Communities in northwest Iowa are waiting for FEMA to approve buyouts for properties that were damaged by flooding in the summer of 2024.
Tom Van Maanen, the city administrator in Rock Valley, said his community is asking for federal funding to help buy and demolish just over 12 dozen homes. “For the homeowners, this has been a very long and painful process ’cause they’re paying mortgages in homes they don’t live in,” Van Maanen said.
Under FEMA’s buyout program for homes in flood zones, 75% of the funding comes from the federal government, the state provides 10% and 15% comes from the local community.
Rock Valley is seeking $40 MILION from FEMA to support buying 145 homes, but FEMA officials asked for more information about a few of the properties.
“It’s been quite a journey for a small-town local government having to go through the gauntlet that is FEMA funding. It has been a challenge, but we’ve worked with some very good people along the way, and we’ve made a lot of progress,” Van Maanen said. “…We’re really looking forward to being able to contact the homeowners and say: ‘Hey, our project has been approved. We’re going to move forward.’ And we’ll be working on a timeline that’s up to us, so we can help them.”
State officials say Sioux County, as well as the cities of Spencer, Rock Rapids, Hawarden, Correctionville, and Sioux Rapids, have submitted buyout requests to FEMA. Estherville and Cherokee are still finalizing their applications and have until the end of the year to submit the paperwork to FEMA. Once a property is purchased under this program, the parcel becomes public land and is made into a park or water retention area.
This story is courtesy of our affiliate, Radio Iowa.
