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The buyouts focus largely on two neighborhoods here, and encompass far fewer houses than first pitched more than two years ago, after the River Des Peres overran its banks and swamped homes.

Still, several residents said they were relieved to hear news of cash rescues coming.

“We don’t really have any other option at this point,” said Hannah Briick, who lives on Wilson Avenue, along the river. She and her husband had reached a deal to sell their home in 2022 and were just days away from closing when the flood struck.

“That was absolutely devastating,” she said. “Now we’ve been stuck here for two and a half years.”

The floods came in July 2022. More than a dozen inches of rain fell on some parts of the region over about 24 hours. Hundreds of homes were flooded. Roads and rail lines were swallowed up for hours. Fire departments rescued more than 400 people, mostly in St. Charles County and central and north ӣ����Ƶ County, where the rain fell heaviest, and often near area creeks inundated by the deluge.

In the days that followed, hundreds of homes and apartments across the region were declared uninhabitable, condemned by their respective municipalities.

But few communities were hit as hard as University City.

At one point, University City Manager Greg Rose said the city was interested in an estimated $40 million to buy out around 300 homes along the River Des Peres, which would have included all properties condemned because of flood damage.

But the state, which administers federal flood buyouts, warned it wouldn’t be realistic to fund a buyout that extensive. In September of that year, city officials said instead that they would seek $7 million to offer to buy out 24 houses and one apartment complex.

The buyout funding finally approved, late last year, stems from two grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency; a portion of one requires a match from University City of just over $1 million. They cover buyouts for 12 single-family homes along Wilson, and a line of apartment buildings along Hafner and Westover courts — locations along the River Des Peres.

The areas have persistently flooded. But it’s gotten worse in recent years, as more development adds more concrete, downpours become fiercer and more frequent, and urban waterways are more easily overwhelmed.

Buyouts are familiar here. In 2008, two Wilson residents were killed by floodwaters when the area was pounded by rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. A couple dozen buyouts were pursued on Wilson in the following years and completed in 2011 — covering the entire east side of the street, where properties were adjacent to the river, and where ghostly driveways still lead from the curb to empty grass.

Those buyouts have helped prevent costly, recurring damages, said Bob Criss, a Washington University professor who studies regional flooding and serves on University City’s storm water commission. The same area flooded in 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020, and 2022.

“That buyout was the most cost-effective benefit that I can imagine,” said Criss.

Many homeowners along Wilson have been waiting for buyouts for years.

But several said they wanted to see the details first.

“I’m still trying to figure it out,” said Deril Meeks, who lives at the corner of Wilson and Ahern Avenue.

He needs to know what he’d receive for his home, how much a new place would cost, and if it would be suitable for his 88-year-old mother who lives with him.

“It’s a lot of factors,” he said.

Others have pinned their hopes on buyouts as perhaps the sole way to recover a decent price for their home. The block is now pocked by some vacant houses that residents never returned to after the most recent flood.

But even those hopeful for buyouts are wary.

“Here we go again: U. City said they’d buy us out,” said Wilson resident Michele McCoy. She said she’s “praying that they come through for us.”

The FEMA funding is slated to be available for nearly two years. City leaders said they hope action can progress well ahead of that deadline.

John Wagner, University City’s director of planning and zoning, said that city officials picked locations for buyouts after conferring with local emergency personnel to identify areas with some of the most glaring flood problems and safety concerns. Criss said that the city’s storm water commission was not approached for input.

Many in the area recognize that flood issues stretch far wider than this round of buyouts can encompass.

“I wish we could’ve put a couple hundred (properties on the application), but that certainly wasn’t going to fly,” said Wagner. “We just said these through here are certainly worthy of that.”

Even if this dose of federal funding is secure, he worries it may be University City’s only bite at the apple for the foreseeable future, given the uncertain outlook on federal spending.

“I don’t know how many future grants we’ll have an opportunity for,” he said.

As for the current round of buyouts, multiple residents said they could be the best outcome in a sad situation.

“It’s a shame because these are lovely homes. But what are you gonna do? They can’t keep flooding,” said Kathleen Behrmann, who lives on Wilson. “It’s just sad that the neighborhood is going to be disbanded. But it’s for the best. We can’t continue to go through this.”