12 ms·

FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors

170 points by standardUser 1y ago

duxup 1y ago
>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.
- thephyber 1y ago
  She was busy with higher priorities this week: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLyjaZ5s51o/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DLyjaZ5s51o/
  - arp242 1y ago
    There were some dogs that desperately needed shooting?
- AtlasBarfed 1y ago
  Advocating for competent governance is partisan! Heck of a job, Brownie
- bb88 1y ago
  FEMA has "Emergency" in the name. Traditionally, it's supposed to come in when the normal rescue infrastructure has failed, due to earthquake, weather, etc. You're not optimizing for cost here. You're optimizing for reliable emergency management -- and that's going to cost money. If you wanted a different agency, like one that prioritized "recovery after 6 months", well, it would help to inform the nation that FEMA is no longer the nationwide emergency management agency. It's up to the local and state governments.
  - scarface_74 1y ago
    And Texas voters overwhelmingly voted for politicians who caused this and still make excuses for these same politicians. I am tired of caring for people who vote for people that harm them.
    - cjohnson318 1y ago
      I thought that there was a bar somewhere, a line that would not be crossed, but there isn't, it's just straight up identity politics, or owning the libs, whatever you want to call it.
      - mjevans 1y ago
        Please remember to take the statements posters make in the best possible light. My interpretation of such is that they're sick of voters who expect a double standard. Don't do something ''I'' don't like when it helps other people, but when ''I'' need help godspeed.
        DonHopkins 1y ago
        The best possible light is that he cares about the lives of the little girls and many others that Trump and Musk and Noem and DOGE killed more than owning the libs and canceling NOAA.
      - bb88 1y ago
        There has always been a place for emergency management. Just ask Kansas about tornados in the 1960s/70s before the rise of doppler radar. And even after in 2007, there was Greensburg, KS. We can and probably should have arguments about the effective cost of government programs. But Kerr County residents fought hard to not pay $20 per resident (assuming population of 53,000) for a $1M flood warning system. So this is the outcome. And it will cost Kerr County way more than $1M in cleanup.
    - jfengel 1y ago
      And they are going to vote for them again. Next November is a million years from now. Though for that matter this will be forgotten by the November.
- KingOfCoders 1y ago
  I once worked for a company that had a founder who was cancelling all contracts on a yearly basis, including renting the office. They were proud of cutting costs that way. After two times, the property owner said, "Great! I have a company that asked me about the space and is willing to pay much more" and the company of several hundred people had to move on very short notice.
  - chris_wot 1y ago
    Did it survive?
    - KingOfCoders 1y ago
      Yes, it was very rich, but it did disrupt operations a lot and the new space wasn't as nice - we moved from team offices to an open layout, with my boss praising the open layout - we then found out he would get a private office.
      - rickydroll 1y ago
        Too bad your boss's office has been infested with crickets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5C82CY7?pf_rd_r=R91A8JNKAJ387ZZ0TQ2P&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=liveDestination&pf_rd_i=video&linkCode=ilv&tag=onamzlukemats-20&ascsubtag=VideoCreatorPortal%3A4fd5b4d2f9a34851830f19c0a0b3de01&asc_contentid=amzn1.vse.video.0a81d82b7c4b46ebbe1cb0d40f0853c9&pd_rd_i=B0C5C82CY7&th=1&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5C82CY7?pf_rd_r=R91A8JNKAJ387ZZ...
        KingOfCoders 1y ago
        :-)
  - 1718627440 1y ago
    They could have simply renegotiated the contracts with the same benefits and less negative effects.
- lenerdenator 1y ago
  Somehow, one of the least unhinged things that woman has ever done.
- booleandilemma 1y ago
  I call people like this "octopuses". They need to have their tentacles everywhere, need to be involved in everything, no matter how little they're needed.
- Yeul 1y ago
  The US has trillions in deficit but she's worried about pennies.
  - duxup 1y ago
    And her party is busy digging a much deeper deficit hole. I suspect this kind of personal involvement is just about kick backs / graft.
msla 1y ago
https://archive.ph/J35lH 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.
bb88 1y ago
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-everyone-survived-flooding-has-sirens-that-warned-them/#:~:text=In%20Kerr%20County%2C%20the%20price%20tag%20for%20a%20proposed%20flood%20warning%20system%20for%20a%20larger%20swath%20of%20the%20Guadalupe%20River%20was%20close%20to%20%241%20million https://www.wowt.com/2025/07/11/small-texas-community-where-... [1] https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-county-didnt-send-eas-flood-warnings-phones/3882922/ https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-coun... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-alarm-system.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-a... [3] https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/centers/hibbs-institute/interactive-graphs/tx-property-tax-by-county/ https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/...
- arp242 1y ago
  From that NYT article: "Some residents argued that outdoor sirens blaring warnings in the event of a flash flood would ruin the natural feel of the area that many prized. “The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night,” one county commissioner at the time, Buster Baldwin, said during a 2016 meeting. “I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all.” (Mr. Baldwin died in 2022.)" I'm thinking hard here, but I'm reasonably sure this is at least in the top-5 most moronic short-sighted, selfish, brain-dead things I've ever seen in my life. Possibly even top-3. Yeah, I'd join Buster in the bar to drink ourselves in a coma.
  - dmix 1y ago
    NIMBY is the most powerful political force in every western country. It's far easier killing off any new economic and public development at the local level than any national level environmentalist or small government movement could ever dream for.
arghandugh 1y ago
[flagged]
- scarface_74 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - arghandugh 1y ago
    [flagged]
    - scarface_74 1y ago
      The voters very much put Trump in office. He won the popular vote. They knew exactly what they were getting.
      - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
        It’s become increasingly clear that at least some of them did not consider the negative impacts of a second Trump term’s policies on their personal lives and are now having to bear the violent results of that awful realization.
      - tzs 1y ago
        A majority of voters voted for candidates other than Trump.
        scarface_74 1y ago
        And they are as much to blame.
        tzs 1y ago
        Wait. So the voters who voted for Trump are to blame and the voters who did not vote for Trump are also to blame? How exactly do you think I should have cast my vote so as to not be blamed for Trump?
Animats 1y ago
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/fema-leader-cameron-hamilton-fired-testify-agency-should-not-shut-down/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3405810/... [2] https://www.fema.gov/ https://www.fema.gov/ [3] https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tracker-map/ https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tr...
- Animats 1y ago
  Trump reversed position on FEMA today.[1] FEMA no longer ungood. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-texas-flood.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-te...
  - longfingers 1y ago
    It seems to me like a Christian who really thought about it could realize the philosophy of God in advance and then his mysterious ways might require less tragedy.
smilbandit 1y ago
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"
neonate 1y ago
https://archive.ph/J35lH https://archive.ph/J35lH
ashoeafoot 1y ago
lawsuitwave in 3..2..1

170 points by standardUser 1y ago

>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.

thephyber 1y ago
She was busy with higher priorities this week: https://www.instagram.com/p/DLyjaZ5s51o/ https://www.instagram.com/p/DLyjaZ5s51o/
- arp242 1y ago
  There were some dogs that desperately needed shooting?
AtlasBarfed 1y ago
Advocating for competent governance is partisan! Heck of a job, Brownie
bb88 1y ago
FEMA has "Emergency" in the name. Traditionally, it's supposed to come in when the normal rescue infrastructure has failed, due to earthquake, weather, etc. You're not optimizing for cost here. You're optimizing for reliable emergency management -- and that's going to cost money. If you wanted a different agency, like one that prioritized "recovery after 6 months", well, it would help to inform the nation that FEMA is no longer the nationwide emergency management agency. It's up to the local and state governments.
- scarface_74 1y ago
  And Texas voters overwhelmingly voted for politicians who caused this and still make excuses for these same politicians. I am tired of caring for people who vote for people that harm them.
  - cjohnson318 1y ago
    I thought that there was a bar somewhere, a line that would not be crossed, but there isn't, it's just straight up identity politics, or owning the libs, whatever you want to call it.
    - mjevans 1y ago
      Please remember to take the statements posters make in the best possible light. My interpretation of such is that they're sick of voters who expect a double standard. Don't do something ''I'' don't like when it helps other people, but when ''I'' need help godspeed.
      - DonHopkins 1y ago
        The best possible light is that he cares about the lives of the little girls and many others that Trump and Musk and Noem and DOGE killed more than owning the libs and canceling NOAA.
    - bb88 1y ago
      There has always been a place for emergency management. Just ask Kansas about tornados in the 1960s/70s before the rise of doppler radar. And even after in 2007, there was Greensburg, KS. We can and probably should have arguments about the effective cost of government programs. But Kerr County residents fought hard to not pay $20 per resident (assuming population of 53,000) for a $1M flood warning system. So this is the outcome. And it will cost Kerr County way more than $1M in cleanup.
  - jfengel 1y ago
    And they are going to vote for them again. Next November is a million years from now. Though for that matter this will be forgotten by the November.
KingOfCoders 1y ago
I once worked for a company that had a founder who was cancelling all contracts on a yearly basis, including renting the office. They were proud of cutting costs that way. After two times, the property owner said, "Great! I have a company that asked me about the space and is willing to pay much more" and the company of several hundred people had to move on very short notice.
- chris_wot 1y ago
  Did it survive?
  - KingOfCoders 1y ago
    Yes, it was very rich, but it did disrupt operations a lot and the new space wasn't as nice - we moved from team offices to an open layout, with my boss praising the open layout - we then found out he would get a private office.
    - rickydroll 1y ago
      Too bad your boss's office has been infested with crickets https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5C82CY7?pf_rd_r=R91A8JNKAJ387ZZ0TQ2P&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_t=liveDestination&pf_rd_i=video&linkCode=ilv&tag=onamzlukemats-20&ascsubtag=VideoCreatorPortal%3A4fd5b4d2f9a34851830f19c0a0b3de01&asc_contentid=amzn1.vse.video.0a81d82b7c4b46ebbe1cb0d40f0853c9&pd_rd_i=B0C5C82CY7&th=1&psc=1 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C5C82CY7?pf_rd_r=R91A8JNKAJ387ZZ...
      - KingOfCoders 1y ago
        :-)
- 1718627440 1y ago
  They could have simply renegotiated the contracts with the same benefits and less negative effects.
lenerdenator 1y ago
Somehow, one of the least unhinged things that woman has ever done.
booleandilemma 1y ago
I call people like this "octopuses". They need to have their tentacles everywhere, need to be involved in everything, no matter how little they're needed.
Yeul 1y ago
The US has trillions in deficit but she's worried about pennies.
- duxup 1y ago
  And her party is busy digging a much deeper deficit hole. I suspect this kind of personal involvement is just about kick backs / graft.

msla 1y ago

https://archive.ph/J35lH 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.

bb88 1y ago

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-everyone-survived-flooding-has-sirens-that-warned-them/#:~:text=In%20Kerr%20County%2C%20the%20price%20tag%20for%20a%20proposed%20flood%20warning%20system%20for%20a%20larger%20swath%20of%20the%20Guadalupe%20River%20was%20close%20to%20%241%20million https://www.wowt.com/2025/07/11/small-texas-community-where-... [1] https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-county-didnt-send-eas-flood-warnings-phones/3882922/ https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-coun... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-alarm-system.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-a... [3] https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/centers/hibbs-institute/interactive-graphs/tx-property-tax-by-county/ https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/...

arp242 1y ago
From that NYT article: "Some residents argued that outdoor sirens blaring warnings in the event of a flash flood would ruin the natural feel of the area that many prized. “The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night,” one county commissioner at the time, Buster Baldwin, said during a 2016 meeting. “I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all.” (Mr. Baldwin died in 2022.)" I'm thinking hard here, but I'm reasonably sure this is at least in the top-5 most moronic short-sighted, selfish, brain-dead things I've ever seen in my life. Possibly even top-3. Yeah, I'd join Buster in the bar to drink ourselves in a coma.
- dmix 1y ago
  NIMBY is the most powerful political force in every western country. It's far easier killing off any new economic and public development at the local level than any national level environmentalist or small government movement could ever dream for.

arghandugh 1y ago

[flagged]

scarface_74 1y ago
[flagged]
- arghandugh 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - scarface_74 1y ago
    The voters very much put Trump in office. He won the popular vote. They knew exactly what they were getting.
    - GuinansEyebrows 1y ago
      It’s become increasingly clear that at least some of them did not consider the negative impacts of a second Trump term’s policies on their personal lives and are now having to bear the violent results of that awful realization.
    - tzs 1y ago
      A majority of voters voted for candidates other than Trump.
      - scarface_74 1y ago
        And they are as much to blame.
        tzs 1y ago
        Wait. So the voters who voted for Trump are to blame and the voters who did not vote for Trump are also to blame? How exactly do you think I should have cast my vote so as to not be blamed for Trump?

Animats 1y ago

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/fema-leader-cameron-hamilton-fired-testify-agency-should-not-shut-down/ https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3405810/... [2] https://www.fema.gov/ https://www.fema.gov/ [3] https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tracker-map/ https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tr...

Animats 1y ago
Trump reversed position on FEMA today.[1] FEMA no longer ungood. [1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-texas-flood.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-te...
- longfingers 1y ago
  It seems to me like a Christian who really thought about it could realize the philosophy of God in advance and then his mysterious ways might require less tragedy.

smilbandit 1y ago

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"

neonate 1y ago

https://archive.ph/J35lH https://archive.ph/J35lH

ashoeafoot 1y ago

lawsuitwave in 3..2..1