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| November 23,
2007
Residents ask FEMA to buy flooded homes
By STEPHEN BEALE
Union
Leader Correspondent
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GOFFSTOWN - Nineteen residents of flood-ravaged neighborhoods have applied for buyouts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, according to assistant Town Administrator Jim Bingham.
If the applications are approved by FEMA, the government will purchase the homes for their fair market value before the floods, while the owners will still be responsible for any mortgages, liens, or other loans. The purchased homes will be razed and no further development on the land will be allowed, according to state and local officials.
Residents who applied for the buyouts said it was their last option. "I have put every last cent into repairing the house and based on how they're controlling the dams, I would say that there is a pretty good possibility we will flood again," said Nancy Congdon, of 9 Sonny Ave.
The first of the two 100-year floods, occurring in May 2006, hit her with more than $100,000 in repairs and recovery-related expenses. She received a $38,000 loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration and roughly $30,000 in insurance money. She has maxed out all of her credit cards and has not received all that she is owed from her insurance carrier.
Congdon says she could have handled that flood. It was the second one that did her in. The flood came in April, just four months after Congdon had moved into her remodeled home.
After the first flood, Congdon, like many of her neighbors, had to comply with a government mandate to raise her house a story, leaving the new first floor unoccupied. That meant the second flood inflicted comparatively little damage.
"While it didn't do as much monetary damage, it was pretty tough emotionally," Congdon said. "I think all of us were in denial that it would happen again. That part was tough."
Mark Payne, a neighbor who lives at 21 Russell Ave., said he has applied for the buyout because he didn't want to have to worry about any more floods in his home of 12 years. Payne said he is still trying to pay his bills for the first flood and has been forced to hire an attorney to get the $60,000 he says he is still owed by his insurance company.
He hasn't made up his mind to take the buyout, Payne said, but is interested to see what the government offers.
Despite the floods, Congdon said she is reluctant to leave her waterfront home of four years. "It gave me a gorgeous view," she said. "I absolutely love it here. It's not just a house, it's a home. It's kind of hard to imagine them tearing it down."
Goffstown is one of a handful of New Hampshire towns expected to apply for the FEMA buyouts by the end of the year. The government agency is expected to review them in the spring or summer and could release funding for the buyouts by the end of the summer.
Congdon said that could be too late. "So potentially, one more flood to go through," she said.
The owners of 19 homes that are asking for the buyouts are in the following locations, according to Bingham: two on Danis Park Road, one on Dumont Park Road, three on Cove Street, one on Lynchville Park Road, one on Beadoin Street, one on Bay Street, one on Water Street, three on Russell Avenue, three on Channel Lane, two on Sonny Avenue, and one on Andre Street.
Reproduced by the Goffstown
Residents Association.
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