Survivors Slam Kristi Noem Over FEMA’s Response to Deadly Disasters


FEMA workers say the agency is being gutted under Trump, putting disaster victims at risk.

By Mike Ludwig ,

Truthout

December 16, 2025

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem answers questions from members of congress during the House Committee on Homeland Security on December 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C.Marvin Joseph / The Washington Post via Getty Images

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Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem is under fire from disaster survivors for mismanaging the federal government’s response to recent storms, floods, and deadly wildfires as staffing cuts and controversial policy changes continue to cause chaos at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Disaster survivors from 10 states and Puerto Rico gathered Monday on Capitol Hill for an emotional press conference to demand accountability from Noem for “systemic failures” at Noem’s department, which oversees FEMA. The survivors said communication shortfalls and mismanagement of emergency relief funds that in some cases caused months-long delays left officials and residents on the ground frustrated and confused after disaster struck.

Among the attendees were survivors of the devastating floods in central Texas, which claimed more than 130 lives in July. The survivors demanded a meeting with Noem and a personal visit from her to the flood-ravaged communities. They also are calling for a congressional hearing on the government’s response to the disaster.

“When FEMA cannot fully function, real people pay the price, and what happened in Sandy Creek cannot be allowed to happen again.”

“When FEMA cannot fully function, real people pay the price, and what happened in Sandy Creek cannot be allowed to happen again,” said Brandy Gerstner, who survived flash floods with her family in Leander, Texas.

The activism from the disaster survivors comes as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to bring controversy to FEMA. Earlier this month, the Trump administration installed an election denier and conspiracy theorist with no official government disaster response experience as a top administrator at FEMA. Gregg Phillips, a human resource official for the Texas state government, reportedly only has experience responding to disasters with religious groups and nonprofits. In one social media post, Phillips described himself as a “very vocal opponent of FEMA.”

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Rafael Lemaitre, a former FEMA public affairs director and member of the advisory council to Sabotaging Our Safety, a FEMA watchdog group, said the hiring of Phillips to manage FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery is part of a larger pattern of dismantling FEMA piece by piece.

“The only thing Gregg Phillips seems qualified for is running the Flat Earth Society — yet Trump put him in charge of saving American lives,” Lemaitre told Truthout in an email. “This clearly isn’t about keeping Americans safe when disaster strikes.”

Then, on December 12, officials abruptly canceled a much-anticipated meeting of a FEMA review council after significant changes made by Noem’s office to a report recommending sweeping cuts to FEMA leaked to the media. The three officials, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the issue with the media, said the report shrunk from over 160 pages to roughly 20.

Created by a policy “review council” created by Trump, the draft report recommends a dramatic overhaul and downsizing of FEMA, including a 50 percent reduction in staff. Noem’s office reportedly made significant cuts to the review council’s draft and rejected some of the recommendations. The report is now undergoing additional internal vetting and has not been released publicly, according to The Washington Post.

CNN first reported on the leaked policy recommendations, which include changing the name of the agency to “FEMA 2.0” at least temporarily.

“It is time to close the chapter on FEMA,” the draft report states. “A new agency should be established that retains the core missions of FEMA, while highlighting the renewed emphasis on locally executed, state or tribally managed, and federally supported emergency management.”

Such an overhaul at FEMA would leave cities and states shouldering the costs of disaster preparation, response, and recovery — costs most states cannot afford — and put disaster victims at risk of serious harm, especially those with fewer financial resources, according to Shana Udvardy, a senior climate resilience policy analyst at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“That means the next time a hurricane or horrific wildfires materialize we may again experience a disturbing FEMA fiasco on par with Hurricane Katrina, as FEMA staff warned about in their recent petition to Congress,” Udvardy said in a statement on December 12.

Udvardy was referring to The FEMA Katrina Declaration, a petition against the Trump administration’s FEMA overhaul organized by current and former FEMA workers. The petition states that key Trump appointees running FEMA have little experience in emergency management, and points to Hurricane Katrina as a warning. FEMA’s infamous failure to assist stranded Black residents of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city in 2005 left a racist stain on the administration of President George W. Bush, which helped pave the way for the election of President Barack Obama in 2008.

Fast forward 20 years, and communities in central Texas are still recovering from deadly flash floods unleashed by storms over the summer. Abby McIlraith, an emergency management specialist at FEMA, said she joined colleagues and signed the Katrina Declaration to call out the Trump administration for harming disaster survivors after the floods claimed dozens of lives in Kerrville, Texas. A day after the petition was published, McIlraith and other whistleblowers were placed on leave.

“Secretary Noem took only 36 hours to illegally retaliate against us as whistleblowers, but 72 hours — twice as long — to send search and rescue to Kerrville,” McIlraith told reporters on December 15. “Her insistence on personally approving major FEMA expenses, combined with these retaliatory actions, left disaster survivors waiting for help when hours and days mattered most.”

Gerstner said her family in Leander felt abandoned by FEMA and local authorities after flash floods destroyed the life they built over the past 36 years, including three homes, a business, and their sense of safety. The flood is fading from the local headlines, but Gerstner said the community is still struggling with recovery months later.


“We lost neighbors, were stranded for days without help, and watched as FEMA response was delayed while families were left to survive on their own.”

“We lost neighbors, were stranded for days without help, and watched as FEMA response was delayed while families were left to survive on their own,” Gerstner said. “More than five months later, many are still homeless, and only 36 percent of FEMA claims in our area have been approved.”

Victims of a federally recognized disaster can file claims with FEMA for financial assistance to cover the cost of emergency repairs, transportation, and hotel rooms when homes are destroyed, for example. It’s a notoriously slow and byzantine process disaster victims have complained about for years. Federal emergency funds only become available to states and local communities after the president issues an official disaster declaration, often in response to a request from a state governor and a recommendation from FEMA.

Since taking office, Trump has made it clear that he wants to shift the financial burden of disaster relief from the federal government to the states and has suggested phasing out FEMA altogether, a position Noem echoed in interviews. Dismantling FEMA entirely would require an act of Congress, but the Trump administration did not wait on lawmakers to slash staff and budgets at the agency while shifting DHS resources toward Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

Advocates and disaster survivors say emergency relief for communities impacted by fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, and other disasters has been delayed for months at a time as a result of the Trump administration’s assault on FEMA.

For example, FEMA announced on December 12 it would send $350 million to local governments and electric utilities in Georgia for relief efforts after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Debby, which both hit in 2024. The payment comes two months after Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Georgia) released a report showing that nearly $500 million in Hurricane Helene disaster relief was unpaid, according to the Associated Press.

“Hurricanes and natural disasters are not political; they do not care if you voted red or blue, and Georgia counties and cities went right to work recovering from Helene’s destruction with the understanding the federal government would fulfill its promises and pay their share,” Warnock said in a statement. “It should not have gotten to this point.”

Dr. Michael McLemore, a local organizer with community and racial justice groups in St. Louis, Missouri, survived a violent tornado that devastated residential areas and claimed at least five lives on May 16. McLemore said he lost the roof of his house and witnessed “our community’s systems fail at every level.” Trump did not declare the tornado a federal disaster until June 10, which delayed FEMA’s response.

“Sirens didn’t sound, local officials delayed response, and FEMA, under Secretary Kristi Noem, was nearly a month late in declaring a major disaster — leaving seniors and residents without transportation to fend for themselves,” McLemore said.

Like other disaster survivors, McLemore supports the 2025 FEMA Act, a bipartisan bill that would make FEMA an independent, cabinet-level agency and make major reforms to streamline the process for providing disaster relief. Introduced in the House by leaders of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee from both parties, the bill has 40 bipartisan co-sponsors but remains in committee as the House Republican majority struggles to pass even basic legislation.

“Disasters don’t discriminate, but disaster recovery does,” McLemore said.