WINSLOW, Neb. (AP) It took only minutes for the icy Elkhorn River to surge over a levee and engulf tiny Winslow, but months after the floodwaters receded, the village finds itself struggling to decide its future or if it has a future.
Will it be reborn atop a nearby hill, or will the town stay put, living under a dark cloud?
Its never flooded like that before, said Bill Whitley, 72, who owns a house where his daughter lives in town. But it will someday again.
This town of about 100 residents is one of a growing number that may face the choice of moving or dying as climate change worsens flood risks, leaving people who have lived for years through natures extremes to accept that their hometowns may no longer be habitable where they are.
Since the creation of a buyout program in 1989, federal and local governments have poured more than $5 billion into buying tens of thousands of properties threatened by persistent flooding to avoid the need for frequent rebuilding.
Many residents have agreed to move to other places, but still rare is the relocation of entire towns.
But thats the choice Winslow now has before it, and more may follow. While 30 years of buyouts would seemingly have addressed all the most threatened places, climate change is now putting ever more towns into danger from rising tides and heavier storms.
Meanwhile, state and federal authorities have imposed restrictions on disaster aid that make it harder for them to rebuild after flooding.
I would say our current weather pattern is making it difficult if youre living in a flood plain area, said Bryan Tuma, assistant director of the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
Its unclear how many communities in recent years have been reclassified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency into higher risk flood zones, but a 2013 FEMA-funded study found the amount of land vulnerable to extreme river flooding would likely increase by 45% by the end of the century.
Winslow residents must raise their homes, leave or restart the town at a site a few miles away and 100 feet (30 meters) higher with government financial help.
We are going to flood again, said Winslow village trustee and volunteer fire chief Zachary Klein, who is leading a relocation effort.
Winslow was incorporated 110 years ago about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Omaha, a half-mile (800 meters) south of the Elkhorn River; most residents are farmers or blue-collar workers.
Theyve occasionally had to deal with rising water. But nothing like the last decade, when nine of the 10 highest crests ever have been recorded, including the worst of all in March.
Torrential rains falling on frozen ground poured into the river and sent the normally lazy stream surging into the town and inundating thousands of acres of farmland.
