Elevation Turns a Weekend Getaway into Home

Hamilton County, FL - Mary Ellen Tatum and her husband, Bob, bought the riverfront property along the Withlacoochee River in 1995 with the intention of using the double-wide mobile home they placed on it as a “weekend getaway.” Eventually, the natural beauty of their “vacation house” lured the Tatums into staying on a permanent basis.

Being so close to the water, however, the home had to be elevated 10 feet in order to comply with local building codes. They had to provide engineer’s drawings showing the piers that would support the building above and allow floodwater to pass underneath unhampered.

Mary Ellen keeps an eye on the river by visiting the Suwannee River Water Management District website, where she can check the water levels of the Withlacoochee and see how close it is to flooding.

“It came up faster [this time] than any other [year],” Mary Ellen said.

Since the 1990s, there have been three flood events. May 2009 of this year is the first time that they have had even the slightest amount of damage. The floodwaters came within three or four feet of the top of the cement piers, damaging an air conditioning duct, which cost $927 to fix. A tree was tipped on their roof by the swiftly flowing river. It cost $150 to remove the tree and it was reduced to lumber. Damage to the tank of their well was $177.

Due to the slow recession of the floodwaters, it was three weeks before the Tatums were able to return to their home. The water mark still on their piers shows that approximately six feet of floodwater flowed under their home. One of their neighbor’s homes was “demolished” because it was not elevated.

Mary Ellen and Bob are just thankful not to have had more damage and are aware that they need to plan for the future – in case the water surges higher next time.