Rick on the Roof gets the ending he fought for

The man with a plan and the courage to stand up for what he believed in is finally getting the happy ending he fought for.

Rick Loughrey, better known as “Rick on the Roof,” is back in his Fort Myers Beach home after a long battle with FEMA and a unique protest that gained him local fame.

Loughrey protested FEMA’s order to dismantle his garage, which he rebuilt after Hurricane Ian devastated the area, by living on its roof for several days in August 2023.

• RELATED: Man refuses to get off his Fort Myers Beach roof, protesting FEMA regulations

More than a year later, Loughrey and his wife, Amy and their Aussiedoodle, Tiny, are celebrating what they call the “perfect Christmas present.”

WINK News reporter Jolena Esperto went to Loughrey’s home on Fort Myers Beach to speak with him and his wife and see how they are doing now that they are back in their home.

“Losing everything is tough, you know, and you’ve got to get through it,” Loughrey said. “But when you do, there is sunshine at the end of it.”

Hurricane Ian destroyed the Loughrey home in 2022, but their garage remained standing. FEMA initially classified the garage as an accessory structure, stating it had to be torn down because it was built after the original home.

• RELATED: FEMA’s regulations against Rick on the Roof

For Loughrey, however, it was more than just a garage, it was the only part of his property left standing.

He protested FEMA’s order by moving onto the roof of the garage.

“The days were very hot and very long in that hot air,” Loughrey recalled. “It’s so hot, or the bugs are out there, but it was kind of beautiful at night. But the days were absolutely horrendous.”

Despite the challenges, his efforts paid off. He eventually convinced the state floodplain manager to allow the garage to stay.

It is now connected to the couple’s new home.

• RELATED: Rick on the Roof comes down after nearly a week of protesting

“You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do in life,” Loughrey said. “And that’s what we had to do, and we did it. So, we might not have been, you know, we might have been unsuccessful, but if we hadn’t tried, we would have never found out that we could have.”

Rick Loughrey, who became a local symbol of resilience, is now off the roof and settling into his new home.

While he doesn’t seem eager to return to his roof anytime soon, he said he is grateful for the friends and supporters he met during his protest.