-time data on stream stage and inundation maps showing the extent and depth of predicted flood waters. It took an estimated $1.5 million to develop IFIS services, Shea said.

During the fall 2016 flooding, IFIS had so many visitors using its services in one week-long period that the site temporarily crashed, she added. Strengthening the service is part of the Iowa Flood Center’s ongoing projects.

“We’re going to continue to provide services and tools for Iowans to help them be better prepared. I think we’ve had a flood every year since the 2008 flood,” Shea said. “We’re just helping to build a more flood-resilient Iowa.”