$2.5M grant to buy, destroy 14 Plainville homes

PLAINVILLE, Conn. (WTNH) --  Major federal dollars are on the way to help a Connecticut neighborhood that's been devastated by floodwaters.

The two and a half million dollar grant will be used to buy and demolish 14 homes in Plainville.

It will also help some financially strapped homeowners, who have had to live through numerous floods,  get back on their feet.

Frank Iris will never forget the day Hurricane Irene blew in and did a number on his home.

"It crested here, eight inches," Iris said.

He is just one of the several homeowners who live near the Pequabuck River, where the flooding has been so bad and come so often that many homes have been condemned.

"Very nerve wracking because you don't know how much it's gonna flood, is it gonna go over the road or not," Iris said, "it's very nerve wracking because you've got to get all of your vehicles out and clean out your basement."

However, Friday the calvary, in the form of some of the state's top lawmakers, came to the rescue.

They announced that the town will receive more than $2.5 million from FEMA to buy 14 homes at 75 percent of fair market value before Irene, and then turn the area into an open space.

"Although the price tag may look expensive, $3 million to move 14 homes and relocate 14 families, the savings in just a five, 10-year window makes up for that," said Senator Chris Murphy.

Those federal dollars will be critical to folks like Tom Zmijewski.

"Without this, we'd have no possibility of selling the house," said Zmijewski.

He's lived there for 35 years, and suffered through three floods last year alone.

"We have a young daughter who gets more and more excited every time to see the water coming up, to see the fire engines coming down the street to take us out," said Zmijewski, "but it's harrowing on an old person like myself."

Zmijewski and his family plan to stay in Plainville, but move to an area where rising water is not an issue.

For 14 families in the water-logged neighborhood, Friday's announcement represents a new beginning.    

"What happens here is not only providing relief for distressed homeowners who deserve and need it, but also open space to the town of Plainville," said Senator Richard Blumenthal.

If all goes as planned, the town of Plainville will buy those homes in late spring or early summer, and have those 14 houses demolished within the next 90 days.
        
Once the wrecking ball gets moving, things will move quickly.