Responding to recent criticisms, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) acting Administrator David Richardson said the federal response to the catastrophic Texas floods earlier this month was exemplary.
“I can’t see anything that we did wrong,” Richardson told a House panel of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on July 23, calling the relationship between state and federal agencies “a model for how disasters should be handled.”
Bearing down on the Texas Hill Country during the July 4 holiday weekend, the floods took at least 137 lives, including dozens of children.
The criticisms of FEMA included a report that the urban search and rescue team was delayed 72 hours because of a new rule put in place by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that she must personally approve any contract of $100,000 or more, which Richardson denied….
FEMA Chief Responds to Criticisms, Calls Texas Flood Response ‘Model’ for Future Disasters
