ASHLAND, Ky. — Maria and David Adams weren’t chased out of their eastern Kentucky home by the government.

“We went to Walmart one day. This old man came up to us and said ‘Were you fellers run out of the neighborhood?’” said Maria Adams.

In 20 years, flood waters pounded the couple’s house five times. David’s parents, Lowell and Marge Adams, lived right next door and faced identical devastation for 35 years. The two homes are positioned in front of Shopes Creek and a smaller creek divides them.

Maria and David Adams realized leaving their home was a cruel necessity.

 “We loved that house,” said Maria.

And pinpointing an affordable escape route was a plodding challenge. The couple had flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, but they needed to generate additional funds if finding a new home was going to prove fruitful.

“Then two gentlemen from FEMA showed up from Washington, D.C., and deemed us a severe repetitive loss property,” said Maria Adams.

A severe repetitive loss property “is any insurable building for which two or more claims of more than $1,000 were paid by the National Flood Insurance Program within any rolling 10-year period, since 1978,” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Both houses were deemed severe repetitive loss properties. The designation opened the door for the Adams couple to relocate.

“That was a slow process,” said Kelly Ward, mitigation manager for the Grayson, Kentucky-based FIVCO Area Development District. “I always tell people, it’s a marathon, not a sprint.”

Residents who fall under the umbrella of flood-related, FEMA-designated properties are often eligible for a buyout through the federal agency. Eligible participants can also request alterations. Another local property owner, Roger Blackburn, combated similar flood issues at one of his rental properties in 2011.

Blackburn commissioned workers to lift the property with a hydraulic pump and transform it into a stilted house. He accomplished the renovation through FEMA funds, which max out at $30,000 for the reparation or destruction buildings.

Maria and David Adams weighed their options and voted against boosting their property off the ground.

Ward said he acted as liaison for the family between Boyd County and the state. Kentucky Emergency Management handles severe repetitive loss projects, which are ultimately bankrolled by FEMA through reimbursements to the county.

The process lasted about two-and-a-half years, Ward said, but Maria and David Adams completed it in January 2015. Unfortunately, David’s parents died before their home was bought out that May. Their death was a hardship for Maria and David Adams at a time when the stress of relocating was nearly alleviated.

Now, Maria and David Adams live elsewhere in the county, far away from flood plains, thanks to the FEMA buyout.

“Everybody that worked with us, they were very good to us,” said Maria Adams. “They were very helpful, always respectful and courteous. Leaving Shopes Creek was a tough decision, but we had to do it.”

Adkins writes for the Ashland, Kentucky Daily Independent.