(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa community is still waiting for FEMA to buy out flood-damaged homes after historic flooding two years ago. Eighty percent of the properties in Spencer sustained at least some damage after two rivers crested at record levels. Spencer City Manager Kevin Robinson originally requested five-point-six million dollars to purchase 40 homes, but FEMA is only going to fund 25 properties, so he says the city will pay for the rest.
“We will utilize community development block grant disaster relief funds to rebuild those homes,” Robinson says. “The process will be demolition, rebuild, and then sell those homes back out on the market. The target real estate price for that finished home will be about $180,000 to $200,000.” Homes purchased with federal funding will be demolished and replaced with green space or pocket parks. Robinson says the city has developed a flood response plan to protect residents from future disasters.
One man was killed during the flooding when his pickup was swept into the river. While the federal funding will cover 25 properties, Robinson says 15 other houses will be covered through a local program. “The patience and the toll that this takes on the impacted property owners, they continue to pay their mortgages, they pay insurance. Some of them are able to live in their homes and some of them have not been able to live in their homes,” Robinson says. “It’s quite a journey for someone who gets flooded out in a disaster. The time of the disaster to the time of acquisition can be incredibly stressful.”
Robinson expects FEMA funding to come within the next two weeks. Last month, FEMA awarded nearly five-point-five million dollars to Spencer and the local school district to repair parks, wastewater lift stations and an elementary school. Last week, the federal agency committed 22-million dollars to Rock Valley to buy and demolish 123 flood-damaged properties.
