The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been slow in responding to the flooding disaster in Kerr County and the rest of Central Texas.
That’s according to Sarah Labowitz from the Sustainability, Climate and Geopolitics Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
She told TPR's "The Source" that major cuts in staffing and funding by the Trump administration have led to the slow response by FEMA to flooding rescue and relief efforts.
“They’ve cut a lot, and I think part of what we saw in Kerr County was a couple of concerning things," she explained. "One was the call center contracts. Those were not in place when people needed and expected to reach FEMA and then the slow response of Urban Search and Rescue.”
When the flooding hit the upper Guadalupe River, FEMA arrived and is providing essential financial assistance and recovery support. However, the agency ‘s response is facing serious criticism for delays in rescue deployment, a dysfunctional call center, and the fact that only a fraction of the FEMA staff was deployed—compared with responses under previous administrations. All this while the Trump administration is calling for the dismantling of FEMA. Has FEMA been watered down?