Collecting Environmental Intelligence to Better Understand Flood Risk

Everyone is at risk from flooding. One of the ways to prepare ourselves against flooding is by making observations, data collection, and interpretation of measurements in order to understand risk. River Action is tackling two different ways of collecting environmental intelligence to better understand flood risk: through First Floor Surveys and rain gauges. Through grants, First Floor Elevation Surveys will be offered to homeowners in the Quad Cities who are living in a floodplain. This will require a contracted surveyor, who will determine what the next steps are for the homeowner, such as raising a home or investing in flood insurance. This can also result in a reduced flood insurance rate if citizens apply for a Letter of Map Amendment, showing their home is in the floodplain but elevated high enough. The Next Gen Summit will be providing individual rain gauges for students, which will encourage curiosity and provide the opportunity to learn more about hydrologic cycles. If they so choose, they can sign up to enter their data for regional and national use after the summit. This will help provide information to scientists (NWS calibrates flood modeling), emergency managers, community officials (USACE uses it to justify levee repairs), and more relating to flooding. This lets students see their own data collections be put to practical use in their community. Both modes of data collection will foster citizen participation in the Quad Cities. By using measurements and data collection, the Quad Cities become better equipped with information to recognize flood risks, as well as take the proper steps to become better prepared for floods. Taking these steps and utilizing the data collection will ultimately make the Quad Cities more resilient for floods and will give back to students and the community by providing environmental tools to encourage curiosity in environmental fields. Using environmental intelligence, the Quad Cities will understand flood risk and become more resilient. Is your home in the floodplain? Are you wanting to know if your first floor is elevated in the floodplain? Reach out to River Action with your address, and they will hire a contracted surveyor free of charge. Save the date for the Next Gen Summit in collaboration with the Upper Mississippi River Conference on October 16th. To learn more, please visit riveraction.org/umrc