When Larry Herlinger and his wife bought a home in Fairfax out of college, money was tight. They knew the home was in a floodplain, but it was a good deal they couldn’t pass up.
More than two decades later, the Herlingers found themselves racing back home from a family vacation in Georgia after a neighbor called to say floodwaters were sweeping through their neighborhood.
Several inches of rain fell on the 1,700-person village in minutes July 17, overwhelming sewers and flooding the adjacent Duck Creek. By 7 p.m., the rain had eased and blue sky had emerged, but muddy floodwaters still coursed through the village.
Basements flooded. Cars were submerged. Russell McKinney died in the weekend flooding. McKinney, 58, was fatally electrocuted in floodwaters outside his home and pulled out by neighbors who were also shocked.
The calamity came 25 years to the day of a 2001 flood well-known to residents in Fairfax. Then, two people died after floodwaters trapped them in their basement.
‘The worst I’ve seen’
The Herlingers’ home is nestled between Murray Avenue and Bancroft Street, a small neighborhood of a little over 100 homes.
It is nearly all considered a flood zone by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, meaning there is an estimated 1% annual chance of flooding and a 26% chance of flooding over 30 years.
In their first five years on Warren Avenue, their car was submerged in a flood and totaled.
Two days after this recent bout of storms, Herlinger was cutting the carpet out of his Chevrolet pickup and drying the floorboards with two box fans.
“It’s a lot of work to deal with all this flooding,” Herlinger said.
Herlinger considers himself lucky. Floodwaters reached his doorstep but never entered the house. Around him, neighbors spread waterlogged belongings across their lawns while pumping basements dry.
Bart Laube lives beyond what FEMA considers part of the flood zone and he still emptied a 12-gallon pump four times.
“It came through a hole in the wall like a faucet,” Laube said. “It was the worst I’ve seen in 12 years here.”
Residents said storm-related flooding is a familiar problem in the neighborhood. Just two weeks ago, a bout of storms brought slight flooding and mud along the streets.
Some residents eyeing a move but unwilling to eat the loss
Scattered among the homes are open patches of grass – homes once sat on those before the village bought out the land to keep residents from living within the flood zone.
Across the street from lifelong resident Jim Andrew’s childhood home on Bedford Street is one of those parcels. Before the flood of 2001 raged through, a small house-turned-office sat there, directly in the floodway. The owners sold it.
Andrew said he was approached about selling his house, too. He turned it down.
“It’s been my childhood home since 1962,” Andrew said. “But I’m having second thoughts now.”
Some residents said repeated flooding has them thinking about moving, but they doubt they could recover enough of their investment to start over elsewhere.
Robert Perkins lives next door to McKinney, who was fatally electrocuted after this weekend’s storms.
Perkins was shaken up after losing his good friend.
“My wife and I were talking. We’ve been here 48 years, but it’s about time we get out of here,” Perkins said.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: After another deadly flood, Fairfax residents ask − stay or go?
Reporting by David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By David Ferrara, Cincinnati Enquirer | USA TODAY Network
