In this video, Heather Cox Richardson explains how a series of preventable human errors and policy failures by the administration dramatically worsened the outcome of the catastrophic flood in Texas:
- Delayed Emergency Response: FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) was unable to respond to the disaster for more than 72 hours after the flooding began. Normally, FEMA would pre-stage resources and personnel to provide immediate search and rescue, water, and other emergency aid. This delay was unprecedented and contributed to the high death toll and number of missing persons.
- Bureaucratic Obstacles: The delay was caused by a new rule implemented by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, requiring her personal sign-off for any expenditure over $100,000. She refused to approve the necessary spending, arguing that disaster response was the responsibility of the state, not the federal government.
- Neglected Warnings and Infrastructure: Local officials failed to transmit multiple National Weather Service warnings for nearly four hours, a critical window during which lives could have been saved. The county had previously applied for a federal grant to install warning sirens but was denied, and later decided not to fund the sirens themselves to save tax dollars.
- Loss of Institutional Knowledge: The National Weather Service official responsible for coordinating with local authorities had been pushed into early retirement and was never replaced, resulting in a breakdown of trusted communication channels during the crisis.
These combined failures—bureaucratic inflexibility, cost-cutting at the expense of public safety, and the erosion of experienced emergency personnel—directly contributed to the tragedy, leaving over 100 people dead and 160 missing. The story highlights how policy decisions and administrative actions (or inaction) can have devastating real-world consequences in moments of crisis.
From Politics Chat, July 10, 2025. You can watch the full chat via Part 2 above.
Daily letters on Substack found here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/