Although commonly seen on the web, the phrase “raised to the ground” is almost always a misspelling of “razed to the ground”.
Whilst it is possible for something to be “raised” to the ground, it would, logically, have to be below the surface beforehand. Miners could raise ore to the ground. But when talking about a building or a city the phrase should be “razed to the ground”.
Raze – which sounds the same as raise but is a completely distinct word – is defined by the Compact Oxford Dictionary as follows :
raze (also rase)
• verb, tear down and destroy (a building, town, etc.).