Texas Floods Incompetence
The recent catastrophic flooding in Texas has sparked widespread scrutiny and criticism regarding the response and preparedness of both federal and state agencies. Texas officials have pointed fingers at the National Weather Service (NWS), which has been affected by significant budget and staffing cuts under the Trump administration, for issuing inaccurate forecasts that may have contributed to the high death toll and extensive damage. The NWS had issued a broad flood watch for the area, predicting 3-6 inches of rain for the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches for the Hill Country, but local officials argued that the actual rainfall far exceeded these predictions.
The flooding, which occurred in the early hours of Friday, July 4, 2025, resulted in at least 59 deaths in Kerr County alone, with an unknown number of people still missing. Among the missing were numerous children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp located along the Guadalupe River. The rapid onset of the floodwaters, which rose 26 feet in less than an hour, caught many residents, campers, and officials off guard, leading to chaotic evacuations and significant loss of life.
Despite the issuance of flash flood warnings and emergencies by the NWS, local officials maintained that they did not anticipate the severity of the storm. This has led to questions about the adequacy of the warnings and whether more could have been done to prepare the public for the impending disaster. Jason Runyen, a meteorologist with the NWS, noted that the weather messaging grew increasingly dire in the early morning hours of Friday, urging people to move to higher ground and evacuate flood-prone areas. However, some experts, like Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather, suggested that evacuations and other proactive measures could have been implemented to reduce the risk of fatalities.