Federal surveyors use smartphone apps to review Missouri River flood damage

Army Corps of Engineers teams inspecting flood damage along the Missouri River used to scribble down detailed directions to where they'd found seepage in a certain levee or turbid water bubbling up on the landward side of a dike so damage could be spotted by the next surveying team.

Inspectors' notes would describe the damage in relation to a particular highway mile marker and offer alternative directions in case roads were washed out or inaccessible, said Ted Streckfuss, the Corps' Omaha District deputy for project management...