It Only Takes One: Adaptation Along Florida's Gulf Coast

I visited communities hardest hit by the hurricanes of 2024. This week, I share those stories.

Author’s note: With no development expected in the Atlantic this week, the daily newsletter will devote time to sharing stories and lessons learned from survivors of the 2024 hurricane season. You can watch our full report “It Only Takes One” here.

Any homeowner that’s been through a flood knows that once is once too many. But for Brian Martin and his family, flooding has been a way of life since moving to the waterfront neighborhood of Shore Acres along the western edge of Tampa Bay.

After purchasing their 1960s suburban ranch in 2016, Brian and his wife Meghan fully renovated it, tearing out nearly every wall, moving the kitchen, and making it their own. “The house was basically brand new in 2016,” he tells me.

For the Martins, the vicious storm cycle began in November 2020 when Eta swung into the eastern Gulf as a borderline hurricane and sent several inches of water into their home. Officials in St. Petersburg hadn’t issued evacuation orders, so the Martins stayed. “That was panic inducing,” Brian says. “After Eta, we evacuated.”

The evacuations have come in almost every season since. No sooner had they rebuilt from Eta than in August 2023 Hurricane Idalia swept the waters of Tampa Bay back into their home. As they rebuilt their home for a third time in less than eight years, the Martins submitted for permitting to try to raise it. The ink on the application had hardly dried before Helene struck last September. This time, the flooding was worse than they’d ever seen.

Every car in Shore Acres was submerged under Helene’s floodwaters. Feet of water filled the homes on Brian’s street. Only a stone’s throw from the Martin residence, a neighbor’s house caught fire at the height of the storm. With St. Petersburg Fire Rescue Station 12 in Shore Acres also underwater, the home quickly burned to the ground.

Helene flooded 2,196 of the 2,642 homes in Shore Acres, decimating the community. Today one in ten homes are up for sale, but not Brian Martin’s. He finally received the permit to lift his slab home, and like others in the area he’s not taking any chances.

Over several months, crews prepared the home for the big lift, excavating deep trenches under Brian’s home – largely by hand – and tearing up their driveway to slide in oversized steel I-beams. They delicately jacked up the home two feet over two months, shuffling blocks of railroad ties under the I-beams at each incremental boost. Then once enough room was made beneath the home for the heavy lift equipment, it took 8 short hours to raise their home the final 12 feet.

The Martin home in Shore Acres, lifted 14 feet off the ground.

With his single story home now 14 feet off the ground, Brian’s confident Tampa Bay will be staying out his window this hurricane season. “The house can’t flood anymore,” he says with great relief.

The peace of mind didn’t come cheaply. It cost the Martins around $400,000 to raise their home, adding 12 feet of non-insurable, non-livable storage space in a kind of giant garage underneath. Although grant programs like Elevate Florida offer some cost savings to residents hoping to rebuild higher, the application process can be arduous and gives no guarantee of approval. With three floods in almost as many years, Brian didn’t have time to wait. “We wanted to go ahead and get it up in the air so we don't have to deal with it again.”

Like most I met recovering from last season’s destructive hurricanes, Brian Martin felt the pull of community to return. “The neighborhood is really great,” he says. “Shore Acres specifically. The people two houses down have been here for 30 years. The woman across the street has lived here for 18 years. On the corner, they've been here for 30 years.”

Kevin Batdorf has been a resident of Shore Acres since 1986 and now heads its civic association. He echoes Brian’s sentiment. “This is the type of community where we know each other. We help each other,” Batdorf says.

But Batdorf also sees a different-looking Shore Acres 20 years from now. A local realtor as well, Batdorf stresses the only way out of future flooding is up. “Lifting a house is probably the best option today for rebuilding,” he concedes.

But for the 2025 hurricane season, Shore Acres just wants a break. In a recent survey conducted by the Shore Acres Civic Association, residents indicated they weren’t ready for storm season. Some are paying for mortgage and rent. Many aren’t even back living in the neighborhood. All are afraid of what this hurricane season could bring.

“I've put in a request of Mother Nature to have no new storms for two years,” Batdorf says. “We'll see if she listens.”