TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Davis Islands homeowner Jerry Britt has officially received approval to rebuild the home he and his wife have lived in for nearly 10 years after two hurricanes wreaked havoc.

“Sept. 28, that night was when Helene flooded our house,” Britt said. “Flood water got inside it. We had it sandbagged and all, but water still got inside of it and destroyed practically everything. We ended up with five pieces of furniture that we salvaged out of our house.”

Britt said 13 days later, Hurricane Hilton came through and took off pieces of the roof and caused leaks, making the home uninhabitable.

“I build houses for a living, and I own a few rental properties, all total we had 19 properties affected in one way or another by the two hurricanes,” Britt said.

After Hurricane Helene, Britt and his wife moved into one of his new construction homes and then later into an apartment on the island.

Nine months later, Britt was able to receive a building permit from the City of Tampa.

“It is devastating to lose practically everything that we had and then have to jump through the processes of finding out if you’re FEMA compliant to rebuild, getting a permit, and just to complicate things a little bit, the City of Tampa changed the permitting process on Jan. 2 of this year,” Britt explained. “So it is now a little bit more time consuming to get a permit than it was a year ago.”

Britt also had to get aviation clearance as his home just a few houses away from Peter O. Knight Airport.

Britt now has drawings outlining the design of what the new home will look like, and he plans to build higher to make the floor level a garage and the second floor the living space to prevent future damage.

“All of our furniture and all of our memorabilia will be up above the floodplain, so, it would take a pretty devastating hurricane to destroy enough of our house to damage it in the future,” he said.

Britt expects the home to be completed by spring of 2026.