As of July 7, the flood disaster in the central Texas region of the United States has resulted in at least 82 deaths and 41 missing persons. Governor Abbott warned on July 7 that sudden flooding could still pose a threat to certain areas in the coming days due to “more heavy rainfall” expected. The New York Times reported that this flood has become one of the deadliest in the past 100 years in the United States. President Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Texas on July 6, telling reporters he might visit Texas on Friday. While a large-scale search and rescue operation is underway, a series of questions have sparked widespread discussion in American society: were Texas officials adequately prepared for the flood? Did the National Weather Service (NWS) fulfill its duty by alerting people? Was the federal government’s decision to cut back on the meteorological department’s workforce directly impacting this tragedy?
Governor of Texas: Seeing everything my children have experienced is truly terrifying
According to the BBC on July 7, one of the priorities of the US relief efforts was the summer camp called “Mystery Camp,” which was specifically set up for girls and located along the Guadalupe River in Ker County, severely damaged by the flood. The disaster began before dawn on Friday last week, with the river rising by 8 meters in just 45 minutes, while most campers were asleep. CBS reported that the Guadalupe River reached its second highest level in recorded history. Ker County officials Gross told ABC that he had never seen such high floodwaters in his 45 years.
Governor Abbott visited “Mystery Camp” on July 6 and said, “Seeing all these children go through is truly terrifying.” According to CBS, when the flood hit, “Mystery Camp” had about 750 children.
As of the 7th, at least 10 girls and 1 counselor have gone missing from the campsite. In Kerr County alone, at least 28 children have perished in the flood disaster.
The BBC reported that there is uncertainty about how many people were camping along the river in Kerr County last weekend, and whether they might have been swept away by the floods. According to The Washington Post, not only are approximately 18 summer campers in the area but thousands more are celebrating America’s “Independence Day” in tents and cabins.
On the 6th local time, President Trump signed a major disaster declaration for Texas, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) initiated an emergency response in Texas to provide federal aid. CNN reported that FEMA has established seven shelters to provide water and food to the central Texas region. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard has assisted with 230 rescue operations and deployed two MH-65 “Dolphin” helicopters to help evacuate. CBS stated that Florida Governor DeSantis said on the 6th that he had ordered three rescue teams to Texas.
Texas officials accused the meteorological department of making excuses.
“Texas officials are under scrutiny,” according to the Associated Press report on the 6th. Questions surround their preparations for dealing with the floods and why they did not alert or evacuate residents and campers along the river sooner. Texas officials expressed that they were not expecting such heavy rain—equivalent to several months’ worth of rainfall in the area. NPR quoted Kerry, a judge in Kerr County, saying that flooding is common in the area but rarely as devastating as this. According to BBC, Abbott said on the 7th that locals had grown accustomed to flood warnings, but this time they were unprepared for a “water wall” approaching nearly 9 meters high.
According to a report by NPR on the 6th, a spokesperson for the National Weather Service (NWS) stated that the agency held a briefing for officials in Texas to address emergency situations last Thursday. On the same day, flood monitoring warnings were issued, followed by flash flood alerts at the same time on the evening of the same day and the morning of Labor Day last week.
NPR reported that there was disagreement between forecasters from NWS and some Texas officials, who believed that the weather reports received did not accurately predict the catastrophic power of the heavy rains. CNN directly accused Texas officials of criticizing the meteorological department. However, some meteorologists believe that accurately predicting the impact of complex weather conditions and subsequently convincing officials and the public to prepare for the worst is extremely challenging.
The Washington Post also mentioned that the NWS’s life-threatening flood warnings were not issued until after midnight on the 4th, when everyone was asleep. However, a spokesperson for the parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), stated that NWS had issued related alerts three hours before the onslaught of the floods. “But the question is, how many people received these alerts,” CNN commented.
“Survivors of the Texas floods questioned local safety planning and the response of officials,” The Guardian reported on the 7th under this theme. People who lost everything described their escape from home and expressed anger towards officials who seemed to be shirking responsibility. Coordination between Ker County and the National Weather Service also sparked controversy. Additionally, noteworthy is that Ker County, which frequently experiences flooding, lacks outdoor weather alert devices common in areas prone to tornadoes.
Trump Denies Relation to Federal Hiring Cuts
According to NPR, some critics also question whether the budget cuts to NOAA and its subsidiary NWS by the federal government exacerbated the impact of the Texas storms. Nearly 600 employees left NWS earlier this year.
However, the agency announced last month that it had begun recruiting over 100 employees to “stabilize operations” following criticism due to staff shortages.
In May, former NWS managers issued a public letter stating that federal cuts had resulted in more than a 10% reduction in the number of employees at “official weather forecast entities,” coinciding with the peak period for severe storms such as tornadoes and hurricanes. They warned that this would lead to unnecessary loss of life.
The Washington Post mentioned that prior to the flood disaster, there was a “critical (position) vacancy” at the National Weather Service’s office in central Texas: a warning coordination meteorologist responsible for communicating with emergency management personnel and the public, ensuring people know what to do during disasters. According to local media reports, an employee who had been in the position for decades accepted early retirement in April. CNN reported that the situation at the NWS office in central Texas is not the worst; other offices have already struggled to maintain operations seven days a week, 24 hours a day, with many national weather service offices having stopped releasing two key data balloons daily.
On June 6, Trump stated that he did not believe the federal government’s budget cuts and layoffs affected the response to the Texas floods. He described the floods as “once-in-a-century events” and “no one could have predicted.” There was no need for the federal government to rehire meteorologists who had left their positions during the layoffs.
Furthermore, Trump mentioned last month that he plans to gradually dissolve the Federal Emergency Management Agency within the year, reducing the distribution of federal disaster relief funds. When asked on June 6 whether he still planned to dissolve the agency, Trump did not directly respond but said, “We can talk about it later.”
In response to skepticism and criticism, White House spokesperson Jackson stated on the 6th that the National Weather Service has fulfilled its duties, and the attempt to politically politicize this tragedy is “shameful and repugnant.”