Texas flood death toll rises
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Flash Flood Warnings issued in Central Texas
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Experts said warnings issued in the run-up to this weekend’s flooding were as timely and accurate as possible, but questions about whether the alerts reached people most at risk remain.
Texas forecasters issued a series of early-morning warnings about “life-threatening flooding” along the Guadalupe River.
Key positions at National Weather Service offices across Texas are vacant, sowing doubt over the state’s ability to respond to natural disasters as rescuers comb through the flood-ravaged Hill Country.
Several flood warnings and watches were issued across Central Texas on Sunday, including in the areas inundated by deadly flooding last week.
NWS says Flash Flood Warnings were issued on July 3 and early July 4 in Central Texas, giving more than three hours of warning.
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cut hundreds of jobs as the National Weather Service earlier this year.
Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.
The White House is defending the National Weather Service and accusing some Democrats of playing politics in the wake of devastating floods in Texas.
CNN’s Bill Weir reports from the ruins of Camp Mystic in Texas, where deadly floods have claimed at least 27 lives. Weir explains how climate change is making flooding more extreme and common.
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