COLUMBIA (AP)- The South Carolina Insurance Department has awarded $70,000 in grants to help coastal residents make their homes more hurricane resistant.

Agency spokeswoman Ann Roberson says 14 families have received
$5,000 each to pay for upgrades such as roof and window protection.
Grant applications for another 20 families are under review.

The Safe Home program is part of a new insurance law intended to
stabilize the skyrocketing cost of homeowners' insurance along the
coast. The first grants went out in mid-October, just a couple
weeks after the program's start.

The agency still has more than $2 million to dole out. The agency has not advertised the grants, but officials have traveled to the coast to spread the word.