Disaster zone blog

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craig fugate weighs in on texas flooding
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

craig fugate weighs in on texas flooding

The tragic flooding in Texas has once again reminded us how quickly water can become deadly — and how much is still at stake when it comes to protecting lives. My thoughts are with the families and communities reeling from this loss.

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can ai solve all your emergency management problems?
Zack Borst Zack Borst

can ai solve all your emergency management problems?

When I think about all the issues that emergency managers have to deal with I don’t believe that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is what is going to rescue us from a potential future with a diminished Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). While I believe in technology, it is not be all, end all for emergency management. I do agree that every aspect of our future emergency management future will have a technological component, but not tomorrow.

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timeline for texas flooding
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

timeline for texas flooding

The Texas flood event is still in the news. Rescues have turned into searches and there has been more rain in the area. I noted that some elected officials said something like, “Now is not the time to figure out what went wrong.” That was early in the event. It reminded me of such statements following an incident of gun violence. I say, you need to capitalize on the event and learn from it, to ensure that the same mistakes are not made again, either by yourself or another agency who might just learn from your disaster.

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states sue over bric grant program cancellation
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

states sue over bric grant program cancellation

I think that so far in 2025 I’ve read countless numbers of articles and listened to many different podcasts about legal matters surrounding the powers of the President. While there have been a number of Supreme Court rulings favoring the powers of the executive branch, the lawsuits continue. Such as this one, 20 states sue FEMA for canceling grant program that guards against natural disasters

 

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disaster zone podcast: destroying FEMA
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

disaster zone podcast: destroying FEMA

With the Texas flash flooding dominating disaster news for the last several weeks, numerous emergency management topics have been in the media. They have included flood planning, issuing of warnings, warning methodologies, emergency management responsibilities, at the city, county and state, zoning, land management, permitting, search and rescue, etc. The list includes FEMA’s performance in the response.

 

Check out the most recent  Disaster Zone Podcast, Destroying FEMA

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another alert and warning gone wrong. this time in texas
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

another alert and warning gone wrong. this time in texas

he head line tells the story, Camp Mystic’s leader got a ‘life threatening’ flood alert. They evacuated an hour later

It is literally a “read it and weep” story. The National Weather Service did its job to the best of their ability. The storms were detected. Flood watches and warnings were sent in a timely manner. The final aspect of warnings that I’ve written about time and again was the fact that people/leadership did not act on the warnings that they did receive.

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Secretary of Homeland Security Interview on Meet the Press
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

Secretary of Homeland Security Interview on Meet the Press

My only question that I’d add that was not asked is this one, “If as you say negative reports on call center’s not being fully operational are fake news, and FEMA responded perfectly to the Texas flooding, what aspect of FEMA do you want to reform?”

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noem reiterates need to change fema
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

noem reiterates need to change fema

Previous statements from the Secretary of Homeland Security Christi Noem have pushed for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to be eliminated. Now the caveat has been added “in its current form.”  I still think that they might figure out that getting rid of FEMA is not the same as gutting USAID. Who cares about some poor child in another continent. However, if you are an “American First” type of leader that means that “Americans” need to get the disaster aid.

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AI Chatbot Gone Wrong—A Warning
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

AI Chatbot Gone Wrong—A Warning

Readers of this blog know that I’m a big advocate for using technology to advance the cause of disaster resilience in all its forms. AI is in all our futures. Eventually we will have AI being a key element of programs we use for a multitude of purposes. 

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Texas, disasters and FEMA in the news
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

Texas, disasters and FEMA in the news

For the foreseeable future, every disaster event will include a mention of issues with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). See this New York Times article, In Flooded Texas, Questions About FEMA’s Role and Fate

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The average citizen
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

The average citizen

I expect that if you ask the “average citizen” what the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does, the response would be something like, “They deal with disasters.” Likely they have no information about their own state and local emergency management offices. 

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more disaster warning troubles in texas
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

more disaster warning troubles in texas

I don’t know how many blog posts I’ve written about the troubles with issuing warnings of disasters. There have been scores for sure over the 30 years that I have been blogging.

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a disaster solution for construction
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

a disaster solution for construction

Emergency managers are not usually involved with things like keeping machinery out of the mud. I can tell you from many “engagements” in the US Army and two armored divisions, mud and unstable ground can make a mess of things. That is why they have an armored vehicle that is a “tow truck” for tanks, for when they get stuck in the mud

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   The following article from the New York Times  Trump Looks to Avoid Casting Blame in Texas Flood as Democrats Question Cuts  got me thinking about who is to be blamed. Or, more specifically, who to blame for what aspect of the disaster th
Eric Holdeman Eric Holdeman

The following article from the New York Times Trump Looks to Avoid Casting Blame in Texas Flood as Democrats Question Cuts got me thinking about who is to be blamed. Or, more specifically, who to blame for what aspect of the disaster that has now killed over 100 people in Texas? In general, I’d have to say that the Pottery Barn rule applies to disasters. If you break it, you own it. If it happens on your watch as an elected official or emergency manager, you own it…it is your snowstorm, your flood, your earthquake, your hurricane, your power outage, your hazardous materials spill, etc.

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Prior to writing for The Readiness Lab, Eric Holdeman wrote Disaster Zone blog posts for Emergency Management Magazine. He was a prolific writer and all articles are still available on their website, which is linked below.