Game of Floods - Foggy Hollow
Landlord
Assignment: Read the role assignment and background reading below, then answer the questions at the end.
Role Assignment:
You own a number of houses in Foggy Hollow, and make your living renting them out. You do a lot of the maintenance on the rental homes yourself. You are always telling potential tenants what a great neighborhood it is – a good place for families.
Your tenants keep complaining about wet basements, and the flood damage is making it hard to make a living because you keep having to pay for repairs. You have flood insurance, but it’s super expensive and doesn’t cover everything. You’ve thought about selling, but the flood issue is scaring away buyers. You think the town should do something!
Background Reading:
Soldier’s Grove: How One Town Retreated from the Floods
Adapted from http://soldiersgrove.com/history/the-floods/
The people of Soldier’s Grove, Wisconsin solved their flooding problem for good – by moving their entire town out of the floodplain!
Soldier’s Grove is located on the Kickapoo River, and the town experienced frequent flood disasters for decades. The first major flood was recorded in 1907, followed by more floods in 1912, 1917, and 1935. The 1935 flood made it clear to the villagers that flooding was a serious and permanent problem, and Soldiers Grove turned to the government for help, first petitioning for a flood control project in 1937.
While they waited for the government to respond, there were four more major floods, including a disastrous one in 1951. New floodplain zoning rules also made it difficult to build in Soldiers Grove, and the town was in decline.
Soldiers Grove - 1978 Flood
Congress finally approved a plan for a levee – a wall to keep out the floodwaters - to protect Soldiers Grove in 1962, and design work began in the late 1960s. In 1975, almost 40 years after the initial request, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers presented its final plan for a levee. The villagers had hoped that the levee would solve their problems - but when the engineers unveiled the details of the proposed levee, their message was depressing.
The levee would cost $3.5 million, yet would protect only about $1 million worth of property. Even with the U.S. government contribution, it would take the town 100 years to pay it off – and by then, they were likely to need a new levee! And the expensive levee would not help revitalize the downtown, or prevent young people from migrating away to urban areas. The villagers had the feeling that Soldiers Grove was dying.
Their backs against the wall, community leaders came up with a radical proposal, believing it was the only way to save the village. They suggested that the federal government spend the same $3.5 million to help the community evacuate its floodplain and rebuild the business district on higher ground! The town offered to raise 40% of the cost, and wanted to use the federal money for the remaining 60%.
Map of Soldier’s Grove showing the old downtown located entirely in a floodplain within a bend of the Kickapoo River. The map also shows the new downtown location on higher ground.
Soldiers Grove was serious! They teamed up with experts from the University of Wisconsin to study the plan. When the team concluded that the relocation made good sense, the village used its own funds to purchase the new downtown site and began the extension of utility services. However, federal agencies were slow to support relocation. For three years—from the time the idea was first proposed in early 1975 to 1978—the village’s appeals for assistance were denied.
Then in July 1978, the Kickapoo hit the village again, with the largest flood in history. The flood inflicted a half-million dollars in damages, completely destroying several buildings, including the community’s new concrete block bank. While no one could have wished for such a flood, it accomplished what community leaders had not been able to do: It galvanized opinion inside and outside the village that Kickapoo River flooding was inevitable and that relocation must proceed at once. With the help of then-U.S. Senators William Proxmire and Gaylord Nelson, the flood jarred loose the support of federal agencies. The Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development granted the village $900,000 in the fall of 1978 so that relocation could begin.
Downtown Soldiers Grove moved uphill out of the flood plain, and the former main street became a riverside park and recreation area.
Riverside park and recreation area at the old site.
The new downtown on high ground.
In 2007, the biggest flood in the history of Soldiers Grove hit the area. The riverside park was flooded for ten days, but the new downtown stayed high and dry! The villagers worked together to quickly restore the damage to the park.
“The recent flood devastation reinforced that we did the right thing. I don’t ever want to go through another flood like 1978” said John Young, a local merchant.
Jerry Moran, the Crawford County Sheriff, is proud to have been part of the relocation project. “It was a huge project for a small community and it was successful,” Moran said. “What else can you ask for?”
Questions:
1. Why did the people of Soldiers Grove want to move their town?
2. Why did Soldiers Grove reject the U.S. Army Corp idea to build a levee?
3. Who paid for the relocation of Soldiers Grove?
4. Answer this question in character as a Foggy Hollow resident and landlord (see the role description at the top). For Soldiers Grove to relocate, the government had to offer a buy-out: they paid people enough money for their properties that they could afford to rebuild in a safer location. If Foggy Hollow offered to buy some of the homes owned by your landlord character, do you think you would accept? Why or why not?
Once you have answered the above questions, move on to Part 2 here.
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