Rural flood buyouts begin in Linn County

Linn County finalized 11 buyouts of flood-damaged rural homes on Monday.

Russell and Linda Keast lost their house east of Palo in the flood, lived in a Federal Emergency Management Agency trailer for a few months, bought a new house, and finally signed over their old home to the county on Monday.

“It's still sitting there,” Russell Keast said. “The county will demolish it.”

Keast, a district judge, and his family had lived in the 110-year-old farmhouse for 15 years before the flood in 2008. They have since moved to a house in southwest Cedar Rapids.

“I was very relieved not to be making three mortgage payments,” Keast said.

Linn County had a smaller job to do than Cedar Rapids when it came to buyouts. About 260 rural Linn County properties were damaged in the flood.

Demolitions of structurally unsound rural buildings began in November.

Following is a list of buyouts that were finalized:

• Robert D. Schneider, 1070 Ivanhoe Rd., Mount Vernon

• Michael R. Waltermyer, 1111 Bertram Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids

• Stephen & Sons, LLC, 1115 & 1119 Bertram Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids

• David E. Heck, 1501 Bertram Rd., Cedar Rapids

• Carl and Patricia Hallberg, 1505 Bertram Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids

• Russell and Linda Keast, 4254 Chain Bridge Rd., Cedar Rapids

• Kenneth and Rhonda Culver, 4297 Chain Bridge Rd., Palo

• June M. Cach, 4914 Old River Rd., Ely

• Lawrence and Karen Miller, 5100 Old River Rd., Ely

• Michael O'Connor, 5904 Wilder Dr. SE, Cedar Rapids