Dunloup Creek Flood Plain Buyout Resumes in West Virginia

People living in flood-prone communities in the Dunloup Creek flood plain in West Virginia have another opportunity to sell their properties to the government.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service has launched the second phase of the Dunloup Creek Voluntary Floodplain Buyout program.

The conservation service says 117 homes have been acquired and removed from the flood plain since the program’s first phase began in 2010. About 300 properties are located within the flood plain in Fayette and Raleigh counties.

The Register-Herald reports that the second phase’s sign-up period will run through noon Dec. 2.

Properties that are bought out are placed in public ownership either with the Fayette County Commission or the city of Mount Hope. Once structures are removed, no new ones can be built.