This is why in the Netherlands they made a separate tax to pay for flood defense that the government can't touch.
Because every time the economy went down the drain the first things that got cut from the budget were the dikes (it's no coincidence the worst flood in history was in 1953 when the great recession, WW2 and colonial war drained the treasury).
And there's always another storm.
> On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
> That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
> The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
"Some residents argued that outdoor sirens blaring warnings in the event of a flash flood would ruin the natural feel of the area that many prized. “The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night,” one county commissioner at the time, Buster Baldwin, said during a 2016 meeting. “I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all.” (Mr. Baldwin died in 2022.)"
I'm thinking hard here, but I'm reasonably sure this is at least in the top-5 most moronic short-sighted, selfish, brain-dead things I've ever seen in my life. Possibly even top-3. Yeah, I'd join Buster in the bar to drink ourselves in a coma.
In fairness, a similar issue has traditionally existed with tornado warnings, which they likely have in that part of the US. Most of the people affected by the warning are not actually at risk because the warnings are poorly targeted or the risk doesn’t meaningfully materialize. Over time, people get warning fatigue and they start ignoring them. It becomes a “boy who cried wolf” situation which makes the loud sirens that much more of a nuisance.
The spam-y nature of many disaster warning systems is widely understood to be an issue. If these people have existing experience with other low hit-rate warning systems like for tornados, it isn’t surprising that they would find even more warnings to be a nuisance. The false positive rates that people experience is too high by an order of magnitude to be an effective system.
If they have warning sirens that are ineffective at conveying real risk, they stop being warnings and become background noise.
NIMBY is the most powerful political force in every western country.
It's far easier killing off any new economic and public development at the local level than any national level environmentalist or small government movement could ever dream for.
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]
When a state like Texas is so gerrymandered that no political competition is really possible, and ignorance is celebrated, why would be surprised that ignorant people elect stupid people to govern them?
I’m sure that they claim to “back the blue” while refusing to put the communications tools that keep them safe in place as well.
What people of this ilk have done to our nation makes me sick.
>Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, who has instituted a new requirement that she personally approve expenses over $100,000, did not renew the contracts until Thursday, five days after the contracts expired.
Your classic manager who feels they are so important that hey HAVE TO be involved in X,Y,Z but they are not a responsible enough person to actually do the job.
FEMA has "Emergency" in the name. Traditionally, it's supposed to come in when the normal rescue infrastructure has failed, due to earthquake, weather, etc. You're not optimizing for cost here. You're optimizing for reliable emergency management -- and that's going to cost money.
If you wanted a different agency, like one that prioritized "recovery after 6 months", well, it would help to inform the nation that FEMA is no longer the nationwide emergency management agency. It's up to the local and state governments.
And Texas voters overwhelmingly voted for politicians who caused this and still make excuses for these same politicians. I am tired of caring for people who vote for people that harm them.
I once worked for a company that had a founder who was cancelling all contracts on a yearly basis, including renting the office. They were proud of cutting costs that way. After two times, the property owner said, "Great! I have a company that asked me about the space and is willing to pay much more" and the company of several hundred people had to move on very short notice.
I call people like this "octopuses". They need to have their tentacles everywhere, need to be involved in everything, no matter how little they're needed.
> On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
> That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
> The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
That's what's supposed to happen. The Trump administration is shutting down FEMA. Emergency response is now a state responsibility. The interim head of FEMA who told Congress this was a bad move was fired the next day.[1]
Federal disaster relief is now a gift to be given at the whim of the President. Usually, only red states get it. See the list of major disaster declarations here.[2] More details.[3]
It seems to me like a Christian who really thought about it could realize the philosophy of God in advance and then his mysterious ways might require less tragedy.
Phrasing matters. using "didn't" puts a bad light on FEMA but if they used "couldn't" it changes things. no idea which it is but i'd bet it should read "couldn't"
Readit News
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/...
Because every time the economy went down the drain the first things that got cut from the budget were the dikes (it's no coincidence the worst flood in history was in 1953 when the great recession, WW2 and colonial war drained the treasury). And there's always another storm.
> On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
> That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
> The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
Might not have helped. Camp Mystic campers were not allowed cell phones.[1]
[1] https://www.campmystic.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/FINAL-...
"Some residents argued that outdoor sirens blaring warnings in the event of a flash flood would ruin the natural feel of the area that many prized. “The thought of our beautiful Kerr County having these damn sirens going off in the middle of the night,” one county commissioner at the time, Buster Baldwin, said during a 2016 meeting. “I’m going to have to start drinking again to put up with y’all.” (Mr. Baldwin died in 2022.)"
I'm thinking hard here, but I'm reasonably sure this is at least in the top-5 most moronic short-sighted, selfish, brain-dead things I've ever seen in my life. Possibly even top-3. Yeah, I'd join Buster in the bar to drink ourselves in a coma.
The spam-y nature of many disaster warning systems is widely understood to be an issue. If these people have existing experience with other low hit-rate warning systems like for tornados, it isn’t surprising that they would find even more warnings to be a nuisance. The false positive rates that people experience is too high by an order of magnitude to be an effective system.
If they have warning sirens that are ineffective at conveying real risk, they stop being warnings and become background noise.
It's far easier killing off any new economic and public development at the local level than any national level environmentalist or small government movement could ever dream for.
> "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...
I’m sure that they claim to “back the blue” while refusing to put the communications tools that keep them safe in place as well.
What people of this ilk have done to our nation makes me sick.
Dead Comment
Your classic manager who feels they are so important that hey HAVE TO be involved in X,Y,Z but they are not a responsible enough person to actually do the job.
If you wanted a different agency, like one that prioritized "recovery after 6 months", well, it would help to inform the nation that FEMA is no longer the nationwide emergency management agency. It's up to the local and state governments.
Dead Comment
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLyjaZ5s51o/
Heck of a job, Brownie
I suspect this kind of personal involvement is just about kick backs / graft.
Yeah, there's reasons for that:
> On July 5, as floodwaters were starting to recede, FEMA received 3,027 calls from disaster survivors and answered 3,018, or roughly 99.7 percent, the documents show. Contractors with four call center companies answered the vast majority of the calls.
> That evening, however, Ms. Noem did not renew the contracts with the four companies and hundreds of contractors were fired, according to the documents and the person briefed on the matter.
> The next day, July 6, FEMA received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or roughly 35.8 percent, according to the documents. And on Monday, July 7, the agency fielded 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent, the documents show.
Federal disaster relief is now a gift to be given at the whim of the President. Usually, only red states get it. See the list of major disaster declarations here.[2] More details.[3]
[1] https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/white-house/3405810/...
[2] https://www.fema.gov/
[3] https://therevolvingdoorproject.org/trump-disaster-policy-tr...
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/politics/trump-fema-te...
Dead Comment