After floods, buyouts became a ‘necessary evil’ to reduce toll of nature’s wrath on humans
"I was born and lived in the floodplain. We were flooded out two different times before my mother and father got us out of there," he said, noting that the first house he lived in, literally built on the banks of
Why would people choose to live in such precarious locations?
"I think a lot of it was that people didn't have many options. It was a different time back then. They had to live wherever they could afford to live," said Hark.
While he hasn't had to fill sandbags during his stay in
"It's terrible," he said. "There is no way to describe it. You see their home; everything they own, under water. There aren't words to describe the feeling."
Today, because of flood buyout programs, only a handful of
"There aren't too many residences that technically qualify under
"In the 2008 residential flood buyout only four of the buyout sites technically qualified. But on the strength of those four, 14 other sites could be bought out because the formula can be aggregated."
Would it take another flood buyout program to get the remaining people out of the floodplain?
"Probably," replied LaGarce. "We used federal and state funds (during previous buyout programs). The city doesn't budget money -- not that type of big money -- to make regular buyouts as a general rule."
LaGarce estimates during the better part of five years, the city invested
We really take care of our floodplain and do more than is required for it.
The buyouts that LaGarce has had a hand in were initiated by flood victims.
"The public asked us to do this; those impacted by the 2008 flood," he said.
LaGarce stressed that participation in flood buyouts was "strictly voluntary."
"We didn't attempt to convince anybody," he said. "We did advertise the program so people would know about it, so they could enroll. But we neither discouraged nor encouraged any person."
LaGarce acknowledges that participation in a flood buyout program is not easy because of bureaucracy.
"The red tape was truly exasperating," he said. "There was a lot of it. I wouldn't wish it on anybody."
The city manager doesn't know the likelihood of another flood buyout program ever occurring in
"Very few residential properties would qualify, though some still would," said LaGarce. "Commercially, you can't use
"We really take care of our floodplain and do more than is required for it," said
Flood buyouts in
"There have been years of flood buyouts prior to me," said the city manager. "Those I was involved in were by no means the first efforts."
Hark believes the city became serious about flood buyouts, not after the record flood of 1993, but after the major flood of 1973, when the crest of 28.59 feet set what at the time was an all-time record in
"If you go back to '73 we had a lot of homes in the
While illegal to build structures on flood-buyout sites, it is still permissible to build in the floodplain, according to Burnham.
"Flood damage reduction comes from making sure everybody builds to the proper height. Luckily we haven't had anybody building floodplain lately. That's a really good thing," he said last spring. "If you've got property in the floodplain it needs to stay a green space, but if you build in the floodplain, even though we get a 5 percent discount now, flood insurance is really high.
"If you actually build (in the floodplain) you'll put a lot of extra time and money in to be able to do it because it requires so much more paperwork and permits."
Hark admits that flood-buyouts are a painful reality.
"A lot of people didn't want to give up their home and didn't want to move, but sooner or later you have got to get out of harm's way," he said.
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