Overview

• FEMA’s new policy requiring Noem’s approval on contracts and grants above $100,000 stalled Urban Search and Rescue deployments for more than 72 hours after the flooding began.
• At least 120 people have died and over 160 remain missing in the Texas floods as slow federal action compounded the emergency.
• Requests for aerial imagery and additional call-center personnel were held up while awaiting Noem’s personal authorization.
• The Department of Homeland Security publicly decried CNN’s reporting as a “fake news lie” even as its own statement confirmed early staffing lagged behind typical disaster response.
• By Tuesday, FEMA had deployed 311 staffers to assist hundreds of survivors, but internal officials and lawmakers fault the sign-off rule for politicizing and hindering relief efforts.