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A home is surrounded by floodwater from the Pecatonica River in Freeport, Illinois on March 18, 2019.
Scott Olson/Getty Images
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Scott Olson/Getty Images
After a torrential downpour began on Aug. 7, the Pecatonica River jumped its banks in Freeport, Ill. and flooded the basement of Laurie Thomas’ family home, nearly to the ceiling. This latest was Freeport’s fifth major flood in just the past four years. Thomas and her mother have experienced flooding at least 15 times in the past 20 years. Climate change is intensifying hurricanes and triggering sea-level rise along the coast, but it’s also bringing more rainfall and frequent flooding to inland river communities. While some parts of the Mississippi River basin experienced drought conditions this year, others had to deal with extreme rain. Flash flooding in St. Louis broke a century-old rainfall record this summer. Increased rainfall overwhelmed the main water treatment facility in Jackson, Mississippi. Historic flooding left eastern Kentucky communities decimated and searching for protection against climate change.
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Laurie Thomas sits on the front step of her mother’s home in Freeport, Illinois on Sept. 18, 2022. This past May, floodwaters rose to the first step and inundated the basement.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
U.S. infrastructure wasn’t designed for this climate-fueled extreme weather. It’s causing economic strain, impacting quality of life, and forcing people to make hard decisions about whether to stay or leave. Last year, the city of Freeport, with over $3 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, launched a program to buy and remove homes along the river and return the land to floodplains. City officials say that the average home on the east side, the historically Black part of town, is valued at around $15,000. Homeowners can be offered up to an additional $31,000.
Thomas says that’s just not enough money for her mother to pick up and start over elsewhere. She, and some neighbors, would rather take their chances with the river. “People have always lived over here and there’s always been the Pecatonica [River], but lately the floods, they’ve been worse,” Thomas says. “But they’ve been worse everywhere else too. That’s not a reason to kick people out of their homes.” Buyout or not, adapting to increased rainfall and flooding in the region will mean transforming river communities, like Freeport. But for these efforts to succeed, they’ll need support and substantial resources. Otherwise, families like Thomas’ will continue to opt out altogether.
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Laurie Thomas displays a photo she made of flooding that occurred earlier this year in front of the home where her mother has lived for nearly 50 years.
Mark Hoffman/Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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