Flood-Damaged Iowa Homes Torn Down as Ex-Owners Watch

Some former homeowners have been watching their flood-damaged homes in Mason City, Iowa, get demolished.

The Mason City Globe Gazette reports former homeowner Sally Pressly said it was hard to watch their homes be torn down, but they’re glad it’s over.

The recent demolitions of nine homes in the East Park Place neighborhood are part of the aftermath of the June 2008 flooding that filled many of the homes with several feet of water.

City planner Tricia Sandahl said more homes nearby will be removed once they are examined to see if any can be sold and moved.

“We need to re-evaluate the rest to see what kind of damage was done during mothballing and which houses would likely be sold at auction,” Sandahl said.

Jim Kuhlman and his wife lived in the neighborhood with their two daughters for more than 29 years. Kuhlman took photos of the demolition.

“It’s sad to see the whole community be wiped out, but it’s good for the neighbors who are left who had to look at the boarded-up houses. I guess we’d resolved ourselves that it would be destroyed and we’ve moved on.”

Another former owner, Thomas Strong agreed it was hard to watch his home come down, but he said it needed to come down.

“It was a well-built house but it was standing in a floodplain,” said Strong, who lived in the home with his wife for 38 years. “We would not like to see somebody else go through what we went through.”