Flood buyouts OK'd for 5 Missouri communities

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. -- Five area communities have received approval for funding to move forward with voluntary buyout programs to obtain and remove homes in flood-prone areas.

The nearly $6 million in combined projects was prompted by severe damage done to many area properties during flooding in March and April.

A total of 136 properties in Poplar Bluff, Ellington, Piedmont, Doniphan and Wayne County will be sought in the buyouts.

The Poplar Bluff City Council will vote Monday on authorizing Mayor Susan Williams to seek state funding for the city's flood buyout program.

The city has sent out letters to the 23 homeowners whose property could be included in the voluntary buyout, according to Dennis Avery, Poplar Bluff flood plain manager and buyout administrator.

Property owners in each community will be contacted and asked if they would like to participate. The city or county seeking to buy the property will have appraisals done and the sale then proceeds like a normal real estate transaction.

Appraisals should have begun in most communities by the end of January, according to officials.

Any property purchased through the hazard mitigation program cannot be sold, filled or used for a new levee, Avery said.

"They can be leased to adjoining property owners for a garden or to park an extra car, but the properties are for flood overflow," he said. "This program is done to remove people from harm's way, to protect the area and retain needed flooding space."

Poplar Bluff previously acquired 37 properties through a buyout begun in 2003.

"This is not a speedy program," Avery said. "The previous one took us two and a half years to accomplish."

The federal government requires the city take possession upon closing of any property purchased in the buyout. The contents remaining after residents have moved out then belong to whoever successfully bids for demolition of the property.

During the last buyout, people broke into the buyout properties and stole fixtures, Avery said, but the city plans to watch the residences more closely this time.

Flood managers and officials in each community determined which residences to submit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency to be considered for this program. FEMA then evaluated the properties and approved some or all.