Critics of President Donald Trump blamed staffing cuts at the National Weather Service (NWS) for the deadly Texas floods, prompting a strong rebuke from the White House. At least 59 people, including 21 children, were confirmed dead after flash floods swept through the Guadalupe River area, overwhelming a nearby girls’ summer camp. Several individuals remain missing, including eleven campers and one counselor.
The flooding followed the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry, which made landfall in Mexico but unexpectedly stalled over Texas, releasing torrential rains. Progressive figures such as Grant Stern of Occupy Democrats and Ron Filipkowski of MediasTouchNews attributed the devastation to Trump-era budget cuts, claiming they undermined the country’s storm prediction and warning systems.
Political analyst Rachel Bitecofer supported those criticisms, warning that Trump’s proposed reductions to NOAA and the NWS were precisely the kind of cuts that experts had warned could cost lives. However, a crucial detail was overlooked: none of the proposed cuts from Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” had yet taken effect. The NWS is still operating under a bipartisan budget signed into law by then-President Joe Biden.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem addressed concerns over flood preparedness in a press conference. While she acknowledged that the forecasting systems are outdated, she emphasized that the Trump administration is working to modernize and upgrade the nation’s flood alert infrastructure, calling it “ancient” and insufficient for current challenges.
Officials from the NWS pushed back on the criticism. Texas-based meteorologist Avery Tomasco and NWS union representative Tom Fahy both stressed that timely flood watches and warnings were issued. Fahy admitted that while some leadership vacancies remain a concern, forecasting teams performed their duties effectively ahead of the disaster.
