Since Donald Trump regained office in January he’s made no secret of his desire to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). In May I reported on an internal memo that warned “critical functions” were at “high risk” of not operating properly, and said if improvements weren’t made, it “may disrupt life saving” operations. The deadly Texas flooding isn’t the first natural disaster of this administration—devastating tornadoes ripped through Arkansas, Oklahoma and Missouri this spring—but it’s the first to gain widespread national attention. But according to sources within FEMA, “barely any staff” have been deployed, and the Acting Administrator David Richardson “is nowhere to be found.” Per one source, “if this is how they are going to do a major hurricane response, people are fucked.”

In June, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem sent out a memo announcing she’d have greater control over FEMA operations moving forward. The memo, first obtained by CNN, said that every contract and grant over $100,000 must be personally approved by Noem. “Officials inside FEMA warn the new approval process could severely disrupt the distribution of emergency funds during natural disasters,” CNN reported at the time.
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“We would have hundreds of people on scene in FEMA jackets registering people for assistance, regional coordination center fully activated, national at least partly activated,” a current FEMA employee whose identity is being protected for fear of reprisal told The Handbasket. “Setting up disaster recovery centers with federal partners, we’d have our search and rescue there already. We would have mission assigned other agencies like USACE (US Army Corp of Engineers) to clear debris and establish power.”

Despite Trump officially activating FEMA on Sunday, FEMA has just 86 total staff deployed at this point, according to figures shared with staff Monday evening. That includes a national incident management team, plus regional and headquarter staff. In the past it would normally be in the several hundreds at this point in the disaster recovery process. “We are doing a lot less than normal,” the FEMA staffer said.

https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/fema-response-deadly-texas-floods-delayed-deficient-noem