VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — This year, the state is launching a program to help homeowners raise their houses and protect them from flood damage. Meanwhile, a Volusia County couple has taken matters into their own hands by building a large berm around their home.
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The house is on Taylor Road, just outside DeLand city limits.
While the flooding from Hurricane Milton is long gone, Pam and Mark Teator still have standing water on parts of their property from rainstorms that happened after.
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The couple only moved into the home in July from North Carolina.
Pam approached the county several times for help, even offering a few suggestions like building a berm around the retention pond next door or digging their ditches but the county told them it wouldn’t be possible right now.
That’s when they decided to take tens of thousands of dollars out of their savings to build their berm.
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“It was our last option,” said Pam.
The county said this type of project is typically OK on rural agricultural land but would require permitting in a more residential area, such as a subdivision.
Pam said she’d be interested in the state’s home lifting program if the state covered more of the cost.
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“It’s very expensive. At our age, we don’t want to take out a loan on the home,” said Pam.
We asked the county if there were any immediate plans for work on Taylor Road, and a spokesperson said the entire county is still being studied right now.
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