Map: Here's the forecast path of Tropical Storm Chantal
Topical storm watches are in effect for much of the South Carolina coast from Edisto Beach north, and extends into North Carolina to Bald Head Island.
Here's the latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center:
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Associated Press
4 minutes ago
- Associated Press
What to know about the flash floods in Texas that killed nearly 70 people
KERRVILLE, Texas (AP) — Flash floods in Texas killed dozens and left an unknown number of July Fourth visitors and campers missing, including many girls attending Camp Mystic. The devastation along the Guadalupe River, outside of San Antonio, has drawn a massive search effort as officials face questions over their preparedness and the speed of their initial actions. Here's what to know about the deadly flooding, the colossal weather system that drove it in and around Kerr County, Texas, and ongoing efforts to identify victims. Massive rain hit at just the wrong time, in a flood-prone place The floods grew to their worst at the midpoint of a long holiday weekend when many people were asleep. The Texas Hill Country in the central part of the state is naturally prone to flash flooding due to the dry dirt-packed areas where the soil lets rain skid along the surface of the landscape instead of soaking it up. Friday's flash floods started with a particularly bad storm that dropped most of its 12 inches (30 centimeters) of rain in the dark early morning hours. After a flood watch notice midday Thursday, the National Weather Service office issued an urgent warning around 4 a.m. that raised the potential of catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life. By at least 5:20 a.m., some in the Kerrville City area say water levels were getting alarmingly high. The massive rain flowing down hills sent rushing water into the Guadalupe River, causing it to rise 26 feet (8 meters) in just 45 minutes. Death toll is expected to rise and the number of missing is uncertain At least 59 people in Kerr County, and eight elsewhere in central Texas were confirmed dead as of Sunday morning. In Kerr County, 38 of the victims dead were adults and 21 were children, including 16 girls recovered from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along the river. Eleven more girls were still unaccounted for. For past campers, the tragedy turned happy memories into grief. Beyond the Camp Mystic campers unaccounted for, the number of missing from other nearby campgrounds and across the region had not been released. 'We don't even want to begin to estimate at this time,' Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice said Saturday, citing the likely influx of visitors during the July Fourth holiday. Officials face scrutiny over flash flood warnings Survivors have described the floods as a 'pitch black wall of death' and said they received no emergency warnings. Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly, who lives along the Guadalupe River, said Saturday that ' nobody saw this coming.' Various officials have referred to it as a '100-year-flood,' meaning that the water levels were highly unlikely based on the historical record. And records behind those statistics don't always account for human-caused climate change. Though it's hard to connect specific storms to a warming planet so soon after they occur, meteorologists say that a warmer atmosphere can hold more moisture and allow severe storms to dump even more rain. Additionally, officials have come under scrutiny about why residents and youth summer camps along the river were not alerted sooner than 4 a.m. or told to evacuate. Officials noted that the public can grow weary from too many flooding alerts or forecasts that turn out to be minor. Kerr county officials said they had presented a proposal for a more robust flood warning system, similar to a tornado warning system, but that members of the public reeled at the cost. On Sunday, officials walked out of a news briefing after reporters asked them again about delays in alerts and evacuations. Monumental clearing and rebuilding effort The flash floods have erased campgrounds and torn homes from their foundations. 'It's going to be a long time before we're ever able to clean it up, much less rebuild it,' Kelly said Saturday after surveying the destruction from a helicopter. Other massive flooding events have driven residents and business owners to give up, including in areas struck last year by Hurricane Helene. AP photographers have captured the scale of the destruction, and one of Texas' largest rescue and recover efforts.
Fox News
19 minutes ago
- Fox News
Trump spending cuts, his approach to climate change attacked as catalyst of catastrophic Texas flooding
Critics of President Donald Trump wasted no time blaming staffing cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) for the widespread death and destruction caused by the floods in Texas, a reaction the White House called "shameful and disgusting." At least 59 people, including 21 children, have been confirmed dead from the flash floods along the Guadalupe River that began Friday. Eleven children and one counselor remain missing from a girls' summer camp near the river, which flooded due to the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. That storm made landfall over Mexico, but triggered massive unexpected thunderstorms over parts of Texas. "It only took 9 days for Trump's cuts to the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] to kill dozens of children in Texas when Tropical Storm Barry landed this week," Grant Stern, the executive editor of Occupy Democrats, wrote on X. "The people in Texas voted for government services controlled by Donald Trump and Greg Abbott," added Ron Filipkowski, former federal prosecutor and the editor-in-chief of MediasTouchNews. "That is exactly what they (sic) getting." "What has happened to the girls at Camp Mystic is EXACTLY what one of the country's best meteorologists, John Morales, warned would happen," added Rachel Bitecofer, assistant director at Christopher Newport University's Wason Center for Public Policy. "Trump's cuts to the NOAA & NWS have critically impacted storm prediction nationwide." Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem held a press conference Saturday, and acknowledged some of the criticisms regarding the nation's flood notification systems, which included concerns that weather forecasts underestimated the amount of rain that ultimately fell. Noem noted that the Trump administration is "currently upgrading" the nation's flood notification technology, which she described as "ancient." "When the [weather] system came over the area, it stalled," Noem said during the press conference. "It was much more water, much like [what] we experienced during [Hurricane] Harvey, with the same type of system that was unpredictable in the way that it reacted in the way that it stopped right here and dumped unprecedented amounts of rain that caused a flooding event like this." Tom Fahy, legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, told NBC News that weather forecasting offices were adequately staffed, and "they issued timely forecasts and warnings leading up to the storm," but he added that unfilled leadership positions were "clearly a concern." "The reason Trump defunded the National Weather Service leading to the deaths of all those girls in the Texas flood is because PROJECT 2025 THOUGHT WEATHER PREDICTION SCIENCE WAS TIED TO EVIDENCE OF CLIMATE CHANGE," musician Mikel Jollett wrote on X. Isaiah Martin, a Democratic candidate for Texas's 18th Congressional District, called for an immediate congressional investigation into "the Republican DOGE cuts to NOAA and the National Weather Service." "We saw the affects (sic) this weekend," Martin wrote on X. "Trump defunded these agencies and we DEMAND answers. There MUST be *swift* accountability!" Washington Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee did not directly blame Trump's approach to climate change for the deaths, but he suggested the president's efforts to peel back green energy funding are a contributing factor to increased catastrophic natural disasters, like this weekend's flood in Texas. "It is hard to make the Texas flood tragedy worse, except to know that on the same day Trump signed a bill cratering solar and wind energy that is vital in the battle against the climate change making these torrential rains more frequent," Inslee wrote on X this weekend. During an interview with CNN, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, added that he didn't think it was helpful to have open leadership positions that, if filled, could "help prevent these strategies." "I don't think it's helpful to have missing key personnel from the National Weather Service not in place to help prevent these tragedies," Castro said, adding "we have to figure out in the future how we make sure that it doesn't happen again." White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson called it "shameful and disgusting" to see that in the wake of this tragedy people are politicizing what took place. "It's shameful and disgusting that in the wake of tragedy, the left's first instinct is to lie and politicize a disaster to target their political opponents. False claims about the NWS have been repeatedly debunked by meteorologists, experts, and other public reporting," Jackson said. "The NWS did their job, even issuing a flood watch more than 12 hours in advance. The Trump Administration is grateful to the first responders who sprung into action to save hundreds lives during this catastrophe, and will continue to help the great state of Texas in their recovery efforts."
Yahoo
20 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bryan Norcross: Chantal's remnants to spread north; a note about the Texas tragedy
Tropical Storm Chantal made landfall Sunday morning just south of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Top sustained winds were estimated to be 60 mph – the system perked up just before landfall. Tropical rains have pushed into the Carolinas. The potential for flooding will continue for a couple of days as the remnants of the system slowly pull north. Fortunately, the soil in eastern North Carolina is relatively dry, and the rivers are on the low side, so there should be less flooding than sometimes occurs with tropical systems. Still, torrential downpours from slow-moving systems always cause localized flooding. The National Weather Service is forecasting a widespread 2 to 4 inches of rain, with some locations getting 6 inches or more. Be aware of any alerts for your local area if you're in the eastern half of North Carolina or southeastern Virginia. Chantal is forecast to die out in a day or so, but its moisture will be swept north along the coast as far as New England ahead of an approaching cold front. The increase in humidity will be evident Monday and Tuesday from Washington, D.C. to Boston. Tropical downpours can be heavier than you normally experience, so be aware. Otherwise, there is nothing of concern on the horizon in the Atlantic, the Caribbean, or the Gulf. Looking at 30-year averages, we are well ahead of schedule on named storms, and the first hurricane doesn't develop, on average, until Aug. 11. The season seems slow, but in reality, it is not. Historically, the tropics don't get cranking until August. A note about the Texas flooding catastrophe, and how it relates to tropical weather. First, some of the energy and moisture in those extreme downpours came from the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry. But more importantly, the tragedy has similarities to what happened in Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina. In both cases, extreme floods like we've seen were imaginable because similar events had occurred in those regions in the past. The geography that can funnel the water into a narrow channel and the proximity to tropical moisture are a dangerous combination. Also, in both cases, timely warnings were issued by the National Weather Service. The lesson is, if a community or a location has historically been subject to catastrophic flooding, enhanced warning protocols and detailed, short-trigger evacuation plans need to be in place. The same complex of slow-moving thunderstorms occurring over flatlands would cause flooding, but without the deadly consequences. Sirens or other special alerting systems should be considered for locations with a known vulnerability to catastrophic flooding. History doesn't always teach us what could happen. Sometimes, extreme events occur that have never been seen before, as far as we know. We only have records that go back to the 19th century, but if there's a well-documented disaster in the record book, common sense says we should at least prepare for article source: Bryan Norcross: Chantal's remnants to spread north; a note about the Texas tragedy
