Founding director of Iowa Flood Center retires after 15 years

IOWA CITY -- Growing up in Poland, Witold Krajewski never dreamed he would travel to the United States, nevertheless live there. But now, like thousands of other Iowans, he can recall his life just before the historic flood of 2008.

The sports-oriented Krajewski, who had a soccer match held at his retirement party and founded Judo America Iowa City in 1994, was one day away from leaving Iowa before the flood struck to attend the wrestling and judo 2008 Olympic trials at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Then, the sight of a sandbag being carried by his secretary as he walked into his University of Iowa office changed his mind about leaving. The flood ultimately changed his life.

When the flood struck, state lawmakers contacted the UI’s IIHR — Hydroscience & Engineering for ideas for a response. Krajewski and the institute’s director, Larry Weber, presented a two-page proposal: establishing the Iowa Flood Center.

Journey to Iowa

Krajewski, left Poland in 1980 after receiving a master’s and Ph.D from Warsaw University of Technology in water resources engineering, which is similar to an environmental engineering degree today. He traveled to the United States to attend a postdoctoral program at Utah State University for a year -- a trip overseas as something so unimaginable it was like “going to the moon,” he said.

“At that time being in Poland, for me specifically, I didn’t even dream that I could one day go to the U.S. That opportunity came suddenly, it was a big shock to me,” said Krajewski, now 71.

In 1981, Poland declared martial law after protests and Krajewski’s original yearlong stay eventually turned into a lifetime in the United States. “And my parents strongly told me, ‘Do not come back.’”

Nearing the end of his stay in Utah, he sent letters to about 100 universities attempting to find a job. He did not receive many return letters, but did receive a rejection letter from then-IIHR Director John F. Kennedy, which Krajewski has kept to this day.

After several years in Washington, D.C., that included conducting research at the National Weather Service, Krajewski relocated his research of the remote sensing of rainfall to the UI in 1987.

‘Who are you guys?’

At the time of the flood of 2008, Krajewski was working in collaboration with the University of Colorado on a hydrology project in Kansas.

“I was extremely frustrated that I really couldn't help with much just because I was not engaged in things that were happening, you know, here. So that was a frustrating feeling -- that I'm an expert but I cannot do anything,” Krajewski said.

In the following months, he and Weber worked with the Iowa Legislature to establish a flood center in the state. The UI’s College of Engineering has more than 100 years of history in fluid mechanics and, more specifically, river mechanics, hydraulics and hydrology-- which are “all the ingredients that are necessary for talking about a flood” according to Krajewski.

That history, reputation and ability to lead a flood center in Iowa had to be proved at the Statehouse by Krajewski and Weber.

“We got these looks like, ‘Who are you guys? Are you sure you know what you're doing?’” Krajewski recounted. “But we put those to rest quickly and without fighting or arguing or undermining anybody. It just became to them — very quickly — obvious that we do know what we are doing and that we bring to the table.”

Flood center resources used millions of times

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As the center’s first and only director so far, Krajewski led the establishment of new gauges and products to aid anyone from an average Iowan to county emergency managers. The switch from professor to director of the flood center meant pivoting his career focus to service, Weber said.

“To see the flood center be continuously funded and supported by the Iowa Legislature over these 15 years is really a testament to his ability to explain those complex topics in a very simple and understandable way for our Legislature to continue to support the flood center,” Weber said.

The Iowa Flood Center provides numerous services relating to flooding including flood monitoring, mapping, mitigation and forecasting. The center also hosts the Iowa Flood Information System and Missouri River Flood Information System.

The Iowa system is a Google Maps-based platform that shows real-time stream levels, alerts and forecasts. That tool has been used 5 million times and also was an example for monitoring proposals in the European Union, Krajewski said.

To provide data for its systems, the center relies on nearly 300 stream gauges placed throughout Iowa — with a few in Nebraska — in 2010.

The easy-to-understand, real-time data is what helps set the Iowa Flood Center apart, Krajewski said. “I call ourselves sometimes the technical agents of the people of Iowa, when it comes to flooding and droughts,” he said.

A new era for the center

According to the center’s 2024 annual report, in its 15 years in operation, the center has leveraged nearly $20 million in state funding, raised the watershed literacy by annually attending 60 education and outreach events and provided expertise to the NOAA Cooperative Institute for Research to Operations in Hydrology.

After Krajewski’s retirement as director in June, Weber began serving as the interim Iowa Flood Center director. The university continues to search for a replacement after an initial search failed, according to Weber.

Krajewski is in the second of a three-year phased retirement and will continue to conduct research. He was paid $369,469 as director in fiscal 2023.

Securing more funding will be a task for the center’s next director, Krajewski said.

During the 2017 legislative session, a Republican budget proposal was introduced that would have completely eliminated the Iowa Flood Center’s annual $1.5 million appropriation. Weber told The Gazette in 2017 that communities voiced support for the center to the Legislature, and then-state House Rep. Ashley Hinson said the proposal made her nervous. An amendment was introduced to restore $1.2 million to the center in part by reducing UI’s total apportionment by $950,000.

Krajewski said going forward, reversing the reduction is the “absolute minimum,” But the center could be most effective with $2 to $2.5 million a year to account for inflation and technological advancements, he said.

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