Cause of floods?

[wartknight]

Other than the obvious crap load of rain. I was wondering if the huge advances in tiling farm fields over the last several years causing water to drain faster and thus get to water ways faster. Is that a possible cause?

[Cyclone711]

Go the way of Katrina and blame the federal goverment???

[TykeClone]

How about a late spring and a huge amount of rain.

[wartknight]

Does the federal government handle the tiling? I honestly have no idea how watershed works, I could talk about animals until I'm blue in the face, but when it cames to crop farming and how all that works, I'm clueless. I had a guy complaining to me about this today, and I figured there would be people on here who knew quite a bit about it.

[clones_jer]

record snow totals didn't help.

[wartknight]

How about a late spring and a huge amount of rain.

I shouldn't say "cause the floods", rather "make the floods worse than they otherwise would have been"

[linkshero]

Snow+melt+rain*much=
saturated ground


or

[AirWalke]

Extreme fundamentalists would have you believe that God hates us and wants us to suffer for our sins.

But I agree with TykeClone, it was a wet winter, spring, and continues to be wet into the summer. Who knows how the weather works anymore.

[clones26]

when in doubt: global warming?

[clones_jer]

without knowing anything though, it is obvious:

any extra tile flowing into the river upstream that you add to the equation did make this worse. As far as "a couple inches worse" or "10 ft worse" .. I got nothing.

[billpickles]

How about more urban development? More streets and parking lots that absorb zero water - it all runs off and runs off much faster than from lawns or farm fields.

[clonefarmer]

Very few farm fields have drainage like a parking lot. I haven't seen much tiling going on for years. The wetlands regulations in the farm program have put a crimp in how many fields can be tiled. I may be a little testy these days so I'll just say farmers have just as much right to drain their property as do all of the new shopping centers, homes, and other development which makes for additional runoff. Concrete and asphalt don't absorb much water.

[intrepid27]

I also have felt that improved drainage compounds the other factors, This is not just agriculture though. Any property that gets developed or improved the first thing that happens is drainage is improved. And I do know for a fact that the ag tile business has been VERY good the last 5 years. Again, not the only cause but certainly a factor.

[CyForPresident]

Other than the obvious crap load of rain. I was wondering if the huge advances in tiling farm fields over the last several years causing water to drain faster and thus get to water ways faster. Is that a possible cause?

No, just go out in the field now. They have been soaked for weeks. Plants are only 1-2 inches tall due to saturation and cold soil temperatures. Tile has been around for years too. 1999 and 2003 were wet years also, it is just that we have received an incredible amount of rain. You can thank a long La Nina for this weather.

There is only one restriction for draining that I know of, and that is no draining of wetlands since 1983. Drainage system have been in place for a while.

[timc243]

Very few farm fields have drainage like a parking lot. I haven't seen much tiling going on for years. The wetlands regulations in the farm program have put a crimp in how many fields can be tiled. I may be a little testy these days so I'll just say farmers have just as much right to drain their property as do all of the new shopping centers, homes, and other development which makes for additional runoff. Concrete and asphalt don't absorb much water.

I agree with what you have to say, but remember there are more fields in Iowa than parking lots.