Town of Silex may be moving

By Alex Fees

KSDK -- The Lincoln County town of Silex may be moving to higher ground, out of the way of floodwaters.

Jay Gourley, project coordinator for the Booneslick Regional Planning Commission, an agency that works on behalf of the Missouri counties of Lincoln, Warren, and Montgomery, says Silex has been granted a $1.9 million grant from the Missouri Department of Economic Development.

With that grant money, officials will be able to buy-out Silex residents whose homes are in a flood plain or floodway, and relocate those residents further east along Route E. In September, nearly every home and business in Silex was affected by floodwaters.

Mayor Janet Baker says the volunteer program is open to all Silex residents.

"All of the town, probably 75 to 80 percent of the town, is in floodway or floodplain," Baker says. "Our house is in a floodway. So, it's basically the whole town."

Gourley says the Silex program is essentially a lot swap.

Homes that residents choose not to move would be torn down. Silex officials are looking at a few different pieces of property to annex, about a mile or so east of town.

Silex residents will learn more about the plan at a town hall meeting to be scheduled sometime after July 15.