Ernie and Nancy Carr sort through their soaked belongings at their home in the Ellendale area of أغر؟´«أ½ on Thursday, July 28, 2022. Shortly thereafter, heavy rain returned and flooded the Carrs' house again two days after overnight rain flooded many parts of أغر؟´«أ½. Photo by Jack Myer, jmyer@post-dispatch.com
ST. LOUIS — City officials are taking initial steps toward buying and demolishing seven flood-prone homes in the Ellendale neighborhood along the River Des Peres, an area hit hard by flash flooding from record-shattering rainfall nearly three years ago.
The properties targeted for buyouts were all overrun by several feet of water and sustained “quite a bit of damage†in July 2022, said Alderman Bret Narayan, who sponsored a that offers a blueprint for how voluntary buyouts would proceed.
Six properties are along the 2700 block of Hermitage Avenue, and the seventh is on an adjacent block of Queen Street, near McCausland and Southwest avenues.
“This type of flooding could happen again on those parcels, so that’s the reason for the voluntary buyouts,†said Narayan.
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The Ellendale properties represent just a small fraction of homes affected by the July 2022 flooding that struck after the city received 9 inches of rain in 24 hours, with even more falling some other parts of the region. Hundreds of area homes flooded, and local fire departments rescued more than 400 people.
The seven properties that emerged as buyout candidates stemmed from recommendations from the City Emergency Management Agency, Narayan said. The agency did not immediately respond to messages Friday.
The voluntary buyout offers would be based on the properties’ “pre-flood, fair-market value,†he added.
After the Ellendale properties are appraised and offers are made, owners would have two weeks to accept or reject them, the bill states.
The bill is set to be discussed at a committee hearing next week, Narayan said.
John Ward takes a moment to pet Vickie Barton's dog Freya while emptying his wheelbarrow into a city-provided trash container in Ellendale on Friday, July 29, 2022. Thursday afternoon storms filled residents' streets and basements with water from the River des Peres for the second time this week. "If they'd come with a good buyout offer, I'm gone," said Ward, a 29 resident of Ellendale. Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Just upstream from Ellendale, some property owners near the River Des Peres in University City could also receive buyouts after enduring their own long and uncertain wait for them.
For example, University City recently secured Federal Emergency Management Agency funding that would cover buyouts for 12 single-family homes on Wilson Avenue and a stretch of apartment buildings on Hafner and Westover courts. The properties were damaged in the same July 2022 flooding.
University City officials said at a council meeting last week that they expect the process to soon accelerate, as they aim to use grant funding to hire a project manager to drive the buyout process forward. The city met with a candidate for that role last week, said John Wagner, the city’s director of planning and zoning.
“It’s all been background paperwork, procurement, that sort of thing, to this point,†he said. “But that’s going to change, hopefully in the next month or so.â€
Ernie Carr cuts his grass on Hermitage Avenue in Ellendale on Friday, June 23, 2023, passing markers for upcoming sewer backup prevention work to be done by the Metropolitan أغر؟´«أ½ Sewer District. Carr's home was among those that flash flooded twice in one week last July. Nancy Carr knows that the couple's home is on a أغر؟´«أ½ city proposed buyout list but says they have not been approached with offers. “We're 75 and 77 and what are we supposed to do…buy a $400,000 house?,” she said. “We'll be here til the end.” Photo by Robert Cohen, rcohen@post-dispatch.com
Ernie Carr, 76, takes a rest while his son-in-law washes down his Ellendale basement that filled with backed-up sewage and floodwater from the River Des Peres for the second time in a week on Friday, July 29, 2022. “Two times in a week, and it’s never happened,†said Carr, who has lived on Hermitage Avenue for 40 years.
