Watershed Year: Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008

In June 2008, the rivers of eastern Iowa rose above their banks to create floods of epic proportions; their amazing size-flowing in places at a rate nearly double that of the previous record flood-and the rapidity of their rise ruined farmlands and displaced thousands of residents and hundreds of businesses. By providing a solid base of scientific and technical information presented with unusual clarity and a wealth of supporting illustrations, the contributors to this far-reaching book, many of whom dealt firsthand with the 2008 floods, provide a detailed roadmap of the causes and effects of future devastating floods.

While the book draws most of its examples from one particular region, it explains flooding throughout a much larger region-the midwestern Corn Belt-and thus its sobering yet energizing lessons apply well beyond eastern Iowa. By examining the relationships among rivers, floodplains, weather, and modern society; by stressing matters of science and fact rather than social or policy issues; and by addressing multiple environmental problems and benefits, the twenty-five essays in A Watershed Year inform and educate all those who experienced the 2008 floods and all those concerned with the larger causes of flooding.