From CNN: FEMA’s response to Texas flood slowed by Noem’s cost controls.

“As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week, officials at the Federal Emergency Management Agency leapt into action, preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving resources, like they have in countless past disasters.

But almost instantly, FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles, four officials inside the agency told CNN.

As CNN has previously reported, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — whose department oversees FEMA — recently enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending: Every contract and grant over $100,000 now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be released.”

From the NYTimes:

(1) In Flooded Texas, Questions About FEMA’s Role and Fate
(2)As the Texas Floodwaters Rose, One Indispensable Voice Was Silent

Disaster preparedness is among the trickiest public services. Natural disasters happen regularly and everywhere, but they don’t happen predictably, which means being ready for them requires extra precautions: It requires a lot of people on duty even when nothing is going wrong, to ensure they will be able to act when something inevitably does. It requires expensive infrastructure that does fairly little during normal times. That makes it a very good indicator of state capacity and wisdom. Will leaders have the foresight to prepare for outcomes that may not be top of voters’ minds? Or will preparedness fall victim to the political theater of cutting anything that can be portrayed as extravagant or redundant?
It requires extra precautions: It requires a lot of people on duty even when nothing is going wrong, to ensure they will be able to act when something inevitably does. It requires expensive infrastructure that does fairly little during normal times. That makes it a very good indicator of state capacity and wisdom. Will leaders have the foresight to prepare for outcomes that may not be top of voters’ minds? Or will preparedness fall victim to the political theater of cutting anything that can be portrayed as extravagant or redundant?esident Trump wants to shutter the agency and shift responsibility and costs of emergency management to the states. In Texas, that process appears to already be underway.

From NBCNews: How a confluence of extreme weather, geography and timing created Texas’ flood disaster

“Texas leads the country in flood deaths. Steep hills, shallow soils and a fault zone have made Hill Country, also called “flash flood alley,” one of the state’s most dangerous regions.”

From The Hill: Congress must make America more resilient to increasingly devastating disasters. 

“Get ready. As we head into hurricane season, fire season and flood season, which are all worsening because the planet is warming, our federal government is not equipped to help you prepare for, escape from, or respond to the disaster. In fact, there is apparently no plan in writing for how the federal government will respond to disasters this year.

According to an internal review, the Federal Emergency Management Agency isn’t ready to help Americans this year, and if President Trump has any say in the matter, it will never be ready. Trump plans to dismantle the agency entirely by December. And even if he’s not serious about dismantling FEMA and instead opts for reforming it, the cuts to the agency have already been disastrous.”

From CNN: Local officials facing questions over their actions in the years and hours before deadly Texas floods

“As Central Texas reels from flash floods that killed over 100 people this weekend, questions are sharpening about whether officials could have done more to avert the tragedy – both in the decades leading up to the disaster, and in the moments after the Guadalupe River began cresting its banks.

In recent years, multiple efforts in Kerr County to build a more substantial flood warning system have faltered or been abandoned due to budget concerns, leaving the epicenter of this weekend’s floods without emergency sirens that could have warned residents about the rising waters.

And while at least one neighboring county issued evacuation orders in the morning hours of July 4, Kerr County officials don’t appear to have done so.”

From WashPost: See how FEMA maps reveal camps’ flood risks. Many camps in the region are adjacent to or partly inside high-risk flood zones, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.-

“More than a dozen summer camps dot the banks of the Guadalupe River and its tributaries, a vast network of waterways twisting through the hills of Kerr County, Texas.

But many of the camps’ idyllic locales also face the danger of severe flooding, since much of the land near the river is designated as a high-risk area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In the most affected area, on the upper Guadalupe River in Kerr County, at least 13 of them lie next to or are partially inside high-risk flood zones, according to a Washington Post analysis of FEMA maps.”

From the NYTimes, article by former FEMA official:
Texas Hill Country Is Underwater, and America’s Emergency Lifeline Is Fraying

“When a flash flood inundates your town or a wildfire devours your neighborhood, you expect the federal government to show up — fast, focused and fully mobilized. That expectation underpins our national resilience. But today, that system is cracking. The help Americans rely on in their darkest hours is in danger of arriving late, underpowered or not at all.”

From CNN: Children’s camps in Texas were located in areas known to be at high risk of flooding

“The waterways in Texas Hill Country have carved paths over the centuries through the granite and limestone, shaping the rocky peaks and valleys that make the region so breathtaking.

When too much rain falls for the ground to absorb, it runs downhill, pulled by gravity into streams, creeks and rivers. The rain fills the waterways beyond their banks, and the excess overflows in predictable patterns that follow the terrain.

Governments and waterway managers know what will flood first and who will be threatened when a truly historic rain event takes place.”

From the NY Times: Officials Feared Flood Risk to Youth Camps but Rejected Warning System. Kerr County had discussed buying such things as water gauges and sirens after previous flood disasters. But as with many rural Texas counties, cost was an issue.

“The rural county of a little over 50,000 people, in a part of Texas known as Flash Flood Alley, contemplated installing a flood warning system in 2017, but it was rejected as too expensive. The county, which has an annual budget of around $67 million, lost out on a bid at the time to secure a $1 million grant to fund the project, county commission meeting minutes show.

As recently as a May budget meeting, county commissioners were discussing a flood warning system being developed by a regional agency as something that they might be able to make use of.

But in a recent interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, said that local residents had been resistant to new spending. “Taxpayers won’t pay for it,” he said, adding that he didn’t know if people might reconsider now.”

From the WashPost: Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?

” When the precipitation intensified in the early morning hours Friday, many people failed to receive or respond to flood warnings at riverside campsites known to be in the floodplain.

“The disaster has prompted renewed emphasis on a years-long push for a comprehensive flood monitoring system in Kerr County. And it has raised questions about whether anything could be enough to prepare and protect communities in places like this, where cellphone-based alerts can be unreliable, emergency managers have limited resources and the potential for disaster is hig.”