FEMA official quits after Trump cuts hobble Texas flood response

The Federal Emergency Management Agency chief in charge of Urban Search and Rescue has quit the agency following a lackluster response to the recent flooding in Texas that killed more than 100 people.

Ken Pagurek resigned on Monday, reportedly in response to efforts by the Trump administration to hobble the agency, part of President Donald Trump’s ongoing policies against funding and properly staffing branches of the federal government. Previously, Pagurek worked for more than a decade at FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch and led multiple teams responding to natural disasters.

CNN reported that “Pagurek told colleagues at FEMA that the delay was the tipping point that led to his voluntary departure after months of frustration with the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the agency, according to two sources familiar with his thinking.”

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At least 135 people died in the Texas floods on July 4. Among the most tragic cases was the flooding at Camp Mystic, where at least 27 campers and counselors were killed. Included in the deaths were several children as young as 8 years old.

Families in the region affected by the flooding have said they did not receive warnings and alerts ahead of the flood giving them enough time to prepare and have attributed deaths to those delays. In some instances, there was a 90-minute delay before an alert was sent out and some residents said they didn’t get an alert until six hours later.

Asked about the problems on July 11, Trump lashed out at reporters for questioning his team’s actions.

“Only a bad person would ask a question like that, to be honest with you,” Trump told the press. “I don't know who you are but only a very evil person would ask a question like that.”

FEMA was a prime target for the cuts to government funding led by the Department of Government Efficiency, the team set up by Trump at the beginning of his term and led by donor and billionaire Elon Musk. DOGE actions authorized by Trump disrupted FEMA payments to states, local governments, and nonprofit groups.

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Musk and DOGE similarly targeted a swath of agencies, undermining basic operations that have been in place for decades—across both parties. DOGE teams staffed with loyalists to Trump and Musk infiltrated government systems, while courts repeatedly ruled that their actions had broken the law.

Additionally, Trump installed loyalist Kristi Noem as secretary of Homeland Security with aid from Senate Republicans who confirmed her. The department is the parent agency for FEMA. Noem has presided over layoffs and disruptions at FEMA as part of Trump’s actions to defund federal response programs. And in June, acting FEMA head David Richardson reportedly told staffers he wasn’t even aware that the U.S. had a hurricane season.

Trump has sought to uproot FEMA’s abilities and now his plan is in place—the result is unqualified leadership, sluggish responses to disaster, and a rising death toll. 

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