Moronic Iowans reject flood buyout offers

[dbackjon]

Stupid fucking idiots. Next Flood, we'd better not spend a DIME on this morons.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9F4VR180" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Towns reject FEMA flood buyouts, despite benefits
By JIM SALTER (AP) – 1 hour ago

CHELSEA, Iowa — Two years ago, Larry Frese thought he'd escaped the worst of a flood that had left a lot of his neighbors' homes and a large swath of Iowa underwater, even as overflowing Otter Creek lapped at his garage door.

"Then all of a sudden — BANG!" said Frese, recalling the sound of the garage door buckling before the muddy water rushed in. "Here comes the refrigerator bouncing by. Man, that was sickening."

It wasn't the first time his home was flooded and it probably won't be the last. But Frese and his neighbors in tiny Chelsea are not interested in being bought out of their homes by the government for the chance start over on higher ground. Neither do handfuls of other flood-prone Midwest towns caught in a cycle of flood and rebuild.

"I love this town too much to leave," the 69-year-old tavern owner said.

Many mitigation experts say such buyouts are the most cost-effective way of fighting floods in the most at-risk areas. The government buys homes in these areas and tears them down, replacing them with green space, parks or wildlife refuges. When the next flood comes, taxpayers don't have to pay for sandbagging, emergency shelters, rescues or cleanup.

But such buyouts are voluntary, and despite the clear benefits they've bought some flood-beleaguered towns that opted in, many communities refuse to budge — content to fight a losing battle against flooding every few years and rebuild.

"It's a big benefit to the nation when you don't have to come back the next time and the next time and the next time," said Larry Larson, director of the Association of Floodplain Managers.

Battling floods is expensive, but how expensive isn't clear. The Federal Emergency Management Administration was unable to say how much the government has spent fighting floods and cleaning up afterward since a massive flood that devastated a large swath of the Midwest in 1993. Experts estimate the cost at several billion dollars.

According to a 2005 study the independent Multihazard Mitigation Council conducted for Congress, every dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves $4 in future costs. In the case of floods, most of that money spent on mitigation would go for buyouts.

[grizzaholic]

Stupid fucking idiots. Next Flood, we'd better not spend a DIME on this morons.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... AD9F4VR180" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Towns reject FEMA flood buyouts, despite benefits
By JIM SALTER (AP) – 1 hour ago

CHELSEA, Iowa — Two years ago, Larry Frese thought he'd escaped the worst of a flood that had left a lot of his neighbors' homes and a large swath of Iowa underwater, even as overflowing Otter Creek lapped at his garage door.

"Then all of a sudden — BANG!" said Frese, recalling the sound of the garage door buckling before the muddy water rushed in. "Here comes the refrigerator bouncing by. Man, that was sickening."

It wasn't the first time his home was flooded and it probably won't be the last. But Frese and his neighbors in tiny Chelsea are not interested in being bought out of their homes by the government for the chance start over on higher ground. Neither do handfuls of other flood-prone Midwest towns caught in a cycle of flood and rebuild.

"I love this town too much to leave," the 69-year-old tavern owner said.

Many mitigation experts say such buyouts are the most cost-effective way of fighting floods in the most at-risk areas. The government buys homes in these areas and tears them down, replacing them with green space, parks or wildlife refuges. When the next flood comes, taxpayers don't have to pay for sandbagging, emergency shelters, rescues or cleanup.

But such buyouts are voluntary, and despite the clear benefits they've bought some flood-beleaguered towns that opted in, many communities refuse to budge — content to fight a losing battle against flooding every few years and rebuild.

"It's a big benefit to the nation when you don't have to come back the next time and the next time and the next time," said Larry Larson, director of the Association of Floodplain Managers.

Battling floods is expensive, but how expensive isn't clear. The Federal Emergency Management Administration was unable to say how much the government has spent fighting floods and cleaning up afterward since a massive flood that devastated a large swath of the Midwest in 1993. Experts estimate the cost at several billion dollars.

According to a 2005 study the independent Multihazard Mitigation Council conducted for Congress, every dollar spent on disaster mitigation saves $4 in future costs. In the case of floods, most of that money spent on mitigation would go for buyouts.

It is IOWA. They don't need no damn help.

[JMU DJ]

It's their choice to live where they want to, and why wouldn't you want to live in such a dangerously awesome place??? I was standing on the 40th floor of the 801 Grand building in Des Moines watching the waters pour over the top of the damn... I was almost convinced at that moment to never leave the state.


Isn't their something called Eminent Domain? If the Gov decides they don't want to pay for these dangerously awesome people anymore, can't they just force them off?

[grizzaholic]

It's their choice to live where they want to, and why wouldn't you want to live in such a dangerously awesome place??? I was standing on the 40th floor of the 801 Grand building in Des Moines watching the waters pour over the top of the damn... I was almost convinced at that moment to never leave the state.


Isn't their something called Eminent Domain? If the Gov decides they don't want to pay for these dangerously awesome people anymore, can't they just force them off?

As I said in another thread. Iowa is only for the truly hardcore. Normal people die by the hundreds of thousands by just watching movies about Iowa. Living there takes real awesomeness.