One community along Florida's Gulf Coast is raising their roofs, literally, as they rebuild to become more hurricane resilient. AccuWeather's Leslie Hudson has the story.
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00:00to lift that because you can see they're digging around for some life after a hurricane means
00:08building higher in the hopes their dream home will survive another hurricane season. You can see a lot
00:14of work is being done in this neighborhood and and really all aspects of recovery you can see on
00:20these these two streets built in the 1950s the Tradewinds community was one of the first
00:25developments on Sanibel Island. This community has weathered many major hurricanes from Charlie to Ian
00:31and last year Helene and then Milton. After a series of back-to-back hurricanes they become more creative
00:38and resilient either putting their homes 10 feet up on stilts or demolishing and having to start over
00:44in the hopes of keeping their homes intact. When Helene and Milton hit it really skyrocketed. We had a ton
00:52of business. I think right now we've got about 120 jobs in permitting. Though the demand is high, raising the roof
00:58is also expensive. At about $120 a square foot, a home this size can cost anywhere from $150 to $200,000
01:08to raise 10 feet. You know where you have over 10 feet of storm surge coming through a neighborhood,
01:14upwards of 13 and 15 feet in some places, there's no way to get away from that other than to be above
01:21that water. City officials say this community is just one slice of old Florida that is committed to
01:27rebuilding after a series of consecutive hurricanes. It will hopefully help people in the future investing
01:33not only in their homes but in the island life that this part of southwest Florida is known for. On Sanibel Island,
01:41I'm Leslie Hudson reporting.