Progress is being made--slowly--on buying out seven homes damaged by flooding

Winneshiek County Emergency Government Director Sean Snyder has been busy lining up information about the work needed to buy out seven Winneshiek County homes which were destroyed in August's flooding.

Winneshiek County has been awarded $276,000 toward the cost of removing the houses and turning the lots into green spaces.  Snyder told county supervisors Monday that there's a lot of paperwork to complete and submit in order to qualify for FEMA funding.

He has gotten a bid from Tri-State Home Inspections of $75/home for site inspections required by FEMA.  A bid of $5,250 would cover the cost of asbestos removal.  Finally, Doug Egland Construction has given Snyder a bid of $21,000 per home for demolition.

Snyder says around $2,000 has been spent so far in preparing the information FEMA needs to have in order to give its approval to the demolitions.