The situations aren’t exactly comparable, but it still seems that if the city of Lawrence can afford to buy a flood-plagued house in North Lawrence, it should be able to provide some financial relief for the owner of a home damaged by flooding that resulted from fighting the Boardwalk Apartments fire.

City Manager Mike Wildgen confirmed this week that the city would pay $138,000 for a home owned by Estalene and Loman Lathrom at 524 N. Seventh St. The Lathroms say their flooding problem was the result of increased development in the area. While the city didn’t acknowledge any negligence in the matter, Wildgen said the purchase was justified because demolishing the house and regrading the property would help alleviate flooding in the entire area.

Wildgen also noted that the city had purchased dozens of other similar properties over the last 20 years to help prevent flooding. If that’s the case, why can’t the city step up and help Michael Clover and his family?

Raw sewage backed up into the Clovers’ duplex, located next door and downhill from the Boardwalk Apartments, because of water used to fight the Oct. 7 fire. The Clovers’ insurance company says it will not cover the $60,000 in damage to the duplex because the loss was not fire-related. A claim against the city was denied, Wildgen said, because the city wasn’t negligent. “We were putting out a fire,” he said.

The insurance claim is being appealed through the Kansas Insurance Commissioner’s office, and Wildgen said the city is helping pursue the claim. That’s good, but rather than leave the Clover family homeless in the meantime, the city should pay for the damage then pursue the insurance claim with the agreement that the family will repay the city with any insurance settlement it receives.

The city may not have been any more negligent in the Clovers’ case than it was in allowing development that created flooding problems for the Lathroms, but the Clovers deserve some relief that the city has the ability to provide.