Over $1.5 million in federal funding is headed to Lafayette to alleviate flooding in homes located in floodways. According to Dee Stanley, CAO for Lafayette Consolidated Government, a list of homes have been identified as “repetitive loss structures,” houses that have flooded multiple times. “The thinking is,” says Stanley, “why should FEMA or insurance companies step in and pay for this repetitive loss every time somebody floods? Let’s pay one time money to raise the structure or to move that person out.” The funding will be used to raise or buy out 13 homes in Lafayette Parish. If homeowners choose a buyout, the properties will be sold to the municipalities or the parish, the houses will be razed and the land used as greenspace and potential water retention areas during high water conditions. The $1,673,150 is the first hazard mitigation money the parish has received to begin flood mitigation.