Exclusive: FEMA didn’t sufficiently staff disaster hotline after Texas floods

By Rebecca Hersher,

Sarah McCammon, Stephen Fowler

Published August 12, 2025 at 4:13 PM EDT

In the days after disastrous floods tore through Texas Hill Country last month, tens of thousands of calls to a federal aid hotline went unanswered, after FEMA failed to fund the call center. We discuss how the Trump administration’s government restructuring plans led to this problem and what it could mean for future disasters.

This episode: political correspondent Sarah McCammon, politics correspondent Stephen Fowler, and climate correspondent Rebecca Hersher.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye.

Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

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Rebecca Hersher

Rebecca Hersher (she/her) is a reporter on NPR's Science Desk, where she reports on outbreaks, natural disasters, and environmental and health research. Since coming to NPR in 2011, she has covered the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, embedded with the Afghan army after the American combat mission ended, and reported on floods and hurricanes in the U.S. She's also reported on research about puppies. Before her work on the Science Desk, she was a producer for NPR's Weekend All Things Considered in Los Angeles.

See stories by Rebecca Hersher

Sarah McCammon

Sarah McCammon is a National Correspondent covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast for NPR. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion and reproductive rights, and the intersections of politics and religion. She's also a frequent guest host for NPR news magazines, podcasts and special coverage.

Stephen Fowler

Stephen Fowler is a political reporter with NPR's Washington Desk and will be covering the 2024 election based in the South. Before joining NPR, he spent more than seven years at Georgia Public Broadcasting as its political reporter and host of the Battleground: Ballot Box podcast, which covered voting rights and legal fallout from the 2020 presidential election, the evolution of the Republican Party and other changes driving Georgia's growing prominence in American politics. His reporting has appeared everywhere from the Center for Public Integrity and the Columbia Journalism Review to the PBS NewsHour and ProPublica.