The US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema)’s acting administrator was largely unreachable after deadly flooding swept through Texas in July, according to a new report.
That meant the agency could not deploy search-and-rescue resources as quickly as possible. The federal agency had already faced criticism for its slow response to the disaster in which more than 130 people died.
Fema reportedly did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance hotline after the flooding, the Washington Post reported, citing officials who were not in a position to be named.
The agency relief efforts were also affected by a policy instituted by the homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, weeks before the floods requiring that she personally sign off on any expenditure over $100,000 before funds could be allocated.
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As such, Richardson needed to quickly submit requests for assistance to Noem, but instead, “nobody could get a hold of him for hours and hours,” a senior official who coordinated search-and-rescue resources told the Post, which spoke with eight current and former officials who said they could not reach Richardson after the floods.
Fema did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment on the report, but in the Post story, a spokesperson defended Richardson’s handling of the flooding.
Frank Pallone, a Democratic representative from New Jersey, has called for Richardson to resign. “Staff say Richardson is basically useless – absent from the office, unreachable in a disaster, and powerless because secretary Noem has sidelined him,” Pallone told the Post.
Richardson testified on Capitol Hill in July, directly defending his conduct during the flooding in central Texas. Waves of flood water barreling down a river washed away a youth Christian summer camp on 4 July and killed at least 138 people.
