|
At least 82 people have died and dozens are still unaccounted for after flash flooding in central Texas over the weekend, when the Guadalupe River rose about 26 feet in less than an hour on Friday amid torrential downpours. At least 10 girls who attended Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp located on the banks of the river, are among the missing. In Kerr County, the most devastated area, at least 40 adults and 28 children have died. The speed and scale of the natural disaster has raised questions about why officials weren't better prepared, and whether the Trump administration's cuts to scientific positions exacerbated the situation.
"The National Weather Service, like a lot of federal agencies, went through significant loss of staff back in the spring," says retired NOAA meteorologist Alan Gerard, now the CEO of Balanced Weather, which provides critical weather and climate alerts. Gerard says that while it appears there was appropriate staffing ahead of the Texas flood, the impact of current budget cuts and even deeper reductions being considered by the administration are a cause for concern. "We still have all of hurricane season to deal with," he says.
|
|
(Top headline, 2nd story, link)
Related stories:
RIVER OF DEATH...
Coast Guard Hero Saves Dozens!
State Braces for More Flash Floods...
Ted Cruz Was Vacationing in Europe as Emergency Crews Desperately Searched...
Fierce debate erupts over role job cuts played in weather forecasts... MORE
|
RELATED ARTICLES | | |
|
(Top headline, 6th story, link)
Related stories:
RIVER OF DEATH...
TEXAS FLOODS KILL AT LEAST 100...
Coast Guard Hero Saves Dozens!
State Braces for More Flash Floods...
Ted Cruz Was Vacationing in Europe as Emergency Crews Desperately Searched...
|
|
The department abandoned its previous plan to cut 80,000 workers, saying it expected a reduction of around 30,000 jobs by the end of September.
|
|
President Trump's domestic policy law jeopardizes plans to reopen one rural county's hospital — and health coverage for hundreds of thousands of state residents.
|
|
