First gathering of Kerr County commissioners following devastating flood disaster in Texas
In the aftermath of the devastating floods that hit Kerr County, Texas on July 4, questions have been raised about the efficiency and timeliness of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) response.
Despite a FEMA spokesperson stating that the disaster call center responded to every caller swiftly and efficiently, reports indicate that the agency answered only a fraction of calls related to disaster assistance in the wake of the Texas floods. This has caused frustration among affected residents, with the federal disaster declaration approved by President Trump allowing FEMA to provide federal funding for debris removal, search and rescue operations, housing, food, and other immediate needs, but the assistance distribution timeline remaining unclear.
Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams were deployed to Kerr County, but the deployment was delayed. FEMA did not send out its USAR teams until the day after the disaster—Monday following the July 4 flooding—by which time at least 84 people had already died in Kerr County. The delay reportedly occurred because Texas initially relied on its own substantial resources and only requested federal search and rescue assistance after exhausting them.
Multiple urban search and rescue teams from across the country that responded to the floods were not deployed by FEMA until at least the evening of July 7. Officials inside the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) have expressed frustration and confusion about its slow response to the floods.
A growing memorial along a fence in downtown Kerrville features flowers, stuffed animals, and photos of victims in a show of support and mourning. The Kerr County Commissioners, the main governing body for the county, are scheduled to meet on Monday for their first official court hearing since the catastrophic flooding last week. The July 4 flooding transformed the Guadalupe River into a roaring flood, resulting in at least 106 deaths in Kerr County alone, including 36 children, and more than 150 people still missing.
The meeting agenda includes authorizing overtime pay for employees who responded to the flooding and establishing a central location to assist affected citizens. Ground search operations were suspended in Kerrville due to ongoing flood danger on Sunday morning, but later resumed. Thunderstorms and heavy rain on Sunday sparked new concerns of flash flooding in Kerr County.
David Richardson, the acting administrator of FEMA, visited the disaster recovery center in Kerrville on Saturday, marking his first visit to central Texas since the floods. The review by The Associated Press found federal regulators repeatedly granted appeals to remove Camp Mystic's buildings from their 100-year flood map, loosening oversight as the camp operated and expanded in a dangerous flood plain.
Noem, the Governor of South Dakota, defended her agency's response to the floods, claiming resources from the Department of Homeland Security were deployed to help individuals within hours of the flooding. However, the ongoing issues with FEMA's response to the disaster in Kerr County continue to raise concerns and questions.
[1] CNN, Brian Todd, Gabe Cohen, Michael Williams, Ray Sanchez, Rebekah Riess, Michelle Watson, and Donald Judd [2] The New York Times [3] The Associated Press
- The ongoing concerns and questions about FEMA's response to the floods in Kerr County, Texas, also extend to other areas of governance, with reports suggesting that FEMA only answered a fraction of calls related to disaster assistance and deployed USAR teams late, raising questions about the efficiency and timeliness of their general-news operations.
- Amidst the tragedy of the floods in Kerr County, politics and crime-and-justice issues have also arisen, such as the delayed deployment of USAR teams and the unclear assistance distribution timeline, leading to accident-related fatalities and continued frustration among affected residents.
