The Fourth of July was already a somber day for many Americans, but for Texans, it was a day of mourning. Catastrophic flooding left scores of people dead or missing in the Texas Hill Country, including many children. Texas officials are calling out DOGEs gutting of the National Weather Service, and with good reason.” 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.
Flash Flooding Deaths Could Have Been Prevented
The Associated Press reported Saturday that flooding caused by a powerful storm killed at least 91 people, 75 from Kerr county alone, 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.
Although the National Weather Service on Thursday issued a broad flood watch for the area, Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief Nim Kidd—noting that the NWS predicted 3-6 inches of rain for the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches for the Hill Country—told reporters during a press conference earlier Friday that “the amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”
NWS issued a flash flood warning at 1:14 a.m. Friday for a portion of Kerr County, where the majority of flood-related deaths have been reported. But it would be at least four hours before any county or city government entity posted directions to evacuate on social media. This tragedy is a direct result of funding cuts and understaffing, including 600 NWS employees, and can be directly laid at DOGE’s feet.
DOGE-enerates To Blame
This didn’t have to happen; that is the tragedy. The criticism comes as funding cuts and staff shortages plague the National Weather Service and other emergency management agencies nationwide. DOGE has already cut roughly 20 percent of FEMA’s staff and moved to freeze its funds. And Dick Trump has repeatedly stated his intent to shift the “problem” of disaster relief entirely to the states.
On June 11, he made that threat more concrete by saying that his administration would start phasing out FEMA after this current hurricane season ends in November. “We want to wean off of FEMA, and we want to bring it down to the state level,” Trump said. “A governor should be able to handle it, and frankly, if they can’t handle it, the aftermath, then maybe they shouldn’t be governor.”
Really Donald? You maniacal excuse for a human! The same can be said about you, and the next four years of America’s prison sentence. Public accusations on social media and elsewhere point to the timing of forecasting during the severe weather season as the obvious problem.
For example, the position of warning coordination meteorologist (WCM) at the National Weather Service has remained vacant since April. The administration made cuts to the federal workforce an early priority in Trump’s second presidential term this year, and those reductions extended to the NWS. Which brings us to the cause of our current problem.
Death Toll Rises
If you consider the death numbers from the cuts to FEMA, USAID, Medicaid, the Immigrant deaths in detention so far, and to come, the deaths as a result of Trumps part in the Ukraine war and his interference in the Iran-Israel war, and all the other unnecessary deaths that can be traced back to the Trump Admin., this could qualify him as the deadliest dictator yet. One can only hope that those responsible for all these wrongful deaths are called to answer for them. This includes all those who are complicit by VOTING for him. YOU defunded FEMA. This is the aftermath of that decision! This would also include those who are compliant and keep silent. There are no longer any excuses that will clean the blood from your hands!
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood.
Isaiah 1:15
