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Sacramento County Homeowners Still Without Flood Help, Months Later

SACRAMENTO COUNTY (CBS13) - Months after severe storms flooded southern Sacramento County homes, residents have still not received money for needed repairs.

"We've been with this issue for about 30 years," said Walt Hoppe, town historian.

Point Pleasant flood victims want to know where the money is to fix their homes.

"I can't wait anymore. We had to put up walls and we had to start moving forward. I'm without a kitchen," said Wendi Wilkinson of Point Pleasant.

Wilkinson's home was under three feet of water twice this past winter and now feels flooded with frustrations.

"We are back again in a waiting process," she said.

County leaders have approved plans to elevate up to 50 homes in the flood plain.

"Homes will have to be elevated up to 6 or 8 feet," Hoppe said.

But homeowners still don't have the money from the county or federally.

"We can't wait another month or two or maybe even a year to hear about this elevation," Wilkinson said.

"Things are not moving as fast as we hoped," said Matt Robinson with the Sacramento County Department of Resources.

So what's causing the delays?

Sacramento County says it's done all it can and are waiting to get federal funding approved.

"FEMA has unfortunately delayed their decisions. The application deadlines have moved twice now," Robinson said.

The county is also looking into other potential ways to help alleviate flooding, but want to get repairs underway.

How much will it cost?

Each home elevation will run between $70,000 and $200,000.

Now that it's peak construction season, homeowners are encountering another problem.

"We want to start moving forward, but the people we want to hire are booked out," Wilkinson said.

The county said once they get funding they'll try and prioritize first the worst hit homes.

The county is looking into other ways to improve the flood problems in Sacramento County and are meeting once again in August to try and figure it out.

Homeowners have till June 15 to submit their application for FEMA repairs.

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