Talk to just about anyone in this canyon and once they get past how their insurance let them down and other flood-related concerns, they will eventually get around to saying that although they could have done without this experience, the silver lining is getting to know the neighbors.

The weather has been bleak and cold the last couple of nights, with snow expected tonight. I covered my plants and hope they come through okay.

We are starting to see FEMA asking for money back from people. In one neighborhood, various residents were given $20,000 FEMA grants to fix their access roads, so they pooled it and work was done on the whole area, benefitting people who did not qualify for FEMA money. But then FEMA figured out there is an area HOA that plows their roads for them, and said it legally should not have given them that money: please return $150,000.

This is not something new for FEMA - they also asked for money back from hurricanes Katrina and Sandy. In the case of Katrina, it was like blood from a turnip, and eventually the debts had to be forgiven.

They say it wasn't necessarily fraud, it was more a case of double-dipping where insurance or other money paid for the same things the FEMA money was supposed to cover. I can see people in this area who were given a FEMA grant to restore their septic system, but now they can get money for it from HUD. They are trying to rationalize that the FEMA money could be applied to repairing their access road, but that's not how it works - FEMA is very specific about how their grants are to be used.