By TIM UNRUH

Salina Journal

CHAPMAN -- As big-equipment operators turned shattered neighborhoods into vacant lots Thursday, Jon Londeen was happy and concerned at the same time.

"Things are moving at a very good pace. Boy, the trucks have just been flying in the last couple of days. Getting all of that junk out of town is really helping the attitude," Londeen said.

The June 11 tornado that did tens of millions of dollars in damage to the town, killed one person and injured others, destroyed the home of Jon and Kay Londeen. It also took out their funeral home and damaged their hardware business.

The Londeens plan to rebuild and continue on with life and business in Chapman.

What worries the merchants is how many others will rebuild. Those are customers they need to stay in business and help the town recover.

"Some people are talking about moving out of town and buying other places. Others are talking about building here," Jon Londeen said. "There's a lot of indecision in what they're going to do."

His biggest concern is getting the schools ready to open Aug. 18. School officials have repeatedly pledged to open despite heavy damage to school in town. They are repairing what they can, using donated space downtown and at the Catholic parish hall and bringing in portable classrooms.

"What I worry about is that some of those kids will start at some adjoining school centers, and once they do that, we're probably not going to get them back," Jon Londeen said. "If the school isn't strong, we really would suffer here."

We're stuck in limbo

There is pressure to make progress, but as officials move through the process, there are times when folks feel they're in limbo.

The Londeens are staying in a rented house in Chapman.

"If we rebuild the house and funeral home where they were, we're hoping other people will follow suit," Kay Londeen said. "Otherwise, Chapman is going to be looking pretty desolate, I'm afraid."

The issue this week has been the flood plain. Much of the damaged area was built at a low elevation. Rebuilding is possible there with the proper permits, said Tom Morey, Topeka, head of the state's National Flood Insurance Program.

If your level of damage is less than 50 percent, you can get a permit to rebuild without flood plain stipulations, he said.

But to put a new structure in the flood plain, or to repair a home that is more than 50 percent damaged, the building has to be at least 1 foot above the "base flood elevation," he said.

That stipulation will eliminate a lot of basements, Morey said, and that includes in-ground storm shelters. The alternative is adding safe rooms, which are "just as safe as those in the ground," he said.

Morey and Steve Samuelson, a National Flood Insurance Program specialist, have collectively spent most of the past week in Chapman explaining the regulations.

"We're trying to I.D. some federal money to help offset the costs of requirements," Morey said.

Dickinson County officials referred comment on the flood plain issue to Chapman officials, who were not available for comment Thursday.

Source of frustration

The issue is causing some angst in Chapman, Morey said, which is understandable.

"A lack of understanding flood plain management requirements is probably the main source of frustration," he said. "They've had a devastating disaster. Of course there's going to be frustrations."

Morey said that anyone living in a flood plain with a federally backed mortgage is required to have flood insurance. It's a good idea for anyone living in flood plain to have that protection, he said.

With so much of the affected areas of Chapman in the low area, Bob Diehl is worried about the recovery.

The retired Chapman school custodian was among those who opened the school storm shelter on the night of the tornado. He's also on the Chapman United Methodist Church board. The church and parsonage were destroyed.

"A lot of people aren't going to have money to come back and build," Diehl said. "This flood plain thing is just going to kill this little town."

n Reporter Tim Unruh can be reached at 822-1419 or by e-mail at tunruh@salina.com.