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

[demmiblue]

Source: NYT

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.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

[Skittles]

1. repukes constantly say government is the problem

then when they are in power they very much try to prove it

[highplainsdem]

2. K&R. I just deleted my duplicate thread on this NYT article, since yours was seconds earlier.

[pandr32]

3. This seems criminal.

[dutch777]

4. So sad and so "I told you so" to folks thinking these jokers can manage something that looks like a government.

Only surprise would be if the first screening question when somebody did answer was NOT "who did you vote for as President in the last election". No sense of reality or urgency. And hold your breath for anything that really looks like relief or support....just word salad to eat.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

5. ICE Barbie was late renewing contracts for people who answer FEMA's disaster hotline

Link to tweet

[Skittles]

16. WTF were the Dems who voted for her thinking???

they should be ASHAMED of themselves (yes, repukes should be too but they entirely lack the ability to FEEL shame)

[paleotn]

6. Such idiots.

And the morons who voted is the grand poobah idiot.

[JMCKUSICK]

7. Remember when Incompetence used to mean something?

[Karasu]

8. After getting the DOGE treatment, it's a pathetic shadow of its former self.

[dlk]

9. This is what Republican "leadership" looks like

Malfeasance and negligence all rolled into one. Never forget, this was by design.

[not fooled]

10. Yer on your own, proles*

*only the wealthy need apply for government services handouts.

[SouthBayDem]

11. Gift link:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/climate/fema-missed-calls-texas-floods.html?unlocked_article_code=1.V08.Jmt7.F8T4b4ZTVMfw

[riversedge]

15. Thank you so much

[cstanleytech]

12. Hard for them do do their jobs after they have been gutted like a fish by loud mouth morons.

[Skittles]

17. repukes like to say government is the problem

then when they are in power, they very much try to prove it

[perdita9]

13. Elections have consequences

We kept trying to tell voters that before the election. The whole world is suffering because they wouldn't listen.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

14. 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.

[DenaliDemocrat]

18. I was a fed who managed emergency response

And volunteered for FEMA a lot. I took the early retirement. My whole team of scientists and engineers left. Glad I did. 27 years - good luck! It’s dog eat dog.

[delisen]

19. How many more Americans will Noem kill for Trump?

How many more human beings will she torture or kill this year?