02/28/2008

Floods prompt HardinCounty home buyouts

By: JULIE SHEHANE , The Enterprise

Hardin County is buying up homes, mostly off Texas 105 in Pinewood along Pine Island Bayou in an area that has suffered from persistent flooding problems in recent years.

"It's a permanent solution for these homes that have suffered repetitive flooding problems," said Hardin County Judge Billy Caraway. "It's the only real permanent solution for the homeowners."

The county expects to buy 15 homes scattered around Lumberton and Silsbee, all in the flood plain and many damaged in recent flooding.

State grant money totaling $2 million has been earmarked for the buyout project, Caraway said, adding that target homes were identified using severity and frequency of flooding levels in past years.

"Once we buy the homes, they will be taken down and no one will be able to build homes on the lots again," Caraway said.

County commissioners agreed to go ahead with the buyout project on Monday, approving a measure to have the homes appraised. Carl R. Griffith and Associates is coordinating the project for the county.

"Once they are appraised, we will offer the homeowners what we consider fair market value for the homes and property," Caraway said.

Caraway said initial surveys indicate most homeowners look forward to the buyout offers.

"They have the option not to accept our offers though," Caraway added. "They won't be forced to sell to us."

If they don't, however, they won't be able to get homeowners insurance, Caraway explained.

Some residents who have lived near Pine Island Bayou and Village Creek for years say no amount of money would be enough for them to move.

"If I had to go without insurance, that's how it would be," Charles Wallace, whose Lumberton property has flooded several times, said. "When you live in between a creek and a bayou, you have to take the wet with the dry.

"This property has been in my family since the early 1970s. Several family members have lived on it and I just don't see offering it up for a price tag," Wallace said. "Sure it floods, sometimes real bad, but I can't afford to move and this is our home."

A home next door was purchased by FEMA after a 1994 flood and the lot now sits vacant, Wallace said. Hardin County also bought out some property owners in the late 1990s.

Once the newly identified properties are acquired, the county is considering several options, according to Caraway. He didn't specify what they were.

Pine Island Bayou near Sour Lake had fallen below flood stage Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.

Tuesday morning, the river's flood stage was measured at 25.1 feet, just above the 25 feet listed as flood stage. The National Weather Service said low-lying roadways on Old Sour Lake Road had some flooding Tuesday.