Buyout Offers Go Out to 300 Flood Victims this Week

Nashville’s largest-ever home buyout program starts this week with 300 offers going to owners in areas hardest hit by last month’s flooding. Stormwater officials want to avoid hop-scotching around the city.

Metro Water Services is primarily targeting the buyouts to homes more than 50% damaged that fall in the so-called “floodway.” Those buildings are actually in moving water during a flood. But department chief Scott Potter says the buyout program is taking a holistic approach by trying to clear entire rows of houses.

“If a home that was three houses down wasn’t specifically in the floodway or wasn’t specifically 50% or greater damaged, if it made sense from an engineering perspective, from a safety perspective to include that home, it was included.”

Those receiving letters of interest will have until August 1st to accept. Finalizing the purchase will take at least another year, given the federal government puts up most of the money. Once flood-prone homes are bought out, they can only be torn down and turned into open space.

Potter says homeowners still have to agree to sell their house so it can be torn down.

“This is a voluntary program, so you may see homes that remain in the floodway that we offered a buyout to.”

Some will have little choice. In the most extreme case, one homeowner would have to elevate by 30 feet in order to rebuild.

Here’s a searchable map of the homes receiving the initial round of buyout offers is online.