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Deadly Texas flash floods sparks controversy over Trump cuts to NWS, NOAA

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on

Published in News & Features

AUSTIN, Texas — The devastating Texas floods that killed scores of people on July 4 weekend sparked a spreading controversy on Monday over President Donald Trump’s cuts to the weather forecasting and disaster agencies, which critics say may have worsened the catastrophe.

As the death toll rose to nearly 100, some elected officials and experts say the flash flooding that engulfed the Guadalupe River in the Hill Country highlight the need for America to invest more, not less, in disaster prevention and weather prediction.

“I don’t buy into the narrative that nothing could be done (and ) this is just an act of God. I say that is BS,” Retired Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who led the relief effort after Hurricane Katrina, tweeted. “The answer is 21st century technology.”

Trump and some Republican allies counter that some disasters are not preventable.

“This was a 100-year catastrophe,” Trump said late Sunday. “This was something that happened in seconds. Nobody expected it. Nobody saw it.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Monday decried “partisan finger-pointing” at an emotional press conference with shell-shocked local officials.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer Monday called on a government watchdog to investigate whether Trump’s cuts exacerbated the loss of life.

“The American people deserve answers,” Schumer wrote in a letter to the Commerce Department inspector general.

Critics and officials agree that multiple factors converged to create a historic catastrophe. But they say an early warning system could have alerted those in the path of the flood waters and saved lives.

 

They point to common-sense solutions like river gauges that could trigger warnings or sirens for people downstream, along with investment in better cell service to maintain emergency communication with communities like summer camps.

There could be plenty of blame to go around.

Kerr County officials considered installing an enhanced flood warning system in 2016 but residents “kind of reeled at the cost,” said Judge Rob Kelly, the county’s top elected official.

The Trump administration has cut hundreds of staffers from the National Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency in recent months, leaving many offices understaffed.

At the weather office field office covering San Antonio and Austin areas, some key positions are now vacant, officials concede.

But local weather officials say they were adequately staffed on the night of July 3 and the morning of July 4 when the wall of water roared down the Guadalupe River, sweeping away entire camps in its path.

Aside from cuts to weather agencies and research, Trump has said he plans to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which traditionally leads recovery efforts after major disasters, especially hurricanes.

He brushed off questions about whether the Texas flooding disaster might make him reconsider that move.


©2025 New York Daily News. Visit at nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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