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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.
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The plan directly contradicted the White House, which last month described as "fake news" reports of plans to re-deport Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia.
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The White House rebuked critics for raising questions about the administration's efforts to shrink federal agencies that deal with disaster preparedness and response.
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We speak with investigative journalist Antonia Juhasz about how President Trump's major tax and spending bill hurts environmental justice efforts in Louisiana communities affected by the climate crisis and pollution from oil and gas facilities. The Trump administration had already canceled much of the funding for local environmental monitoring and advocacy, and the so-called Big, Beautiful Bill further entrenches the power of the fossil fuel industry. "It's a frontal assault on environmental and climate justice, and it will set us back significantly unless we take action to confront the climate crisis," says Juhasz, who wrote about the bill's impact for Rolling Stone.
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The assertion raised questions about how seriously the administration takes the criminal charges filed against the migrant. A White House official reiterated support for prosecuting him in America.
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The order to release Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from criminal custody as he awaits trial was a rebuke to the Trump administration. But he is likely to remain in immigration custody.
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