DHS, Meteorologists speak out after media tries to blame Trump admin for flooding disaster

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The Department of Homeland Security, along with multiple meteorologists, is firing back over narratives being pushed by liberal media over why so many lives were lost amid the flash flooding in Texas over the weekend.

Liberals are trying to point fingers at the Trump administration, claiming that critical positions were cut at the National Weather Service.

The New York Times claimed in a report on Saturday: Crucial positions at the local offices of the National Weather Service were unfilled as severe rainfall inundated parts of Central Texas on Friday morning, prompting some experts to question whether staffing shortages made it harder for the forecasting agency to coordinate with local emergency managers as floodwaters rose.

However, the DHS released a statement on X Sunday evening, saying the media is lying, and noting that many warnings were given. The statement reads:

The mainstream media is deliberately lying about the events leading up to the catastrophic flooding in Texas. The National Weather Service executed timely, precise forecasting and warnings, despite unprecedented rainfall overwhelming the region.

Here is the timeline of NWS’s proactive response:

“The National Weather Service provided over 12 hours of advance notice via the Flood Watch and over 3 hours of lead time for Flash Flood Warnings, with escalated alerts as the storm intensified,” DHS concluded.

Avery Tomasco, a meteorologist for CBS Austin, wrote on X, “All I’ll say is this. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County more than 12 hours ahead of the catastrophic flood. A flash flood warning was issued for Hunt & Ingram 3 HOURS before the Guadalupe started to climb. They did their job and they did it well.”

Meteorologist James Spann also spoke out, releasing the following statement on Sunday:

TEXAS FLOOD: There are many questions about the tragic flash flood on the Guadalupe River late Thursday night and early Friday morning. The death toll is now over 50, including some children who were at Camp Mystic.
Here are some key points about the warning process…

*A flash flood watch was issued for Kerr County at 12:41a CT (just after midnight Thursday night). The watch mentioned isolated rain amounts of 10 inches, and stated “Excessive runoff may result in flooding of rivers, creeks, streams, and other low-lying and flood-prone locations. Creeks and streams may rise out of their banks.” This followed a flash flood watch was issued earlier, on Thursday afternoon.

*A flash flood warning was issued at 1:14a CT For Kerr County, which mentioned “life threatening flash flooding of creeks, streams, and rivers”.

*A flash flood “emergency” was issued at 5:34a CT for Kerr County and the Guadalupe River.

*NWS Austin/San Antonio had five on staff during the event; normally two would be on duty. Extra staffing was planned before the event started.

*This type of flash flooding on the Guadalupe River is nothing new. Similar events happened in 1998, 1987, 1978, 1935, and 1921. This year’s event was related to deep moisture from a tropical system (Barry) that originated in the East Pacific and made landfall near Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico, on June 29.

Social scientists will do much research on this in coming months and years. In my opinion one of the primary problems is the high number of false alarms; flash flood warnings that are issued with only minor flooding involved. This is also a problem with tornadoes in many parts of the country. I am very thankful locally NWS Birmingham leads the nation in lowering the false alarm ratio.

One takeaway is the importance of having a NOAA Weather Radio at every home, business, and any place where there are large number of people gathered (like a camp on a river). I would imagine cell service is very spotty along the Guadalupe where the camps were located. NWR does not use cell service and will wake you up. The alert is very loud, and can’t be missed.

Again, I ask that you keep political rhetoric off the comment section here; left wing and right wing extremists are pushing false information and narratives are not close to the truth. Now is simply the time to support families that are suffering after the tragedy.

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