World File Photo by Susan Chambers Flood-ruined carpeting, tossed out of one of the houses on Old Wireless Lane in Coos Bay, is ready to be thrown away on Jan. 5. All five houses on the lane were damaged by floodwaters when a dike broke, releasing water, sewage and debris that flowed through their houses during high tides over New Year’s weekend.

With promises of federal disaster aid on the way, local and state officials are talking about using a portion of the money to buy out homeowners living below the flood plain in the area hit hardest by the New Year's weekend floods.

On Monday, Coos County Legal Counsel David Koch, who serves as the county's emergency management spokesman, said he spoke with officials from the city of Coos Bay and members of the Oregon Emergency Management Office last week about using Federal Emergency Management dollars and flood insurance proceeds to either buy out landowners or help pay for construction costs to elevate their homes above the flood plain.

While the plan may seem drastic, Koch said, so far, landowners are receptive.

“I would say, by and large, folks are very happy that the opportunity is going to be made available for them,” he said. “It will address - for the long-term - a problem that exists in that area.”

In January 1983, the 100-year-old dike was breached by a combination of high tides and storm runoff causing extensive damage. High tides at the end of January this year, plus a weather forecast calling for heavy rains prompted those living near the dike to brace themselves again for flooding. Neighbors pitched in to help one another out and built a 300-foot-long sandbag dam while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducted emergency dike repair work in anticipation of flooding similar to the month before.

“It will happen again,” Koch said.

For almost two weeks leading up to the New Year's weekend, heavy rainfall, severe storms and, later, low tides and a broken dike all combined to create an estimated $4.5 million dollars in public and private property damage in Coos County - much of it in the Englewood area. On Dec. 30, the dike along the Coalbank Slough was breached and resulted in about 20 homes being inundated with flood waters.

Some residents were kept out of their homes for weeks.

The homeowners who were affected the most include those living along Old Wireless Lane, Southwest Boulevard and Shinglehouse Slough Road, Fruitdale Road and Illinois Street.

Duane Wright, who has lived on Old Wireless Lane since 1963 with his wife Joyce, said he would be agreeable to either a buy out or raising his home - whichever is cheaper.

“Basically, we're in a situation where if you can get out, you should get out,” he said. “Otherwise you will be in the same boat again next year.”

He said he does not know the attitude of all his neighbors.

“I would hope they would be smart enough to take it and leave. But you never know,” Wright said.

Similar offers have been made in the past, he said, however they have always fallen through.

“When it gets down to the nitty-gritty, people tend to change their minds,” Wright said.

How much federal aid is on the way is still unknown.

“Everything is in the discussion stage. No firm plans or commitments have been made,” Koch said, noting that emergency planners would be working on plans over the next several weeks.

“We'll now go through the process of identifying specific projects and then working with FEMA to finalize dollar amounts,” Koch said.

The state, not individual counties, ultimately will determine how much federal aid each county will receive. Koch said he has assurances from state emergency officials that the Englewood area has been identified as “one of their priority areas for mitigation.”

“We are very hopeful that the state will spend those mitigation dollars in Coos County,” Koch said.

In addition to the plan to buy or elevate the homes in the diking and drainage districts, Koch said the FEMA money also would go toward paying for damages to some county roads, including Glen Aiken Creek Road and Lee Valley Road, which sustained the most damage during the storms.

The county also is working through the U.S. Highway Administration to secure funding to fix the county's “federal aid roads,” including East Bay Drive. Koch said the county has qualified for federal assistance through both agencies after surpassing the damage thresholds and as result is seeking “several hundred thousand dollars” from each agency.

Koch said the announcement that federal aid was on the way came as no surprise to area local emergency managers.

If FEMA aid had not been made available to Oregon, Koch said, Coos County would have to foot 100 percent of the bill for road repairs, meaning those repairs would not happen anytime soon.