As Texas Flood Deaths Rise, Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by National Weather Service

essentialsaltes · Jul 5, 2025

As Flood Deaths Rise, Texas Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by DOGE-Gutted National Weather Service | Common Dreams

"Experts warned for months that drastic and sudden cuts at the National Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability and endanger lives during the storm season," said one critic.

www.commondreams.org

The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more—including as many as 25 girls from a
summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County—missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.

"Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service," Kidd reiterated. "You all got it; you're all in media. You got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.

Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."

Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts' deadly consequences.

"People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information," Huffman said. "Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives."

Fantine · Jul 5, 2025

That's what they voted for--a government run on ignorance and greed. They have only themselves to blame.
If we were not all potential victims of this colossal mistake I might feel more sympathetic.

Akita Suggagaki · Jul 5, 2025

This policy is in line with Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that calls for "dismantling" NOAA. Trump has also called for the elimination of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing that states should shoulder most of the burden of extreme weather preparation and response. Shutting down FEMA would require an act of Congress.

Who needs accurate weather forecasts when climate change is a hoax? Certainly not Texas.

Hans Blaster · Jul 5, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
As Flood Deaths Rise, Texas Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by DOGE-Gutted National Weather Service | Common Dreams

"Experts warned for months that drastic and sudden cuts at the National Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability and endanger lives during the storm season," said one critic.

www.commondreams.org

The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more—including as many as 25 girls from a
summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County—missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.

"Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service," Kidd reiterated. "You all got it; you're all in media. You got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.

Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."

Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts' deadly consequences.

"People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information," Huffman said. "Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives."

A counter, non-political view:

Meteorologists Say the National Weather Service Did Its Job in Texas

And meteorologists say that the NWS did send out adequate warnings as it got updated information. By Thursday afternoon, it had issued a flood watch for the area, and a flash flood warning was in effect by 1am Friday. The agency had issued a flash flood emergency alert by 4:30am.

“The Weather Service was on the ball,” Vagasky says. “They were getting the message out.”

But as local outlet KXAN first reported, it appears that the first flood warnings posted from safety officials to the public were sent out on Facebook at 5am, hours after the NWS issued its warning.

I don't know if this was like the Kentucky tornadoes a couple months ago where they shuffled the staffing to be certain that the forecast office was staffed when the storm hit.

Emergency response requires good forecast of weather systems, river systems, etc., and monitoring of the same. AND, it requires emergency preparedness officials, etc. that are ready to act.

If the NWS is stressed, the data inputs are stressed, and federal, state, and local EM officials are stressed then failures will happen.

As we used to say in the Scouts: Be Prepared.

DaisyDay · Jul 5, 2025

https://apnews.com/article/climate-hurricane-forecasting-weather-defense-satellites-ea4cdb91c891255add2e9a94c28606ef

Weather experts are warning that hurricane forecasts will be severely hampered by the upcoming cutoff of key data from U.S. Department of Defense satellites, the latest Trump administration move with potential consequences for the quality of forecasting.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it would discontinue the “ingest, processing and distribution” of data collected by three weather satellites that the agency jointly runs with the Defense Department. The data is used by scientists, researchers and forecasters, including at the National Hurricane Center.

essentialsaltes · Jul 5, 2025

Kandiss [Jesus Guns Babies] Taylor

rjs330 · Jul 5, 2025

Fantine said:
That's what they voted for--a government run on ignorance and greed. They have only themselves to blame.
If we were not all potential victims of this colossal mistake I might feel more sympathetic.

What are you talking about?

rjs330 · Jul 5, 2025

essentialsaltes said:
As Flood Deaths Rise, Texas Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by DOGE-Gutted National Weather Service | Common Dreams

"Experts warned for months that drastic and sudden cuts at the National Weather Service by Trump could impair their forecasting ability and endanger lives during the storm season," said one critic.

www.commondreams.org

The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 27 people, with dozens more—including as many as 25 girls from a
summer camp along the Guadalupe River in Kerr County—missing after fast-moving floodwaters rose 26 feet (8 meters) in less than an hour before dawn on Friday, sweeping away people and pets along with homes, vehicles, farm and wild animals, and property.

"Listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service," Kidd reiterated. "You all got it; you're all in media. You got that forecast. It did not predict the amount of rain that we saw."

Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice also said during the press conference that the storm "dumped more rain than what was forecasted" into two forks of the Guadalupe River.

Kerr County judge Rob Kelly told CBS News: "We had no reason to believe that this was gonna be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever."

Many of the fired NWS staffers were specialized climate scientists and weather forecasters. At the time of the firings, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, was among those who warned of the cuts' deadly consequences.

"People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information," Huffman said. "Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives."

This sounds a lot like a bunch of leftist malarkey. What, tge weather forecasters have never been wrong until Trump came into office? We never had a bad storm that was worse than predicted until now?

JosephZ · Jul 5, 2025

As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas

...former Weather Service officials said the forecasts were as good as could be expected, given the enormous levels of rainfall and the storm’s unusually abrupt escalation.

The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight.

The National Weather Service’s San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday’s flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster and meteorologist in charge...

The Weather Service’s nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, also had significant vacancies, including a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer... Staff members in those positions are meant to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate.

That office’s warning coordination meteorologist left on April 30, after taking the early retirement package the Trump administration used to reduce the number of federal employees, according to a person with knowledge of his departure.

Under the Trump administration, the Weather Service, like other federal agencies, has been pushed to reduce its number of employees. By this spring, through layoffs and retirements, the Weather Service had lost nearly 600 people from a work force...

Some forecasting offices began to close down at night, and others launched fewer weather balloons, which send back crucial data to feed forecasts. The Weather Service said it was preparing for “degraded operations,” with fewer meteorologists available to fine-tune forecasts.

Typically, [John Sokich] said, the Weather Service will send an official to meet regularly with local emergency managers for what are called “tabletop operations” — planning ahead of time for what to do in case of a flash flood or other major weather disaster.

But the Trump administration’s pursuit of fewer staff members means remaining employees have less time to spend coordinating with local officials, he said.

ozso · Jul 5, 2025

rjs330 said:
What are you talking about?

Apparently Trump is responsible for acts of God.

Fantine · Jul 6, 2025

ozso said:
Apparently Trump is responsible for acts of God.

No, he is responsible for gutting the agency that warns people in danger to go to shelters, to board up their windows, and do whatever is needed to protect their homes and their families.
He failed the American people.

d taylor · Jul 6, 2025

-

Officials, what officials democratic officials?

Nithavela · Jul 6, 2025

ozso said:
Apparently Trump is responsible for acts of God.

It's a bit early to pretend that those things could never have been predicted. You need at least a decade or two for people to forget that your country once had those capabilities.

ozso · Jul 6, 2025

Fantine said:
No, he is responsible for gutting the agency that warns people in danger to go to shelters, to board up their windows, and do whatever is needed to protect their homes and their families.
He failed the American people.

According to the scientist in this thread that wasn't the case.

ozso · Jul 6, 2025

Nithavela said:
It's a bit early to pretend that those things could never have been predicted. You need at least a decade or two for people to forget that your country once had those capabilities.

In reality it was predicted and warnings were issued. If some extra new agency isn't around any longer, that doesn't mean the agencies that have been around for a long time aren't still operating. I'm guessing whoever was running that remote camp didn't didn’t see the warnings issued at 4:30 AM.

This seems to be yet another tragedy being exploited in hopes of political gain.

Nithavela · Jul 6, 2025

ozso said:
In reality it was predicted and warnings were issued. If some extra new agency isn't around any longer, that doesn't mean the agencies that have been around for a long time aren't still operating. I'm guessing whoever was running that remote camp didn't didn’t see the warnings issued at 4:30 AM.

This seems to be yet another tragedy being exploited in hopes of political gain.

So that's your stance, then? Nothing could have prevented is, nothing can be done to prevent similiar things in the future? Nobody is accountable? It was just an "act of god"?

You're talking about like it were a school shooting.

ozso · Jul 6, 2025

Nithavela said:
So that's your stance, then? Nothing could have prevented is, nothing can be done to prevent similiar things in the future? Nobody is accountable? It was just an "act of god"?

You're talking about like it were a school shooting.

Floods aren't preventable, just predictable. Weather agencies put out warnings. Which is what happened with this flood. Yes, sorry, no one is to blame.

Nithavela · Jul 6, 2025

ozso said:
Floods aren't preventable, just predictable. Weather agencies put out warnings. Which is what happened with this flood. Yes, sorry, no one is to blame.

Why did the warning not reach the people who drowned?

ozso · Jul 6, 2025

Nithavela said:
Why did the warning not reach the people who drowned?

The ones out in a campsight? Well I'd surmise it's possible they didn't have an internet connection. The first warning was issued at 4:30 AM in the morning when it's likely everyone was asleep. Out in nature with no developed land, canyons, creeks and rivers, a flood can become torrential very quickly.

Nithavela · Jul 6, 2025

ozso said:
The ones out in a campsight? Well I'd surmise it's possible they didn't have an internet connection. The first warning was issued at 4:30 AM in the morning when it's likely everyone was asleep. Out in nature with no developed land, canyons, creeks and rivers, a flood can become torrential very quickly.

Modern cellphones are equipped with the ability to broadcast loud alarm noises for alerts, so everyone sleeping shouldn't be an issue.

Doesn't change the fact that the forecast by the NWS was wrong. Had the forecast been accurate, the people maybe wouldn't have decided to go camping, or at least chosen a more secure spot for their camp.

As Texas Flood Deaths Rise, Officials Blast Faulty Forecast by National Weather Service

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Dona Quixote

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Hood was a loser.

I Did Nothing Wrong!! ~~Team Deep State

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you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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you're in charge you can do it just get louis

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