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FEMA Didn’t Answer Thousands of Calls From Flood Survivors

(www.nytimes.com)
159 points standardUser | 5 comments | 12 Jul 25 02:57 UTC | HN request time: 0.837s | source
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bb88 ◴[12 Jul 25 03:21 UTC] No.44539017[source]▶
Here's some local and national reporting I found interesting.

1. Kerr county balked at the cost of flood sirens. [0]

2. Kerr county didn't alert all cell phones of the emergency. [1]

3. Kerr county repeatedly asked the State of Texas for flood help and the state said no. [2]

4. Kerr county was in the bottom half of property taxes in the state of Texas in 2017. [3]

[0] https://www.wowt.com/2025/07/11/small-texas-community-where-...

[1] https://www.nbcdfw.com/investigations/fema-records-kerr-coun...

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/10/us/politics/texas-flood-a...

[3] https://www.uttyler.edu/academics/colleges-schools/business/...

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vkou ◴[12 Jul 25 04:35 UTC] No.44539333[source]▶
Kerr county didn't balk at the cost of flood sirens. Biden sent them 10 million dollars for this exact purpose, and they refused to spend it, because it would have let the federal Democrats do something useful for their constituents. [1]

> "Accepting the ARPA money and putting our County under existing and future executive orders would federalize us and make us all slaves."

These people are certifiably insane.

The 10 million did eventually get spent on new police radios and bonuses for the sheriff's department. [2]

[1] https://www.chron.com/news/article/kerr-county-flood-funds-2...

[2] https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/10/texas-kerr-county-co...

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1. nilamo ◴[12 Jul 25 05:07 UTC] No.44539460[source]▶
Most people don't consider giving yourself a bonus to be "spending" money.
2. verdverm ◴[12 Jul 25 05:10 UTC] No.44539477[source]▶
They refused to spend the money because it was from Biden (also "climate change"), then refused to return it because it might go to a blue state. First I'm hearing they actually spent it, but not surprised where it ended up
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3. piva00 ◴[12 Jul 25 05:58 UTC] No.44539692[source]▶
10 million designated to be spent on early warning sirens get spent on sheriff bonuses and police radios, where's the dishonest cheap shot?
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4. ◴[12 Jul 25 06:14 UTC] No.44539762[source]▶
5. interloxia ◴[12 Jul 25 16:50 UTC] No.44543273[source]▶
I read, but didn't verify, that it was refused because the federal money would have required the workers to be vaccinated.

"We'll be fine on our own" didn't work out unfortunately.

I would like to be wrong, and this is not the time to rehash vaccinations, but if true, it seems relevant to the strings attached to the funds.

Ideally id you happen to know one way or the other, plainly say so, or reference something reasonable, that this was a serious claim.