Midwest towns reject FEMA flood buyouts

Published 10:21 pm Saturday, April 17, 2010

CHELSEA, Iowa — Two years ago, Larry Frese thought he’d escaped the worst of a flood that had left a lot of his neighbors’ homes and a large swath of Iowa underwater, even as overflowing Otter Creek lapped at his garage door.

“Then all of a sudden — BANG!” said Frese, recalling the sound of the garage door buckling before the muddy water rushed in. “Here comes the refrigerator bouncing by. Man, that was sickening.”

It wasn’t the first time his home was flooded and it probably won’t be the last. But Frese and his neighbors in tiny Chelsea are not interested in being bought out of their homes by the government for the chance start over on higher ground. Neither do handfuls of other flood-prone Midwest towns caught in a cycle of flood and rebuild.

“I love this town too much to leave,” the 69-year-old tavern owner said.

Many mitigation experts say such buyouts are the most cost-effective way of fighting floods in the most at-risk areas. The government buys homes in these areas and tears them down, replacing them with green space, parks or wildlife refuges. When the next flood comes, taxpayers don’t have to pay for sandbagging, emergency shelters, rescues or cleanup.

But such buyouts are voluntary, and despite the clear benefits they’ve bought some flood-beleaguered towns that opted in, many communities refuse to budge — content to fight a losing battle against flooding every few years and rebuild.

“It’s a big benefit to the nation when you don’t have to come back the next time and the next time and the next time,” said Larry Larson, director of the Association of Floodplain Managers.

According to a 2005 study conducted for Congress, every dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves $4 in future costs. In the case of floods, most of that money spent on mitigation would go for buyouts.

The government generally doesn’t pay to rebuild damaged homes in flood plains — homeowners or their insurers do.

But if a disaster is declared, some federal aid may be available for repairs. Low- interest loans may be offered through the Small Business Administration, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration may provide temporary housing or rental assistance for flood victims.

A FEMA spokesman said the average flood-insurance program policy costs less than $2 per day.

FEMA introduced its buyout program in 1993. Since then, $1.5 billion in FEMA funds have been used to help buy 40,000 flood-prone properties.

The agency does not buy the homes itself but provides grants that cover 75 percent of the cost. The state or local government pays the rest and takes ownership of the bought-out property with the agreement that no new homes or development can be put built.

But some communities want no part of it.

Volunteers in Winfield, Mo., fought gallantly to fortify a Mississippi River levee in 2008. But a burrowing muskrat undid all of their sandbagging efforts, the levee broke, and about 50 homes iwere flooded.

After the floods of 1993 and 1995, about 500 properties had been bought out and turned over to the county. Given the opportunity to have homes in Winfield bought out in 2008, county commissioners passed.

“The county chose not to participate because it didn’t want to bring in additional property it has to manage,” Lincoln County emergency director Kelly Hardcastle said.