MASON CITY, IA – Yes, it's true.
It may not look like it walking down stairs, but Amber Walker's Mason City basement was underwater just a little more than a year ago.
"Look outside, and it was getting higher, and higher, and so, went downstairs and stepped on the carpet, and I sank like 2 feet cause the carpet had come all the way up," said Walker.
Aside from a few sandbags lingering the front yard, you'd never know the water was there, and that's because unlike these homes that are awaiting FEMA help, Walker had one key thing on her side.
"We had flood insurance, so it's completely redone again."
Same with the North Carolina Ave. neighborhood just up the street from several condemned homes; you won't find any barricades in front of them, they won't be taped off, and if you go inside, chances are a lot of them look like Walkers…brand new.
The state is giving Mason City more than eight and a half million dollars in a community block grant money to buy these homes out.
While some of the homes are health hazards or dangerous, a lot of owners say they just don't want to relive the spring of 2008
"It's a mixed emotion, but we kind of feel, if we have the opportunity, we might as well go for it, cause we don't want to go through a flood again,” said Walker.
But while some will accept a buyout, others say, they're happy where they are, and folks like Peggy Matous plan to stand their ground.
"I just said no more, we just chose just to remodel and fix the house the way we wanted it," said Matous
And hope they don't get flooded this badly again.
City administrator Brent Trout says the homeowners on the state's buyout list will be contacted by the city in the next few weeks.
To see the full list CLICK HERE.
