Floods in the Midwest and nearby states are not getting bigger -- they're just occurring more often.
That's the conclusion of a study by the University of Iowa Flood Center. It looked at 50 years of river levels in 14 states.
Gabriele Villarini, an assistant professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, says the rising number of floods is due to more rain.
“Overall, you see that there has been an increase in the number of heavy rainfall days rather than increasing the magnitude of the largest rainfall days,” Villarini said.
Villarini is studying what might be causing that. His results won't ready for a few months, but he says "it seems to be driven by climate change."
The study was published in the journal Nature Climate Change.
