Flooding Predictions

This video shows 2019 flooding in Hamburg, Iowa, and discusses the likelihood and effects of additional flooding in 2020.

Possible Guiding, Compelling and/or Anchoring Questions

• Why do some parts of Iowa flood so often?
• How does flooding impact people?
• Has the frequency of floods changed over time?

Classroom Suggestions

Students could:

• Research the history of flooding along the Missouri River (or another more local river) and its economic, environmental and societal impacts.
• Construct explanations of why people originally settled along rivers in Iowa and how people have responded to flooding with movement and technical solutions.
• Analyze and identify patterns between data about changes in Iowa’s climate and flooding events.
• Model connections between changes in climate, flooding and the effects on and responses by people.

Related Resources

• University of Iowa: Iowa Flood Center: Includes a wide range of information and data about flooding in Iowa, and monitoring and mitigation efforts.
• CNN: After the Flood: National article that gives more information about Hamburg’s flooding issues, interspersed with discussion of the caucus.
• YouTube: Flood of 2008: Video showing clips and facts from the 2008 flooding in Cedar Rapids.
• Iowa Flood Center: Flood Maps: Provides map of flood risk for different parts of Iowa.
• Iowa State University Extension: Flooding: Extension resources on flooding.
• Indiana University Environmental Resilience Institute: Climate Implications - Storms and Flooding: Short article on how flooding might become more common in some areas due to climate change.