When Hurricane Helene struck, it was just another chapter in the history of flooding for the home recently acquired by Melanie Cook and her partner Shawn, months before last year’s relentless storms. Realizing the home’s recurrent flooding issues, the couple felt they had no choice but to elevate their house.

“Until we elevate, the threat of flooding looms over us, which is terrifying,” said Cook.

In August, they applied for FEMA’s flood mitigation program designed to assist residents in raising their homes. However, just a month later, Hurricane Helene brought over four feet of water, inundating their property. Though the couple managed to repair their home, the efforts to fortify it persist.

Recently, Cook learned about the ‘Elevate Florida‘ program and promptly applied.

Launched last Friday, this statewide mitigation program aims to streamline the process of protecting homes from natural disasters like hurricanes and flooding. Led by the Florida Division of Emergency Management, the program offers grant funding for specific projects, including:

• Structure Elevation: Raising an existing structure.
• Mitigation Reconstruction: Building an improved, elevated, code-compliant, and hazard-resistant structure on the same site where an existing building has been partially demolished or destroyed.
• Acquisition/Demolition: Purchasing and demolishing a structure from voluntary sellers, with the area maintained as open space by the local community.
• Wind Mitigation: Implementing measures to reduce future wind damage risk, including roof, windows, doors, and other vulnerable part modifications.

To be eligible for the program, participants must contribute up to 25% of the project’s total cost.

Albert Jasuwan, owner of JAS Builders, specializes in elevating homes. He mentioned that the average lift from the first floor is about 13 feet, taking around 7 months to complete, excluding permitting.

“The aim is to save costs compared to building a new house,” Jasuwan explained. “Typically, lifting a house costs about half as much as new construction.”

According to FDEM, the program—including application review, approval, construction, and closeout—takes about one to two years. On the program’s opening day, more than 600 completed applications were submitted for review.

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(Image credit: WTSP)