{"id":867814,"date":"2025-08-24T23:14:43","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T04:14:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/texas-flood-survivors-offer-mixed-reviews-of-fema-as-the-agency-awaits-uncertain-future\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T23:14:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T04:14:43","slug":"texas-flood-survivors-offer-mixed-reviews-of-fema-as-the-agency-awaits-uncertain-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/24\/texas-flood-survivors-offer-mixed-reviews-of-fema-as-the-agency-awaits-uncertain-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas flood survivors offer mixed reviews of FEMA as the agency awaits uncertain future"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

As contaminated Guadalupe River water receded following the deadly flooding in Kerrville, Texas, this month, residents returned to find their homes, vehicles and businesses destroyed. Shelled-shocked and in urgent need to rebuild, many turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the embattled organization created to assist people in the aftermath of natural disasters. <\/p>\n

The responses they received ranged from \u201cfantastic\u201d to unhelpful to frustrating, residents told NBC News. Their experiences come as FEMA faces a future in which it may be dramatically reshaped or shuttered altogether at the direction of the Trump White House and Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency.<\/p>\n

Timothy Gloria, of Kerrsville, said his FEMA experience has been exasperating. He was called home from his job the morning of the floods by a neighbor who was hanging onto a tree as waters rose. Gloria arrived around 6 a.m. to find his friend safe, but Gloria\u2019s and his father\u2019s cars, his motorcycle and an outside air conditioning unit were washed away, and the fence around his home was destroyed.<\/p>\n

A few days later, on the phone with a FEMA worker, he said he answered 21 questions about the damage to his property to receive emergency relief. <\/p>\n

FEMA initially awarded him $50, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s like gas money,\u201d Gloria, 41, told NBC News. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t even get the $50. It was approved, but I still haven\u2019t seen it.\u201d He said the FEMA website indicated the money had been transferred to his account.<\/p>\n

Further frustrating him, he said, his initial contact with a FEMA representative stopped answering his calls. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe was nowhere to be found,\u201d he said. \u201cI was expecting a lot more from FEMA.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Mroczek lost a motorhome and two motorcycles in the flood. His head spinning, he sought out FEMA, which had set up a response center in the gymnasium at a church on Washington Street. Upon arrival, he was immediately struck by the agency\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cFEMA is there waiting for you,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were fantastic. They sign you in, you sit down, and they get right to it. They\u2019ll do anything, from setting up your phone with its app to guiding you to whatever you need.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stark contrast in experiences with FEMA in Kerrville serves as a case study for the agency that President Donald Trump has said he wants \u201cremade.\u201d<\/a> DHS Secretary Noem has said the agency \u201cshould not exist<\/a>\u201d as is. On Monday, the head of urban search and rescue at FEMA, Ken Pagurek, announced he would step down amid sweeping changes at the agency, including the requirement that Noem approves contracts over $100,000. Meanwhile, despite some staff cuts<\/a>, the agency plows ahead in Texas, where 132 people died<\/a>. <\/p>\n

All of this comes as 20 states have announced a lawsuit against<\/a> FEMA over the termination of a pre-disaster mitigation program that, over the last four years, provided nearly $4.5 billion in funding to 2,000 projects across the country.<\/p>\n

FEMA and DHS did not respond to several requests for comment. <\/p>\n

But former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told NBC News that the contrasting reaction to the agency\u2019s efforts is not surprising. \u200b\u200b<\/p>\n

\u201cRecovery is really complex,\u201d she said. \u201cThere is a tendency by many to oversimplify what it takes to recover and rebuild a community, and especially to rebuild it in a way that makes it more resilient.\u201d<\/p>\n

Criswell added that FEMA is not an agency that comes in and takes over. Rather, it supplements local and state authority before, during and after natural disasters. \u201cIt really takes a partnership between either the individual and their case worker or the local emergency manager and the state with their FEMA representative,\u201d she said. \u201cThey have to work together to help rebuild the community in a way that is going to also make it stronger and more resilient to future weather events like the one they experienced.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shortly after the flooding disaster in Texas, Rob Kelly, the county judge, or chief executive, said businesses\u2019 losses in Kerrville are likely to hover around $240 million. The county is reportedly considering raising property taxes<\/a> to help with the infrastructure rebuild, which has prompted local protests. Kelly said FEMA would reimburse<\/a> the city for emergency response costs. \u201cBut they\u2019re slow,\u201d he noted. \u201cThe last time we had a big FEMA project, it took at least two, if not three years\u201d to receive funding, he said.<\/p>\n

Teresa Offut, the office manager at Rio Robles RV Park in Kerrville, said FEMA\u2019s most glaring response failures \u2014 including Hurricane Katrina<\/a> in New Orleans and Mississippi in 2005, Hurricane Maria 2017 in Puerto Rico<\/a> and Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina<\/a> in 2024 \u2014 were not apparent in Kerrville.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems they are determined to get this one right,\u201d Offut said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been incredible in helping people get settled after this tragedy. They are helping with insurance claims, walking people through that process to make sure all forms are complete, all processes are done correctly. They\u2019re helping with contacting the right people and just settling people down because they\u2019ve lost so much and it\u2019s so overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Close-up<\/picture>
John Mroczek\u2019s motorcycle was covered in water after the flood and severely damaged. He says his experience with FEMA has been largely positive.<\/span>Courtesy John Mroczek \/ NBC News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mroczek said he has been in hurricanes and tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico, wildfires in Montana and an earthquake in California. \u201cI hope these natural disasters aren\u2019t following me,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

But in the aftermath of each case, he did not have to work with FEMA; only insurance companies.<\/p>\n

Mroczek said FEMA\u2019s response in Kerrville has been so strong that he \u201ccan\u2019t even describe how helpful they are,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ll rearrange your phone, if you\u2019re old and not very tech savvy. They will stay with you for hours until you understand what can happen and what they can do. They give you the websites and they lead you off to the right agency to help with your concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Public perception of FEMA is sometimes fueled by a misunderstanding of what it does, Criswell said. Lorena Guillen, owner of Blue Oak RV Park and Howdy\u2019s restaurant in Kerrville, for example, was expecting FEMA to aid in the recovery of her businesses. All 28 motor homes on her property were washed away in the floods and her restaurant next door suffered severe damage. The land could not be insured against damage from a flood, she said.<\/p>\n

However, FEMA typically does not provide businesses with cash but guidance and other resources. In this case, it directed her to the Small Business Administration<\/a>, which Guillen said could supply her with a loan. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow the heck am I going to get a freaking loan that I have to pay back on top of my mortgage?\u201d she said. \u201cMy business is gone. It\u2019s going to take about a year to get it up and running again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her restaurant suffered damages from the flooding, including \u201choles the size of buses in the walls,\u201d and electricity and plumbing outages that Guillen has paid to fix. She was astounded to learn FEMA does not help small businesses with financial assistance. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut what about us?\u201d said Guillen, whose restaurant employs 16 workers. \u201cWe bring in the tourists. We hire local residents. Many, many, many businesses are in the same boat. So to get nothing from FEMA? Crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following disasters, FEMA becomes \u201ca reimbursement agency,\u201d Criswell said. States and local governments spearhead rebuilding and FEMA reimburses them for rebuilding damaged infrastructure that everyday people deal with. On top of that, individuals can also ask for assistance, which pays for things like a place to stay. <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/picture>
The view from Timothy Gloria\u2019s house during the flood. The water receded, leaving filthy mud under the foundation.<\/span>Courtesy Timothy Gloria \/ NBC News<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a few days, the \u201cwaist high\u201d water that infiltrated Gloria\u2019s home receded, he said, leaving a filthy collection of mud and water under his 11-year-old daughter\u2019s bedroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou walk into my house and you smell some dirty river water that we\u2019re just living on top of,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like most residents in Kerrville<\/a>, he did not have flood insurance on his home. And he is desperate to have the potentially hazardous \u201cgunk\u201d removed from beneath his daughter\u2019s bedroom. At the end of last week, FEMA said he would receive $6,719 toward home repairs, which have been estimated to cost $50,000, he said.<\/p>\n

He called the FEMA support of his home \u201ca joke.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gloria said he\u2019s applied for five different types of aid, but has been frustrated by the bureaucracy and red tape he\u2019s encountered every step of the way. <\/p>\n

Criswell, though, said FEMA is set up this way for a reason.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are checks and balances, and so people get kind of frustrated with the type of documentation that FEMA might ask for to prove occupancy or to prove home ownership, or the types of losses,\u201d Criswell said.<\/p>\n

The overall losses and the back-and-forth with FEMA have taken a toll on Gloria, he said. \u201cI fall into depression, so I keep working because if I sit still, I have to look at the flood damages,\u201d Gloria said. \u201cAnd I don\u2019t know when it will ever get back to normal \u2014 or if FEMA will help me get back to normal.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
<\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n

Curtis Bunn<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Curtis Bunn is a reporter for NBC BLK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As contaminated Guadalupe River water receded following the deadly flooding in Kerrville, Texas, this month, residents returned to find their homes, vehicles and businesses destroyed. Shelled-shocked and in urgent need to rebuild, many turned to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the embattled organization created to assist people in the aftermath of natural disasters. The responses<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":867815,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23403,836],"tags":[10569,5979],"class_list":{"0":"post-867814","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-flood","8":"category-texas","9":"tag-flood","10":"tag-texas"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867814"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867814\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}