MOLINE, Illinois -- As the flooded Mississippi River continues to fall back in its banks, environmental leaders are coming up with a plan to better combat flooding in the future. They say levees and flood walls aren't enough anymore.
Environmental Leaders came for the 11th annual Upper Mississippi River Conference. The 2018 conference theme, “Our Watershed – Working Together for Healthy Waters and Flood-resilient Communities” is aimed toward the goal of beginning a comprehensive flood plan in the Quad Cities. The conference included a workshop to help make the Quad Cities area and surrounding watersheds more flood resilient.
"This is a local, regional, and national effort," U.S. Army Corp Engineer Anthony Heddlesten said. "It needs to be all those different groups working together if we really want to be successful."
"We're going to have 500 year and 1,000 year floods," conference keynote speaker Dr. Gerald Galloway said. "We just had one in Houston with 54 inches of rain. That's an enormous amount and it is going to happen, so we're saying that you need to be prepared for all those eventualities."
Galloway said cities and states working together and creating one flood prevention and protection plan will help prevent flooding in the Quad Cities.
The Mississippi River in RockIsland is falling, but still one foot over the 15 foot flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. It was expected to fall below flood stage by Sunday, October, 28th.