Des Moines, IA— Eleven months after a heavy rainstorm led to
record flooding that devastated Council Bluffs, a new
Environment Iowa report confirms that extreme rainstorms are
happening 35 percent more frequently in Iowa since 1948. “As the
old saying goes, when it rains, it pours—especially in recent
years as bigger storms have hit Iowa more often,” said Tyler
Pidgeon, Field Organizer for Environment Iowa. “We need to heed
scientists’ warnings that this dangerous trend is linked to
global warming, and do everything we can to cut carbon pollution
today.” Based on an analysis of state data from the National
Climatic Data Center, the new report found that heavy downpours
that used to happen once every 12 months on average in Iowa now
happen every 9 months on average. Moreover, the biggest storms
are getting bigger. The largest annual storms in Iowa now
produce 10 percent more precipitation, on average than they did
65 years ago. Scientists have concluded that the rise in the
frequency and severity of heavy rain