FEMA says Beatrice flood prevention projects should serve as an example

Four years ago a home stood at the corner of South 9th and Garble Avenue in Beatrice, just feet away from the Big Blue River.

That home has since be demolished and in its place stands a park.

Beatrice has spent millions of dollars removing homes from the flood plain to prevent disasters from happening.

It’s a project they’ve worked on for over two decades and the city administrator says it’s much easier to clean up a flooded park than a home.

“When the flood occurs we’re not trying to move people out and make sure everyone is safe and no longer in flood harm, instead we just have to kind of make sure people don’t venture down into those areas and then afterward come through and do a little clean up work, it’s much easier on this end trying to do that then the other way around,” Tobias Tempelmeyer, the Beatrice City Administrator, said. 

Wednesday morning Tempelmeyer showed a group of FEMA employees, including the deputy director, spots in the city they’ve worked to mitigate flooding.

Sixty homes have been removed from three areas that often flood.

FEMA said Beatrice’s projects have saved the government millions of dollars.

“Just here in Beatrice alone over five million dollars were avoided in losses as a result of just this recent disaster. Since 2015 it’s 19 million dollars,” Daniel Kaniewski, FEMA’s deputy director said.

Mitigation projects are funded by federal, state, and local governments. Property owners who agree to leave their homes are assisted in finding a new place to live.

FEMA says other cities should be looking to follow in Beatrice’s footsteps.

“Beatrice certainly stands as an example for other communities in Nebraska and communities all across this nation as they look to invest in mitigation dollars to take action now before disaster strikes,”Kaniewski said.

Kaniewski is hoping to share the success in Beatrice with communities like Fremont who were overwhelmed by floodwaters.

FEMA does have crews on the ground assessing damage in nine counties in Nebraska.

They are providing homeowners with information on how to apply for assistance, but say without flood insurance the largest grants most people will be able to get are about five thousand dollars.