To be clear, there is no PROOF that NWS' understaffing led to loss of life. But this was a warning shot of things to come as the NWS and NOAA have been stripped down to the bare bones. This warning is not really up for debate. I make no apologies for "politicizing" this tragedy. That's the only chance, and it's not a very good chance, of preventing more. Maybe if enough people demand it, the regime will rehire some of the people they've fired, and we can all move on to the next human relief agency they've gutted.
Thanks. I miss the kind of world where I'd go out for coffee or breakfast with someone who views the world differently than me, and we'd enjoy a lively debate about how to make the world a better place. Someday, perhaps, that world will return.
There are so many things wrong here, we can’t forget that deregulation allowed a children’s camp to be built in a flood plain. Flood plain laws are there to prevent idiots from having to explain to parents why their children are dead.
You know, it's not the people determining which political party dominates a state, it's the Republican governors and legislatures engaging in voter suppression and gerrymandering all their maps. If not for that Texas and likely Florida and Georgia would be reliably blue, and likely many Midwest and eastern seaboard states would be now, as well. You cannot hate the entire population of a state regardless, as any state in the union always has a minimum of 30-40% blue voters living alongside the reds. States aren't populated along political lines and shouldn't be disregarded nor discarded according to the same. I see more "Good, let them FAFO" comments than I can even endure which will likely persist forever since no one considers when red state inhabitants suffer millions to tens of millions of blue voters suffer, too.
These wise words should be heeded as being the skilful direction for the future:
"If we want to defeat our “enemy,” we need to remember that the people who are suffering from these floods are our friends. We need to find a way to help folks like those who have just lost their children realize that we have a common enemy. We need to change the red rural maps to blue with empathy as the results of the Republican Death Bill begin to descend upon our fellow citizens."
Let’s also be clear that IF cuts to NOAA/NWS were a factor here, they are downstream of Trump’s intense hostility to climate science. His declaration, many years ago, that climate change is a “very expensive hoax” from China is the reason for NOAA being on the chopping block.
Our country and our political media have failed to digest the awful consequences of this, treating his stupidity as just “political rhetoric.”
To think my tax dollars used to go to the public safety efforts of the NWS and now those same tax dollars will be used to build an army to be deployed against us.
Your approach to this disaster is undoubtedly the right one, humans are humans. The sad part is that the people who could’ve issued reliable early warnings based on pure science were fired and those responsible will not be held accountable, sad! Some ‘humans’ have blood on their hands!
It really is a sad state of affairs when the government--which is supposed to be of, for, and by the people--does so many things directly opposed to the best interests of the populace. Your footnote #6, which references "A Progress Report on the Destruction of America," prompts me to ask if you're maybe going to do an update on that "progress" report at some point? It seems very much in keeping with your current essay on Texas.
Thanks. I started doing an update for it, but at the time, it was mostly just percentages of change in the stuff they’d already done, as opposed to brand new stuff. I’ll look into it again soon.
Thank you Ellen for expressing your humanitarian based approach, in direct comparison to the opinion of a perhaps black&white brained person who is also entitled to his opinion but chooses to profess hatred toward the people of Texas. A people who are deep in grief and trauma since this hit last night.
We can safely assume the first commenter does not have a child missing from this disaster, nor does he understand basic concepts of love, civility, kindness and most likely was never taught "the golden rule" as a child. All of this breaks my heart.
Because I have one.
Odd that that was the first comment on this piece.
Its a horrible tragedy and you make some good points. However what I dont see here is any evidence that NWS failed in its capacity that night. Yes the forecast might have underpredicted the amount of rain that fell, but that's not uncommon. But I understand NWS sent a series of increasingly urgent warnings overnight as the flooding occurred. Yes tragic, but Is there any direct evidence that NWS was understaffed, or lacked the data and forecasting tools that would normally be available to them?? I haven't seen that reported anywhere.
No doubt the cuts to NOAA and uktimate loss of staffing are going to affect weather forecasting, but it seems premature to claim that was the case here. Im writing this thinking about the career people at NWS still in the job and doing there best. God bless them.
There are multiple news reports (very easy to find) that the local offices of the NWS were understaffed that evening. The Weather Service is not just a push button operation that sends satellite imagery and warnings to your smartphone's weather app. By cutting personnel, the Trump administration removed the people who they consider superflous — the very people who coordinate with local authorities behind the scenes to determine if an evacuation (for example) is in order.
It is no coincidence that during my time living there, when the Guadalupe River flooded **multiple** times (it is prone to flooding), there were no mass death events like this. Those people were still working for the NWS. Trump fired them.
I'll quote the NY Times here:
"The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, those former [NWS] officials said — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight."
So, sure, warnings were issued to people sleeping at night or watching a movie. But a coordinated effort to save lives was not undertaken, because there was nobody at the local weather office who had that kind of experience. They were fired in February.
In fairness to your original comment, in another week, we may discover that the NWS situation did not contribute to this awfulness. It should still serve as a fair warning of what is to come, especially in light of the NOAA losing services from the Navy, which is a simply bizarre situation that can’t even be explained by money — in fact, it must cost more to disengage than to simply leave the status quo. The Navy’s excuse is that they’re concerned about cyber threats. This from the same agency whose uppermost cabinet officer was sharing war plans on Signal. It’s going to be a rough hurricane season if Senegal decides to spit out her usual systems our way.
I’m wondering when NOAA, et. al. will be blamed because they cut the “most vital” parts of the system, while keeping the Dwight Schrutes who just take up space…
Texas when you apologize to every single black person in America for lynching more than 600 black people for no more than a laugh, and when restitution is made to their families only then will I care. Texas I have no pity for you. May Texas get wiped off the face of the Earth today. Oh I do care. Trust me you really don't want to know how I really feel about Texas.
It's worth noting that 60% of the Texas population is non-white. 11.82% Black, 39.26% Hispanic or other Latine, 3.04% mixed race, 5.36% Asian, plus 80,000 native Americans who were there before colonization. Therefore, wiping Texas off the face of the earth (via flood or some other means) would result in the death of 18 million non-white folks.
I live in San Antonio, 40 miles away from the worst of this terrible tragedy. My daughter attended summer camp on the Guadalupe River in that area when she was younger. I can’t fathom the pain the parents with missing children are going through today. I am disappointed, no disgusted, that you would use this situation to spew this vitriol here. We are the second largest state in the country and an economic engine for the rest of the nation. 4.8 million Texans voted against Donald Trump in 2024, a number larger than the population of 26 states. Do we all deserve to be wiped off the map too? Millions of us also have no use for our state leadership. You should be ashamed to post this garbage right now. As for the finger pointing, let’s find the missing children before starting the politically inspired blame game for heavens sakes. There will be plenty of blame to go around.
Ignore people like that. Some people are so partisan that it makes them come across as being just truly horrible people. I hope you and your family stay safe and I am praying for there to be more survivors.
To be clear, there is no PROOF that NWS' understaffing led to loss of life. But this was a warning shot of things to come as the NWS and NOAA have been stripped down to the bare bones. This warning is not really up for debate. I make no apologies for "politicizing" this tragedy. That's the only chance, and it's not a very good chance, of preventing more. Maybe if enough people demand it, the regime will rehire some of the people they've fired, and we can all move on to the next human relief agency they've gutted.
I appreciate this pinned comment. As I’ve mentioned,you and I probably see the world pretty differently. But this is an intellectually honest take.
Thanks. I miss the kind of world where I'd go out for coffee or breakfast with someone who views the world differently than me, and we'd enjoy a lively debate about how to make the world a better place. Someday, perhaps, that world will return.
There are so many things wrong here, we can’t forget that deregulation allowed a children’s camp to be built in a flood plain. Flood plain laws are there to prevent idiots from having to explain to parents why their children are dead.
You know, it's not the people determining which political party dominates a state, it's the Republican governors and legislatures engaging in voter suppression and gerrymandering all their maps. If not for that Texas and likely Florida and Georgia would be reliably blue, and likely many Midwest and eastern seaboard states would be now, as well. You cannot hate the entire population of a state regardless, as any state in the union always has a minimum of 30-40% blue voters living alongside the reds. States aren't populated along political lines and shouldn't be disregarded nor discarded according to the same. I see more "Good, let them FAFO" comments than I can even endure which will likely persist forever since no one considers when red state inhabitants suffer millions to tens of millions of blue voters suffer, too.
You shouldn’t want red voters to suffer either. If you do, then you are exactly what you imagine they are.
These wise words should be heeded as being the skilful direction for the future:
"If we want to defeat our “enemy,” we need to remember that the people who are suffering from these floods are our friends. We need to find a way to help folks like those who have just lost their children realize that we have a common enemy. We need to change the red rural maps to blue with empathy as the results of the Republican Death Bill begin to descend upon our fellow citizens."
Let’s also be clear that IF cuts to NOAA/NWS were a factor here, they are downstream of Trump’s intense hostility to climate science. His declaration, many years ago, that climate change is a “very expensive hoax” from China is the reason for NOAA being on the chopping block.
Our country and our political media have failed to digest the awful consequences of this, treating his stupidity as just “political rhetoric.”
To think my tax dollars used to go to the public safety efforts of the NWS and now those same tax dollars will be used to build an army to be deployed against us.
$45 billion in new ICE detention centers alone. That’s more than the combined budget of all 50 states’ prison systems.
And because it's a red state, little Miss FEMA showed up for her mandatory photo op.
It's tragic. And I feel horrible for these poor people. But why these people keep doing for this is beyond me.
I love Austin. That's it.
Austin is awesome. So is the area all around it (The Hill Country)
Sincere question – have you tried nicely asking someone why they voted a certain way?
Your approach to this disaster is undoubtedly the right one, humans are humans. The sad part is that the people who could’ve issued reliable early warnings based on pure science were fired and those responsible will not be held accountable, sad! Some ‘humans’ have blood on their hands!
So thoughtfully written. Thank-you. 💙
It really is a sad state of affairs when the government--which is supposed to be of, for, and by the people--does so many things directly opposed to the best interests of the populace. Your footnote #6, which references "A Progress Report on the Destruction of America," prompts me to ask if you're maybe going to do an update on that "progress" report at some point? It seems very much in keeping with your current essay on Texas.
Thanks. I started doing an update for it, but at the time, it was mostly just percentages of change in the stuff they’d already done, as opposed to brand new stuff. I’ll look into it again soon.
Thank you!
Thank you Ellen for expressing your humanitarian based approach, in direct comparison to the opinion of a perhaps black&white brained person who is also entitled to his opinion but chooses to profess hatred toward the people of Texas. A people who are deep in grief and trauma since this hit last night.
We can safely assume the first commenter does not have a child missing from this disaster, nor does he understand basic concepts of love, civility, kindness and most likely was never taught "the golden rule" as a child. All of this breaks my heart.
Because I have one.
Odd that that was the first comment on this piece.
I have to say it makes me wonder about him being a real Massachusetts democrat, or just a troll whipping up people???
That comment has been deleted. The user is blocked. He subscribes to Milo Yiannopoulos. What else needs to be said?
EDIT: Oh, that was a different comment I deleted. Never mind!
Its a horrible tragedy and you make some good points. However what I dont see here is any evidence that NWS failed in its capacity that night. Yes the forecast might have underpredicted the amount of rain that fell, but that's not uncommon. But I understand NWS sent a series of increasingly urgent warnings overnight as the flooding occurred. Yes tragic, but Is there any direct evidence that NWS was understaffed, or lacked the data and forecasting tools that would normally be available to them?? I haven't seen that reported anywhere.
No doubt the cuts to NOAA and uktimate loss of staffing are going to affect weather forecasting, but it seems premature to claim that was the case here. Im writing this thinking about the career people at NWS still in the job and doing there best. God bless them.
There are multiple news reports (very easy to find) that the local offices of the NWS were understaffed that evening. The Weather Service is not just a push button operation that sends satellite imagery and warnings to your smartphone's weather app. By cutting personnel, the Trump administration removed the people who they consider superflous — the very people who coordinate with local authorities behind the scenes to determine if an evacuation (for example) is in order.
It is no coincidence that during my time living there, when the Guadalupe River flooded **multiple** times (it is prone to flooding), there were no mass death events like this. Those people were still working for the NWS. Trump fired them.
I'll quote the NY Times here:
"The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, those former [NWS] officials said — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight."
So, sure, warnings were issued to people sleeping at night or watching a movie. But a coordinated effort to save lives was not undertaken, because there was nobody at the local weather office who had that kind of experience. They were fired in February.
I did see that story after posting my comment. The story seems thorough.
In fairness to your original comment, in another week, we may discover that the NWS situation did not contribute to this awfulness. It should still serve as a fair warning of what is to come, especially in light of the NOAA losing services from the Navy, which is a simply bizarre situation that can’t even be explained by money — in fact, it must cost more to disengage than to simply leave the status quo. The Navy’s excuse is that they’re concerned about cyber threats. This from the same agency whose uppermost cabinet officer was sharing war plans on Signal. It’s going to be a rough hurricane season if Senegal decides to spit out her usual systems our way.
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BwTdWWSrn/
I’m wondering when NOAA, et. al. will be blamed because they cut the “most vital” parts of the system, while keeping the Dwight Schrutes who just take up space…
Personally, I hate Texas. They are getting exactly what they deserve. May Texas get wiped off the map. No sorrow. No sympathy. No pity.
I pray for you Stone. I’ve been here all my life & love Texas. It’s my home. Put love in your heart, not hate.
Texas when you apologize to every single black person in America for lynching more than 600 black people for no more than a laugh, and when restitution is made to their families only then will I care. Texas I have no pity for you. May Texas get wiped off the face of the Earth today. Oh I do care. Trust me you really don't want to know how I really feel about Texas.
It's worth noting that 60% of the Texas population is non-white. 11.82% Black, 39.26% Hispanic or other Latine, 3.04% mixed race, 5.36% Asian, plus 80,000 native Americans who were there before colonization. Therefore, wiping Texas off the face of the earth (via flood or some other means) would result in the death of 18 million non-white folks.
I live in San Antonio, 40 miles away from the worst of this terrible tragedy. My daughter attended summer camp on the Guadalupe River in that area when she was younger. I can’t fathom the pain the parents with missing children are going through today. I am disappointed, no disgusted, that you would use this situation to spew this vitriol here. We are the second largest state in the country and an economic engine for the rest of the nation. 4.8 million Texans voted against Donald Trump in 2024, a number larger than the population of 26 states. Do we all deserve to be wiped off the map too? Millions of us also have no use for our state leadership. You should be ashamed to post this garbage right now. As for the finger pointing, let’s find the missing children before starting the politically inspired blame game for heavens sakes. There will be plenty of blame to go around.
Ignore people like that. Some people are so partisan that it makes them come across as being just truly horrible people. I hope you and your family stay safe and I am praying for there to be more survivors.