Gateway

Issue date: 6/17/08 Section: Special Section

(courtesy - National Weather Service) [Click to enlarge]

IOWA CITY - A proposed and rejected project to comprehensively examine areas near the Iowa River after the 1993 flood may have allowed more accurate predictions this year.

The project was known as the Comprehensive Flood Impact-Response Modeling System. It would have allowed people living along the Iowa River to track how the discharge rate from the Coralville Reservoir would affect the water level at any given location immediately up or downstream.

Charles Newsom, a University of Iowa associate professor of physics who closely follows issues relating to the Coralville Reservoir, said the system, had it been funded, would have made it clear exactly how much financial damage any given severity of flood would cause.

"The [U.S. Army Corps of Engineers] learned one big lesson from 1993 and that was to give people more advanced warning," he said. "But [the flood project] would have allowed the city and county to get more of the information they need in order to know which areas will be hardest hit."

Jim Stiman, the chief of water management for the Army Corps of Engineers' Rock Island division, said the system would have benefited Iowa City's management more than the Corps itself.

"It would really just help the city plan and prepare," he said.

Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the Corps, said it was unable to move forward because the federal government never provided the necessary funding. The cost would have been approximately $3 million, he said.

"Unfortunately, we just don't have the funding to do that sort of study," Fournier said. "Congress has to provide it, and it didn't in this case."

One way in which the Corps is better prepared now than in 1993 is that it has installed gauges in creeks entering the Iowa River below the reservoir so officials can take flash-flood conditions into account when deciding how much water to let out of the Reservoir at any given time.

However, even though the survey was never completed, Sgt. Troy Kelsay, a spokesman for the Iowa City police, said he believes the city is better prepared now because of its experience in 1993.

"We had good warning this time and great communication all around - we know when the flooding is going to happen," he said. "Also, we've had decent weather, which has allowed us to prepare."

However, he said, the Iowa River's flooding is to a large degree an uncontrollable event. Despite lessons learned and the best preparation, he said, the city is only minimally able to prevent flood damage.

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