Village of Lynch Celebrates Rebuild After Flooding

Dec. 8, 2021, 8 p.m. ·

a newly built rental home with a small front porch and steps leading to a side door on a dirt lot.
One of the two rental properties built in the village of Lynch. (Photo courtesy of Judy Petersen)

The village of Lynch, Nebraska, is celebrating the construction of two rental houses after the historic floods in March of 2019 caused large-scale damage to the north-central Nebraska village. The ribbon was cut on the houses earlier this week and applications for new residents are open. Lynch, which sits between the Missouri and Niobrara rivers, received a disaster grant of $500,000 from the Nebraska Department of Economic Development to build the houses.

"Right now, we have the money to build two homes and the village of Lynch is looking at what opportunities they could do to expand, and get more housing in Lynch," said Judy Petersen, executive director of the Central Nebraska Economic Development District, which has been involved in the project.

Petersen says families displaced from the floods had moved to nearby towns, but she hopes this is a way to get residents back to the village of about 250 people.