The Dare County Grants and Waterways office has announced that Dare County recently received a FEMA hazard mitigation assistance grant of more than $5 million to improve disaster resilience by elevating 31 flood-prone homes throughout the county in 2024. This grant was awarded to Dare County by FEMA in December 2023 due to extensive damage that area homes sustained during Hurricane Dorian, which was declared a federal disaster in 2019.
FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program provides funding to local and state governments so they can develop hazard mitigation plans and rebuild in a manner that reduces future disaster losses within their communities. This funding—which only becomes available after a presidentially declared disaster occurs—allows structures to be elevated above the known flood level, preventing or reducing the risk of future flood losses.
The 31 homes that will be elevated in 2024 with this $5 million grant were selected from applications that homeowners submitted in 2019 and are located in various areas throughout Dare County, including Kitty Hawk, Manteo, Wanchese, Stumpy Point, Manns Harbor, Avon, Buxton, Frisco and Hatteras.
Elevations will begin once the project has been bid out by the state and a contractor has been selected. The project is currently expected to get underway in the second half of 2024, with the elevation of each home to take approximately 60-90 days to complete. The elevation of all 31 homes is anticipated to be completed within approximately one year from the start date of the project.
Over the past 25 years, Dare County has completed the elevation of nearly 100 homes with FEMA assistance—including 27 residences that were elevated in 2023 with funding from a hazard mitigation assistance grant of $6 million that was awarded in August 2021 as a result of damage caused by Hurricane Florence, which was declared a federal disaster in 2018.
In addition to reducing flood insurance claims and keeping insurance rates down, elevating homes located in areas prone to flooding also enhances the resilience of these residences, protecting the homeowners and their belongings from potential future losses.
Although the homes that will be elevated in 2024 using this particular FEMA hazard mitigation assistance grant have already been selected from applications that were submitted following Hurricane Dorian in 2019, homeowners whose properties are located in flood-prone areas are encouraged to watch for grant opportunities that may become available following any future federally declared disasters. For more information, please contact Dare County Grants and Waterways Administrator Barton Grover at 252-475-5628 or Barton.Grover@DareNC.gov.
To watch a short video about elevating homes in Dare County through FEMA’s hazard mitigation assistance grant funding, click here.