Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Thursday 28 November 2019
Home buyouts split apart a flood-prone Missouri town

By DAVID A. LIEB said, holding the buyout
Associated Press documents.
MOSBY, Mo. (AP) — Tam- Milton and Sally Denney
my Kilgore raised the giant took the buyout for her
claw of a John Deere ex- mother's old house, which
cavator high in the air, then had sat vacant since her
slammed it down on the death several years ago.
roof the house where she But he said they turned
had spent nearly her entire down a $65,000 offer for
adult life. their own home because it
The shingles crunched, was "nowhere near enough
but not much else. So she money."
did it again, and again — For 65-year-old Sally Den-
each time taking a bigger ney, who's spent her whole
bite with the mouth-like life in Mosby, the buyouts
claw, until the roof above have stirred a sense of dis-
her bedroom caved. Lum- belief, anger, frustration
ber and siding fell to the and fear that her beloved
ground. town could eventually be
"Oh, my goodness!" she ex- gone.
claimed. "I don't know that it's really
The machine's opera- all sunk in yet," she said. But
tor had given Kilgore the "it's gonna hit, and it's gon-
chance to start demolish- na be very sad."
ing her own home. It's one In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, vehicles pass by Mosby, Mo. About half the homes in Mosby's revenue is likely to
of dozens of flood-prone the flood-prone town are being demolished as part of a voluntary buyout program. shrink as properties once
houses being torn down Associated Press on the tax rolls become
in this small riverside town empty plots owned by the
northeast of Kansas City un- This year's devastating packing. But she was back Emergency Management city, Mayor Harlin Clements
der a federally funded buy- flooding in the Midwest, in town on a cool Novem- Agency. said. The terms of the buy-
out program intended to which caused billions of ber morning to watch her About 50 homeowners outs prohibit future devel-
reduce the risks and costs dollars of damage in more old house come down. said they were interested. opment.
from future flooding. than a dozen states, is likely As Kilgore climbed into the It took until this summer be- Though buyouts are dis-
When the voluntary buy- to lead to more home buy- excavator, longtime neigh- fore they received buyout ruptive, the U.S. saves $7 in
outs are complete, nearly outs. And more could be bor Betty Cazzell watched offers, and about two-thirds avoided costs for every $1
somberly from across the have taken the deal. spent through the federally
chain-link fence where But for some, such as funded grants to acquire or
the two would often chat. 83-year-old Elmer Sullivan, demolish flood-prone build-
Cazzell, 86, opted against the offer just wasn't enough ings, according to a study
applying for a buyout. She to afford a house some- for the National Institute of
didn't want the hassle of where else. Building Sciences.
leaving a town where she Sullivan was offered $20,000 "I can tell you — mitigation
spent all but 10 years of her for the modest home that works, it's very successful.
life.
"I've seen some changes,
but they've been kind of
gradual," Cazzell said sadly.
"This is kind of like a bomb
exploding or something —
it's just all at once, and my
neighbors are gone."
In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, Tammy Kilgore sits in The 2010 census counted
front of her former home in Mosby, Mo. before it was demolished 190 people in Mosby. But
as part of a voluntary buyout program in the flood-prone town.
Associated Press that seems generous these
days.
Mosby began as a railroad
half of Mosby will be gone, necessary nationwide as town in 1887 nestled along
leaving a patchwork of climate change leads to ris- the Fishing River, a tributary
holdout homes and bare ing seas and more frequent of the Missouri River. It grew
lots. and intense rainstorms. to have its own school, In this photo taken Monday, Nov. 18, 2019, Tammy Kilgore
watches while her former home is demolished as part of a vol-
Similar buyout programs For those facing buyouts, bank and grocery store, untary buyout in flood-prone Mosby, Mo.
have played out in numer- the process can be both a but all have since closed. Associated Press
ous communities ravaged blessing and curse. It can Financial strains led Mos-
by floods and hurricanes. provide a fresh start for by to disband its police
Over the past three de- flood-weary residents who department in 2015. That he said he bought for It saves the pain and an-
cades, federal and local choose to leave but also same year, the town was $17,000 three decades guish of people that get
governments have spent sever a sense of commu- flooded three times in less ago. Since then, he put on flooded," former FEMA Ad-
more than $5 billion to buy nity for those left behind. than six weeks. Town offi- a new roof and siding and ministrator James Lee Witt
tens of thousands of vulner- And the process can be cials decided in 2016 to ap- spent $4,000 rebuilding a said during a recent session
able properties across the stressful: Kilgore, 56, suf- ply to the state for a nearly garage. hosted by The Pew Chari-
U.S., according to an Asso- fered a heart attack in Sep- $3 million buyout funded "This is ridiculous. This offer table Trusts on ways to re-
ciated Press analysis. tember after a long day of largely through the Federal here ain't no good," Sullivan duce local flood risks.q