FEMA commits $11.5M more to Des Plaines flood relief
The Federal Emergency Management Agency has committed $11.5 million to Des Plaines that would help pay for 47 more houses to be purchased and demolished in a continually flooded part of town.
The federal funds, along with $3.8 million from a Metropolitan Water Reclamation District grant received in March, represents the third phase of buyouts since floods in 2008 and 2013 ravished the Big Bend Drive subdivision and prompted hundreds of residents to put their names on a voluntarily buyout list.
The funds came through FEMA's Uncommitted Funds Pilot Program, which represents leftover money never spent from other damage mitigation projects.
For example, money may have been freed up after a homeowner who signed up for a buyout got the purchase offer but decided to stay, said Ben Garmisa, spokesman for Rep. Tammy Duckworth, one of three members of Congress who represent the Des Plaines area and made the latest funding announcement.
Jon Duddles, Des Plaines' assistant director of public works and engineering who coordinates the local buyouts, said the city applies for federal funding annually, but this money came separately.
"They know we need a ton of money," Duddles said. "Luckily, it's coming."
So far, a dozen homes have been purchased and razed on Big Bend Drive as part of the $10 million first phase, but another seven properties under contract remain in limbo because they are being partially funded with state money tied up in the ongoing budget impasse.
In total, the Illinois Department of Natural Resources committed $2 million to Des Plaines.
Meanwhile, another dozen buyouts continue in the second phase, funded with $3 million from FEMA and $1 million from the water district. The city has closed on one house and is expected to close on another soon, Duddles said.
The city could begin making offers late this year or early next on homes in the third round, he said. Many of the homes are on Sherwood Road and Hawthorne Terrace, which run parallel to Big Bend Drive, and are near the Des Plaines River.
That would leave another 50 or so homes on the city's flood buyout waiting list. Those could be included in a potential fourth phase, thanks to about $12 million the city will have left from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District grant it received earlier this year.
The money could serve as part of a required local match to additional federal funds received.