National Weather Services Says Flooding In 2020 Is Likely

(Omaha) — The National Weather Service has released the first of its three spring flood forecasts. David Pearson is a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Omaha. He says the outlook is “grim” for western Iowans who live along the Missouri River below Sioux City. The soil in the Missouri River basin is saturated.

For the second year in a row, the risk of major flooding along the
Mississippi River on the EASTERN side of Iowa is high. National Weather Service Hydrologist Jessica Brooks says there’s more snow is on the ground in Minnesota and Wisconsin than there was at this time last year.

More flood projections will be released in late February and mid-March.
Communities along the lower Missouri River already were bracing for the prospect of more flooding this spring because many of their levees remain in poor shape after last year’s massive flooding. Nearly everywhere that flooded last year in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas and Missouri is at some risk to flood again because of the extensive damage to levees.
On Thursday, Governor Kim Reynolds signed legislation that sets aside 21 MILLION dollars in state money for flood-related projects.

Pete Rogers is the meteorologist with the National Weather Services of Sioux Falls. He says those rivers and streams that feed into the Missouri River, such as the Big Sioux River, Rock River, and in South Dakota, the James River and Vermillion River are also likely to see some spring flooding.

Last year, there were several weather factors that happened all at once that led to the massive flooding incident. Although Rogers says we could see additional flooding this year, he doesn’t expect to see the same conditions this year.

Rogers says the current conditions are a bit more favorable than this time last year.

(photos of 2019 flood)