Penobscot County is still waiting for federal funding to help a family whose house has been slowly falling into the Penobscot River for nearly two years.
On June 4, 2024, the backyard of Aaron and Elaine St. Louis’ home in Argyle slid into the Penobscot River with no warning. Since then, Penobscot County officials have worked with the homeowners to buy the land and demolish the home, but have to wait until a $280,000 hazard mitigation grant through the Federal Emergency Management Agency is awarded.
FEMA has been backlogged with payments due to a 56-day partial government shutdown that has shrunk the department’s staffing.
Waiting to receive that federal grant is the only thing stopping county officials from demolishing the Argyle home that has been slowly falling into the Penobscot River since 2024 because of a landslide. The longer the county waits for the funding, the greater the possibility becomes of the house collapsing into the river.
Penobscot County applied for the grant in late 2024. It has gone through the approval process, but is awaiting final approval before being delivered to the county, County Commissioner Dave Marshall said.
“They have to dot the i’s and cross the t’s and all of that stuff. It has to go through the proper process and the people weren’t there in the office to do it,” he said.
The grant would allow the county to buy the land from the homeowners and demolish the structure, Marshall said.
When the funding is awarded to the county, an excavator will be used to pull the building to the home’s driveway where it will then be demolished, according to George Buswell, director of the unorganized territories in Penobscot County.
Penobscot County will then own the land, Marshall said. There are ideas to put a park bench, picnic area or green area on the lot, but that will be decided after the demolition is complete, he said.
Recent pictures showing the home slipping further toward the river have elevated the project’s priority for getting approval, Buswell said at a Penobscot County Commissioners meeting this month.
“There’s really nothing holding that building up right now,” Buswell said.
The house’s porch is barely touching the ground because so much of the earth has slid into the river. Support beams are now visible because the ground around them has eroded away, Marshall said.
Work can’t be started until the grant is approved because FEMA will not reimburse the county, furthering concern that the house will fall into the river because of ongoing erosion and spring rainshowers, Marshall said.
“There’s nothing underneath that porch. If it goes any further, that whole front end could fall into the river,” Marshall said.
