Her house kept flooding, so a South MS resident busted barriers to cover elevation costs
After their Bay St. Louis home flooded twice, artist Tami Curtis Guy and husband Perry Guy applied for a Swift Current grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency so they could elevate the house.
Generally, a city or county would apply for the grant. But when Tami Guy realized the city didn’t have anyone available to write the grant, she did all the work herself, eventually compiling about 400 pages in three binders.
The city was notified in May 2023 that the Guys’ property qualified for $142,978.50 to raise the small brick home on a slab. At the same time, the city received notice of a second elevation grant award of $162,300 for a home owned by April Byrd. Byrd said that Tami Guy did the work on her grant, too.
Tami Guy said she’s had to push the city every step of the way to get the grants awarded — and they’re still not a done deal. Her councilman, Josh DeSalvo, said questions still have to be answered and hurdles cleared. But the city is moving forward after long delays.
The program aims to prevent flooding through home elevations, property buyouts or other mitigation measures. The grants are available for repetitive loss properties insured for flooding through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. A repetitive-loss property is one that has flooded two or more times, with damage at or above 25% of the structure’s market value.
MS lags LA, other states in FEMA funding
The Swift Current grant program is available in localities with federally declared disasters. Mississippi, Louisiana, New Jersey and Pennsylvania qualified for the first round of funding in 2022, after Hurricane Ida.
The deadline has passed to submit applications for the 2022 round and Mississippi hasn’t been included in subsequent rounds. A new round of funding was announced in April for 16 states and one tribal nation.
Mississippi has 5,995 repetitive loss properties, FEMA reports. But Bay St. Louis is so far the only locality in the state with grant awards. However, elevation grant applications are still under review for Lafayette and Jackson counties, the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency says.
MEMA also said that Harrison and Pearl River counties, plus the city of Biloxi, declined to participate in the program.
Overall, Mississippi’s participation rate for the 2022 funding was far lower than that of the other three states.
FEMA lists these amounts awarded:
$38.9 million in Louisiana.
$9.9 million in New Jersey.
$3.5 million in Pennsylvania.
$305,279 in Mississippi.
Only one property in Lafayette County, where Oxford is located, qualified as a repetitive loss, Lafayette County Emergency Management Director Steve Quarles said. He said the county plans a buyout of the property if the grant is approved. The county has handled the grant application.
“I think it’s a good program,” Quarles said. “We’ve been working on it probably two and one half years, so it’s not ‘swift.’ ” Quarles said he’s probably put in four solid months of work on the grant, so he can see why some localities don’t pursue the funding. It raised legal questions, he said, because the money is going to fund work for individuals, not the local government submitting the application.
Bay St. Louis resident’s persistence pays
The administration and City Council in Bay St. Louis were so concerned about applying for money for individuals that they refused for the longest to move forward with the project, Tami Guy said.
But legislation submitted for the city by state Rep. Timmy Ladner should resolve any issue, he believes. Guy says Ladner has been her “champion” through the process and is a “true servant of the people in every sense of the word.”
The office of U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith also got involved, Guy said, to support the grant awards. The council held a meeting Tuesday night to move the city’s two projects forward.
Her councilman, Josh DeSalvo, said Bay St. Louis officials also are concerned about covering elevation costs while awaiting FEMA reimbursement. The city is considering a $6 million loan to make Hurricane Ida repairs to streets and the harbor, he said, until FEMA reimbursements arrive.
Guy’s grant would cover 90% of the elevation cost, while she and her husband would be responsible for the rest. Byrd’s grant is for 100% of elevation costs.
After putting in so much work, Guy is determined to continue her fight until the grants are awarded and their homes are elevated. She’s also started a YouTube channel to let other residents know about her experience.
Her husband said that her “perseverance and tenacity” got them this far.
“I don’t think anybody could have done what she did but her,” he said.
