OAKVILLE, Iowa —A total of $7.9 million in federal funds will be used to buy 124 flood-damaged homes in Oakville that didn’t qualify for buyouts by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The homes are among the 1,352 statewide that were damaged in 2008 and have qualified for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s $150 million in Community Development Block Grant program buyouts, according to Gov. Chet Culver’s office.

Another 32 properties in rural Louisa County near Oakville are eligible for up to $3.32 million in the buyout, the governor’s office said Friday.

In Muscatine County, $228,769 was approved for the buyout of at least one property.

“The announcement of funding for home buyouts is a critically important step forward in the flood recovery process,” Culver said in a statement.

The buyouts announced Friday include homes that are in the 100-year flood plain, pose a health and safety concern to the community, or have been deemed substantially damaged.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development accepted applications from the state’s flood-damaged cities and counties to assess which homes are eligible for buyouts. Award letters were sent to the city and county governments Friday, and  contracts should be issued in the coming week. The local governments will administer the buyout program, the governor’s office said.