from Hacker News

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors

by standardUser on 7/12/25, 2:57 AM with 116 comments

  • by neonate on 7/12/25, 7:56 AM

  • by bb88 on 7/12/25, 3:21 AM

    Here's some local and national reporting I found interesting.

    1. Kerr county balked at the cost of flood sirens. [0]

    2. Kerr county didn't alert all cell phones of the emergency. [1]

    3. Kerr county repeatedly asked the State of Texas for flood help and the state said no. [2]

    4. Kerr county was in the bottom half of property taxes in the state of Texas in 2017. [3]

    [0] https://www.wowt.com/2025/07/11/small-texas-community-where-...

    [1] https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-coun...

    [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-a...

    [3] https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/...

  • by duxup on 7/12/25, 2:59 AM

    >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.

    Your classic manager who feels they are so important that hey HAVE TO be involved in X,Y,Z but they are not a responsible enough person to actually do the job.

  • by msla on 7/12/25, 3:07 AM

    https://archive.ph/J35lH

    Yeah, there's reasons for that:

    > On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.

    > That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.

    > 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.

  • by Animats on 7/12/25, 4:23 AM

    That's what's supposed to happen. The Trump administration is shutting down FEMA. Emergency response is now a state responsibility. The interim head of FEMA who told Congress this was a bad move was fired the next day.[1]

    Federal disaster relief is now a gift to be given at the whim of the President. Usually, only red states get it. See the list of major disaster declarations here.[2] More details.[3]

    [1] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3405810/...

    [2] https://www.fema.gov/

    [3] https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tr...

  • by smilbandit on 7/12/25, 5:37 AM

    Phrasing matters. using "didn't" puts a bad light on FEMA but if they used "couldn't" it changes things. no idea which it is but i'd bet it should read "couldn't"

  • by ashoeafoot on 7/12/25, 1:39 PM

    lawsuitwave in 3..2..1