Blame Cast After Texas Floods: Were Warnings Too Late Or Too Weak?
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said blaming the Trump administration's cuts for ... More exacerbating the disaster was a 'despicable lie.' Getty Images
One high-profile public official in Texas placed early blame on the early NWS forecasts for failing to predict the severity of the storm—'listen, everybody got the forecast from the National Weather Service,' Texas Division of Emergency Management chief W. Nim Kidd said at a press conference Friday, noting 'it did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.'
A New York Times report published Saturday then detailed staffing shortages at the NWS offices in San Antonio and San Angelo, but representatives for the NWS employees union told CNN the offices had 'adequate staffing and resources.'
The San Antonio office was missing a warning coordination meteorologist, a role that works with officials to send emergency alerts, after the office's 32-year veteran meteorologist took an early retirement offer earlier this year as part of the Trump administration's move to downsize the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, local station KXAN reported.
The National Weather Service, however, issued alerts of increasing severity ahead of the flash flood, which included an overnight text alert warning of a "dangerous and life-threatening situation."
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem praised the NWS, but said President Donald Trump wanted to improve the NWS' warning system, telling reporters at a press conference 'we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years.'
When asked on Sunday, President Donald Trump called the situation the 'Biden setup,' but stopped short of directly blaming his predecessor for the destructive floods: 'I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either, I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe."
'Flash Flood Warnings were issued on the night of July 3 and in the early morning of July 4, giving preliminary lead times of more than three hours,' NWS said in a statement to multiple outlets. When Did The First Warnings Go Out?
The Texas Division of Emergency Management activated their emergency response resources as early as Wednesday in anticipation of heavy rainfall and potential flash floods. The NWS issued the region's first flood watch on Thursday afternoon, around 1:18 p.m. CDT, then issued a flood warning that evening at 11:42 p.m. CDT. The NWS in San Antonio also sent a text alert to cell phones in the area, warning of a "dangerous and life-threatening situation" around 1:14 a.m. CDT, Reuters reported. The NWS' Weather Prediction Center noted in a 12:26 a.m. CDT discussion that flash flooding was 'likely' over central Texas, with 'significant impacts possible,' predicting up to six inches of rain in the region. Some municipalities in the area ended up recording over 20 inches of rainfall over the course of the holiday weekend, according to data compiled by the NWS. The Guadalupe River rose over 20 feet in just three hours on July 4, according to data from NOAA.
In the immediate aftermath of the July 4 floods, state officials said they were caught off guard by the severity of the storm, despite the warnings. 'Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming,' Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said at a press briefing Friday. 'We have floods all the time. This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States and we deal with floods on a regular basis. When it rains, we get water. We had no reason to believe that this was going to be anything like what's happened here. None whatsoever.' Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said the warnings may not have communicated the acute danger the storm posed for Kerrville, which was severely impacted by the flooding. 'There were alerts or warnings about heavy rain, potential for flash flooding in certain areas,' Abbott said at a press conference Sunday. 'The problem with that is that to most people in the area, flash flooding would mean one thing—not what it turned out to be. Because they deal with flash floods all the time, just like I put people on notice in these regions of Texas right now. There's the potential for flash flooding, but there's no expectation of a water wall of almost 30 feet high.' How Has The Trump Administration Responded?
Speaking at a briefing Monday afternoon, Leavitt lashed over claims staffing shortages or policy decisions from the Trump administration contributed to the disaster. 'Unfortunately, in the wake of this once in a generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats such as Senator Chuck Schumer and some members of the media. Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning,' Leavitt said, praising the NWS' response and disputing reports that they were impacted by staffing shortages. 'The National Weather Service office in New Braunfels, which delivers the forecasts for Austin, San Antonio, and the surrounding area had extra staff on duty during the storm, despite claims of the contrary.' What To Watch For
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote a letter (first published by Politico) to the Commerce Department's acting inspector general, urging him to open an investigation into whether staffing shortages at the NWS offices in San Antonio and San Angelo contributed to 'delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy' in forecasts or weakened weather alerts. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, also called for an investigation.. '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,' he said during an interview with CNN's Dana Bash on Sunday, though he didn't directly blame the tragedy on staffing. 'I don't want to sit here and say conclusively that that was the case, but I do think that it should be investigated.'
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