The federal response to the flash flooding disaster in Texas has come under scrutiny. President Trump, who has called for cuts to FEMA, praised the agency during his recent visit to Texas, but did not comment on his plans for its future.

As natural disasters like flooding, tornadoes and landslides piled up this spring, FEMA accumulated a backlog of disaster requests going into the Gulf of Mexico's hurricane season.

As initial search-and-rescue operations in the July 4 catastrophic Texas flooding started to recede, new reporting emerged that the federal response had been delayed by a new budget rule imposed by Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

The leader of Camp Mystic had been tracking the weather before the deadly Texas floods, but it is now unclear whether he saw an urgent warning from the National Weather Service that had triggered an emergency alert to phones in the area, a spokesman for camp’s operators said Wednesday.

Even before dozens died in flood waters on July 4, Texas ranked first in the U.S. in number of deaths due to natural disasters.

U.S. President Donald Trump actually sent 700 U.S. Marine Corps troops to Los Angeles in June 2025 — alongside 4,000 National Guard troops.

KERRVILLE, Texas >> Officials in flood-stricken central Texas today again deflected mounting questions about whether they could have done more to warn people ahead of devastating flash flooding that killed at least 119 people on July 4.

With hurricane and wildfire season well underway across much of the country, state and local emergency managers say they have little idea how much support the federal government will provide if disaster strikes.

The first weather emergency alert sent by the National Weather Service with urgent language instructing people to "seek higher ground now" was sent at 4:03 a.m. local time.