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Trump administration is considering this Relocating the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters To texas However, according to a report, this move will create “big challenges” for the agency.
Texas’ top emergency official, Nim Kidd, who heads the Texas Division of Emergency Management, is being looked at to lead the nation’s disaster agency, two former senior FEMA officials told Politico’s E&E News,
Moving FEMA’s headquarters away from Washington, D.C. would create “significant challenges” because the agency is managed by Department of Homeland SecurityWho is also in DC, one of the former officials said.
immediately after the President donald trump Upon returning to office in January, White House officials interviewed Kidd in February for the top FEMA role. Kidd accepted the interview but declined the position, writing on LinkedIn that he was “committed to serving Texas first.”
The report comes like this Acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson resigns After just six months on the job. Starting next month, FEMA Chief of Staff Karen Evans will take on the role of acting administrator. It was not immediately clear how long the potential relocation of headquarters would take, or when Kidd would potentially begin work in the position if elected.
One of the officials said Kidd is on a 13-person panel appointed by Trump that could recommend relocating the agency to Texas to accommodate the Texas official.
“The admins wanted her, but she refused to leave Texas,” the source said.
It was not clear which city or cities were being considered for possible relocation. Independent Kidd and the White House have been contacted for comment.
Kidd made headlines in July when catastrophic flooding swept across Central Texas, killing at least 130 people, including at least 25 children and a camp counselor at Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls in Hunt, Texas.
During a press conference after the deadly floods, Kidd told reporters that National Weather Service There was no accurate prediction of how much rain would fall in Texas.,
“The original forecast we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country,” he said at the time. “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any forecast.”
Other officials expressed similar concerns, although the weather agency defended its “life-threatening flood warning”. told Independent The first report of the flood in July came three hours ago.
“Flash flood warnings were issued the night of July 3 and the morning of July 4, with more than three hours of lead time before warning criteria were met,” NWS spokeswoman Erica Groce said.
Richardson, who had recently left FEMA, took much of the blame for the agency’s slow response to the flood because he was on vacation and unreachable. He was appointed after Trump announced in January that he could do so “Get rid of” Completely disaster relief agency.
Kidd will be the first permanent administrator in the role since Trump began his second term. Before Richardson took over running the agency, former Navy SEAL Cameron Hamilton was the acting administrator.
Hamilton was fired in May for disagreeing with the Trump administration about dismantling FEMA. associated Press Reported at that time.