I lived in Des Moines, Iowa during the Great Flood of 1993 that set records for rain, river heights and sandbags filled. In fact, I filled many a sandbag during those weeks, experienced a flooded basement, no power and an unsanitary drinking supply.

I remember my parents tuning in anxiously to the local TV news for updates during the 5, 6 and 10 o’clock newscasts each evening. We scanned the Des Moines Register every morning to see where we could go fill sandbags. We listened to the one, go-to AM news radio station for updates on the flooding throughout the day.

Fifteen years later, the floods are back, but Iowans and the watching nation don’t need to rely solely on traditional media to get news on the flood today. This is particularly good news when the states only major newspaper announces, “Flooding is impacting our ability to deliver The Register in many areas in Des Moines and throughout the state.”

For example, as of right now, iReport (CNN’s user-generated news portal) is featuring nearly 400 videos tagged “Iowa flood,” Flickr (the free photo-sharing site) features more than 3,000 photos and YouTube has more than 340 flood videos streaming for your perusal right this minute.

But it just gets better. The need for an aggregate of all of the user-generated reporting across Iowa communities spurred a citizen-created, citizen journalism social media newsroom: IowaFlood.com.

According to LavaRow, the site was created by a Web consultant in just a few hours using Yahoo! Pipes and WordPress. Content is pulled automatically from various sources — alerts from NOAA and the National Weather Service, tagged photos on Flickr, YouTube videos, hashtagged chatter on Twitter, blog posts, articles from outlets like NBC affiliate WHO-TV and the Des Moines Register — and all content is woven together into an incredibly robust, informative news experience.

This is a superb example of the power of a mainstream media/social media collaboration. You have the in-depth reporting of the traditional media and the instant, timely, hyperlocal commentary, photos and video submitted by the people living the stories. Taking it another step further, the site has a chat room for vistors to connect and interact with each other in real-time.

As the flood turns from in-progress crisis to clean-up and recovery, you can bet the site will shift into telling the more human side of relief and recovery. Last night it occurred to me IowaFlood.com could easily add a “Click to Donate” button on the site to capitalize on the potential outpouring of interest and compassion that is sure to descend upon the state in the short-term. I e-mailed the site administrator and just learned they’ll be adding a “Red Cross Donation” button this morning. Yes!

And while I can’t help fill sandbags this time, IowaFlood.com is allowing me to connect more personally with a disaster 250 miles away. And that’s what social media is all about.