FLOOD03237

• County: Statewide
• Basin: Statewide
• Title: Out of Harm's Way The Missouri Buyout Program
• Date: 1/8/1996
• Prepared For: CWCB
• Prepared By: State Emergency Management Agency
• Floodplain - Doc Type: Flood Mitigation/Flood Warning/Watershed Restoration

program were graphically illustrated in the 1995 flood.
ing. Local buyout communities saved thousands of
dollars by not having to implement evacuation, search
and rescue, or sandbagging operations to save citizen
lives and private property.

...Yet much is different about this year's floods. First,
they are much less extensive. Second, taxpayers are
likely to pick up less of the bill. That is because in the
months since the last deluge, the authorities have learnt
a few useful lessons. The most important of these was
to "retire" the most vulnerable riverside properties.
Under a federally .funded buyout program, local towns
have been able to purchase and demolish the most
frequently flooded properties, turning them into parks or
recreation land.

-Buck Kall, Director
Missouri Community Buyout Program

egy."

"Missouri could be the nation's model in buyout strat-

-James L. Witt

-The Economist
May 27, 1995

The Galloway Report quotes two
senior members of Congress on the
importance of the buyout program
remaining voluntary:
The respect and adherence to the
rights of property owners as drafted
in our Constitution are of central
importance to the federal
government's role in floodplain
management. Any acquisition of
lands...should be done with adequate
compensation to the landowner.
Likewise, the federal government
should refrain from the use of
condemnation when attempting to
move residents out of the flood
plain. Any expansion of buyout and
relocation initiatives must be carried
out on a willing-seller basis.
Indeed, the federal, state and local
governments spoke in concert
regarding the issue of property
rights. There would be no "takings"
in the buyout program. Articulating
this clearly was paramount to the
program's success in a conservative,
agricultura1 state such as Missouri
where this is a sensitive issue.
Even in the case of repetitive
claim properties or in areas where
most of the properties were pur-
chased, the respect for property
rights was an important component
in selling the program.
In reality, those who did partici.
pate were driven by self-preserva,

V. A Voluntary Program

tion. Many, particularly elderly
Missouri residents who had ridden

out past floods in their homes, were
defeated by the fury of the '93 flood.

A Way Out
Joe Moore of Arnold, Mo. knew more about floods than he cared
to know.
"We had to have sandbags up constantly, all the time," says
Moore who rode out high waters in 1973, 1982, 1986, 1993 and
1994. "I had to repair my house all the time. My basement always
got flooded. My furnace and hot water heater always flooded. I had
. to replace those things every time."
Moore describes his experience with the buyout program:"FEMA
and the City of Arnold came by and said they would check my home
out. They said there was going to be a buyout and that they had a
certain amount of money to payout for certain type of homes. My
home is on a dead-end street and it floods all the time down there. I
had an estimate made for my house. Their people came and made an
estimate. Basically, we were within a couple hundred dollars of each
other, They were satisfied. I was satisfied.
"Moore signed the title of his house over to the City of Arnold
and moved to a home on higher ground where he watched the
flooding of 1995 from a different perspective.
"I felt real relieved," he remembers. "I was laughing. I even
drove down to the old house. I could see the water coming up and I
was so relieved that I could just sit there and watch it come up. I
didn't have to sandbag. I didn't have to rely on people to help me
sandbag. I didn't have to rely on the City of Arnold for anything. I
was happy because I was bought out and I'm gone. I don't have to
worry about it the rest of my life."
....