FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla.  — Monday saw the start of a temporary split access plan for the town of Fort Myers Beach, which will only allow residents on the island Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for the foreseeable future.

According to Councilman Bill Veach, this was a request set by Lee County to speed up the debris removal process.

"It feels like your heart got torn out," said Steve Duello, a resident of Fort Myers Beach. “My mom and dad brought it in ’83.”

Duello is completely heartbroken after losing his family home of nearly 40 years because of Hurricane Ian. He said his cinderblock home was like a fortress and where he and his family escaped Missouri's bitterly cold winters.

“We spend about seven to eight months of the year down here; my grandkids love it. My boys and their wives all love it,” Duelllo said.

But through love comes pain. Duello said his home would be flattened—even more painful, he said, was learning about the town's decision to restrict what days residents like him have access to their property.

“It’s the worst thing I’ve gone through; there are a lot of worst things to go through, but this is my worst,” Duello said.

Veach's response to residents who are heartbroken about the limited access was that if the debris removal process isn't conducted in a timely manner, it will have a high cost.

"This was actually brought up by the county. The county was gracious enough to take over debris removal, which is a huge expense," Veach explained.

An expense that he said could cost millions of dollars. Veach added that debris removal is a top priority, mainly with the hard deadline set by FEMA.

"We have 60 days to do that,” Veach said.

After those 60 days, FEMA will stop covering the costs, leaving a bill of millions.

"If we end up getting straddled with the expenses—even a small portion, it could bankrupt the town,“ Veach said.

This is why the county requested to limit residents on the island on certain days while essential response teams are working.

“When they are stuck in traffic like we were stuck in traffic, they are not doing their job,” Councilman Veach said.

The town announced that 96 percent of power lines had been restored on Estero Boulevard, which gave Duello a silver lining to his dark cloud.

“It’s nice to see some light on Estero Boulevard. Things have been so dark and gloomy,” Duello said. "Now there’s at least some lights on. So yeah, it is a little bit good. I’m struggling to find anything good right now."

Councilman Veach said with so much "devastation" on the island. The county isn't sure if it can get all the debris removed in 60 days and might have to request another extension from FEMA.

Briana Brownlee at WFTX first reported this story.

BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. (KMGH) — Colorado state leaders and federal officials on Sunday toured the devastation caused by the Marshall Fire.

After the tour, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, Sen. Michael Bennet, and Congressmen Joe Neguse and Jason Crow pledged during a press briefing the full support of federal and state agencies to provide assistance to the thousands of residents who lost their homes and those who are displaced because of the fire.

Finding housing for those who lived in the nearly 1,000 homes destroyed in the fire is FEMA’s main priority, Criswell said. While not offering any specifics, she said her agency is working with local officials to identify what those housing needs are.

“We’re bringing our federal teams together to work side-by-side with the state, the county and the city officials that have been impacted to develop what that housing strategy is going to be, both the immediate needs to put people into safe places as well as what the long-term housing needs might be as we work together to rebuild these communities,” Criswell said.

Saturday, FEMA made available disaster assistance for Marshall Fire victims. This relief can be used for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help individuals and business owners recover.

Residents and business owners who sustained losses in the designated areas can begin applying for assistance by registering online at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621- 3362.

They also opened a Disaster Assistance Center in Lafayette for residents to talk with FEMA representatives on ways to receive assistance.

Criswell stressed homeowners will need to first consult with their insurance companies before seeking additional help from FEMA, but added the agency will be with them every step of the way.

“I know this is going to be a long road to recovery, but know that the federal family, we are going to be with you 100% all the way through this,” she said.

The wind-driven Marshall Fire tore through Superior, Louisville, and parts of unincorporated Boulder County Thursday, destroying an estimated 991 structures and damaging 106 homes. Two people are missing and are feared dead.

It started around S. Cherryvale Road and Marshall Drive at around 11 a.m. Thursday and prompted the evacuation of tens of thousands of people. It grew to become the most destructive fire in Colorado history. The cause is still under investigation.

During Sunday’s press briefing, Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said a third person previously believed to be missing was found alive. Two people — a woman from Superior and a man from the Marshall area — remain unaccounted for and crews are using cadaver dogs to search for possible remains. The homes of those reported missing were destroyed in the fire. Pelle said recovery efforts are being hampered by the conditions.

Pelle, during a subsequent briefing, provided some additional details on the fire. He announced Saturday that tips led to a search warrant in connection with the investigation into the cause of the fire, but he again declined to elaborate on the details of that warrant or the investigation itself. He said a team made up of local and federal law enforcement are working on the investigation.

“Something ignited that fire in that wind, on a red flag day, and our job… is to determine what started that fire,” Pelle said. “I don’t have a definitive or final answer for you yet.”

This story was originally reported by Robert Garrison on thedenverchannel.com.

WASHINGTON — Whether it was flooding in Texas earlier this week because of Tropical Storm Nicolas or Hurricane Ida's destruction which stretched from neighborhoods in Louisiana to interstates in the Northeast, the last few weeks have shown why flooding is such a risk to Americans.

In fact, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), flooding is the most common and most expensive natural disaster in our country.

And you don't have to live on the coasts to be at risk.

CONGRESS AND FEMA

While all this flooding may have you thinking about flood insurance, Congress is thinking about it for other reasons.

The National Flood Insurance Program is set to expire on Oct. 1.

While Congress is expected to extend the program, the bigger impact on your life may be the changes FEMA wants to make to flood insurance policies, changes that will likely impact rates.

Currently, policies are based on a home's elevation and whether it has a 1% annual chance of flooding.

Starting Oct. 1, factors such as the history of flooding, frequency of heavy rainfall, as well proximity to a water source will be factored in.

The numbers mean what you pay will be changing.

FEMA estimates around 73% of current policyholders will pay between $1-$20 more per month

It's expected 4% of existing policyholders will see price hikes of more than $20 a month.

But FEMA also says around 23% of flood insurance plans will be cheaper, an acknowledgment that some Americans have been paying too much for years.

"It all depends on where you happen to be," Dr. Ed Kearns says.

Kearns runs floodfactor.com which allows anyone to type in their address and see their own flood risk.

He says while FEMA's willingness to change is important, more climate change risks should be factored in.

“I'd really like to see how climate change is impacting those heavy rainfall events," Kearns said.

The reality, he says, is that some areas will be hit harder than others with floods in the coming years and Americans need to be insured and prepared to pay more.

"If you are living in a home that is on a grade slab and next to the ocean, or a low-lying area you should expect to pay your fair share.”

New policies will see rates change next month, current policyholders will see those changes next April.

If you're someone who wants flood insurance but can't afford it, keep an eye on Congress. A proposal to create new subsidies is currently included in the proposed multi-trillion-dollar spending bill.

More than 41 million Americans live near a flood zone, according to FEMA. However, the first maps illustrating flood zones didn’t roll off the presses until the early 1970s. As many government agencies have learned, keeping up with who is currently in a flood zone is a moving target thanks to climate change.

For most of us, flood insurance takes care of any potential disasters. However, homes passed down from generation to generation in many low-income neighborhoods have become a hot topic. Following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, it’s an issue the city of Houston is still trying to work out.

When James Burford’s home was built, he says the Houston flood plains had not yet been mapped. Inside his home, the walls and ceilings were covered in black mold. His daughter’s room was covered, which is why they had to leave. The move wasn’t easy.

“I’m a disabled veteran. I do have some sort of medical issues that I have to deal with, and it's not good for someone that has gone through what I’ve gone through,” Burford said. “Which tends to frustrate me more because I feel like, you know, having this property here, serving my country as I have, and then being treated this way by the city of Houston and by the state of Texas, you know, I feel like that's a great injustice.”

Burford isn’t alone. Many of the homes along greens bayou often flood.

“This is a predominantly an area of color; is it is a relatively poor area, and therefore, I think this area has been overlooked, you know, of flooding that occurred, and I think we have become expendable,” Burford said.

“We have we have an African American mayor, who comes from an underserved community called Acres Homes, and he has been committed since he walked in here in 2016 to make change for the city to focus on underserved communities,” said Stephen Costello, who is with the city of Houston.

Harris County Flood Control District says they are working on solutions, and among them include potential voluntary buyouts.

“It’s a challenge because you have to find available property. You have to get the infrastructure in place, not just wastewater,” said Alan Black, who represents the district. “There’s got to be grocery stores. There has to be a network to help people move into a particular area.”

It’s a problem not exclusive to Houston.

“You know, some places in America, and many in both New Orleans and in Houston, you can only build single-family homes on a two-acre lot, right, as opposed to building a series of townhomes, for instance,” said Jesse Keenan is a professor at Tulane University. “That significantly increases density, it increases the supply of housing and decreases the cost burden on people when you increase supply. This is a challenge for the entire country. We need to produce a lot more housing."

While Tulane experts say buyouts and affordable housing are the solutions, one Rice University professor says those buyouts, at least for now, can be avoided through engineering.

“They’ve got an inadequate drainage system to begin with. It doesn't have anywhere to flow,” Jim Blackburn said. “There are culverts that are stopped up, and then, there's no big projects that come in and really handle those big storms that we're getting more often.”

Blackburn is the co-director of the severe storm prevention, education, and evacuation with FEMA’s Disaster Center.

“And so, if a project costs $5 million and if you're protecting $10 million houses, then that's $10 million in benefits and $5 million in cost. So, we've seen example after example of where lower-income areas have trouble qualifying for the federal programs,” Blackburn explained.

Blackburn says all of that is about to change, thanks in part to the Water Resources Development Act of 2020. The bill opens a kind of loophole for the Army Corps of Engineers to help economically disadvantaged communities through 10 pilot programs.

The Harris County flood district hopes to be one of the first in the nation to tackle the problems in northeast Houston.

For Blackburn, that could fulfill a simple dream.

“I would love to come home, you know,” he said. “I’ve been in this neighborhood for half of my life.”