TREASURE ISLAND, Fla. — Kathy Miller and partner Linda Martin are stuck in a waiting game they never thought they would play.
“We just don’t know what we’re going to do,” Miller said. “We’re kind of just floundering here.”
Their home in Treasure Island flooded for the first time during Hurricane Helene.
Now, there are several questions they and many others want answered: Can they repair their home? If so, when? And if not, what will they do next?
“I don’t want to answer that now,” Martin said.
In a Wednesday night meeting at Treasure Island City Hall, a panel composed of FEMA workers, city staff members, and representatives from the Florida Division of Emergency Management explained FEMA’s 50% rule.
If you’re in a special flood hazard area, the rule prevents you from making repairs to your home if it’s substantially damaged
It’s substantially damaged if the repairs it needs equal or exceed 50% of your home’s value.
If your home meets that threshold, you either have to elevate or tear down and rebuild.
According to Treasure Island city staff, contractors started assessing homes for substantial damage Tuesday.
Two teams are averaging about 100 assessments each day, and they will work weekends too.
It should take several weeks to complete all the assessments.
If your home isn’t substantially damaged, the city will then review and approve your permits for repairs.
If it is substantially damaged, you can appeal.
Miller and Martin think their home is substantially damaged, so repairing it won’t happen easily if at all.
“It’s really hard to even think about leaving it, but we have to be realistic about what has happened and our ability to recover from that,” Martin said.
But for now, their excruciating waiting game continues.
The city said it will notify homeowners of its substantial damage determinations by mail. They can also call city hall for updates.
If the city fails to adequately follow the rule, it could jeopardize its good standing with the National Flood Insurance Program.
According to Treasure Island, labor rates and other standards used to determine the cost will be decided after input from Pinellas County.
According to Pinellas County, for the initial Substantial Damage Assessment process, the county is using the FEMA tool with local market rates to estimate the cost of damages/repairs. Detailed assessments using itemized market rate labor and materials costs may also be performed.
"While we have shared this information with our partner municipalities at their request, their building staff can create their own cost tables," the county clarified in a statement to ABC Action News.
In Treasure Island, homeowners will not be notified before inspectors visit their homes. If they’re not home at the time of the assessment, inspectors will conduct the assessment from outside the home.
