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

FireDragon76 said:

Biopolitics for the rich, necropolitics for the poor.

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JosephZ said:

If you would have read beyond the first paragraph of the article I quoted earlier in the tread, you would have read that staff shortages at the NWS and the inability to coordinate with local officials in a timely manner were an issue.

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essentialsaltes said:

The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening flooding” along the river in a series of alerts in the early morning hours. But questions remain about how many people they reached, whether critical vacancies at the forecast offices could have affected warning dissemination, and if so-called warning fatigue had been growing among residents in a region described as one of the most dangerous in the country for flash flooding.

The two Texas NWS offices most closely involved in forecasting and warning about the flooding on the Guadalupe River — Austin-San Antonio and San Angelo — are missing some key staff members, but still issued a slew of watches and warnings about the flood danger.

The question is whether the warnings reached who they needed to reach.

Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the NWS employees’ union, told CNN that while he believes the offices had “adequate staffing and resources,” the Austin-San Antonio office is missing a warning coordination meteorologist — a role that serves as a crucial, direct link between forecasters and emergency managers.

The first warning for “life-threatening flash flooding” for Kerrville came at 1:14 a.m., and was marked specifically to trigger the Emergency Alert System. It would have sounded the alarm on cell phones in the warned area, assuming those phones had service, and their users hadn’t turned off EAS weather alerts.

The NOAA official defended the National Weather Service forecasts, and said the disaster ultimately resulted from too much rain in too short of time in one of the most vulnerable spots in the country for flash flooding, and in the overnight hours — the worst time of day to get warnings to people in harm’s way.

The [Trump 2026 request] budget seeks to eliminate all of NOAA’s weather and climate research labs along with institutes jointly run with universities around the country. The entire research division of NOAA would be eliminated under the proposal, which is subject to congressional approval.

One of the NOAA labs slated to be shut down is the National Severe Storms Lab in Norman, Oklahoma, which works to improve flash flood forecasting among other hazards from severe thunderstorms.

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ozso said:

Based on satellite view, the summer camp is a group of bungalows and other buildings alongside a highway. There are even tennis courts. It's the kind of place where 99.9% of the time nothing ever happens and usually the biggest threat from nature is mosquitos.

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rjs330 said:

Once again, no claim from any offices involved that this happened due to any cuts or losses.

Man, how many times does it have to be said?

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FEMA Activates in Texas Following President Trump’s Major Disaster Declaration Announcement | Homeland Security

Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been activated in Texas following President Trump’s Major Disaster Declaration.

www.dhs.gov

Lukaris said:

Next we will probably be told that relief efforts have been handicapped, Relief efforts are underway but something must not be right.

FEMA Activates in Texas Following President Trump’s Major Disaster Declaration Announcement | Homeland Security

Today, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has been activated in Texas following President Trump’s Major Disaster Declaration.

www.dhs.gov

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Landon Caeli said:

Those are some fancy concepts youve raised there, Mr. Dragon. How they fall into place here, seems mysterious though.

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FireDragon76 said:

Nice, long lives for the rich, neglect and erasure for the poor.

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Landon Caeli said:

Lack of safeguards! I get your view now.

...It took me a minute because I don't see it that way. I don't think people are quite that sinister, at least, if they think like I do.

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FireDragon76 said:

Necropolitics was a term coined by the Cameroonian philosopher, Achille Mbembe ( awesome name, BTW). It's used to describe how powerful empires (both formal and informal/commercial) wield the power of death and degredation as a political tool. But necropolitics, IMO, also exists domestically now in the United States, and it's fairly blatant.

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keith99 said:

I worked with the YMCA as a camp leader for several years, which included a couple of times as an assistant director. I went to camp as a camper for years before that. Because of professional staff transferring to advance I worked with over a half dozen different YMCAs.

The campers and parents may have been blissfully unaware of emergency plans, but they existed. Being in California the top of the nature against us list was fire. First day always had a fire drill. Only once did a drill go poorly. It was repeated. If the second try had gone poorly the 3rd would have been an alarm going off between 2 and 3 in the morning.

The typical Y camp lasted a week at a site with 20 cabins that each held 10-12 people. The kids were bussed in. The cabin leaders were on the same busses. There would be at most a dozen cars on site. Not even close to what would be needed to evacuate. But plans were in place. for one camp that meant that each week on the day kitchen and other staff had off that activity was a mass hike out the back trail. The kids (and 90% of the staff) had no idea that it was the weekly test of the very bad case of walking out with a fire closing in.

The range of ability among directing staff was huge, and that included outright incompetence.

One potential issue was kids sneaking off to the camp next door. I was spared that. It looks like the potential was there in this setup.

A lot of what I am seeing about the storm predictions are from 4-5 in the morning. Based on Socal fire planning that is far too late.

The good camp directors would have been up all night listening to the latest forecasts.

BTW I would not expect campers or even leaders to have cell phones. Expensive stuff at summer camp has always led to theft problems and with cell phones, part of the idea is to get away from the digital world.

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Landon Caeli said:

Yeah, cuz "Trump".

...And were expected to see this as "normal" reactive behavior.

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FireDragon76 said:

Nice, long lives for the rich, neglect and erasure for the poor.

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ozso said:

If it wasn't for Trump, those girls would be safe at home. Trump killed at least 82 Texans, including 28 children. Send a strong message when you hit the voting booths.

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essentialsaltes said:

Garbage is free speech.

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