As natural disasters like flooding, tornadoes and landslides piled up this spring, FEMA accumulated a backlog of disaster requests going into the Gulf of Mexico's hurricane season.

The statewide death toll from the catastrophic flooding in Central Texas earlier this month has risen to 135 and dozens more remain missing, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday. Abbott provided an update on the Texas floods during a news conference while in San Angelo,

The first bills related to revamping disaster preparedness in the aftermath of the deadly flooding have been filed.

Just weeks ago, President Donald Trump said he wanted to begin “phasing out” the Federal Emergency Management Agency after this hurricane season to “wean off of FEMA” and “bring it down to the state level.

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

After early criticism for being late on the scene, FEMA is now getting high marks from people affected by the July 4 flash flood, especially in the hard-hit community of Hunt, TX. But locals heap even more praise on the help from religious charities.

The leader of Camp Mystic had been tracking the weather before the deadly Texas floods, but it is now unclear whether he saw an urgent warning from the National Weather Service that had triggered an emergency alert to phones in the area, a spokesman for camp’s operators said Wednesday.

Gov. Greg Abbott instructed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to request federal assistance for three additional Texas counties.