Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem did not authorize the deployment of Federal Emergency Management Agency urban search-and-rescue teams in the Texas Hill Country flood disaster until more than 72 hours after the crisis began, CNN reported on Wednesday.This follows rule changes th...
  • Boddhisatva@lemmy.worldEnglish
    28·
    2 days ago

    No, it is not normal at all. You are talking about a relief package to help people rebuild. Those come later. This article is talking about search and rescue teams. Those teams go in as soon as possible to help find and rescue people.

    “In the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these [search and rescue] teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests, multiple agency sources told CNN,” reported Gabe Cohen and Michael Williams. However, “even as Texas rescue crews raced to save lives, FEMA officials realized they needed Noem’s approval before sending those additional assets.”

    That approval came on Monday. Apparently she doesn’t work weekends.

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.worldEnglish
      13·
      2 days ago

      Usually, you have a National weather service that estimates rainfall for an area and warns you about possible disasters so you can issue warnings and pre-stage response teams… Wonder what happened to all that.