Moving towns could be a big solution to preventing future flood damage

Many families and businesses from Coon Valley to Steuben are slowly recovering from the late summer floods last year on and near the Kickapoo River.

The Mississippi River Regional Planning Commission has heard a report this week that people living in those towns are willing to move out of floodplain areas to keep their communities together.

Dave Bonifas, a community development planner with the commission, says one big obstacle is that it’s hard to get or keep young people in the flooded towns.

Bonifas says the planning commission may be able to help provide long-term relief to the towns, in the form of housing improvements and psychological care.

Relocating much of a town after severe flooding has been done before, in places like Soldiers Grove and Gays Mills.

Boniface tells the commission that a meeting later this month with representatives of flooded towns may help determine what assistance the planning group could give people who experienced property losses.