Mike Blackledge’s home, damaged in the July 4 flood, is being elevated thanks to the help of a new nonprofit.
CENTER POINT, Texas — Mike Blackledge said he will turn 75 in just nine days but a big birthday present came early Thursday morning to the Center Point man whose home was walloped by the Guadalupe River flood on July 4.
“It went from one foot to 20 feet in just a few seconds and the water just kept coming up, kept coming up, and it finally got up high enough it broke through the house,” Blackledge said of the early morning drenching that left lasting devastation.
Blackledge said at first, he tried removing some of his belongings from the house, but he quickly realized it was a bad idea.
“The water got a little bit above my knees and I figured I’ve been in the house long enough,” Blackledge said.
He said the river surged through the house, knocking out walls and washing much of his property downstream.
When it came time to repair the damage, he said he was told one corner of his 1,500 square foot home was in the federal floodplain and he would not be allowed to move forward unless the house was raised in elevation.
It’s an expensive proposition facing many homeowners in the region and a job a new non-profit organization is trying to address.
Annie’s Helping Hands was founded in Center Point in response to the unmet needs of the historic holiday flood.
Michelle Bruninga, who co-founded the group, said the need is great.
“Our numbers today, we believe we need 90 more elevation certificates,” he said. “Those are $1,000 a piece and each home that we lift costs between $17,000 and $42,000.”
Bruninga said they have been providing aid to devastated families and collecting data since the water started to recede.
“There were 900 homes that were assessed along the Guadalupe. Out of those 900 homes, 200 needed elevation certificates,” Bruninga said.
The documents are used by the National Flood Insurance Program to enforce floodplain management practices and a part of the process used to set flood insurance rates.
The Blackledge home is the first, they said, to benefit from their new program to lift houses out of danger and Thursday workers methodically used timbers and coordinated jacks to do just that.
“In order for me to get up to a point where I could be in compliance, I was going to have to raise it by two feet,” said Blackledge.
The man who fled from his home when it had more than two feet of water in it said he was more comfortable going up three feet.
“We decided that if we’re gonna move it, let’s get it up high enough where we don’t have to worry about it,” Blackledge said. “I doubt very seriously that this magnitude of flood will ever happen again, but I’m gonna be out of it this time.”
Blackledge said receiving help for the costly job is a big relief.
“It’s overwhelming. I mean the people that have shown up, the people that have donated to try to make this happen… I’m just, I’m just extremely, extremely pleased,” Blackledge said.
Bruninga said there are many more families that will be left without help unless the community comes together to raise necessary funding.
For more information about the effort visit the website here.