Jersey Village gets $9M from FEMA for flood mitigation

Jersey Village officials plan to begin elevating 28 homes within the next year after receiving a pair of FEMA grants for flood mitigation.

Mayor Bobby Warren announced last month the agency awarded the city $9 million for elevating homes that are at a heightened risk of flooding.

The home elevation grants of $4.43 million and $4.64 million will each be used to raise 14 homes three feet above the base flood elevation or the 100-year flood level.

The projects aim to reduce flood damage, health and safety risks, and clean-up costs.

“There’s not really any way to prevent flooding, I mean that’s just not a realistic goal but certainly anything we do to reduce the risk of flooding and opportunities to obtain funding for projects of that sort were the things that we were really aiming for,” Warren said.

Flood mitigation has been one of the city’s major priorities, Warren said. The city adopted a flood migration plan in 2017 to identify flood reduction projects.

Officials have obtained nearly $25 million in federal and state grants for flood mitigation since then.

The city will have elevated more than 60 homes within the 100- or 500-year flood zones after these 28 homes are raised.

The city council isn’t a part of the selection process for the homes chosen for elevation, Warren said. Jersey Village collects information from homeowners that the federal government evaluates to identify which homes will be candidates for elevation.

Warren said he’s unsure whether the grants will cover the entire home elevation project, but said past grants have either covered projects’ total costs or the state helped make up the difference.

The city hasn’t received any major floods lately, but Warren said he’s relieved this grant money will reduce damage from potential future flooding by raising more homes out of the flood plain. He’ll feel much better once the project is done, he added.

“You never want to go through that process of walking door to door and checking on people and seeing them pulling their possessions out of their home (that) have been ruined by flood waters,” Warren said. “I can only imagine the emotional toll that it can take especially for people who flooded over and over again.”

Some residents whose homes were selected in the past declined to have their home elevated, according to Warren.

“I respect the fact that people can make that decision for themselves but … I would encourage anyone who has passed on the opportunity in the past, if that opportunity comes up again, I would highly recommend that people give it a second look or at least ask questions so they better understand the program,” Warren said.