Kristi Noem Renews Call to Eliminate FEMA Even After Texas Flood
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem reiterated her call to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even as the organization helps in search and recovery efforts following the catastrophic flooding in Texas that’s left more than 100 people dead.
“This entire agency needs to be eliminated as it existed and remade into a responsive agency,” she said via video link at a meeting of the FEMA Review Council, held in New Orleans. “Federal Emergency Management should be state and locally led, rather than how it has operated for decades.”
President Donald Trump established the council in January to examine FEMA’s structure, performance and role in disaster response. The panel, co-chaired by Noem and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is tasked with delivering recommendations by November on how to streamline the organization, reduce federal control and shift more authority to states.
Noem made the comments as FEMA personnel are on the ground in Kerr County, Texas, where pounding rain caused a surge of water through riverside camps and neighborhoods on July 4, killing at least 27 children and counselors at Camp Mystic. More than 160 people remain missing from the floods.
Trump, who has pushed to limit FEMA’s role, signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County, even as Texas Governor Greg Abbott formally requested a broader declaration for affected areas.
Trump, who’s scheduled to visit the state on Friday, has signaled it’s not the time to discuss phasing out FEMA as they help in recovery efforts.
Noem, who visited Kerrville in Texas on Saturday, opened the Cabinet session with a detailed and emotional account of the damage, describing parents retrieving children’s belongings from the mud. She also emphasized that states should lead in such moments.
“We, as a federal government, don’t manage these disasters. The state does,” she said. “We come in and support them, and that’s exactly what we did here.”
Top photo: Search and recovery crews remove debris from the bank of the Guadalupe River on July 9, 2025 in Center Point, Texas. More than 170 people are still missing after deadly flash floods in central Texas, with at least 119 people reported dead. (Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images).