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Cedar City after the Buyout. Flooded Cedar City during the 1993 flood. Cedar CiIy is located just across the Missouri River. immedi- ately north of Jefferson City. MosI Cedar CiIy residems believed that the flood of 1993 wa, Ihe largest flood that had ever impacted Iheir town, and that the flood in 1995 was only a lillle less severe. In boIh 1993 and 1995. waIer rose in Cedar City to between 25 and 30 feet deep. which classified both occurrences as "100 year floods."'] Before the 1993 flood, Cedar City was home to abouI 400 people in 115 houses and a number of businesses. Besides three convenience stores and two gas staIions, an antique store, a mechanic's shop. businesses associated with the small Jefferson CiIy Memorial Airport, Roettgen Auto Repair. Capital Steel. and Lauf Equipment formed Ihe economic base of Ihe town. The largest employer in Cedar City was ABB Transformer and Distribution Company thaI employed over 700 workers who manufacIured elecIrical transformers for small busi- nesses and homes.2 In contrast 10 the ca1culaIed average fair market value ofIhe homes in Cedar City-$15.669.00,3 residents felt a deep attachment to Iheir Page 24 Cedar City communiIy. They reported the kind of town where everyone knew everybody else. where from doors were habiIually left unlocked, children played in the streets, and people spenI pleasant summer evenings visiting from their front porches. It was Ihe kind of place, where long-time resident, Linda Nichols. remembers children enjoying simple pleasures like riding bicycles wiIhout concern for cars. Irick or treating door to door on Halloween, and climbing apple trees.4 Yet. despite Ihese bucolic memories. Cedar City was an area that had repeatedly suffered from floods. The posImisIress of Cedar City, June Sundermeyer. remembers that before 1993. the town had flooded in 1942. 1943. 1944, 1947. 1951. 1973, 1983. 1986, and 1990. By 1993. Ms. Sundermeyer was ready to move. She was one of98 homeowners. along wiIh the membership of both Ihe MeIhodist and Ihe Baptist Churches who decided 10 lake the buyout money to move to higher ground.5 In January, 1994, Ihe City Manager.s office in Jefferson City informed property owners in Cedar CiIy that federal and state money was available to buy ouI property that had been severely damaged by the flood. and that the proposed prices would be assigned on Ihe pre-flood value of the home. If residents were interesIed. the letter invited them to a,k for an application. The response was imme- diate. The city also hired a professional appraisal service to establish the value of the homes-an appraisal for which Ihe city paid, and also provided an appeal process if the homeowner disagreed. This price, minus any deductions of earlier financial pay- ments from FEMA to the homeowner for emergency housing and strucrural repairs, plus a moving allowance, was the final sum offered to the home- owner. In rerum for this money. the homeowner Iumed the property over to Jefferson CiIy, of which Cedar City was a suburb, and agreed thaI once the house is cleared from the land, that the area will be used only for "uses compatible with open space. recre- ational, or weIlands managemem."'6 Only a few Cedar CiIy residenIs had the foresighIIo buy flood insurance from Ihe NaIional Flood Insurance Program before the flood.