'Shocking': Texas flood victims left out to dry due to Trump admin 'funding lapse'

Texans affected by the deadly Central Texas flood last month were left unable to reach a federal crisis hotline for five consecutive days due to a “funding lapse” created by the Trump administration, NPR reported Thursday.

According to documents newly obtained by NPR, funding for call centers contracted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency had lapsed on July 5, the day after the deadly flood that killed at least 135 people, including 35 children.

“There should have been some kind of request long before they expired,” said Deanne Criswell, FEMA administrator under the Biden administration, speaking with NPR. “...The fact that he took five days is shocking.”

The funding lapse is one of several across numerous federal agencies, a frequent enough occurrence that it's been acknowledged by the Trump administration, and is the result of new policy that requires the Department of Homeland Security secretary – of which FEMA is an agency under – to personally sign off on all grant awards over $100,000.

The New York Times previously reported how FEMA had left thousands of calls unanswered in the wake of the deadly flood, not answering “nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line.” The records obtained by NPR now narrow down the source of the fallout to FEMA contracts with call centers that went unpaid.

"That's the last thing you want to do in the middle of response," said Michael Coen, former FEMA chief of staff under the Obama and Biden administrations, speaking with NPR.

According to records obtained by NPR, FEMA staff had notified DHS the day after the July 4 flood that its call center contract funding had lapsed, and that the matter wasn’t addressed until July 10. Staff reportedly grew frustrated, The New York Times reported, as thousands of calls continued to go unanswered, and on July 8, sent an email to Congress notifying them that the agency had yet to receive any response from DHS about the funding lapse.

The response to the flood from both local and federal officials has been widely scrutinized, and while what entity bears the most responsibility has been debated, inadequate preparation on the part of local officials and the Trump administration’s funding cuts to emergency response and weather agencies have largely received the brunt of the blame, leaving many flood survivors to continue to feel “abandoned.”