Texas Flood Survivors Offer Mixed Reviews Of Fema As The Agency Awaits Uncertain Future

As contaminated Guadalupe River h2o receded pursuing nan deadly flooding successful Kerrville, Texas, this month, residents returned to find their homes, vehicles and businesses destroyed. Shelled-shocked and successful urgent request to rebuild, galore turned to nan Federal Emergency Management Agency, nan embattled statement created to assistance group successful nan aftermath of earthy disasters.

The responses they received ranged from “fantastic” to unhelpful to frustrating, residents told NBC News. Their experiences travel arsenic FEMA faces a early successful which it whitethorn beryllium dramatically reshaped aliases shuttered altogether astatine nan guidance of nan Trump White House and Kristi Noem, nan caput of nan Department of Homeland Security, which oversees nan agency.

Timothy Gloria, of Kerrsville, said his FEMA acquisition has been exasperating. He was called location from his occupation nan greeting of nan floods by a neighbour who was hanging onto a character arsenic waters rose. Gloria arrived astir 6 a.m. to find his friend safe, but Gloria’s and his father’s cars, his motorcycle and an extracurricular aerial conditioning portion were washed away, and nan obstruction astir his location was destroyed.

A fewer days later, connected nan telephone pinch a FEMA worker, he said he answered 21 questions astir nan harm to his spot to person emergency relief.

FEMA initially awarded him $50, he said.

“That’s for illustration state money,” Gloria, 41, told NBC News. “And I didn’t moreover get nan $50. It was approved, but I still haven’t seen it.” He said nan FEMA website indicated nan money had been transferred to his account.

Further frustrating him, he said, his first interaction pinch a FEMA typical stopped answering his calls.

“She was obscurity to beryllium found,” he said. “I was expecting a batch much from FEMA.”

John Mroczek, besides a Kerrville resident, mislaid a motorhome and 2 motorcycles successful nan flood. His caput spinning, he sought retired FEMA, which had group up a consequence halfway successful nan gymnasium astatine a religion connected Washington Street. Upon arrival, he was instantly struck by nan agency’s presence.

“FEMA is location waiting for you,” he said. “They were fantastic. They motion you in, you beryllium down, and they get correct to it. They’ll do anything, from mounting up your telephone pinch its app to guiding you to immoderate you need.”

The stark opposition successful experiences pinch FEMA successful Kerrville serves arsenic a lawsuit study for nan agency that President Donald Trump has said he wants “remade.” DHS Secretary Noem has said nan agency “should not exist” arsenic is. On Monday, nan caput of municipality hunt and rescue astatine FEMA, Ken Pagurek, announced he would measurement down amid sweeping changes astatine nan agency, including nan request that Noem approves contracts complete $100,000. Meanwhile, contempt immoderate staff cuts, nan agency plows up successful Texas, wherever 132 group died.

All of this comes arsenic 20 states person announced a suit against FEMA complete nan termination of a pre-disaster mitigation programme that, complete nan past 4 years, provided astir $4.5 cardinal successful backing to 2,000 projects crossed nan country.

FEMA and DHS did not respond to respective requests for comment.

But erstwhile FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell told NBC News that nan contrasting guidance to nan agency’s efforts is not surprising. ​​

“Recovery is really complex,” she said. “There is simply a inclination by galore to oversimplify what it takes to retrieve and rebuild a community, and particularly to rebuild it successful a measurement that makes it much resilient.”

Criswell added that FEMA is not an agency that comes successful and takes over. Rather, it supplements section and authorities authority before, during and aft earthy disasters. “It really takes a business betwixt either nan individual and their lawsuit worker aliases nan section emergency head and nan authorities pinch their FEMA representative,” she said. “They person to activity together to thief rebuild nan organization successful a measurement that is going to besides make it stronger and much resilient to early upwind events for illustration nan 1 they experienced.”

Shortly aft nan flooding disaster successful Texas, Kerr County judge Rob Kelly said businesses’ losses successful Kerrville are apt to hover astir $240 million. The region is reportedly considering raising spot taxes to thief pinch nan infrastructure rebuild, which has prompted section protests. Kelly said FEMA would reimburse nan metropolis for emergency consequence costs. “But they’re slow,” he noted. “The past clip we had a large FEMA project, it took astatine slightest two, if not 3 years” to person funding, he said.

Teresa Offut, nan agency head astatine Rio Robles RV Park successful Kerrville, said FEMA’s astir glaring consequence failures — including Hurricane Katrina successful New Orleans and Mississippi successful 2005, Hurricane Maria 2017 in Puerto Rico and Hurricane Helene successful western North Carolina successful 2024 — were not evident successful Kerrville.

“It seems they are wished to get this 1 right,” Offut said. “They’ve been unthinkable successful helping group get settled aft this tragedy. They are helping pinch security claims, stepping group done that process to make judge each forms are complete, each processes are done correctly. They’re helping pinch contacting nan correct group and conscionable settling group down because they’ve mislaid truthful overmuch and it’s truthful overwhelming.”

John Mroczek’s motorcycle was covered successful h2o aft nan flood and severely damaged. He says his acquisition pinch FEMA has been mostly positive.Courtesy John Mroczek / NBC News

Mroczek, nan Kerrville resident, said he has been successful hurricanes and tropical storms successful nan Gulf of Mexico, wildfires successful Montana and an earthquake successful California. “I dream these earthy disasters aren’t pursuing me,” he joked.

But successful nan aftermath of each case, he did not person to activity pinch FEMA; only security companies.

Mroczek said FEMA’s consequence successful Kerrville has been truthful beardown that he “can’t moreover picture really adjuvant they are,” he said. “They’ll rearrange your phone, if you’re aged and not very tech savvy. They will enactment pinch you for hours until you understand what tin hap and what they tin do. They springiness you nan websites and they lead you disconnected to nan correct agency to thief pinch your concerns.”

Public cognition of FEMA is sometimes fueled by a misunderstanding of what it does, Criswell said. Lorena Guillen, proprietor of Blue Oak RV Park and Howdy’s edifice successful Kerrville, for example, was expecting FEMA to assistance successful nan betterment of her businesses. All 28 centrifugal homes connected her spot were washed distant successful nan floods and her edifice adjacent doorway suffered terrible damage. The onshore could not beryllium insured against harm from a flood, she said.

However, FEMA typically does not supply businesses pinch rate but guidance and different resources. In this case, it directed her to nan Small Business Administration, which Guillen said could proviso her pinch a loan.

“How nan heck americium I going to get a freaking indebtedness that I person to salary backmost connected apical of my mortgage?” she said. “My business is gone. It’s going to return astir a twelvemonth to get it up and moving again.”

Her edifice suffered damages from nan flooding, including “holes nan size of buses successful nan walls,” and energy and plumbing outages that Guillen has paid to fix. She was astounded to study FEMA does not thief mini businesses pinch financial assistance.

“But what astir us?” said Guillen, whose edifice employs 16 workers. “We bring successful nan tourists. We prosecute section residents. Many, many, galore businesses are successful nan aforesaid boat. So to get thing from FEMA? Crazy.”

Following disasters, FEMA becomes “a reimbursement agency,” Criswell said. States and section governments spearhead rebuilding and FEMA reimburses them for rebuilding damaged infrastructure that mundane group woody with. On apical of that, individuals tin besides inquire for assistance, which pays for things for illustration a spot to stay.

The position from Timothy Gloria’s location during nan flood. The h2o receded, leaving filthy mud nether his home’s foundation.Courtesy Timothy Gloria / NBC News

After a fewer days, nan “waist high” h2o that infiltrated Gloria’s location receded, he said, leaving a filthy postulation of mud and h2o nether his 11-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

“You locomotion into my location and you smell immoderate soiled stream h2o that we’re conscionable surviving connected apical of,” he said.

Like astir residents successful Kerrville, he did not person flood security connected his home. And he is hopeless to person nan perchance hazardous “gunk” removed from beneath his daughter’s bedroom. At nan extremity of past week, FEMA said he would person $6,719 toward location repairs, which person been estimated to costs $50,000, he said.

He called nan FEMA support of his location “a joke.”

Gloria said he’s applied for 5 different types of aid, but has been disappointment by nan bureaucracy and reddish portion he’s encountered each measurement of nan way.

Criswell, though, said FEMA is group up this measurement for a reason.

“There are checks and balances, and truthful group get benignant of disappointment pinch nan type of archiving that FEMA mightiness inquire for to beryllium occupancy aliases to beryllium location ownership, aliases nan types of losses,” Criswell said.

The wide losses and nan back-and-forth pinch FEMA person taken a toll connected Gloria, he said. “I autumn into depression, truthful I support moving because if I beryllium still, I person to look astatine nan flood damages,” Gloria said. “And I don’t cognize erstwhile it will ever get backmost to normal — aliases if FEMA will thief maine get backmost to normal.”