Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.
The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at call centers, according to a person briefed on the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal matters.
The agency laid off the contractors on July 5 after their contracts expired and were not extended, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter. Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired. FEMA is part of the Department of Homeland Security.
The details on the unanswered calls on July 6, which have not been previously reported, come as FEMA faces intense scrutiny over its response to the floods in Texas that have killed more than 120 people. The agency, which President Trump has called for eliminating, has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts.
Asked for comment, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security who declined to be identified wrote in an email, “When a natural disaster strikes, phone calls surge, and wait times can subsequently increase. Despite this expected influx, FEMA’s disaster call center responded to every caller swiftly and efficiently, ensuring no one was left without assistance.”
After floods, hurricanes and other disasters, survivors can call FEMA to apply for different types of financial assistance. People who have lost their homes, for instance, can apply for a one-time payment of $750 that can help cover their immediate needs, such as food or other supplies.
On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
Some FEMA officials grew frustrated by the lapse in contracts and that it was taking days for Ms. Noem to act, according to the person briefed on the matter and the documents. “We still do not have a decision, waiver or signature from the DHS Secretary,” a FEMA official wrote in a July 8 email to colleagues.
Representatives for two of the companies with call center contracts, General Dynamics Information Technology and Maximus, redirected requests for comment to FEMA. Representatives for the other two firms, ITCON and TTEC, did not respond to requests for comment.
“Responding to less than half of the inquiries is pretty horrific,” said Jeffrey Schlegelmilch, who directs the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University.
“Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor: You’ve lost everything, you’re trying to find out what’s insured and what’s not, and you’re navigating multiple aid programs,” Mr. Schlegelmilch said. “One of the most important services in disaster recovery is being able to call someone and walk through these processes and paperwork.”
It was not immediately clear how FEMA’s responsiveness to calls after the Texas floods compared to its responsiveness after past disasters. FEMA does not publicly release that data on a regular basis.
The agency did publish similar data on Oct. 29, 2024, days after Hurricane Helene barreled across the South and nearly three weeks after Hurricane Milton hit Florida. That information showed that the agency did not answer nearly half of incoming calls over the course of a week, E & E News reported.
Democratic lawmakers raised concern on Friday that Ms. Noem’s insistence on approving expenses over $100,000 had also delayed FEMA’s deployment of search-and-rescue teams to Texas. In a letter to David Richardson, FEMA’s acting administrator, the Democrats on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform wrote that Ms. Noem did not authorize the deployment of those teams until July 7, three days after the flooding began.
Mr. Richardson has not made any public appearances since his appointment on May 8, breaking with a long tradition of FEMA leaders meeting with local officials in the wake of disasters. President Trump and first lady Melania Trump traveled on Friday to Kerrville, Texas, a community along the Guadalupe River that has become a hub for search and recovery efforts.
While Mr. Trump has talked of eliminating FEMA since he took office, White House officials have recently expressed a desire to overhaul the agency. Mr. Trump and others in his administration have indicated they want to shift more responsibility — and cost — to states.
“We also want FEMA to be reformed,” Russell T. Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget told reporters on Friday. “We want FEMA to work well. And, you know, the president is going to continue to be asking tough questions from all of his agencies.”
Maxine Joselow reports on climate policy for The Times.
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