By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
COLUMBUS, Kan. — A Federal Emergency Management Agency official on Tuesday described the procedure for buyouts of flood-damaged houses in Cherokee County.
“Individuals do not have to sell,” said Roger Benson, natural-hazards program specialist for FEMA. “Nobody is forcing any property owner to take a buyout.”
Benson made the comment after a flood-plain meeting with city officials from Columbus, Scammon and Baxter Springs. He devoted part of the meeting to discussion of the proposed buyout. No homeowners attended the meeting.
Jason Allison, Cherokee County emergency management director, on Monday said he identified 18 houses near Riverton along Spring River that qualified for buyout offers because of the amount of damage from flooding in June. Allison said Tuesday that some houses inside Baxter Springs and along the east bank of the Neosho River also may be included. He said letters notifying the homeowners that they qualify would be mailed by the end of the week.
The total assessed value of the 18 houses near Riverton is $324,820. Allison said the fair-market value of the houses is the assessed value plus 15 percent. That would make the fair-market value of the 18 houses $373,543.
Benson said the fair-market value is what the owners would be offered in a buyout. FEMA would pay 75 percent of the cost, the state 10 percent, a Community Development Block Grant 10 percent, and the county or city 5 percent. The county’s share of the 18 Riverton houses would total $18,677.
Benson said paying homeowners to move elsewhere may seem like a waste of money to some, but it serves a purpose.
“We offer these people a way out of the flood plain,” he said. “These people are in a jam.”
He said the program is especially helpful to homeowners who have no flood insurance.
Benson said homeowners who receive the letters notifying them of “substantial damage,” which is damage for which repairs would cost more than 50 percent of the house’s assessed value, have three options: elevate, relocate or demolish.
He said that if the homeowner chooses to elevate the house, it must be raised to at least a foot above flood level. Relocation refers to moving a house outside the flood plain. Benson said homeowners with flood-insurance policies may receive as much as $30,000 in addition to the cost of repairs to elevate their houses or move them.
Besides the 18 houses that qualify for buyout offers, there are nine flood-damaged houses near Riverton that don’t meet the 50 percent threshold. Benson said that if those homeowners have flood insurance, their policies should pay for repairs. Those without flood insurance may receive some money from FEMA as part of a disaster declaration, but they would not be compensated for their entire loss, Benson said.
A four-month turnaround for the beginning of a buyout procedure is relatively fast, Benson said. He said many buyout programs don’t start for a year or more after a disaster. He said officials initially are concerned with responding to a disaster.
“A buyout is really about recovery,” he said.
Riverton area
The 18 houses near Riverton that qualify for a federal buyout are on Paw-paw Lane, Cherry Lane, Watermelon Lane, Quaker Road and Center Road. Nine other flood-damaged houses in the area don’t qualify for federal buyouts.
Local News
FEMA official describes buyout procedure
- Local News
-
-
Couple 'scoop out' ice cream business from the past
When 3-year-old Brynlee Rabel tried coconut ice cream for the first time Tuesday, it was love at first taste. “She got the vanilla, but when she tasted my coconut ice cream she had to have it,” said Kayleigh Daugherty, a Joplin resident who wanted Brynlee to share the same experience she had as a little girl when she visited Anderson’s Ice Cream.
-
Missouri National Guard releases records involving soldiers who looted from Wal-Mart
The Missouri National Guard has released records confirming that four soldiers were disciplined for taking merchandise from the ruins of a Wal-Mart store in Joplin one day after the tornado that devastated the city a year ago.
-
Joplin school board awards contract to complete demolition of JHS
The Joplin Board of Education on Tuesday night accepted a bid for finishing tornado-related demolition at the high school.
-
Auditor cites, commission covers potential shortfall in Jasper County sheriff’s budget
The Jasper County Commission on Tuesday approved the transfer of $23,000 onto the Law Enforcement Sales Tax fund available to the sheriff’s office to cover a potential budget shortfall.
-
Joplin METS director requests space for additional ambulance
If all goes like METS Director Jason Smith hopes, this time next year the service will have two ambulances in Webb City, housed in their own station. At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Smith requested that the council allow the Joplin-based Metro Emergency Transport System to rent or lease space at the former public works building, 110 E. Church St.
-
Mike Pound: Food competitions combine to make culinary heaven
It’s such a great idea, you wonder why someone didn’t think of it before. In fact, it’s such a good idea that it’s possible it came about by accident.
-
Mo. court strikes down part of 2008 harassment law
The Missouri Supreme Court has struck down part of a state harassment law enacted after the suicide of a St. Charles County teenager who was teased over the Internet.
-
Cattle rustlers strike again in SW Mo. county
The plague of cattle rustling goes on in southwest Missouri’s Greene County.
Sheriff Jim Arnott says the latest episode occurred sometime Sunday in Walnut Grove. -
Bids sought for Cherokee County water treatment plant
After many delays, construction bids are being sought for a water treatement plant and water tank for the Spring River Public Wholesale Water District No. 19.
-
Dog helps some get through the court process
Sophie, a mutt of a dog with draping ears and dotted brows, is helping people in St. Louis County court tell stories of crime to judges, investigators and attorneys.
- More Local News Headlines
-
