Flooding awareness wraps up Severe Weather Awareness Week

MASON CITY — Severe Weather Awareness Week in the state of Iowa wraps up today with the topic being flooding. Through the last decade, many communities in north-central Iowa have been impacted by flooding events, something that Cerro Gordo County Emergency Management Director Steve O’Neil says will likely continue this year. “Right now the forecasts don’t show this is going to change, with these heavy rain events, the flash flooding. The flooding seems right now is going to be with us for awhile, and probably severe weather.”

O’Neil says being “weather aware” can help you and your family.  “Just having an awareness and doing some of those things will help you and your family. It will also take some of the stress off the responders to be able to cover more areas of intense damage if you are able to be more self-sufficient.”

Flooding is one of the leading causes of weather-related fatalities in the United States, with flooding claiming over 90 lives each year on average.

For more Severe Weather Awareness Week, click here.