Cobb, Austell to ask federal gov't to buy 250 flood-damaged homes

By Staff

For the AJC

Four months after September's historic flood swept through Cypress Club subdivision in Austell, much of the area remains a ghost town.

Loretta Crowder-Rorie and her husband have patched up their flood-damaged house, but many of the homes around them remain empty.

In tomorrow's AJC, staff writer Mary Lou Pickel talks with flood victims about their difficult recovery and gives a county-by-county breakdown of federal aid received by home and business owners so far.  Cobb has received the lion's share of individual disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency -- with victims receiving a combined $22.9 million in grants. They have also received the greatest share of  Small Business Administration low-interest loans to rebuild,  a total of $24.6 million.

Just the same, it hasn't been enough to coax many residents of Cypress Club and others in Cobb County to fix their homes and move back in.  About 250 people in unincorporated Cobb County and the cities of Austell and Powder Springs want the federal government to buy their homes.  Some are traumatized by the memory of the rising waters that September day. They don't ever intend to move back.

Jan. 19 is the deadline for counties and cities to submit home buyout paperwork to the Georgia Emergency Management Agency. Local governments review the paperwork from individual homeowners before submitting it to GEMA, which administers the federal buyout money.

This year, about $29 million in federal grant money is available statewide for flood-related home buyouts. Another $10 million will come from the state and local governments.