Some Wisconsin Homeowners Might Not Get Flooding Buyouts

Almost 250 homeowners have applied for a buyout of their homes following last summer’s flooding, but federal funding of $25-$35 million may not be enough to cover all the requests.  Traditional Wisconsin home insurance policies do not cover flooding, so homeowners without a policy from the National Flood Insurance Program have no coverage in flood situations.

Flood Insurance Program Favors Primary Residences

In this case the funds come from FEMA and will be distributed by state officials.  Some communities still haven’t applied for buyouts.  Officials expect to learn the amount of FEMA funds by mid-December.

Roxanne Gray, spokesperson for the Wisconsin Emergency Management Department, said that in events such as this the state normally receives three times more applications then the money available.   “What is unusual in this event is the number of buyout applications we’ve received and the significant amount of money, but that is a reflection of how significant this flooding event was.”  So far applications total $36 million.

Fortunately state officials will give buyout priority to homeowners whose primary residence suffered more than 50% flood damage, especially over applications involving vacation homes.  An informal survey conducted online by WISC-TV shows overwhelming support for this plan.