CALGARY- News that the province could offer a buyout to more flood-affected homeowners in High River is being met with mixed reactions.
When the June flood devastated the town, residents in the neighbourhood of Wallaceville were hit especially hard. They have since been rebuilding their homes, slowly, and mostly on their own dime.
Now, they’ve learned the government is considering expanding the buyout offer to their community.
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“Do I leave my house in disarray and wait for the call, or do I fix it and then be told ‘you are out of here?’” says resident Doug Grafton. “It’s going to hurt us one way or the other. If you took the buyout, how much do you figure you would lose?”
The province’s plans to pay for homes, then demolish them before turning the land into a park. Originally, the buyout was only offered to home in the High River floodway, but that could change.
“We don’t want to speculate in terms of what the answer is going to be, if there is going to be a buyout,” said government spokesperson Tom Neufeld. “But I think everyone understands that community has suffered tremendous damage since the flood, and we are going to look at it very closely, It is a very unique situation.”
About 250 others homes in the designated floodway in Calgary and High River have already been offered buyouts by the province. They have until November 30 to decide if they’ll take it.
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