House in flood zone to be elevated with aid from grant

The house at 28 Mimosa Lane in Teague, owned by Ricky and Jo Ann Sims, is going to be elevated 12.36 feet, a height established by FEMA regulations. The funding will be provided by a FEMA Flood Mitigation Assistance grant. One remedy of FMA is to elevate homes covered by flood insurance so that they don’t continue to flood. The FMA grant program was created as part of the National Flood Insurance Reform Act of 1994 with the goal of reducing or eliminating claims under the National Flood Insurance Program. This saves FEMA money since FEMA shouldn’t have to pay any more flood claims on this structure.

The house began to flood in 2013, and has flooded a total of four times, including twice in 2019. It hadn’t flooded previously since being built in 1986.

A water alarm went off in the house at 11 p.m. October 30, 2013. Thinking it was a leaking ice maker, Ricky got out of bed, walked into the kitchen, and stepped into water. Water was squirting in from the sides of the front door. Realizing what was happening, he decided to try to save the car in the garage; but, it was too late. When he opened the garage door, the water came rushing into the house. That night the house had nearly two feet of water inside. All of the carpet, most of the furniture and a lot of their property below the 22” watermark was ruined. All of the sheetrock and cabinetry up to 48” had to be taken out. The couple moved out of the house for approximately six months.

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