Gov. Greg Abbott activated state emergency response resources on July 17 due to increased threats of tropical weather impacting Southeast and East Texas.

There are questions over why oversight was eased at Mystic Camp as it expanded in a hazardous floodplain, the AP reported.

Weeks before flash floods devastated the Texas Hill Country, Gov. Greg Abbott (R) participated in the first meeting of a new council to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He criticized FEMA as “slow and clunky,” arguing that states are able to respond “more nimbly, more swiftly, more effectively” to disasters.

The Department of Homeland Security secretary defended the federal government's response and denied that policy changes slowed the agency's deployment.

A spokesman for Camp Mystic, the Texas enclave devastated by a July 4 flash flood, is raising concerns about communication failures during the disaster.

Many victims of the recent flooding did not have flood insurance when water washed away homes, cars and belongings.

Cuts made to the Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Trump administration severely impaired its ability to respond to the devastating floods in central Texas.

The program, established by a 2000 law, provides grants for a variety of disaster mitigation efforts, including levees to protect against floods, safe rooms to provide shelter from tornadoes, vegetation management to reduce damage from fires and seismic retrofitting to fortify buildings for earthquakes.