Flooding from Hurricane Debby and other recent storms has cities across Tampa Bay looking for ways to mitigate the damage, and maybe bring insurance rates down at the same time. New Port Richey just passed a new ordinance aimed at that, by requiring mobile homes to be built higher, and hopefully, out of harm’s way. On Tuesday, New Port Richey’s city council voted to amend its land development code. It now requires manufactured homes, new, or those being replaced, to be higher off the ground. “The new standard is that they must be elevated to at least 1 foot above the base flood elevation," City Manager Debbie Manns said. Existing homes will be exempt from the changes, but the idea, over the long haul, is to reduce insurance claims and rates. “Yeah, anything we can do to bring the insurance rates down, I mean, insurance is out of control,” City Councilman Matt Murphy said. “It seems like it never goes down, always goes up, right?" New Port Richey hopes raising homes will improve its ranking with FEMA’s Community Rating System, which calculates discounts on an area’s flood insurance policies based on steps cities take to mitigate flood damage. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/pascocounty/new-port-richey-ordinance-raising-mobile-homes/67-6a757590-22f6-4902-abe3-9c087e41d142