County Board takes action to help seven victims of August's flooding to apply for FEMA aid

Flooding in Spillville on August 24th (decorahnews.com file photo)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency--FEMA--has announced it has $960,000 available to buy out homes which were damaged in August 23rd's flooding in Northeast Iowa.

Monday morning the Winneshiek county Board unanimously voted to approve a Notice of Intent to apply for that funding on behalf of seven homeowners whose property is in unincorporated Winneshiek County.  The City of Spillville will also be applying for funds on behalf of the owners of four other properties in the City of Spillville.

Winneshiek County Emergency Government Coordinator Sean Snyder cautions that the process "will take months."  But for some homeowners, FEMA will spend as much as $276,000 per property to cover the costs of buying a home, demolishing a home and doing sitework to bring the property to becoming green space.

"There's a lot of steps to go through," Snyder told a crowd of homeowners who showed up for the county board meeting.  But he also said property damage in Winneshiek County was much higher than in the seven other counties included in President Barack Obama's Federal Disaster Area declaration.

County Board Chair John Logsdon noted that homeowners would have "nothing to lose" by applying to FEMA.  Other supervisors also noted that properties other than the seven properties discussed Monday could also be submitted later for FEMA for financial aid.