DELCAMBRE — Tina Renard’s house in Delcambre took in 20 inches of water as Hurricane Rita’s devastating storm surge came ashore.

Everything was ruined, she said, forcing her family out of the house for 10 months while they spent more money on renovations than it cost to build the house more than 20 years ago.

They never thought it would happen again, she said, after all, people told her it was a 100-year flood.

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Then came another 5 inches of water following Hurricane Ike last year. She again lost all the carpet in the house, all of her appliances and furniture, and again was forced to move out to rebuild. She lived on a cement slab for months, she said, as she and other family members worked to restore the house.

“After Ike, we decided we weren’t going to put any more money into this place and were considering moving to Centerville where my son lives,” she said. “We didn’t really want to move. But, you just can’t keep fixing your house. Your body can’t take it and emotionally, you just can’t take it.”

Renard applied for the Federal Emergency Man-agement Agency’s Road Home Program and received $30,000 to help defray the cost of rebuilding after initially being told she missed the deadline for the program. Though to many $30,000 is a lot of money, she said it was not going to accomplish the only thing that would prevent this from happening again — to raise her home above base flood elevation. She made the decision to pursue the lift and stay in her home in Delcambre. No small feat since it sits on a concrete slab.

Renard has applied for the state Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit Hazard Mitigation Grant Program with the help and guidance of state Rep. Simone Champagne, D-Jeanerette, who has become to many in this area a champion for their cause.

Champagne sponsored an informational meeting last week at the Delcambre Shrimp Festival Building so affected residents could hear about the program and set up meetings with its advisors.

“I just get so overwhelmed and emotional about all of this,” Champagne said as she fought back tears. “They’ve gone through so much hardship, and I can’t compliment them enough for their resiliency. We don’t want anyone to fall through the cracks so anyone that needs help with this process can call my office.”

Chuck Perrodin, public information and community education officer for the Office of Community Development Hazard Miti-gation Program, told residents people who work for the program know the suffering they have gone through.

“We care and want to help you prepare for the future,” he said. “Another storm is going to come. We know this.”

Mitigation, he explained, is about “minimizing the damaging effects of future natural disasters and preparing for the next time.”

“We’re all about getting you above the floodwaters,” he said.

The program, he said, can reimburse up to $100,000 to homeowners, previously determined eligible for Road Home funds, for expenses incurred in elevating or reconstructing their homes to meet the FEMA required elevation height for their area.

More information about the program is available at www.doa.louisiana.gov/cdbg/dr/hmgp/hmgp.htm.

Champagne said the state agency also will set up a permanent office in Vermilion Parish “so people can actually go somewhere and talk to someone.”

The program still has shortfalls, but Perrodin said the agency is diligently working to improve the process. For many in the area faced with the cost of lifting their homes, reimbursement from the program will help their bottom line, but could still leave them facing large debts to contractors.

When all is said and done, Renard will spend close to $200,000 on the project, all of which has had to initially come out of pocket because of the snail’s pace at which federal and state aid programs move, she said.

Many in the area just do not have that kind of money to even get started, she said.