Fort Collins, like Pittsburgh, suffered its own trial by water.

In 1997 a severe thunderstorm stalled over the west side of the Colorado city and battered it with rain. The relentless downpour spawned a devastating flash flood that killed five people, tore through a trailer park and derailed a freight train.

Among the lessons learned: The city needed more and better storm information. Fort Collins built up a network of gauges, sensors and flow meters to measure rainfall, stream height and numerous other weather variables.

Now officials monitor the system for hints of trouble spots around the city that might be prone to flooding. If several gauges hit a "medium" reading, for instance, Mike Gavin, Fort Collins' emergency manager, might get a middle-of-the-night page that sends him scrambling to his laptop.

"I open it up, look, and it says if the gauge reaches this high in this area, here's some considerations" -- such as which intersections might be under water or what streets might suffer flooded basements.

Austin, Texas, which sits in the middle of a region dubbed Flash Flood Alley, spends $1 million a year to maintain its extensive web of 120 creek and stream gauges. Three full-time engineers are on hand to analyze data. Special software interprets radar.

"We can determine when and where these creeks are going to overtop their banks," said Kevin Shunk, supervising engineer of the Watershed Protection Department's Flood Early Warning System group.

Allegheny County monitors gauges, too, but it is an open question whether there is enough detailed, localized information, and whether there is sufficient tracking of creeks, streams and sewer pipes.

In Pittsburgh, where four people died Aug. 19 after flash flooding along Washington Boulevard caused sewer pipes to back up and spew water from manholes, there is no significant network of gauges to keep tabs on small bodies of water or sewer pipes to predict flooding. The road runs between the neighborhoods of Highland Park and Lincoln-Lemington.