COLUMBIA, SC (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.

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