How Does FEMA’s Texas Response Compare?

How does the federal response to the #Texas floods compare to previous FEMA operations? Sara Firth reports.

Transcript

00:00And they really are devastating scenes, Sarah, in comparison to previous natural disasters.

00:06The federal help that we're seeing right now, how does it compare and contrast to previous FEMA operations in disaster-torn areas?

00:15Yes, so it's a difficult situation that the administration finds itself in,

00:20because you've had these announcements that they're going to be making the cuts to FEMA,

00:26that they're potentially going to be scaling it back or removing the agency altogether.

00:32There's questions over what the replacement would be.

00:35And then you've had this disaster hitting.

00:38Now, President Trump has called this a 100-year catastrophe.

00:42So the White House has been very adamant this is a natural disaster.

00:45You've had them push back very, very heavily on any criticisms of President Trump or the administration's handling of this

00:53and, indeed, of their decisions to make some cuts to these various agencies,

00:59that potentially there's questioning around whether that will have impacted the response.

01:04So you have the National Weather Service.

01:06There are questions over whether staffing levels were impacted.

01:10Also, scrutiny of the flood warning system.

01:13There are people on the ground, some of the local officials.

01:16They've been saying that they didn't know, they didn't get the alerts in good time.

01:21We know a number of these areas weren't evacuated at all until the flood hits.

01:26And you have this river turning into this deadly wall of water in just the space of a few hours.

01:33So there is really a lot of scrutiny over what needs to happen now to ensure that there are better warning systems in place in the future.

01:42In one of the areas, Kerr County, that have been very badly hit, the sort of epicenter of the flooding damage,

01:47which they discussed in the past having some sort of siren alert system that hadn't been implemented.

01:53It's said because of the cost.

01:56So those are the types of measures that are going to be being looked at very closely right now

02:00to see whether they can be implemented now for the future.

02:04But, of course, this disaster is still playing out on the ground.

02:08You've still got those search and rescue teams that are out looking.

02:11You've, again, got the FEMA under scrutiny for how quickly they've come in and provided that assistance.

02:19You've actually had some questions raised as well about Homeland Security,

02:23some of the approvals that they apparently requested, delaying its being reported,

02:29the ability of FEMA to get on the ground and assist as rapidly as perhaps they should have.

02:35All of these questions haven't been clearly answered.

02:38As we said, the White House really pushing back hard on any criticism whatsoever right now.

02:44The president himself making lots of noises with sympathy with regards to what's happening in Texas,

02:49but no criticisms right now.

02:51But making clear that the administration now will be standing behind Texas

02:55to give it all the resources it needs, the president says, to be able to effectively manage this disaster.

03:01Thank you very much.