The Rebuild Iowa Office (RIO) unveils a documentary about the 2008 floods and tornadoes Wednesday night at the State Historical Building. RIO spokesperson, Julie Probasco-Sowers, says its called “Lessons Learned: The Iowa Disasters of 2008.”

Probasco-Sowers says one of the tasks given to the office was to collect the lessons learned from recovery so that communities, government entities and organizations could look back at them and be better prepared for the next disaster. Probasco-Sowers says they talked with people in many of the hardest hit communities like Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids, Coralville, Des Moines, Mason City, New Hartford, Oakville, Parkersburg and Waverly.

She says it looks at the initial response and then the fact that the long-term recover is going to go on for years. Probasco-Sowers says the documentary deals with things like the importance of communication, and she says some it is very specific, and some of it is broader. They partnered with Wartburg College in Waverly to produce the documentary.

Probasco-Sowers says it should be of interest to all Iowans. She says anyone could learn from the documentary, even though it is coming from community leaders and agency leaders and their perspective of what they did right and what they did wrong. Probasco-Sowers says there are a lot of interviews with people in the community too.

The documentary premieres with a reception at five p.m. at the State Historical Building and then the showing at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday.