Texas Floods: Questions About Preparedness Remain as Search and Recovery Efforts Continue

More than 100 people are dead and over 160 remain missing after catastrophic floods devastated Kerr County, Texas this week. Questions remain about how prepared the region was for the floods and whether the losses could have been prevented.

Camp Mystic’s Disaster Plan: Inspectors approved emergency and evacuation plans for Camp Mystic – the Christian summer camp from which there have been over two dozen fatalities – two days before the flood. Additionally, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch with about a day’s notice, but no evacuation took place in time. The camp's website states, "We have been in communication with local and state authorities who are tirelessly deploying extensive resources to search for our missing girls."

NOAA and NWS Cuts: The Trump administration enacted cuts to both the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS). The NWS – backed by the White House – claimed its flood watch allowed Texas residents enough time to evacuate, even though some chose not to. A former NOAA director made similar claims. He wrote on Substack, “...there is little evidence that any of the recent cuts to NOAA/NWS negatively impacted services for this event...” 

How The Media Covered It: Media outlets remain split on whether government cuts significantly impacted damages and fatalities. USA Today (Lean Left bias) highlighted vacancies at weather service offices, but included both accusations and defenses for the effects of government cuts. Newsweek (Center) used similar framing and pointed to forecasting inadequacies as an alternative scapegoat. New York Post (Lean Right) emphasized the amount of infrastructure funding that went into containing – and failed to contain – the Guadalupe River during the last hundred years.

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