Recovery

The National Weather Service confirmed a pair of tornadoes touched down in Shiawassee County and two in Genesee County that damaged homes, barns, splintered trees, and downed power lines leaving thousands in the dark.

Three semi-trailers arrived at the Nebraska National Guard warehouse in Lincoln on Saturday morning with more than 72,000 bottles and 3,000 one-gallon jugs of water for distribution.

As of Monday, FEMA had paid nearly $6 million in disaster aid to about 2,600 households. That’s out of 5,200 cases that FEMA reviewed. A typical aid amount is $2,000-$6,000, according to FEMA officials and homeowners.

'We know that FEMA undercounts, and that has long-term effects for Houston. It means we get less money than we should get; it means we are not seeing the full scale of the problem, especially for vulnerable people.'

A spokesman for Verizon issued a statement saying the problem was limited to dispatchers being unable in some cases to collect phone number and location information from calls. The dispatch center manager disagreed.

Since the Hurricane Michael, the city has taken out a $50 million loan to cover expenses, with plans in the work to take out another $25 million.

To help private property owners get there, the city is working with FEMA to put programs in place to help make it possible.

For analysts who study such things, the mishap is also something else: a case study yielding insights about how similar mistakes might be prevented in the future.

The final wave of cleanup will last for about five weeks, after which any debris will be removed at homeowners' expense. The final pass comes soon after the Florida Department of Transportation recently announced it would end its debris pickup along state highways on April 15.

Months after California’s most devastating wildfire killed 85 people and leveled the town of Paradise, many former residents find the thought of returning here unbearable. Others have come back to a life of surreal contrasts.

FEMA has approved paying $205 million, but denied an additional $306 million for reconstruction of the dam’s spillways, saying that those funds don’t meet federal eligibility rules.

More rain could complicate plans to drain the flooded stretch of Alabama 101 and Lawrence 406. Alabama Department of Transportation Civil Engineer Dallon Ogle said his department plans to use 6-inch pumps to move water out of the area.

Bay County, Fla., expects to save nearly $350,000 a year by ending annual appropriations to up to eight outside agencies, starting with its 2020 fiscal year.

State Sen. George Gainer said local governments could be waiting years for reimbursements from FEMA and wants to make sure they're taken care of in the meantime.

They're called the Cajun Navy, but they're not just one organization.