St. Tammany Parish, LA

Mitigating A Historic Home

FEMA obligates more than $913,000 to help elevate a home that is more than 200 years old. The home was damaged during Katrina, and the hope is to protect it from future storms.

Built between 1787 and 1789.

There���s a lot of history to this old house.

Never had trouble in the 200 some years it was here, until Katrina hit.

We got five and a half feet of water in the house, right up to your eyeballs.

We���re going to elevate it under the mitigation program and take it up I���m not sure as to how much, about 8 feet I think. And apparently it���s all been approved to do that. And we���re just not going through another flood. Uh so, we���ll be glad to get that done.

The basics of this whole plan is that we are trying to take a very old house and use modern technology to elevate it so that it will be safe forever so that future generations can see the history of the area.

It was a very emotional day for everyone involved the day the letter came that the grant was finally approved to elevate the property and save the house. When Mr. Lowry first applied, his wife was still alive. And it���s something that I think it touched everyone in the room that we wished that she could have been here to see the house elevated.

It���s the last place I hope I ever live. I would stay right here for the rest of my life. Hopefully, that���ll happen.

For more information visit www.FEMA.gov.