FEMA cost controls delayed response to deadly floods

By Gabe Cohen and Michael Williams CNN Washington CNN As monstrous floodwaters surged across central Texas late last week bureaucrats at the Federal Crisis Management Agency leapt into action preparing to deploy critical search and rescue teams and life-saving guidance like they have in countless past disasters But almost instantly FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles four officers inside the agency narrated CNN As CNN has previously published Homeland Shield Secretary Kristi Noem whose department oversees FEMA lately enacted a sweeping rule aimed at cutting spending Every contract and grant over now requires her personal sign-off before any funds can be distributed For FEMA where catastrophe response costs routinely soar into the billions as the agency contracts with on-the-ground crews executives say that threshold is essentially pennies requiring sign-off for relatively small expenditures In essence they say the order has stripped the agency of much of its autonomy at the very moment its help is needed majority of We were operating under a clear set of guidance lean forward be prepared anticipate what the state requirements and be ready to deliver it a longtime FEMA official reported CNN That is not as clear of an intent for us at the moment For example as central Texas towns were submerged in rising waters FEMA agents realized they couldn t pre-position Urban Search and Rescue crews from a architecture of teams stationed regionally across the country In the past FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods closer to a tragedy zone in anticipation of urgent requests multiple agency sources communicated CNN Related Articles Search warrant served on SF house in connection with Northern California fireworks blast After Texas floods that killed campers here s what to consider when sending your kids to camp Helpers flock to help search efforts after Texas floods even as bureaucrats warn them away Texas flood Bay Area couple and teen son among the missing Photos show the aftermath of the flooding in central Texas But even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives FEMA officers realized they needed Noem s approval before sending those additional assets Noem didn t authorize FEMA s deployment of Urban Search and Rescue teams until Monday more than hours after the flooding began multiple sources informed CNN Homeland Protection agents have defended the federal response in Texas and President Donald Trump s plan to dismantle FEMA and shift more responsibility for catastrophe response to states Tricia McLaughlin a DHS spokeswoman communicated CNN that Noem did not need to authorize additional FEMA tools initially because the department used other DHS search and rescue assets She added that over time as a need for FEMA guidance arose those requests received Noem s approval FEMA is shifting from bloated DC-centric dead weight to a lean deployable tragedy force that empowers state actors to provide relief for their citizens McLaughlin explained CNN in a message The old processes are being replaced because they failed Americans in real emergencies for decades Other homeland shield components have assisted including the US Coast Guard and Customs and Margin Protection One Texas state official communicated CNN that the Texas urgency management division has been interacting with FEMA in the way we unfailingly do for disasters like this The official added that Texas has quite a bit of capabilities related to accident management on its own But the additional red tape required at FEMA added another hurdle to getting critical federal tools deployed when hours counted Texas did request aerial imagery from FEMA to aid search and rescue operations a source informed CNN but that was delayed as it awaited Noem s approval for the necessary contract FEMA staff have also been answering phones at a tragedy call center where according to one agency official callers have faced longer wait times as the agency awaited Noem s approval for a contract to bring in additional sponsorship staff The chaos has exposed a deeper uncertainty within FEMA about its ability to respond its mission and its authority under the Trump administration just as hurricane and wildfire seasons have gotten underway Administrators within FEMA warn that if the mishap had spanned a larger area and multiple states the confusion and delays could have been even more severe For months FEMA executives have been warning that the agency is unprepared amid a mass exodus of experienced crisis managers and the looming threat of the agency being dismantled CNN has reached out to FEMA for comment Tough scenes different model After the skies over central Texas opened up and caused waters to rise more than feet in under an hour in the early morning hours of Friday dozens were swept away in the raging flood waters that surged around the Guadalupe River where campers and merrymakers had been looking forward to the Independence Day weekend Five days later the death toll of nearly people continues to climb More than are still missing Trump approved a major accident declaration for Texas on Sunday July By Monday night only FEMA staffers had been deployed according to internal FEMA input seen by CNN a fraction of the typical response for a catastrophe of this scale By Tuesday night the federal response expanded to staffers deployed the records exhibited Multiple FEMA authorities narrated CNN that they were taken aback by the agency s relatively limited response in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe The tragedy in Texas has made one thing clear The buck now stops with Noem Her office has delegated little authority to acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson who as of Wednesday morning has yet to visit Texas since the flooding began multiple FEMA leaders informed CNN DHS and its components have taken an all-hands-on-desk approach to respond to recovery efforts in Kerrville FEMA has deployed extensive staff to advocacy Texas response and recovery operations based on staff skills and requirements McLaughlin recounted CNN The agency has activated its regional response center in Austin and sent a liaison officer to Kerrville she announced DHS is rooting out waste fraud abuse and is reprioritizing appropriated dollars Secretary Noem is delivering accountability to the U S taxpayer which Washington bureaucrats have ignored for decades at the expense of American citizens Texas which has one of the the bulk robust crisis management systems in the country has managed this tragedy largely on its own and leaned on its state and local search and rescue teams in the early hours of the tragedy More than people have been deployed across state agencies Gov Greg Abbott s office has revealed To bolster the response at the outset officers in Texas turned to the Emergency Management Assistance Compact EMAC a mutual aid agreement between states to share guidance during disasters At least one state requested a guarantee that FEMA would cover the steep costs and anticipated damage to equipment a promise the federal agency couldn t make on the spot though the issue was swiftly resolved two sources with knowledge of the matter reported CNN All of this raises questions over the vision of emergency management Trump has laid out several times during this administration in which states bear the brunt of the responsibility for mishap relief and FEMA is eventually phased out On Wednesday Noem his DHS secretary called for the agency to be eliminated and remade after telling reporters the previous day We as a federal leadership don t manage these disasters The state does We come in and endorsement them and that s exactly what we did in this situation she reported Trump revealed You had people there as fast as anybody s ever seen CNN s Melanie Hicken Riane Lumer Max Rego Connor Greene Sylvie Kirsch and Maria Moctezuma contributed to this account