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Madeline Heim

  • Laurie Thomas sits on the front step of the mother’s home for the last 50 years Wednesday, September 28, 2022 in Freeport, Illinois. This past May, floodwaters rose to the first step and inundated the basement. The city of about 25,000 experiences frequent flooding from the Pecatonica River. The east side of the river, where many lower income and Black residents live is prone to flooding. MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL
    Coastal Desk
    To stay or to go: Increased flooding forces towns to make hard choices
    Madeline Heim
    Staying put in the face of flooding can be dangerous and is growing increasingly costly. Property taxes are the largest source of tax revenue for local governments in most states, but property value declines as flood risk increases. Local governments have doubled their infrastructure spending while federal funding remains relatively flat. The federal government covers about 40% of water and transportation construction, but states are left to maintain it.
  • Weeds grow in an area that is making it difficult (or impossible) for boats to get through in Bay City, Wis., on Monday, July 18, 2022. Frank and Cathy Dosdall have lived in Bay City their whole lives and have watched their harbor go from a vibrant waterfront to a place where no one can swim, play or fish. They’re really excited about this Army Corps dredging project in hopes that it can bring the Bay City beach back to what it used to be.
    Coastal Desk
    This federal program helped clean up the Great Lakes. Could it work for the Mississippi River?
    Madeline Heim
    Flooding is happening with more frequency and lasting longer, changing floodplain habitats. Invasive species are working their way further up the river and into its tributaries. And despite efforts to curb pollution running off land and into the river, the dead zone where the Mississippi empties into the Gulf of Mexico still persists.Advocates for the river are hoping that a proposed federal funding program, modeled after an effort to clean up the Great Lakes, could change that trajectory.