PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — Some neighborhoods in Florida are too beautiful to leave, whether the homes are on the coast, Intracoastal, rivers, or canals. But the allure of living on the water can often lead to unfathomable destruction.
That's why many Floridians are asking themselves tough questions: Should they move out of a flood zone, risk being flooded again, or simply lift their lives above the rising water?
ABC Action News reporter Michael Paluska and photojournalist Reed Moeller have been working on this story since Dec. 2023. For the past eight months, we've shot hours of video, time lapses, and interviews to capture the realities of what people are living through and waiting months and months for permits to clear for a home lift in Shore Acres to finally get the green light.
Albert Jasuwan is the founder of JAS Builders. In January, he told Paluska he bought the home in Shore Acres to be his very first lift. He sees lifting as the future for Floridians facing hurricanes and torrential rains. Jasuwan partnered with Payne Construction Services, a family-owned and operated company that specializes in lifting homes.
"You bought this home specifically to lift it and show people what needs to be done. Do you see this moving forward as a market in Florida to protect people?" Paluska asked Jasuwan.
"Absolutely. We felt we needed to invest. So, my business partner and I invested in buying this house to show people how it's done. We invest in our community to do this. It's a big investment. But it is necessary. It's 100% necessary to stay. We all want to live here. It's a beautiful area. St. Pete is amazing. So to be able to stay, we got to lift and get us out of this whole storm surge."
Just down the road in another part of Shore Acres, Dr. Meghan Martin is also planning to lift. She is not using JAS Builders for her lift. So far, her home is still on the ground, held up in the permitting process. Martin and her family have flooded twice in the past four years: Tropical Storm Eta flooded her home in 2020 and Hurricane Idalia in 2023.
Dr. Martin removing all of the contents from inside her home.
Dr. Martin shows her home surrounded by flood waters following Idalia.
And a "No Name" storm in Dec. 2023 nearly flooded them again.
It doesn't take a hurricane or a tropical storm to cause flooding. Even a cold front can cause localized street flooding and severe storms.
Even before our recent floods from Eta and Idalia, some people in Shore Acres were proactive. David Noah raised his home well above the base flood level.
"We had seen FEMA go from 10 feet for base flood elevation to 11 feet. So we went to 16 feet because so many people lifted their houses to 10 feet to get out of the flood zone, and then FEMA changed it to 11 feet," Noah said. "And, now they're back in the flood zone and spent all that money."
Jasuwan told Paluska that his phone has been ringing off the hook since he started his new venture into lifting homes. He currently has jobs in Homosassa, Treasure Island, St. Pete Beach, and other homes in the Shore Acres community.
"People don't want to leave their homes, so lifting your home up is a better option, even though it's expensive than going out and getting a new mortgage and a new life for some people?" Paluska asked Jasuwan.
"Yes, for some people, like when you hit that mark where you flooded four times, FEMA is going to stop at that point in time. So you either have to lift, or you have to sell your house or tear down and rebuild. This is half the cost of tearing down and rebuilding, which makes it feasible for people to pay $300k to $700k or $200 to $700k, depending on the size of the house. And not everybody's going to build out below. Some just want to lift, put piers in, like Key West style, I call it, where you could just park underneath, have a crushed shell, pavers, whatever you want underneath."
Many people might also wonder if they can stay at home during the lift. The answer is no. Jasuwan said, "The actual lift process can take 4 to 6 weeks and with everything disconnected, plumbing, electricity, water, etc. But once new stairs are installed and connections are hooked back up, the homeowner can move back in."
