first on decorahnews.com: Northeast Iowa is the flooding headquarters of Iowa!

According to data provided to decorahnews.com by the Iowa Flood Center, there is no part of Iowa that's more prone to flooding than Northeast Iowa.

Researchers at the Iowa Flood Center have reviewed FEMA records dating back to 1988 to compile the number of times federal disaster declarations have been issued in each of the 99 counties in Iowa.

While some areas of the state haven't had major problems with flooding--O'Brien County in NW Iowa has had only four flooding disaster declarations since 1988--Northeast Iowa is home to six of the 13 most-flooded counties in the state.

In fact, there is no county in Iowa which has seen more flooding than Clayton County has.  17 times since 1988 FEMA has issued a federal disaster area declaration involving Clayton County.  Right behind Clayton County is Fayette County, with 16 flooding disaster declarations.

The four remaining Northeast Iowa counties--Chickasaw, Howard, Winneshiek and Allamakee counties--all are on the list of most-flooded counties in Iowa, having each had a federal disaster declaration issued 13 times.

All 14 of the most-flooded counties in Iowa since 1988 are in Eastern Iowa, while 16 of the 31 least-flooded counties in Iowa since 1988 are in Northwest Iowa.