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FEMA Offers To Raze Floodprone Bristol Homes

BRISTOL — The federal government is providing nearly $600,000 to buy and demolish four houses near Copper Mine Brook that have flooded repeatedly in recent year...

BRISTOL — The federal government is providing nearly $600,000 to buy and demolish four houses near Copper Mine Brook that have flooded repeatedly in recent years, the city announced.

After demolition, the city will keep the land clear as open space, according to the plan announced by Mayor Art Ward.

A series of severe storms in the past several years has ramped up pressure on communities along the Pequabuck River and its tributaries to deal with recurrent flooding, and the new Federal Emergency Management Agency‘s initiative is part of that work.

FEMA is offering to pay the property owners 75 percent of the appraised value of their homes, and they may be able to recoup the rest through a new state fund. Owners who take the deal will move out, and the city will hire a contractor to raze their buildings. FEMA pays 75 percent of the demolition cost, with the city paying the rest.

“You have to have really severe flooding to qualify for this, and these are the properties that FEMA deemed would qualify,” city Grants Administrator Justin Malley said Wednesday.

Read the full story by Courant reporter Don Stacom on www.courant.com.

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