The August 18 and 19 , 2007 Midwest flooding caused extensive damage to the park . The park is in the Driftless Area , where soils are thin and less able to retain water ; they lie atop porous rock into and through which surface waters can rapidly drain into the water table . The steep hills and bluffs and deep coulees give steep gradients to the drainage and makes streams highly erosive . As the rains far exceeded the absorption rate of the soils , flash floods rapidly overflowed the river and spread across the valley floors
2007 Midwest flooding
2007 Midwest flooding
Whitewater State Park