When flash floods swept through Texas Hill Country in early July, thousands of disaster survivors reached out for urgent help—only to be met with silence. According to FEMA’s own internal records, nearly 40,000 calls for assistance went unanswered during the critical days after the flooding. People were trying to find shelter, food, and emergency aid. They got put on hold—or got nothing at all.

Why? Because FEMA’s funding for its call centers had lapsed. Contract logs and internal memos show that for five days, no new money was available to keep the call centers running. And even as flood survivors struggled to reach anyone, FEMA leadership told Congress that the majority of calls had been answered. That statement appears to be false.

This wasn’t just a bureaucratic glitch—it was a failure of leadership at the highest levels of emergency response. And it happened during a time when climate-driven disasters are becoming more frequent and more severe. If FEMA cannot reliably respond during a crisis, especially as disasters grow in scale, then we are all at risk.

We call on the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA, and Congressional oversight committees to do the following:

• Publicly release all internal communications related to the July 2025 FEMA call center funding lapse
• Implement immediate reforms to ensure funding for FEMA’s critical operations never lapses during an active disaster
• Hold accountable any officials who misrepresented the agency’s performance to Congress or the public

Texans deserve answers—but more importantly, they deserve a FEMA that works. Our country cannot afford to ignore these warning signs. The next storm is coming, and we need a stronger, more accountable FEMA now.

Sign this petition if you believe FEMA must be strengthened and held accountable—before more lives are put at risk.

Photo: Jim Vondruska/Getty Images