Wealthy counties get many FEMA buyouts of homes

N E W ORLEANS» FEMA buys flood-prone homes more often in wealthy, populous counties than in poor, rural areas, even though lower-income rural areas may be more likely to flood frequently, a new study finds.

The reason is probably that better-off local governments have the resources to apply for and administer the programs — which could keep many of the people who most need buyouts from getting them, according to the study Wednesday in the journal Science Advances.

As climate change increases flood risks, there will be greater need to move people and property out of danger, turning the land to open space, lead researcher Katharine Mach of the University of Miami said during a news teleconference Tuesday.

“When it comes to weather and climate events ... we are unambiguously behind the eightball,” she said, noting that U.S. storm damages in 2017 alone totaled more than $300 billion. Those included Hurricanes Harvey and Maria and river floods.

The study of publicly available FEMA data identified 3,780 completed buyouts — those in which every building had been demolished and the land maintained as open space — from 1989 through 2017. The average buyout takes 5.7 years, the researchers said.

In all, more than 43,600 buildings were bought. Buyout costs weren’t part of this study because the data was patchy.

If only communities with planners and 25% in matching funds are using FEMA’s flood buyback programs, such grants probably aren’t going to reach people who may need it most, said researcher A.R. Siders of the University of Delaware.

FEMA doesn’t choose where to buy buildings: local and state governments decide whether and where to offer buyouts, David Maurstad, deputy associate administrator for insurance and mitigation, said in a response emailed Wednesday.

Harris County, Texas, which undergoes a major flood about every two years, has used FEMA’s buyout programs more than any other county, the researchers said. The biggest buyout year by far was 1993 — the year of the Great Midwest Flood — with more than 8,000 properties bought, the study said.