FEMA paid $5 million to raise 27 flood-prone buildings along Treasure Coast waterfronts

As the last federal home-elevation project on the Treasure Coast winds down, a debate continues over using tax money to raise flood-prone properties.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency spent almost $5 million since 2006 to lift 26 homes and a business in low-lying waterfront neighborhoods in Martin and St. Lucie counties.

FEMA allocated the money from its Hazard Mitigation Assistance programs, which aim to reduce the long-term risk of flood damage to buildings insured under the National Flood Insurance Program.

FEMA reimbursed the property owners for most of the costs — and for eight Sewall’s Point homeowners, all of the costs — of lifting the buildings several feet off the ground, resting them on columns, reconnecting the utilities and landscaping the yards.

As part of the deal, the homeowners agreed to continue coverage under the National Flood Insurance Program. That obligation runs with the property forever, even though their elevated homes are the least likely to flood.

Dozens of homeowners in St. Lucie Settlement, a 40-year-old neighborhood on the banks of the South Fork of the St. Lucie River, started considering FEMA’s home- elevation program in 1994 after their houses had flooded repeatedly. Deputy County Engineer Terry Rauth said the floods were caused by a variety of different factors.

Hurricanes spur action

But it wasn’t until the flooding caused by hurricanes Frances and Jeanne in 2004 and Wilma in 2005 that the idea of seeking federal money to lift flood-prone houses took off on the Treasure Coast. Since then:

• Work on 15 building-elevation projects in St. Lucie Settlement was done between August 2006 and April 2013.

• Work on four projects in St. Lucie County, three on Hutchinson Island and one on the North Fork of the St. Lucie River was done between 2009 and December 2014.

• One elevation project, in Sewall’s Point, out of the eight undertaken since March 2011, remains unfinished.

The elevation projects received rave reviews from some homeowners and mixed reviews from others.

FEMA’s home-elevation programs also have several vocal proponents and critics, particularly in Sewall’s Point, who still are debating whether the federal government should be paying to lift waterfront homes.

"I understand, if your house is in a floodplain, you get flooded out, you get flood damage, so you take it," said Jon Chicky, a longtime Sewall's Point resident and former mayor. "Would I take it? Probably."

Yet Chicky and other skeptics of the home-elevation programs remain skeptical about how the programs can be sustained, considering steadily rising sea levels are putting an ever-increasing number of waterfront properties at risk of flooding.

"I think it's not good public policy," Chicky said. "Where do you stop? Half of the east side of Sewall’s Point is in lowlands, so where do we draw the line? Do we raise all the houses?”

Nearly two-thirds of Sewall's Point's 992 residential properties already are in flood zones, said Town Manager Pam Mac'Kie Walker. The peninsula is between the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon.

Former Sewall's Point Commissioner Jacqui Thurlow-Lippisch, who helped coordinate the town's home-elevation program, said she considers it a success.

Future shock?

"I think it's the wave of the future for all of us," Thurlow-Lippisch said. "I think in 100 years, almost everything along the coast is going to be elevated. The only other possibility is to retreat and leave the area. I do think there will be some areas where people do end up leaving because it’s too intense — the flooding.”

For Sewall's Point homeowners, the verdict on lifting their homes out of harm's way is mixed.

“We found it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be,” said Doucette Pryce, of Fieldway Drive, whose family returned to their home in August 2016 after spending 1½ years in another house.

“The biggest downside to the process was you’re still paying for flood policies … as if you didn’t raise the home for a property that’s now outside the flood zone,” Pryce said.

Moreover, some cost overruns and repairs were not covered by the FEMA grant.

Carol Chontos, of South Sewall's Point Road, expressed similar misgivings about the program, including dealing with the town and federal bureaucracies, and being away from home for eight months, as well as higher flood-insurance premiums and property-tax bills.

"Would I go through it again? No," Chontos said. "We didn't know what we were getting into. Had I known all that we went through, I think I would have sold the house and moved on."

Others in Sewall's Point, though, said the flood-insurance premiums — which run in the thousands of dollars, depending on the value of the houses — are a small price to pay for high-and-dry homes and peace of mind.

Laurie Murphy, of Heron's Nest, said the program "worked out perfectly" for her family and makes economic sense for taxpayers because the federal government avoids paying out claims for flooding damage in the future.

"We had no problem with it, no glitches at all," Murphy said. "In the long run, everybody wins because we don't have that kind of damage and they don't have to pay out that kind of money."

Gregory Moran, of Palm Road, said the program worked well for him, and the higher flood-insurance premiums were a trade off in the deal.

“I don’t need it, but I’ve got to keep it,” Moran said of the insurance. “I’ll never flood. If this house floods, we’ve got bigger problems. There won’t be a Sewall’s Point.”

Margaret and Jerry Davis said it was the 1990s when they got the idea of lifting up their home on the banks of the North Fork of the St. Lucie River near Fort Pierce to avoid future flooding.

"I wrote a letter to President Clinton and suggested that it would be a lot cheaper if they helped us raise the house instead of paying us each time it flooded," Margaret Davis said. "I think it was a good idea to give people the option."

When FEMA offered the Severe Repetitive Loss Program to St. Lucie County residents who experienced flooding during the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, Margaret Davis said, "We jumped right on it as fast as we could."

"We flooded at least five times before they raised it," Margaret Davis said. "The last major storm before we raised it was (Tropical Storm Fay) in 2008. It was pretty hard and heavy. We had about 4 feet of water in this (crawl space) part of the house. The whole house, we were under (water) up to the windowsill.”

The living area of their 25th Street home hasn't flooded since the elevation project was completed in 2012, although there have been flood waters in the crawl space beneath the house, Margaret Davis said.

Program saves money

FEMA spokeswoman Alexandria Bruner said the home-elevation programs save money in the long run because the government avoids paying repeated claims by policyholders in the National Flood Insurance Program.

"On average, national studies show, for every dollar FEMA spends, $4 are saved in future losses avoided," Bruner said. "FEMA-funded elevations must meet a variety of eligibility requirements such as cost-effectiveness reviews, which … demonstrate that future losses avoided equal or exceed the cost of elevation."

Local governments still can apply for home-elevation funding through the state Division of Emergency Management, Bruner said.

Several homeowners who benefited from FEMA's home-elevation programs said they often wonder why more of their neighbors didn’t participate.

"I'm really surprised a lot more people didn't take advantage of it," said James Longstreet of Thumb Point in South Beach, Fort Pierce, who elevated his home about 5 feet with the help of a FEMA grant. "If you can make you property safer, I think it's the smart thing to do with us living here on a barrier island.

"I've lived on the island my entire life," said the 60-year-old Longstreet. "I entered into this program because I'm of the belief that we're having higher tides. In theory, this could be a band-aid approach. One hundred years from now, everything over here could be elevated.

Home-elevation projects

St. Lucie Settlement: $1.2 million spent to elevate 14 houses and a business.

Sewall's Point: $3.1 million spent to elevate eight houses.

St. Lucie County: $640,000 spent to elevate fourhouses

Treasure Coast total: $4.9 million spent to elevate 26 houses and one business