Two-thirds of calls to FEMA’s disaster assistance hotline went unanswered in the days immediately after the July 4th flash flood disaster in central Texas because convicted felon President Trump’s regime allowed the government’s contracts with call center operators General Dynamics Information Technology, Maximus, ITCON, and TTEC – which together provided hundreds of operators to the agency for handling aid applications – to expire on Sunday, July 6th, the New York Times reports.

Documents show that, on the 5th, the last day of the contracts, the sum total of all call center operators picked up 3,018 of 3,027 calls placed to the hotline, roughly 99.7 percent. The next day, after the expiry, they received 2,363 calls and answered 846, or about 35.8 percent. The on Monday, July 7, the agency answered 16,419 calls and answered 2,613, or around 15.9 percent. For perspective’s sake, the first day’s near 100 percent rate is a bit misleading because of the absolute volume: The week of October 14, 2024 in the aftermaths of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, call centers answered 53 percent of over 900,000 calls but improved to 68.5 percent on about 500,000 calls the next week – which makes the 15.9 percent rate on 16,419 a fucking MAGAtrocity.

“Responding to less than half of the inquiries is pretty horrific,” said Columbia University National Center for Disaster Preparedness Director Jeffrey Schlegelmilch. “Put yourself in the shoes of a survivor: You’ve lost everything, you’re trying to find out what’s insured and what’s not, and you’re navigating multiple aid programs. One of the most important services in disaster recovery is being able to call someone and walk through these processes and paperwork.”