Trump's FEMA Didn't Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show
Two days after deadly Texas floods, the agency struggled to answer calls from survivors because of call center contracts that weren’t extended.
By Maxine Joselow
July 11, 2025 Updated 8:41 p.m. ET

Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.

The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The details on the unanswered calls on July 6, which have not been previously reported, come as FEMA faces intense scrutiny over its response to the floods in Texas that have killed more than 120 people. The agency, which President Trump has called for eliminating, has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts.

...

[Hugin]

1. He and the rent-a-FLOTUS got a photo op out of it.

Isn’t that what FEMA is for?

[peacefreak2.0]

2. So, she's micromanaging chump change

for her agency in between costume changes for her photo ops? When does she get her nails done?

[DenaliDemocrat]

3. I used to work FEMA missions BUT -

I took the VERA from the fork because my new “office” was over an hour away. My whole team retired or went private industry. Yeah - no thanks.


FAFO is how the young people put it.

[GoodRaisin]

4. Noem must have been too busy trying on cowboy hats.

[RedWhiteBlueIsRacist]

5. Less government, more deaths. A feature, not a bug, with depraved republicans.

Even those little girls dying at a Christian camp will not faze the GOP sickness.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

6. FEMA Didn't Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show (NYT Gift Subcription)

Two days after deadly Texas floods, the agency struggled to answer calls from survivors because of call center contracts that weren’t extended.

They'll still blame Biden somehow, rather than the NWS firings, or fema cuts.

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors, Documents Show - The New York Times share.google/8VIrQnTgnqOe...

— Oldstonydude (@oldstonydude.bsky.social) 2025-07-12T17:20:44.589Z

Link to tweet

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.BQP3.cDmKuRLfIEQP&smid=tw-share

Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.

The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.

The details on the unanswered calls on July 6, which have not been previously reported, come as FEMA faces intense scrutiny over its response to the floods in Texas that have killed more than 120 people. The agency, which President Trump has called for eliminating, has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts......

The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.

Some FEMA officials grew frustrated by the lapse in contracts and that it was taking days for Ms. Noem to act, according to the person briefed on the matter and the documents. “We still do not have a decision, waiver or signature from the DHS Secretary,” a FEMA official wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues......

Democratic lawmakers raised concern on Friday that Ms. Noem’s insistence on approving expenses over $100,000 had also delayed FEMA’s deployment of search-and-rescue teams to Texas. In a letter to David Richardson, FEMA’s acting administrator, the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wrote that Ms. Noem did not authorize the deployment of those teams until July 7, three days after the flooding began.