The head of FEMA’s Urban Search and Rescue branch, which runs a network of teams stationed across the country that can swiftly respond to natural disasters, resigned on Monday.

David Richardson, the acting director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), on Wednesday defended his agency’s handling of recent deadly floods in Texas, claiming the response was a “model” for “how disasters should be handled”.

The top emergency coordinator in Kerr County, Texas, said he had been sick the day before catastrophic flooding hit Central Texas but defended his response. “To those who ask, what would you have done differently?