Page 5 - aruba-today-20191125

A5
U.S. NEWS Monday 25 noveMber 2019
'My neighbors are gone': Flood buyouts upend Missouri town

By DAVID A. LIEB was "nowhere near enough
Associated Press money."
MOSBY, Mo. (AP) — Tam- The Denneys built their
my Kilgore raised the giant house in 1978 with more
claw of a John Deere ex- foresight than most. Its floor
cavator high in the air, then is about 4 feet aboveg-
slammed it down on the round — just high enough
roof the house where she to stay dry during the floods
had spent nearly her entire that have repeatedly en-
adult life. circled the house.
The shingles crunched, For 65-year-old Sally Den-
but not much else. So she ney, who's spent her whole
did it again, and again — life in Mosby, the buyouts
each time taking a bigger have stirred a sense of dis-
bite with the mouth-like belief, anger, frustration
claw, until the roof above and fear that her beloved
her bedroom caved. Lum- town could eventually be
ber and siding fell to the gone.
ground. "I don't know that it's really
"Oh, my goodness!" she ex- all sunk in yet," she said. But
claimed. "it's gonna hit, and it's gon-
The machine's opera- na be very sad."
tor had given Kilgore the In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, Betty Cazzell watches from her adjacent fence line Mosby's revenue is likely to
chance to start demolish- while her neighbor, Tammy Kilgore's home is demolished in Mosby, Mo. shrink as properties once
ing her own home. It's one Associated Press on the tax rolls become
of dozens of flood-prone empty plots owned by the
houses being torn down flooding in the Midwest, but they've been kind of department in 2015. That city, Mayor Harlin Clements
in this small riverside town which caused billions of gradual," Cazzell said sadly. same year, the town was said. The terms of the buy-
northeast of Kansas City un- dollars of damage in more "This is kind of like a bomb flooded three times in less outs prohibit future devel-
der a federally funded buy- than a dozen states, is likely exploding or something — than six weeks. Town offi- opment.
out program intended to to lead to more home buy- it's just all at once, and my cials decided in 2016 to ap- Though buyouts are dis-
reduce the risks and costs outs. neighbors are gone." ply to the state for a nearly ruptive, the U.S. saves $7 in
from future flooding. In Iowa, for example, a When the demolitions are $3 million buyout funded avoided costs for every $1
The city of Mosby estimates dozen cities and counties done, the houses on ei- largely through the Federal spent through the federally
it's faced 40 floods of vary- have inquired about the ther side of Cazzell's will be Emergency Management funded grants to acquire or
ing severity over the past potential of buying out as gone. Agency. demolish flood-prone build-
two decades, and Kilgore many as 660 properties. In Her granddaughter a few About 50 homeowners ings, according to a study
has lost count of the num- the future, more buyouts doors down is staying, but said they were interested. for the National Institute of
ber of times her home got could be necessary nation- her son and daughter-in- It took until this summer be- Building Sciences.
wet. wide as climate change law are leaving. Their white fore they received buyout "I can tell you — mitigation
"Every time it would come leads to rising seas and wooden house is marked offers, and about two-thirds works, it's very successful.
up, it would probably ruin more frequent and intense with a bright orange "D2" — have taken the deal. It saves the pain and an-
our floors," she recalled. rainstorms. code for "Demolition Phase But for some, such as guish of people that get
"We just got tired of it." For those facing buyouts, Two," the same thing that 83-year-old Elmer Sullivan, flooded," former FEMA Ad-
When the voluntary buy- the process can be both a was painted on Kilgore's the offer just wasn't enough ministrator James Lee Witt
outs are complete, nearly blessing and curse. It can home. to afford a house some- said during a recent session
half of Mosby will be gone, provide a fresh start for The 2010 census counted where else. hosted by The Pew Chari-
leaving a patchwork of flood-weary residents who 190 people in Mosby. But Sullivan was offered $20,000 table Trusts on ways to re-
holdout homes and bare choose to leave but also that seems generous these for the modest home that duce local flood risks.
lots. sever a sense of commu- days. he said he bought for Like most who take buy-
Similar buyout programs nity for those left behind. Mosby began as a railroad $17,000 three decades outs, the former residents
have played out in numer- And the process can be town in 1887 nestled along ago. Since then, he put on of Mosby are now scat-
ous communities ravaged stressful: Kilgore, 56, suf- the Fishing River, a tributary a new roof and siding and tered. Some have moved
by floods and hurricanes. fered a heart attack in Sep- of the Missouri River. It grew spent $4,000 rebuilding a to Excelsior Springs, a city
Over the past three de- tember after a long day of as coal mining took hold in garage. of more than 11,000 imme-
cades, federal and local packing. But she was back the first half of the next cen- "This is ridiculous. This offer diately east. Others have
governments have spent in town on a cool Novem- tury. At one point, it had a here ain't no good," Sullivan gone west, toward the Kan-
more than $5 billion to buy ber morning to watch her school, bank and grocery said, holding the buyout sas City suburbs. Still others
tens of thousands of vulner- old house come down. store, but all have since documents. "My wife, she moved into a rural area a
able properties across the As Kilgore climbed into the closed. passed away seven years few miles north.
U.S., according to an Asso- excavator, longtime neigh- The old school — with a ago. She helped me buy When Tammy and James
ciated Press analysis. bor Betty Cazzell watched dozen-plus basketball tro- the house, and if I would Kilgore moved out, they
While buyouts can be emo- somberly from across the phies still on display — is have sold the house, I'd took some pine boards
tionally fraught for com- chain-link fence where now City Hall. feel like I let her down." from their porch, a mail-
munities, they can lessen the two would often chat. The remaining businesses Milton and Sally Denney box, a flagpole and plants
future flood-related costs Cazzell, 86, opted against — an asphalt plant, quar- took the buyout for her from their yard. Scaven-
by demolishing homes applying for a buyout. She ry, lumber center, trucking mother's old house, which gers quickly swooped in
that could otherwise keep didn't want the hassle of company and gas station had sat vacant since her to swipe their furnace, air
receiving federal disaster leaving a town where she — are all on the edge of death several years ago. conditioner and dishwash-
aid or taxpayer-subsidized spent all but 10 years of her town along a highway. But Milton said they turned er. Someone even ripped
flood insurance. life. Financial strains led Mos- down a $65,000 offer for out the kitchen sink and all
This year's devastating "I've seen some changes, by to disband its police their own home because it the pipes running to it.q