BY CATHERINE TSAI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FALMOUTH -- The money is finally starting to flow for 68 residents selling their flood-damaged homes to the government.
Thursday morning, Lt. Gov. Steve Henry personally delivered the first $600,000 of federal aid for a $3.2 million buyout of homes ruined by the March 1997 flood.
"I'm very happy to get this check," council member Virgiline Moore said. "These people have waited long enough."
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FLASHBACK
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Special report on the Flood of '97.
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The money had been tied up as the city tried to raise its required share of the aid, or about $400,000. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development eventually agreed to pay that amount as part of a separate $2.2 million disaster recovery plan for Falmouth. From homes to the police department, the 1997 flood washed away whole houses, cars and memories.
"I lost my family photographs," said Wanda Cummins, 41, whose trailer was ruined. For the past 17 months, she and her 16-year-old twin sons have been living in the temporary trailer community of New Hope with other families whose homes were washed away.
Even in City Manager Steve Hasson's second-floor temporary office, the blue carpet is curled and warped as evidence of the flood's reach.
But Mr. Hasson said jokes about wearing life preservers in town have grown old, and Falmouth is preparing for its share of Pendleton County's booming growth.
"We've been blessed," Mr. Hasson said. "We've had tremendous devastation and waited a long time for recovery, but the promise of financial recovery surprises me a lot."
The government plans to acquire 75 homes in the buyout before it's all over. The first was bought Thursday.
Mr. Hasson said originally more than 200 were on a list of houses for the buyout. People started taking their names off as they got tired of waiting for the buyout money that the city was trying to win.
"I've had people call me at 2, 3 in the morning asking where the money is," Mayor Max Goldberg said.
Some decided to repair their homes themselves or to get help from Pencare, a group of volunteers from area churches. Former Pencare director Don Cross said the group has made an estimated $2 million in renovations since the flood.
Pencare repaired its last home at the end of June. Now the St. Vincent de Paul Society has opened to help the remaining flood victims. Besides the home buyout, the city is also trying to help 14 families move out of New Hope before the temporary trailer park closes Sept. 4. About 100 trailers were set up in April 1997, immediately after the flood.
"My personal goal is that by Sept. 1, that park is a distant memory," Mr. Hasson said.
