Last updated October 15, 2021
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Midwest Floods September 2016

United States

Heavy rain led to record river flooding in northeast Iowa, southeast Minnesota, and west central Wisconsin, with several locations along the Cedar and Shell Rock Rivers either nearing or surpassing all-time record high crests. The flooding is the result of slow-moving thunderstorms that dumped widespread rainfall amounts of 5 to 10 inches in the region.

Climate change increases the risk of flooding by increasing the frequency of extreme precipitation. In the midwestern region of the US extreme precipitation has increased 37 percent from 1958 to 2012.

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Tom Moffit survey's the flood waters filling his house and street on Friday, Sept. 23, 2016, in Shell Rock, Iowa. Photo: Brian Powers, AP