July 16, 2025 • 22 mins
When the flood came, the warnings didn’t. In this episode, a deadly cascade of communication breakdowns and the consequences of delay. At least 129 people are dead, with dozens still missing, after historic flash flooding swept through central Texas. The timeline reveals a gap between federal alerts and local action. Lives were lost in those hours.
We examine what went wrong, why the local warning system never materialized despite years of requests, and how messaging from state and national leaders continues to fail the public in real-time. From delayed sirens to political deflections, this is a story about infrastructure, accountability, and the high cost of silence.
Plus: the Camp Mystic aftermath, FEMA’s delayed deployment, the governor’s football analogy, and the backlash to a viral video that reframed the tragedy through race and privilege.
The floodwaters receded. The questions haven’t.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
News Clip (00:00):
At least 129 people have died and 166 are still
missing.
Is there any way we can sendthe code red out to our hunt
residences abductions?
upon our ground or stay home.
By the time authorities were inthe midst of this they were
dealing with this it was alreadytoo late.
People were already in danger.
Molly McPherson (00:20):
In this episode we're talking about a real-time
high-stakes crisis with veryreal consequences the
devastating floods in CentralTexas and the mounting
communication failures that haveleft a community grieving,
families devastated and a nationasking questions.
As of today, friday July 11th,more than 120 people have died
(00:42):
following flash flooding inTexas Hill Country.
At least 36 of those lives werelost at Camp Mystic, a
Christian summer camp for girlsalong the Guadalupe River in
Kerr County, where the riversurged in the middle of the
night on July 4th.
President Donald Trump is inTexas today as I record this
episode, meeting with firstresponders and families.
(01:03):
He'll be joined by TexasGovernor Greg Abbott.
They will be in Kerrville, thenearest city to the camp, where
they're expected to receivebriefings from state and local
officials.
The response, however, has beenanything but smooth, from
delayed warnings to mixedpolitical messaging.
This episode will examine howcommunication broke down before,
during and after the flood, andwhy messaging in the middle of
(01:26):
a disaster is not just aformality but a matter of life
and death.
Let's start with the facts.
Around 4.15 am on July 4th, theNational Weather Service office
in San Angelo issued a rareflash flood emergency.
Minutes later, the Austin-SanAntonio National Weather Service
office issued a similar warningon its social media accounts.
(01:48):
These are the most urgentalerts that the weather service
can issue, but in Kerr County,where the flooding hit hardest,
official local alerts didn'tstart going out until well after
5 am.
The city of Kerrville's policedepartment posted its first
Facebook warning at 5.16 am.
The Kerr County Sherifffollowed at 5.32 am.
Then, over an hour later, at6.22 am, the city posted a
(02:12):
message downplaying thesituation, noting that quote
much needed rain had arrived andmay affect July 4th events.
The city posted a messagedownplaying the situation,
noting that quote much neededrain end quote had arrived and
may affect July 4th events.
At 7.32 am, nearly three hoursafter the initial federal
(02:33):
warning, the city finally urgedresidents living along the
Guadalupe River to move tohigher ground.
A newly surfaced dispatch call911 dispatch call reveals that a
volunteer firefighter in thetown of Ingram, just 10 miles
from Camp Mystic, was requestinga code red emergency alert as
early as 422 am.
(02:54):
There was no system in place tosend such an alert countrywide.
Why?
Because Kerr County doesn'thave a public flood warning
system and that absence isn'tfor a lack of trying.
I read an article in the NewYork Times this morning.
They had an investigation wherethey revealed that since 2017,
kerr County applied at leastthree times for federal grants
(03:15):
to build such a system.
Each time, the request wasdenied, first by FEMA and later
by the Texas Division ofEmergency Management.
The reason cited was that theywanted to divert more funds to
flood response recovery fromHurricane Harvey in 2017.
In April of this year, thecounty did finally allocate
(03:36):
$73,000 to start building awarning system, but it came too
late.
The October 2024 hazardmitigation plan submitted by the
county to FEMA even warned thata serious flood was likely
within a year.
The report noted that a floodwarning system could reduce loss
of life, especially for thosein quote substandard structures,
end quote.
(03:57):
If you think about that, if youwere to read that term,
substandard structures you mightimmediately default to
temporary homes, module homes,campsites.
But would you think of a summercamp?
Would you think of peoplevacationing?
Not necessarily, but either way, by the time the rain came, no
(04:18):
sirens existed.
The PR takeaway if your ownplan predicts a deadly event, a
catastrophic event, a weatherevent, and you don't communicate
that clearly or act on it, thenyou cannot rely on hindsight to
rebuild public trust.
Then the question happensoftentimes after a disaster.
(04:38):
Who's to blame?
When the waters receded, thefinger pointing began.
At a July 5th press conference,kerr County Judge Rob Kelly was
asked why the summer campsweren't evacuated.
His answer was simple Quote Ican't answer that, I don't know.
End quote no-transcript of aU-turn on their plans to
(05:31):
eliminate my former employer,the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
Now, if you've been payingattention, since January, since
he was elected, president Trumphas put FEMA in the crosshairs.
He wants the bloat of thatagency gone, but after these
devastating floods they have achange of tune.
(05:53):
The Washington Post quoted aWhite House official who said
that no official action is beingtaken to wind down FEMA and
that changes in the agency willprobably amount to get this
rebranding that will emphasizestate leaders' roles in disaster
response.
This senior official goes on tosay quote the president
immediately delivered thedollars.
(06:13):
Texas already has that money intheir hands and Governor Abbott
that's Greg Abbott is the leaddecision maker when it comes to
the Texas floods.
You should expect the structurethat has quietly taken place to
continue.
End quote.
What that is a complete aboutface, because back in January
(06:35):
there was a meeting of the FEMAReview Council.
This was a meeting that onecould look at, even on the
surface, was a meeting that onecould look at even on the
surface as publicly puttinginformation out there that shows
why Trump made an executiveorder like a pledge to reshape
the federal disaster response.
(06:56):
He wanted FEMA gone and youimmediately recognized the
framing if you were to watchthis meeting, which I did.
Here is a quote from thatmeeting.
Take a listen.
(07:11):
As President Trump has given us the responsibility of looking
at an agency that, in the past,has been there in times of
crisis for many people on theirworst day that they've ever
experienced, but many times inthe past it has failed.
It's an agency that has becomebloated.
Some of the funds have beendiverted to purposes under the
last administration that did notserve the American people.
Molly McPherson (07:32):
That was DHS Secretary Cristina.
Now imagine you're sittingthere and you work for FEMA and
that is the framing that isimmediately coming out of the
head of DHS.
When I worked for FEMA, femawas a part of DHS.
I cannot imagine at that timelike working at that agency and
knowing that the secretary wasactively working to get rid of
(07:55):
the entire agency.
Here's more from Nome.
(07:59):
President Trump has given us a clear direction by pointing out
that in the aftermath ofHurricane Celine and Milton,
FEMA disobeyed orders.
They spent tens of millions ofdollars in Democrat area.
Meanwhile, they left the peopleof North Carolina high and dry.
Unfortunately, those situationsthat happened weren't the only
places of failure of FEMA overthe years.
Molly McPherson (08:20):
Now, this isn't a big surprise, because since
Trump took over in January, he'sbeen talking a lot.
He's been mentioning FEMA a lot.
Back in January, during thewildfire response in Los Angeles
, president Trump said thisduring a press conference.
News Clip (08:34):
I do have to say FEMA is a big disappointment.
We had it working well, we hadgreat people, but FEMA is not
good anymore.
What FEMA did in North Carolina, they still haven't even gone
to certain areas.
They don't know what they'redoing.
And I say you don't need FEMA,you need a good state government
.
Molly McPherson (08:50):
So what we're witnessing right now is a
complete U-turn by the WhiteHouse.
There has been a growing countof billion-dollar natural
disasters severe storms, drought, flood, wildfires, severe cold.
From 2020 to 2024, Texassuffered 68 of those costly
events.
Florida was second.
(09:11):
Louisiana is also a state thatreceives a lot of aid as well.
Now, the Doge efforts alreadycut roughly 20 percent of FEMA
staff and moved to freeze itsfunds.
So, with Donald Trumprepeatedly signaling his
interest to just completelystrip any of the responsibility
on the federal agency and put itin the hands of the state, the
(09:33):
timing of this flood could notbe worse.
Now fingers are pointing from alocal perspective and federal,
because FEMA did not deployurban search and rescue teams
until more than 72 hours afterthe flood.
Why the delay?
That's not FEMA, that'sHomeland Security Secretary Noem
, because now there's a new rulethat's been imposed, requiring
(09:54):
her personal sign-off oncontracts over $100,000.
So while state and localofficials scrambled, federal
help was delayed, not bylogistics but by bureaucracy.
The last disaster I worked onwhen I worked for FEMA was a
hurricane in Texas.
The trip started in NorthCarolina and my team we were
(10:15):
like on this broadcast team wefollowed two tropical storms and
one that eventually turned intoa hurricane.
Two tropical storms and onethat eventually turned into a
hurricane, and that's HurricaneIke.
And so we ended the trip inTexas, in Houston.
The reason why you want thefederal deployment and you want
the federal resources there isbecause you have JICs, you have
(10:35):
joint information centers, youhave the federal government
working with state governmentswithin the state.
When disasters happen and theycome in, sometimes the state,
when disasters happen and theycome in, sometimes the state can
be overwhelmed, which isexactly what we're seeing
happening in Texas right now.
I remember coming in before thehurricane.
We were there already prepping.
I remember speaking with theguys with the Urban Search and
(10:55):
Rescue Corps.
They were all ready to go.
I remember doing media trainingwith some of the federal
coordinating officers.
There, everything was preppedand everybody was preparing Now.
Granted, this flood was notsomething that anyone expected
to this level, so it'd be hardto plan for something, unlike a
hurricane, where you do havethat warning.
However, there's training,there's people who know exactly
(11:16):
what needs to be done.
I can't even imagine the searchand rescue teams just sitting
there waiting while all this washappening.
I could not imagine.
If I were a parent who hadexperience working with urban
search and rescue teams, knowingthat my child was still lost if
they were at Camp Mystic, Iwould be out of my mind the PR
takeaway.
(11:37):
When communication decisionsare politicized, the public
loses clarity in sometimes lives.
Now what's happening?
at a local response level.
This is what comes naturallythe scrutiny.
After the disaster comes thescrutiny.
Local officials were quick todownplay the fault.
At a press briefing, kerrvilleMayor Joe Herring Jr said he
(11:59):
wasn't in office when theemergency alert plans were
developed.
He focused on support fromstate leaders and called media
questioning disrespectful.
Now I have to give Herring abreak here.
There's been a lot of clipsabout him at press conferences.
The first press conference fromlast Tuesday was a complete
(12:20):
disaster.
So many questions were beingasked but there weren't a lot of
answers.
A lot of the officials therehad nothing to say.
Because they didn't haveanswers, because there was a lot
of confusion on the ground.
But also they're stuck in aposition where they cannot go
against Governor Abbott and theycan't go against President
Trump as well.
So in many cases, it's truethey don't have answers, but
also they don't know what to sayin that situation.
(12:40):
So naturally, when people are inthe glare of the spotlight,
particularly in the middle of acrisis like this Kerrville mayor
Joe Herring Jr things get alittle snippy.
Now I've worked with a lot ofleaders in very hot situations.
I don't blame him.
Like when people get worriedand people are worried about
their reputation, they get verydefensive.
That's what he did, but whenyou're an elected official, you
(13:04):
should know how to comportyourself in these types of
situations.
Yes, he's a small town mayor.
Yes, it is possible likely thathe's never done a press
conference to this level.
It's not just local press, it'snational press, it's
international press.
There is a lot going on in thatone town.
For a curve-o mayor likeHerring Jr, however, his
(13:25):
reaction was a bad one.
Take a listen.
News Clip (13:28):
Nothing is as heart-wrenching as hearing the
stories of what the girls aroundhere, especially the girls at
Camp Mystic, went through To see, where they lived in one moment
, where they disappeared thenext moment and were gone
forever a few moments after that.
I wanted these people to know,I want you all to know.
The hearts of our fellow Texansare breaking every single day
(13:52):
because of what people of thiscommunity and the surrounding
area are going through.
Molly McPherson (13:57):
Like you can understand, a mayor in that
position.
He's being pelted by all thesequestions.
He's worried, he's scared, hedoesn't want to show that, but
he gets defensive.
You should never blame thepress in that type of a
situation.
It's a press conference.
There's a million questions.
That's what press conferencesare.
But it's also their pressconference.
They're the ones controlling it.
They're the ones running it.
If someone at the desk, someonelike speaking at the mic, at
(14:21):
the bank of mics, they cancontrol it, they can decide
whose questions they want toanswer.
And the reporter it's veryrightfully said you're not
giving us your answers.
Raymond Howard, a city councilmember in Ingram, said this to
the New York Times.
Quote the more I'm finding outabout it, the more I'm getting
pissed off.
They spend money on all typesof other stuff.
It makes me very sad that theytalked about it but never
(14:42):
followed through.
He's speaking about the alertsystem.
This is what happens withscrutiny.
People who are genuinely upset,people who want to come out and
have the guts to come out andsay this should have been done,
those make for the very, verygood quotes.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrickhimself said quote there should
have been sirens here and addedif local officials couldn't
(15:04):
afford it, then the state willset up.
Now it looks like the state ispointing the finger back at
Kerrville.
In the end, the messaging fromlocal leaders lacked urgency and
, in some cases, lacked empathy.
Governor Abbott at one pressconference said the word he
heard the most during thedisaster was prayer.
But grieving families need morethan thoughts.
They need more than prayers,they need answers.
(15:27):
And it wasn't just theKerrville mayor who got a little
testy on the mic, it was alsoGovernor Abbott himself.
He was put on the spot and hedeflected in a way that I see so
often with leaders as well.
And he deflected in a way againthat is so typical that becomes
so defensive.
Take a listen to this clip.
News Clip (15:47):
I'm going to use your words who's to blame?
Know this?
That's the word choice oflosers.
Let me explain one thing aboutTexas, and that is Texas.
Every square inch of our statecares about football.
Every football team makesmistakes.
The losing teams are the onesthat try to point out who's to
(16:08):
blame.
The championship teams are theones that say don't worry about
it, man, we got this.
We're going to make sure thatwe go score again and we're
going to win this game.
The way winners talk is not topoint fingers.
They talk about solutions.
What Texas is all about issolutions.
Molly McPherson (16:24):
Can you imagine a football analogy?
Now you can almost imaginewhere his brain went.
Everything that Governor Abbottis thinking about and I can say
this as someone who does mediainterviews it's really hard to
memorize everything.
It's really difficult to haveinstant recall on all the facts.
You tend to default to lines ofthinking.
You know that you can fall backon a lot, and what's happening
(16:47):
in Texas is people fall back onTexas.
This is how we do it in Texas.
You heard it from the mayor ofKerrville and you're hearing it
from Governor Abbott as well,but he fell in the wrong part of
Texas.
You could talk about beingresilient, but comparing it to a
football game not what theywant to hear.
Now, one word that GovernorAbbott used in a press
(17:10):
conference he said it was a wordhe'd heard the most during the
disaster was prayer.
I like hearing that in a pressconference.
I think it's comforting to hearthat.
You don't want to hear it in aresponse like thoughts and
prayers go to the families.
That's the worst.
Don't ever do that, and if youever work for an organization or
leadership that insists onputting that in a response,
(17:31):
please get out your red pen andscratch it out.
You've already explained what'sbeing done and how you're
helping.
It is okay to ask for prayersit's so human but grieving
families need more than thoughts.
They need more than prayers.
Remember, they also needanswers.
(17:59):
Now, finally, there was a storythat took the media in a
different direction.
After the flooding story cameout, particularly what happened
at Camp Mystic, a TikTok videowent viral Now.
In it, a Houston resident andan activist claimed the coverage
and rescue efforts would havebeen different had the missing
children been Hispanic or Black.
She referred to Camp Mystic asa quote white-only conservative
Christian camp end quote andquestioned whether the same
(18:22):
response would have occurred forgirls of color.
That clip, no surprise, createda lot of outrage In general.
Whenever you hear a post thatstarts with I know I'm going to
get canceled for saying this,the universe will reward that by
creating a cancel situation foryou.
(18:44):
It's understandable when peopleare experiencing a tragedy,
either directly or they'rewatching in real time.
Think about the flooding, likewhen you first heard about the
flooding, when it was happening,if you were a parent, if you
were a parent of a daughter,were you like me?
Did you immediately think, ohmy gosh, what would I do if that
were my daughter, what would Ido if my daughter was in the
(19:06):
bubble tent or in that cabin?
You personalize it, you find away to bring yourself to that
disaster and in some cases too,if you're not directly involved,
you think about that disasterand how it may trigger other
hurts in your life.
So it would be understandableif a minority was watching the
coverage about this camp andseeing what this camp was all
(19:28):
about, that they would ask thatquestion to themselves.
And American girls would it getthe same response.
I think that's understandable.
I think that's rational, thatsomeone like that would think
that way, especially watchingall that coverage.
However, to put it on TikTok,that's a whole other story,
(19:51):
because that clip sparkedoutrage.
No surprise, because thepartner of the activist, sade
Per, was a reverend at the FirstUnitarian Universalist Church
in Houston, but now, all of asudden, this church had to get
involved and they need to issuea public apology over a partner
(20:13):
from one of their ministers.
Now he disavowed her commentsand said she was not speaking
for the church, which obviouslyshe wasn't.
She's not even a part of thatparticular church leadership,
but it brought the church inbecause people online connected
it.
So soon after all that happenedthe church website, the social
media accounts they were allscrubbed.
(20:35):
The mayor of Houston, johnWhitmer, said Perkins would be
removed from the city's food andSecurity Board.
So there was a consequence tothe post.
In a statement, the boardpresident, joan Waddell, said
quote her comments contradictthe core values of our church
and we are horrified to beassociated with them.
End quote.
That's actually a really goodquote to say about the
circumstance.
(20:56):
So it's a powerful reminder thatin moments of crisis, public
messaging has ripple effects.
It's understandable that peopleare going to feel a certain way
about a tragedy and they'regoing to bring their own tragedy
into it, or their own pain andtheir own hurt.
But when it goes public, it'salmost inevitable that there
will be a consequence.
The PR takeaway.
When emotions run high, everyword counts and when the public
(21:19):
is grieving, commentary, howeverwell-attentioned, can either
bring people together orfracture the conversation
entirely.
The Texas floods are a humantragedy, but they are also a
case study in how communicationshapes, defines and sometimes
worsens a crisis.
The warning systems failed, thepress conferences wobbled, the
(21:40):
politics overwhelmed, the publicservice and families are left
wondering not just how thishappened, but why no one warned
them.
This was a disaster.
The only silver lining indisasters is you learn from them
.
So you hope that it doesn'thappen again, but what gets lost
in the learning is just all thecomplicated messaging and all
(22:02):
the back and forth, and it'salways the politics and the
agenda that could just messthese things up.
So my hope as a formeremergency manager I hope that
FEMA is not dismantled.
We need a federal response forthis very reason.
Texas is the reason, but wealso need good messaging to
(22:24):
explain things when disasterhappens, because truly it is a
matter of life and death.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks for listening.
Bye for now.
At least 129 people have died and 166 are still
missing.
Is there any way we can sendthe code red out to our hunt
residences abductions?
upon our ground or stay home.
By the time authorities were inthe midst of this they were
dealing with this it was alreadytoo late.
People were already in danger.
Molly McPherson (00:20):
In this episode we're talking about a real-time
high-stakes crisis with veryreal consequences the
devastating floods in CentralTexas and the mounting
communication failures that haveleft a community grieving,
families devastated and a nationasking questions.
As of today, friday July 11th,more than 120 people have died
(00:42):
following flash flooding inTexas Hill Country.
At least 36 of those lives werelost at Camp Mystic, a
Christian summer camp for girlsalong the Guadalupe River in
Kerr County, where the riversurged in the middle of the
night on July 4th.
President Donald Trump is inTexas today as I record this
episode, meeting with firstresponders and families.
(01:03):
He'll be joined by TexasGovernor Greg Abbott.
They will be in Kerrville, thenearest city to the camp, where
they're expected to receivebriefings from state and local
officials.
The response, however, has beenanything but smooth, from
delayed warnings to mixedpolitical messaging.
This episode will examine howcommunication broke down before,
during and after the flood, andwhy messaging in the middle of
(01:26):
a disaster is not just aformality but a matter of life
and death.
Let's start with the facts.
Around 4.15 am on July 4th, theNational Weather Service office
in San Angelo issued a rareflash flood emergency.
Minutes later, the Austin-SanAntonio National Weather Service
office issued a similar warningon its social media accounts.
(01:48):
These are the most urgentalerts that the weather service
can issue, but in Kerr County,where the flooding hit hardest,
official local alerts didn'tstart going out until well after
5 am.
The city of Kerrville's policedepartment posted its first
Facebook warning at 5.16 am.
The Kerr County Sherifffollowed at 5.32 am.
Then, over an hour later, at6.22 am, the city posted a
(02:12):
message downplaying thesituation, noting that quote
much needed rain had arrived andmay affect July 4th events.
The city posted a messagedownplaying the situation,
noting that quote much neededrain end quote had arrived and
may affect July 4th events.
At 7.32 am, nearly three hoursafter the initial federal
(02:33):
warning, the city finally urgedresidents living along the
Guadalupe River to move tohigher ground.
A newly surfaced dispatch call911 dispatch call reveals that a
volunteer firefighter in thetown of Ingram, just 10 miles
from Camp Mystic, was requestinga code red emergency alert as
early as 422 am.
(02:54):
There was no system in place tosend such an alert countrywide.
Why?
Because Kerr County doesn'thave a public flood warning
system and that absence isn'tfor a lack of trying.
I read an article in the NewYork Times this morning.
They had an investigation wherethey revealed that since 2017,
kerr County applied at leastthree times for federal grants
(03:15):
to build such a system.
Each time, the request wasdenied, first by FEMA and later
by the Texas Division ofEmergency Management.
The reason cited was that theywanted to divert more funds to
flood response recovery fromHurricane Harvey in 2017.
In April of this year, thecounty did finally allocate
(03:36):
$73,000 to start building awarning system, but it came too
late.
The October 2024 hazardmitigation plan submitted by the
county to FEMA even warned thata serious flood was likely
within a year.
The report noted that a floodwarning system could reduce loss
of life, especially for thosein quote substandard structures,
end quote.
(03:57):
If you think about that, if youwere to read that term,
substandard structures you mightimmediately default to
temporary homes, module homes,campsites.
But would you think of a summercamp?
Would you think of peoplevacationing?
Not necessarily, but either way, by the time the rain came, no
(04:18):
sirens existed.
The PR takeaway if your ownplan predicts a deadly event, a
catastrophic event, a weatherevent, and you don't communicate
that clearly or act on it, thenyou cannot rely on hindsight to
rebuild public trust.
Then the question happensoftentimes after a disaster.
(04:38):
Who's to blame?
When the waters receded, thefinger pointing began.
At a July 5th press conference,kerr County Judge Rob Kelly was
asked why the summer campsweren't evacuated.
His answer was simple Quote Ican't answer that, I don't know.
End quote no-transcript of aU-turn on their plans to
(05:31):
eliminate my former employer,the Federal Emergency Management
Agency.
Now, if you've been payingattention, since January, since
he was elected, president Trumphas put FEMA in the crosshairs.
He wants the bloat of thatagency gone, but after these
devastating floods they have achange of tune.
(05:53):
The Washington Post quoted aWhite House official who said
that no official action is beingtaken to wind down FEMA and
that changes in the agency willprobably amount to get this
rebranding that will emphasizestate leaders' roles in disaster
response.
This senior official goes on tosay quote the president
immediately delivered thedollars.
(06:13):
Texas already has that money intheir hands and Governor Abbott
that's Greg Abbott is the leaddecision maker when it comes to
the Texas floods.
You should expect the structurethat has quietly taken place to
continue.
End quote.
What that is a complete aboutface, because back in January
(06:35):
there was a meeting of the FEMAReview Council.
This was a meeting that onecould look at, even on the
surface, was a meeting that onecould look at even on the
surface as publicly puttinginformation out there that shows
why Trump made an executiveorder like a pledge to reshape
the federal disaster response.
(06:56):
He wanted FEMA gone and youimmediately recognized the
framing if you were to watchthis meeting, which I did.
Here is a quote from thatmeeting.
Take a listen.
(07:11):
As President Trump has given us the responsibility of looking
at an agency that, in the past,has been there in times of
crisis for many people on theirworst day that they've ever
experienced, but many times inthe past it has failed.
It's an agency that has becomebloated.
Some of the funds have beendiverted to purposes under the
last administration that did notserve the American people.
Molly McPherson (07:32):
That was DHS Secretary Cristina.
Now imagine you're sittingthere and you work for FEMA and
that is the framing that isimmediately coming out of the
head of DHS.
When I worked for FEMA, femawas a part of DHS.
I cannot imagine at that timelike working at that agency and
knowing that the secretary wasactively working to get rid of
(07:55):
the entire agency.
Here's more from Nome.
(07:59):
President Trump has given us a clear direction by pointing out
that in the aftermath ofHurricane Celine and Milton,
FEMA disobeyed orders.
They spent tens of millions ofdollars in Democrat area.
Meanwhile, they left the peopleof North Carolina high and dry.
Unfortunately, those situationsthat happened weren't the only
places of failure of FEMA overthe years.
Molly McPherson (08:20):
Now, this isn't a big surprise, because since
Trump took over in January, he'sbeen talking a lot.
He's been mentioning FEMA a lot.
Back in January, during thewildfire response in Los Angeles
, president Trump said thisduring a press conference.
News Clip (08:34):
I do have to say FEMA is a big disappointment.
We had it working well, we hadgreat people, but FEMA is not
good anymore.
What FEMA did in North Carolina, they still haven't even gone
to certain areas.
They don't know what they'redoing.
And I say you don't need FEMA,you need a good state government
.
Molly McPherson (08:50):
So what we're witnessing right now is a
complete U-turn by the WhiteHouse.
There has been a growing countof billion-dollar natural
disasters severe storms, drought, flood, wildfires, severe cold.
From 2020 to 2024, Texassuffered 68 of those costly
events.
Florida was second.
(09:11):
Louisiana is also a state thatreceives a lot of aid as well.
Now, the Doge efforts alreadycut roughly 20 percent of FEMA
staff and moved to freeze itsfunds.
So, with Donald Trumprepeatedly signaling his
interest to just completelystrip any of the responsibility
on the federal agency and put itin the hands of the state, the
(09:33):
timing of this flood could notbe worse.
Now fingers are pointing from alocal perspective and federal,
because FEMA did not deployurban search and rescue teams
until more than 72 hours afterthe flood.
Why the delay?
That's not FEMA, that'sHomeland Security Secretary Noem
, because now there's a new rulethat's been imposed, requiring
(09:54):
her personal sign-off oncontracts over $100,000.
So while state and localofficials scrambled, federal
help was delayed, not bylogistics but by bureaucracy.
The last disaster I worked onwhen I worked for FEMA was a
hurricane in Texas.
The trip started in NorthCarolina and my team we were
(10:15):
like on this broadcast team wefollowed two tropical storms and
one that eventually turned intoa hurricane.
Two tropical storms and onethat eventually turned into a
hurricane, and that's HurricaneIke.
And so we ended the trip inTexas, in Houston.
The reason why you want thefederal deployment and you want
the federal resources there isbecause you have JICs, you have
(10:35):
joint information centers, youhave the federal government
working with state governmentswithin the state.
When disasters happen and theycome in, sometimes the state,
when disasters happen and theycome in, sometimes the state can
be overwhelmed, which isexactly what we're seeing
happening in Texas right now.
I remember coming in before thehurricane.
We were there already prepping.
I remember speaking with theguys with the Urban Search and
(10:55):
Rescue Corps.
They were all ready to go.
I remember doing media trainingwith some of the federal
coordinating officers.
There, everything was preppedand everybody was preparing Now.
Granted, this flood was notsomething that anyone expected
to this level, so it'd be hardto plan for something, unlike a
hurricane, where you do havethat warning.
However, there's training,there's people who know exactly
(11:16):
what needs to be done.
I can't even imagine the searchand rescue teams just sitting
there waiting while all this washappening.
I could not imagine.
If I were a parent who hadexperience working with urban
search and rescue teams, knowingthat my child was still lost if
they were at Camp Mystic, Iwould be out of my mind the PR
takeaway.
(11:37):
When communication decisionsare politicized, the public
loses clarity in sometimes lives.
Now what's happening?
at a local response level.
This is what comes naturallythe scrutiny.
After the disaster comes thescrutiny.
Local officials were quick todownplay the fault.
At a press briefing, kerrvilleMayor Joe Herring Jr said he
(11:59):
wasn't in office when theemergency alert plans were
developed.
He focused on support fromstate leaders and called media
questioning disrespectful.
Now I have to give Herring abreak here.
There's been a lot of clipsabout him at press conferences.
The first press conference fromlast Tuesday was a complete
(12:20):
disaster.
So many questions were beingasked but there weren't a lot of
answers.
A lot of the officials therehad nothing to say.
Because they didn't haveanswers, because there was a lot
of confusion on the ground.
But also they're stuck in aposition where they cannot go
against Governor Abbott and theycan't go against President
Trump as well.
So in many cases, it's truethey don't have answers, but
also they don't know what to sayin that situation.
(12:40):
So naturally, when people are inthe glare of the spotlight,
particularly in the middle of acrisis like this Kerrville mayor
Joe Herring Jr things get alittle snippy.
Now I've worked with a lot ofleaders in very hot situations.
I don't blame him.
Like when people get worriedand people are worried about
their reputation, they get verydefensive.
That's what he did, but whenyou're an elected official, you
(13:04):
should know how to comportyourself in these types of
situations.
Yes, he's a small town mayor.
Yes, it is possible likely thathe's never done a press
conference to this level.
It's not just local press, it'snational press, it's
international press.
There is a lot going on in thatone town.
For a curve-o mayor likeHerring Jr, however, his
(13:25):
reaction was a bad one.
Take a listen.
News Clip (13:28):
Nothing is as heart-wrenching as hearing the
stories of what the girls aroundhere, especially the girls at
Camp Mystic, went through To see, where they lived in one moment
, where they disappeared thenext moment and were gone
forever a few moments after that.
I wanted these people to know,I want you all to know.
The hearts of our fellow Texansare breaking every single day
(13:52):
because of what people of thiscommunity and the surrounding
area are going through.
Molly McPherson (13:57):
Like you can understand, a mayor in that
position.
He's being pelted by all thesequestions.
He's worried, he's scared, hedoesn't want to show that, but
he gets defensive.
You should never blame thepress in that type of a
situation.
It's a press conference.
There's a million questions.
That's what press conferencesare.
But it's also their pressconference.
They're the ones controlling it.
They're the ones running it.
If someone at the desk, someonelike speaking at the mic, at
(14:21):
the bank of mics, they cancontrol it, they can decide
whose questions they want toanswer.
And the reporter it's veryrightfully said you're not
giving us your answers.
Raymond Howard, a city councilmember in Ingram, said this to
the New York Times.
Quote the more I'm finding outabout it, the more I'm getting
pissed off.
They spend money on all typesof other stuff.
It makes me very sad that theytalked about it but never
(14:42):
followed through.
He's speaking about the alertsystem.
This is what happens withscrutiny.
People who are genuinely upset,people who want to come out and
have the guts to come out andsay this should have been done,
those make for the very, verygood quotes.
Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrickhimself said quote there should
have been sirens here and addedif local officials couldn't
(15:04):
afford it, then the state willset up.
Now it looks like the state ispointing the finger back at
Kerrville.
In the end, the messaging fromlocal leaders lacked urgency and
, in some cases, lacked empathy.
Governor Abbott at one pressconference said the word he
heard the most during thedisaster was prayer.
But grieving families need morethan thoughts.
They need more than prayers,they need answers.
(15:27):
And it wasn't just theKerrville mayor who got a little
testy on the mic, it was alsoGovernor Abbott himself.
He was put on the spot and hedeflected in a way that I see so
often with leaders as well.
And he deflected in a way againthat is so typical that becomes
so defensive.
Take a listen to this clip.
News Clip (15:47):
I'm going to use your words who's to blame?
Know this?
That's the word choice oflosers.
Let me explain one thing aboutTexas, and that is Texas.
Every square inch of our statecares about football.
Every football team makesmistakes.
The losing teams are the onesthat try to point out who's to
(16:08):
blame.
The championship teams are theones that say don't worry about
it, man, we got this.
We're going to make sure thatwe go score again and we're
going to win this game.
The way winners talk is not topoint fingers.
They talk about solutions.
What Texas is all about issolutions.
Molly McPherson (16:24):
Can you imagine a football analogy?
Now you can almost imaginewhere his brain went.
Everything that Governor Abbottis thinking about and I can say
this as someone who does mediainterviews it's really hard to
memorize everything.
It's really difficult to haveinstant recall on all the facts.
You tend to default to lines ofthinking.
You know that you can fall backon a lot, and what's happening
(16:47):
in Texas is people fall back onTexas.
This is how we do it in Texas.
You heard it from the mayor ofKerrville and you're hearing it
from Governor Abbott as well,but he fell in the wrong part of
Texas.
You could talk about beingresilient, but comparing it to a
football game not what theywant to hear.
Now, one word that GovernorAbbott used in a press
(17:10):
conference he said it was a wordhe'd heard the most during the
disaster was prayer.
I like hearing that in a pressconference.
I think it's comforting to hearthat.
You don't want to hear it in aresponse like thoughts and
prayers go to the families.
That's the worst.
Don't ever do that, and if youever work for an organization or
leadership that insists onputting that in a response,
(17:31):
please get out your red pen andscratch it out.
You've already explained what'sbeing done and how you're
helping.
It is okay to ask for prayersit's so human but grieving
families need more than thoughts.
They need more than prayers.
Remember, they also needanswers.
(17:59):
Now, finally, there was a storythat took the media in a
different direction.
After the flooding story cameout, particularly what happened
at Camp Mystic, a TikTok videowent viral Now.
In it, a Houston resident andan activist claimed the coverage
and rescue efforts would havebeen different had the missing
children been Hispanic or Black.
She referred to Camp Mystic asa quote white-only conservative
Christian camp end quote andquestioned whether the same
(18:22):
response would have occurred forgirls of color.
That clip, no surprise, createda lot of outrage In general.
Whenever you hear a post thatstarts with I know I'm going to
get canceled for saying this,the universe will reward that by
creating a cancel situation foryou.
(18:44):
It's understandable when peopleare experiencing a tragedy,
either directly or they'rewatching in real time.
Think about the flooding, likewhen you first heard about the
flooding, when it was happening,if you were a parent, if you
were a parent of a daughter,were you like me?
Did you immediately think, ohmy gosh, what would I do if that
were my daughter, what would Ido if my daughter was in the
(19:06):
bubble tent or in that cabin?
You personalize it, you find away to bring yourself to that
disaster and in some cases too,if you're not directly involved,
you think about that disasterand how it may trigger other
hurts in your life.
So it would be understandableif a minority was watching the
coverage about this camp andseeing what this camp was all
(19:28):
about, that they would ask thatquestion to themselves.
And American girls would it getthe same response.
I think that's understandable.
I think that's rational, thatsomeone like that would think
that way, especially watchingall that coverage.
However, to put it on TikTok,that's a whole other story,
(19:51):
because that clip sparkedoutrage.
No surprise, because thepartner of the activist, sade
Per, was a reverend at the FirstUnitarian Universalist Church
in Houston, but now, all of asudden, this church had to get
involved and they need to issuea public apology over a partner
(20:13):
from one of their ministers.
Now he disavowed her commentsand said she was not speaking
for the church, which obviouslyshe wasn't.
She's not even a part of thatparticular church leadership,
but it brought the church inbecause people online connected
it.
So soon after all that happenedthe church website, the social
media accounts they were allscrubbed.
(20:35):
The mayor of Houston, johnWhitmer, said Perkins would be
removed from the city's food andSecurity Board.
So there was a consequence tothe post.
In a statement, the boardpresident, joan Waddell, said
quote her comments contradictthe core values of our church
and we are horrified to beassociated with them.
End quote.
That's actually a really goodquote to say about the
circumstance.
(20:56):
So it's a powerful reminder thatin moments of crisis, public
messaging has ripple effects.
It's understandable that peopleare going to feel a certain way
about a tragedy and they'regoing to bring their own tragedy
into it, or their own pain andtheir own hurt.
But when it goes public, it'salmost inevitable that there
will be a consequence.
The PR takeaway.
When emotions run high, everyword counts and when the public
(21:19):
is grieving, commentary, howeverwell-attentioned, can either
bring people together orfracture the conversation
entirely.
The Texas floods are a humantragedy, but they are also a
case study in how communicationshapes, defines and sometimes
worsens a crisis.
The warning systems failed, thepress conferences wobbled, the
(21:40):
politics overwhelmed, the publicservice and families are left
wondering not just how thishappened, but why no one warned
them.
This was a disaster.
The only silver lining indisasters is you learn from them
.
So you hope that it doesn'thappen again, but what gets lost
in the learning is just all thecomplicated messaging and all
(22:02):
the back and forth, and it'salways the politics and the
agenda that could just messthese things up.
So my hope as a formeremergency manager I hope that
FEMA is not dismantled.
We need a federal response forthis very reason.
Texas is the reason, but wealso need good messaging to
(22:24):
explain things when disasterhappens, because truly it is a
matter of life and death.
That's all for this week on thepodcast.
Thanks for listening.
Bye for now.
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