FEMA has approved money to buy out properties in flood-prone areas of northeast and central Pennsylvania.
The agency will spend $4 million for 46 properties, which will then be demolished. This is the first round of buyouts by FEMA in our area.
Twenty-two properties in Bradford,Columbia, Luzerne, Lycoming, Schuylkill, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties are included in this buyout.
“Typically, the funding for home buyouts doesn’t become available until at least 18 months after a major disaster declaration, which in this case, would be around March, 2013,” said Thomas McCool of FEMA, “but after Irene and Lee it was obvious many homeowners needed a permanent solution to repeated flooding as quickly as possible.”
The buyouts are paid with money from the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.
