(Radio Iowa) — The Iowa Department of Natural Resources will hold three virtual meetings later this month to hear from people who live and work along the Missouri River about flooding and potential solutions. Tim Hall, the D-N-R’s hydrology resources coordinator, says places that flood will continue to flood next time the river rises. So once federal funding becomes available to make improvements, the U-S Army Corps of Engineers needs to know what’s important to the people in order to prioritize “It’s just critical to know where the stakeholders, where the people on the river think that the biggest problems lie so that we can tackle (them) in order,” Hall says. “The Corps is never going to get money to fix all the issues on the river all at the same time.”

Last year’s near-historic runoff that entered the Upper Missouri River Basin combined with unusually high runoff in the Platte River caused the lower Missouri River to sit above flood stage for nearly nine months in some places. Hall says the agency already knows of some problem areas, like where the Platte River enters the Missouri and the river pinches down. “And all the water in the river is forced through a narrower spot, which tends to — in high flow events — back the water up upstream from that narrow point, from that pinch point,” Hall says.

The study is a partnership between Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri and the Corps. Iowa’s three virtual meetings will be held July 28th through 30th over Zoom.

(By Katie Peikes, Iowa Public Radio)