Saturday, July 25, 1998
FALMOUTH -- Sixty-eight properties damaged by floods last year in Falmouth will be bought by the government for $3 million.
Three-fourths of the money is a federal grant. The state and the city of Falmouth will roughly divide the remainder, according to a statement from Gov. Paul Patton's office Friday.
The properties, all residential and all within the Licking River flood plain, are to be bought by the city at the fair market value they held before the spring 1997 flood, the statement said. Some buildings were swept off foundations and destroyed when the Licking inundated Falmouth. Houses still standing are to be torn down and the land preserved as green space, Gov. Patton's statement said.
Mike Lynch, a spokesman for the state Division of Emergency Management, said he did not know how many of the properties had become vacant lots.
