Multiple urban search and rescue teams from across the country that responded to the deadly floods in central Texas told CNN they were not deployed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency until at least Monday evening — days after any victim had been found alive.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has been exerting more direct control over the agency, which President Donald Trump has talked about "getting rid of."

The homeland security secretary said a report that thousands of calls to a disaster hotline went unanswered because of staffing cuts was “false.”