With Hurricane Ian possibly headed this way, people who live downtown have come to expect flooding.
In order to protect their homes, they’ve raised them.
Repeated hurricanes and flooding pushed the Mansheims to find a solution, one that would be very expensive but raise their home 8-feet.
It’s helped them preserve the historic home they love.
"We feel a lot more secure because we don't have to worry that all of our infrastructure is going to be destroyed as it had been three times before," Bernard Mansheim said.
Mansheim and his wife bought their home on Water Street in 2013.
Two years later, they were faced with the "thousand-year flood," where 25-inches of rain turned their street into a stream.
In 2016, Hurricane Matthew flooded their crawl space again and this time put their first floor a foot under water.
They were forced to replace everything.
Then came Irma.
"After that it became clear, having three storms in a row, that this was not a fluke. So, we decided that we could either live with that, we could sell a house for significantly less than we paid for it and just leave, or we could raise it," Mansheim said.
The house- built in 1855- originally sat at grade level with a two and a half foot crawl space.
Today the house sits 8-feet above ground, with an empty first level and a pervious concrete floor.
Construction took two years to complete.
Mansheim says the brick home weighs nearly 450-tons.
"When and if there's a storm, all of the HVAC, all of the all the electrical, all the plumbing, all the gas... All of that's up 8-feet, so there's no possible chance any of that could be destroyed again," Mansheim said.
Mansheim says they dodged a bullet with no major storm hitting Charleston during the time of construction.
However, he says he is well aware that could change this year.
"There hasn't been a hurricane that hit fairly directly like Irma since 2018. This year may be different. Our assumption is like, everybody knows with climate change that this is not going to be the end of it," Mansheim said.
Read More: Folly Beach prepares for Hurricane Ian
If Charleston feels the effects of Hurricane Ian, this could be the Mansheim home’s first test.
"Hopefully, our example can be something that can be used in the future because clearly, especially around the battery, and in north of say Calhoun for example, and other places we need to look for solutions. And if we can offer that to the city, we are proud to do that," Mansheim said.
Other areas in downtown Charleston prone to heavy flooding are also preparing for Hurricane Ian.
Colonial Lake will be slowly drained to prevent flooding in that neighborhood.