Floods were scattered in Kerrville, Texas, rubble, including vehicles and equipment in Louise Hays Park, on July 5, 2025. (Photo by Eric Vryn/Getty Images)
Washington – The Trump Administration Official, who headed the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Wednesday that the reaction to fall floods in Texas on the 4th weekend in July served as a “outstanding” model for the rest of the country.
His conclusions about the catastrophic floods that had A number of fatalities Of 135 and comprehensive search and rescue operations, several members of the US House Transportation and Infrastructure under committee were questioned, which held the hearing.
David Richardson, the high -ranking civil servant who fulfills the tasks of the Fema administrator, told the panel that he “could see nothing that we did wrong”.
“The reaction to Texas, which was conducted by the municipality, managed by the state and supported nationwide, brought the maximum amount of ability to endure in Texas at the right time and the right place,” said Richardson. “We have happened and this is a model for how the reaction should be carried out.”
Richardson said that “emergency management is not a pile-on-sport. It is well coordinated, dependent on personal relationships, it has to be exercised beforehand. And all these things came together in Texas the worst day.”
“Texas got what they needed”
Richardson told the panel that he was on vacation when he was on vacation when he was on vacation The Texas floods Started and a few days later he stayed “all the time in my truck” and was on the phone to state and federal civil servants.
“Texas got what they needed when they needed it,” he said.
When asked by the Republican Republican of Texas, Brian Babin, “What steps will the FEMA take to ensure that something like this will never happen again,” said Richardson that the agency “works as close as possible with emergency managers in Texas and the local communities”.
“We work with you through reduction grants, resistance and this type of effort to build the best emergency management system that we can have,” said Richardson. “And as you saw in Texas, it worked very, very well under the leadership of the secretary and the president of the president.”
The Democratic MP of Arizona, Greg Stanton, a member of the subcommittee, rejected Richardson’s characterization that the reaction and the restoration efforts in Texas were adequately treated.
“It follows me that we could have more urban searches and rescue on site,” said Stanton. “We could have saved more of these people.”
Stanton claimed that the secretary of the Minister of Homeland Protection Minister Kristi Noem increased the demand that a contract that cost more than 100,000 US dollars hindered its approval and hinder the federal search and rescue operations.
“This bottleneck was delayed for more than 72 hours, the urban search and rescue teams,” he said. “When many urban search and rescue teams reached Texas, no one was found alive for days.”
The Republican MP of Pennsylvania, Scott Perry, chairman of the subcommittee, seemed to defend Fema’s approach to the floods in Texas, and said it was not possible that the Fema would present resources for all flood warnings.
“Flood warnings occur regularly across the country and the Fema is not at any flood warning that it gets because they would literally present 365 days a year on site,” said Perry. “After taking place with rapidly moving disasters like that in Texas, it is not like a hurricane you can pursue that you can anticipate the landfall or the location of the disaster before the position of position.”
Call-in center in Texas floods
Richardson defended the staff and the waiting times for the Fema call-in center during the Two-hour hearingRejection of reports that after the floods in Texas, people could not get to representatives.
Stanton said that Noem’s drawing policy has also led to higher cost contracts here.
“On July 5, less than 24 hours after the tragedy, Fema Callcenter Treaty expired due to this transfer of $ 100,000,” he said. “The result that the huge majority of the calls were unanswered by survivors. Families who were desperate for protection and facilitate were met with silence.
“Can you imagine losing a family member, losing your home and having your call unanswered when you look for a lifeline?”
Perry said that the subcommittee was informed by another Fema official that the call center prioritizes people in a disaster area if this catastrophe has not yet been completed, but emphasized the body that expected the correct information.
“So you may get calls to the call center from all over the country, but those outside the disaster reaction area are put behind those who have priority. This is the disaster that is now taking place,” said Perry. “We don’t want to say that someone distorts the truth, but we have to make decisions about the right information.”
Richardson said that after the floods in Texas, Fema put the staff in the call center, but this Monday was a particularly strenuous day for people who contacted the agency.
“All calls were answered within three minutes … and no calls over 10 minutes. So it is from three to 10 minutes,” said Richardson. “And the vast majority of the calls were answered. The questions were answered.”
Eliminate fema?
Richardson declined to say whether the Trump administration will try to completely eliminate the Fema and said that the president “wishes better emergency management”.
President Donald Trump Started a Fema Review Council At the beginning of this year to assess how the agency, which is housed in the Department of Homeland Security, is vigorous and where changes can be made.
Have Trump and Noem said repeatedly They think the federal government could get rid of the Fema. Richardson said he expects the review council to make its recommendations in the course of this year.
