Kristi Noem explodes FEMA amid Texas Flood
Digest more
Death toll rises in Texas with 173 still missing
Digest more
The governor was quick to request federal assistance last week after devastating floods hit the Texas Hill Country.
DHS head Kristi Noem refuted a CNN report that her requirement for personal sign-off on DHS contracts over $100,000 slowed emergency response to deadly Texas flooding.
Ex-FEMA officials say it’s unclear how the response differs from FEMA’s typical role in disasters, which is to support states through coordination and funding.
Rescue efforts included over 2,100 responders on the ground, private helicopters, drones, boats and cadaver-detecting dogs.
The data also highlights critical risks in other areas along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County, revealing more than twice as many Americans live in flood prone areas than FEMA's maps show.
The first weather emergency alert sent by the National Weather Service with urgent language instructing people to "seek higher ground now" was sent at 4:03 a.m. local time.
1don MSN
A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.
1don MSN
HUNT, Texas — Texas inspectors signed off on Camp Mystic’s emergency planning just two days before catastrophic flooding killed more than two dozen people at the all-girls Christian summer camp, most of them children.