SGER: Theoretical Design of a Flood Warning System for Eastern Iowa

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CBET - 0842682W. KrajewskiA June 2008 flood affected the lives of thousands in Eastern Iowa. Particularly affected were the communities of Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, the home of the University of Iowa. The losses at Cedar Rapids are estimated to exceed $1B; the University suffered losses of nearly $250M. This SGER award is for urgent research in the aftermath of this devastating flood by investigating hydrologic characteristics of the flood in order to improve the existing flood forecasting/warning system. A better flood warning system would give residents of endangered communities more time to prepare. The urgency of this proposed work lies in the need to quickly gain knowledge and better understanding of the principles of watershed hydrology and open channel hydraulics that should guide design of a local flood warning system. The proposed research - in the areas of the rainfall-runoff models, channel routing, and rainfall monitoring and estimation - will be conducted at the University of Iowa research institute IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering. The ideas that the PIs will explore in this project are not ad-hoc, they are a result of their continued work on the geophysical theory of floods.