The National Weather Service has issued minor to major flood warnings across the state as rainfall is expected to move through Iowa today. Rob Deroy of the National Weather Service says this system could bring in as much as one inch of rain. He says add that to melting snow and then more is expected this week.
Deroy says a secondary system Thursday which will probably move along the same track and could dump another inch of rain from southwest through central and northeast Iowa. He says we would have a moderate risk of flooding just with the melting snowpack, but the rain has increased the risk.
Deroy says melting snow and rain is the worst possible combination for flooding. He says the soil has stayed relatively warm and it is also saturated, which leaves little room for the soil to soak into the ground and it will run off. Deroy says some areas raise more concern than others.
Deroy says the Raccoon River basin is probably the area of the biggest concern with the water levels at Perry. He says that area will be a concern over the next four to seven days. Deroy says the flooding problems could stretch across the state with the rain track.
He says the rainfall will move from the southwest through northeast Iowa today and Thursday and the rivers will go up and flood more in the southern and central areas first.
As temperatures continue to warm, the melting snow in the northwest will become more of a problem. Deroy says we had some slow melting last week, but not enough to hold off the flooding problems. You can find out more about the flood warnings on the National Weather Service’s website.