This week, the Iowa Flood Center, which supports this legislation, celebrates their 10th anniversary of helping Iowans predict and prepare for floods

WASHINGTON DC (June 12, 2019) — Representative Dave Loebsack announced today that he has reintroduced legislation to establish a National Flood Center to conduct research on flooding, flood-prevention, and other flood-related issues. The National Flood Research and Education Center Act (NFRECA) will establish a consortium within the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that includes institutes of higher education in order to advance the understanding of the causes of flooding, to implement advanced flood-prediction methods, and to promote policies that would help prevent future flood-damage. Rep Loebsack has continued to develop this legislation since the devastating Floods of 2008 in order to help communities facing the threat of flooding prepare better and smarter.

“Year after year, we see the devastating effects from historic flooding in Iowa and across the country, costing tax-payers valuable resources, time, and money,” said Rep Loebsack. “This legislation to establish a National Flood Center will help communities prepare better and smarter in order to save both lives and tax-payer dollars in preparing for and recovering from floods. We can’t do anything about the damage that has already occurred, but we must look ahead and test new methods and build on promising methods and techniques to better predict, prevent and recover from flooding.”

Background information on The National Flood Research and Education Center Act (NFRECA)

The NFRECA establishes a National Flood Research and Education Center (NFREC) to conduct research on flooding, flood-prevention, and other flood-related issues. NFREC will ensure that differing hydrology, weather, urban, suburban, and rural areas and economies are examined so diverse flood-situations are represented. Research will be coordinated with a wide-range of federal, state, and local organizations and led by The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) with an institution of higher education that has significant expertise and experience in examining flood-related issues. The research will provide important insights on comprehensive flooding-issues, such as water-management or release-rates for the Corps of Engineers, flood inundation and preparation, and management and recovery efforts in other local, state, and federal agencies.

The National Flood Center’s work will lead to a wide variety of policy and practice recommendations as they relate to predicting, preparing, preventing, and recovering from floods. This will include analysis of the economic and social effects of flooding, analysis of federal, state, regional, and local flood-policy and development and testing of new or improved risk-assessment tools, methods, and models, as well as share valuable flood-prediction information with the public. The bill will bring together leading institutions in the fields of physical and environmental science, including hydrology, hydraulics, hydrometeorology, climate, as well as engineering, sociology, and economics to provide a comprehensive flood-research.

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