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Donald Trump Signs Disaster Declaration for Deadly Texas Floods

Donald Trump Signs Disaster Declaration for Deadly Texas Floods

Newsweek10 hours ago
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content.
President Donald Trump announced that he signed a "Major Disaster Declaration" for the deadly floods in Texas Hill Country in a post on Truth Social Sunday.
The declaration comes as rescue and recovery operations enter a third day following the devastating floods.
"I just signed a Major Disaster Declaration for Kerr County, Texas, to ensure that our Brave First Responders immediately have the resources they need," Trump said in the post.
59 people are confirmed dead in the floods as of Sunday morning, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick told Fox News.
"We expect that to go higher sadly," Patrick said.
Of those recovered, 12 adults and 5 children are pending identification, according to a post on Facebook from the Kerr County Sheriff's Office.
There are still more than 20 children believed to be missing from Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian camp that lies along the Guadalupe River.
"These families are enduring an unimaginable tragedy, with many lives lost, and many still missing. The Trump Administration continues to work closely with State and Local Leaders," President Trump continued in the post.
"Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem was on the ground yesterday with Governor Greg Abbott, who is working hard to help the people of his Great State. Our incredible U.S. Coast Guard, together with State First Responders, have saved more than 850 lives. GOD BLESS THE FAMILIES, AND GOD BLESS TEXAS!" Trump concluded.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to come.
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Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?
Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?

Washington Post

time33 minutes ago

  • Washington Post

Texas Hill Country is no stranger to flash floods. Why were so many caught off guard?

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We can't tell you how many raindrops are going to fall out of a thunderstorm.' Past floods have spurred the same discussions about how to protect people around Hill Country. About a decade ago, Kerrville leaders began working on a flood warning system, after a river rose to about 45 feet and nearly swallowed the nearby Texas town of Wimberley over Memorial Day Weekend 2015, said Tom Moser, a Kerr County commissioner at the time. County officials assessed an upgrade to a warning system that would have included sirens. But some balked at the cost, with one commissioner calling it 'a little extravagant for Kerr County, with sirens and such.' Then next year, they submitted a grant request for $980,000 to FEMA for the initiatives, county documents show. But they didn't get the money, and 'most of the funds went to communities impacted by Hurricane Harvey,' according to the county's Hazard Mitigation Action Plan. In an interview, Moser said the community took some steps to reduce flood dangers, installing flood gauges and barriers at low river crossings, spots where rural roads pass through what is normally a trickling stream. They also trained emergency management staff and other authorities on what to do in the event of a flood. But despite attempts to fund a larger flood warning system project in the county budget, Moser said, 'It never got across the goal line.' Moser said. The efforts stalled by the time he retired in 2021. But the Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which partners with the county, made some progress this past year. They signed an agreement with a consulting firm to assess the county's needs, aiming to develop a monitoring and warning system depending on 'what we can afford,' said director Diane L. McMahon. The investment comes as the deaths in Texas are likely to galvanize a push for similar flood warning systems across the states and the country, Moser said. 'I think there will be a lot of attention paid to it now,' Moser said, adding that he doesn't know if any warning system will be able to protect everyone. But 'it could be a lot better than what we currently have.' Watching the death toll rise, Nicole Wilson wondered what might have happened if campers along the river had the kind of warnings she had growing up in tornado-prone Kentucky: loud, blaring sirens. After rushing to pick up her two daughters from another Central Texas camp, Wilson thought how just minutes could be life changing. She started a petition on Saturday, calling on officials to 'implement a modern outdoor early warning siren system.' 'Sometimes we only had five minutes,' she recalled of her childhood tornado warnings. 'Maybe those girls in the lower cabins would have come outside and seen the water,' she said. 'Maybe they could have grabbed others and ran uphill.' Eva Ruth Moravec and John Muyskens contributed to this report.

As floods hit, key roles were vacant at weather service offices in Texas
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Boston Globe

time37 minutes ago

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As floods hit, key roles were vacant at weather service offices in Texas

Advertisement The shortages are among the factors likely to be scrutinized as the death toll climbs from the floods. Separate questions have emerged about the preparedness of local communities, including Kerr County's apparent lack of a local flood warning system. The county, about 50 miles northwest of San Antonio, is where many of the deaths occurred. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In an interview, Rob Kelly, the Kerr County judge and its most senior elected official, said the county did not have a warning system because such systems are expensive, and local residents are resistant to new spending. 'Taxpayers won't pay for it,' Kelly said. Asked if people might reconsider in light of the catastrophe, he said, 'I don't know.' The weather service's San Angelo office, which is responsible for some of the areas hit hardest by Friday's flooding, was missing a senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, and meteorologist in charge, according to Tom Fahy, the legislative director for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union that represents weather service workers. Advertisement The weather service's nearby San Antonio office, which covers other areas hit by the floods, also had significant vacancies, including a warning coordination meteorologist and science officer, Fahy said. Staff members in those positions are meant to work with local emergency managers to plan for floods, including when and how to warn local residents and help them evacuate. That office's warning coordination meteorologist left April 30, after taking the early retirement package the Trump administration used to reduce the number of federal employees, according to a person with knowledge of his departure. Some of the openings may predate the current Trump administration. But at both offices, the vacancy rate is roughly double what it was when Trump returned to the White House in January, according to Fahy. John Sokich, who until January was director of congressional affairs for the weather service, said those unfilled positions made it harder to coordinate with local officials because each weather service office works as a team. 'Reduced staffing puts that in jeopardy,' he said. A spokesperson for the weather service, Erica Grow Cei, did not answer questions from The New York Times about the Texas vacancies, including how long those positions had been open and whether those vacancies had contributed to the damage caused by the flooding. 'The National Weather Service is heartbroken by the tragic loss of life,' she said in a statement, adding that the agency 'remains committed to our mission to serve the American public through our forecasts and decision support services.' Advertisement A White House spokesperson directed a request for comment to the Commerce Department, which includes the weather service. A Commerce spokesperson said there have been no funding cuts to the weather service and added: 'The timely and accurate forecasts and alerts for Texas this weekend prove that the NWS remains fully capable of carrying out its critical mission.' The tragedy began to unfold in the early hours of Friday, when more than 10 inches of rain fell in some areas northwest of San Antonio, including in Kerr County, where more than 850 people were evacuated by rescuers. Several campers and a counselor from Camp Mystic, a girls' summer camp in Kerr County, remained missing Sunday, according to Larry Leitha, the county sheriff. On Saturday night, Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, appeared to fault the weather service, noting that forecasters Wednesday had predicted as much as 6 to 8 inches of rain in the region. 'The amount of rain that fell in this specific location was never in any of those forecasts,' he said at a news conference with Governor Greg Abbott. But what makes flash floods so hazardous is their ability to strike quickly, with limited warning. Around midnight Thursday, the San Angelo and San Antonio weather offices put out their first flash flood warnings, urging people to 'move immediately to higher ground.' The office sent out additional flash flood warnings through the night, expanding the area of danger. It is not clear what steps local officials took to act on those warnings. A spokesperson for the Kerr County emergency management department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Advertisement The amount of rain that fell Friday morning was hard for the weather service to anticipate, with reports in some areas of 15 inches over just a few hours, according to Louis W. Uccellini, who was director of the weather service from 2013 until 2022. 'It's pretty hard to forecast for these kinds of rainfall rates,' Uccellini said. He said that climate change was making extreme rainfall events more frequent and severe, and that more research was needed so that the weather service could better forecast those events. An equally important question, he added, was how the weather service was coordinating with local emergency managers to act on those warnings as they came in. 'You have to have a response mechanism that involves local officials,' Uccellini said. 'It involves a relationship with the emergency management community, at every level.' But that requires having staff members in those positions, he said. Under the Trump administration, the weather service, like other federal agencies, has been pushed to reduce its number of employees. By this spring, through layoffs and retirements, the weather service had lost nearly 600 people from a workforce that until recently was as large as 4,000. This article originally appeared in

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