During the Fourth of July long weekend, Texas experienced a devastating flood. Kerr County got the brunt of the flooding on the morning of the 4th, and reportedly, more than 129 people died, with 166 people missing. Many of the dead and missing are children who were camping in the area too. This was a “perfect storm” of deadly incompetence at every level. At the local level, Kerr County officials were literally asleep as their residents were trying to survive a historic flood. At the state level, Texas Republicans have destroyed anything resembling natural-disaster response, and Texans have consistently voted to reject federal assistance and FEMA aid. At the federal level, the Trump administration has already gutted FEMA and gutted emergency-weather models and warning systems. Well, here’s one of the worst parts of an already horrific story: Texans were trying to call FEMA’s call center in the wake of the disaster, but Kristi Noem fired all of the call-center workers:
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.
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.
Firing FEMA call-center workers 24 hours after a deadly flooding in a Republican state… I feel sorry for the people who didn’t vote for this, and I feel really sorry for all of the children. But the people who voted for Trump and found their calls to FEMA unanswered… well, this is democracy in action. Elections have consequences, and they knew that ICE Barbie was going to be this deplorable. They just thought she was going to be deplorable to other people! Not only did Noem fire all of these FEMA call center folks, she also delayed sending FEMA search-and-rescue teams to Texas until Monday the 7th, three days after the floods.
CNN: According to four officials inside FEMA.. a new rule that any expected expenditure over $100,000 needed sign off from Noem slowed the federal response.
The sources tell us that FEMA’s deployment of urban search and rescue teams, which are typically deployed in… pic.twitter.com/6o1SRT7n9t
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 10, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
