The Metropolitan Sewer District of Greater Cincinnati has been awarded a grant to demolish 35 flood-prone properties near Muddy Creek in Green Township and Cincinnati.
The $4 million grant from FEMA and the Ohio Emergency Management Agency announced Friday, plus $570,000 from MSD in local cost share, will be used to purchase those properties along Muddy Creek Road between Glenway Avenue and Westbourne Drive.
In a release Friday, MSD said property owners have volunteered to participate in the program.
The project seeks to address years of flooding along Muddy Creek, where homeowners have experienced flooding and sewer backups.
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MSD said those homes were constructed in the 1950s in the former creek bed, which was enclosed in a sewer.
With the grant funding, expected in early spring, MSD will begin working to acquire those properties and relocate residents to "safe and comparable housing."
After the homes are demolished, MSD will work to "restore the area as a natural floodplain or stormwater management area," a process estimated to take about two years.
MSD is also working with OEMA on a second grant request for up to five more properties on Muddy Creek Road.
