Texas cloud seeding operation triggers conspiratorial outrage after deadly floods
Image
A screenshot of an X post taken on July 10, 2025
A series of similar claims about the involvement of weather manipulation circulated after floods on the Fourth of July holiday ravaged the Texas Hill Country region of the southern US border state, claiming more than 120 lives, including many children.
The claims included commentary from Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene -- who has pushed such a narrative after natural disasters -- and reverberated all the way to national television network, Fox News (archived here).
Cloud seeding, a technique that introduces tiny particles into the sky to induce rain over small geographical areas, has gained popularity worldwide as a way to combat drought and increase local water supplies (archived here).
As of 2022, seven cloud seeding projects covered about 31 million acres, equivalent to one-sixth of the land area of the state, according to Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation (archived here).
Many posts placed the blame for the intensity of the floods on one particular cloud-seeding company operating in the region -- Rainmaker Technology Corp.
But while it has become a recurring topic of misinformation, scientists say it cannot create weather events the size of the Texas floods.
"Cloud seeding can't trigger floods of this size," University of Colorado Boulder professor Emily Yeh told AFP July 10 (archived here).
General estimates of rain increases through cloud seeding are in the range of , Yeh explained. All programs have strict suspension requirements, she said, and no operational program would try to seed a large storm.
Regulated activities
The outrage over cloud seeding took off in part because Augustus Doricko, founder of California-based Rainmaker Technology Corp, said to several media outlets and on X that his company conducted a cloud-seeding operation in the region on July 2 (archived here).
"We've probably received in excess of 100 explicit death threats on either email or X, [with] probably about one order of magnitude more calls for my incarceration," Doricko reportedly told Wired (archived here).
But the operation did not trigger the floods, Doricko and independent experts say.
"Unequivocally, our cloud seeding operations on July 2 did not impact the flooding that occurred later," Doricko said in a July 9 interview on The Will Cain show (archived here).
"We have what are called suspension criteria where if there are National Weather Service flash flood warnings or severe storm warnings, then we cannot operate in those areas per the restrictions and regulations we have," Doricko said. "Our meteorologist actually proactively suspended operations a day before the National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning."
AFP reached out to Doricko for further comment, but no response was forthcoming.
Marya Al Homoud, a scientific researcher on cloud seeding at the Almobdioon Center for Studies and Research in Saudi Arabia, confirmed that "cloud seeding cannot be applied during extreme weather conditions (such as rainstorms leading to floods), as this technology is applied under specific and safe conditions" (archived here).
Homoud, who has studied the efficiency of cloud seeding over Tom Green County in Texas, said no scientific evidence exists linking the method to floods (archived here).
"Floods have several causes, including climate, atmospheric and weather conditions, as well as environmental conditions," she said.
Geographic and atmospheric conditions
A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, loading the dice for heavier downpours (archived here). to the extreme terrain and atmospheric conditions, the floods may have been more deadly because they happened at night and around a holiday.
Meteorologist Alan Gerard, and former employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told AFP July 9 that the "catastrophic flash flood was really an absolute worst case scenario from a meteorological perspective and a societal perspective" (archived here).
"The Texas Hill Country is informally known as 'flash flood alley' because the hilly terrain and soil type helps create flash floods in the river channels in the region," he said.
He added: "Friday's flood happened in the middle of the night when people are least likely to receive and act on warnings, and occurred along a river that has numerous campgrounds and resorts, on the Fourth of July when many of these facilities were full."
Image
A search and rescue team looks for people along the Guadalupe River near a damaged building at Camp Mystic in Hunt, Texas, on July 7, 2025, following severe flash flooding (AFP / RONALDO SCHEMIDT)
A preliminary analysis by ClimaMeter, a non-profit platform that offers near-real-time insights into the dynamics of extreme events and their relations to climate change, found that the meteorological conditions preceding the Texas floods, which delivered more than twice the monthly average rainfall in a single day, also could not be explained by natural variability alone (archived here).
The report, based on past similar disasters in the area, characterized the Texas floods as a "very exceptional weather event" that "may be due to human-driven climate change, with a contribution from natural variability."
Texas authorities have faced mounting scrutiny over the response to the flooding, as details surfaced about reported delays of early alerts that could have saved lives.
he National Weather Service, like other federal agencies, has experienced deep staffing and budget cuts under US President Donald Trump's administration, but experts say its forecasters rose to the challenge despite the constraints.
AFP has debunked other claims about the Texas floods and previously reported on conspiracy theories about cloud seeding.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
5 hours ago
- Euronews
Massive 8.8 earthquake in eastern Russia triggers tsunami warnings
One of the strongest earthquakes on record struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, causing tsunami waves in Japan and Alaska and warnings to be issued in Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands. Damage was reported and evacuations were issued in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the quake's epicentre. A tsunami of up to 4 metres was reported in parts of the region, the regional minister for emergency situation Sergei Lebedev said. The quake caused damage to buildings and cars swayed in the streets in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which also had power outages and mobile phone service failures. Russian news agencies quoting the regional Health Ministry said several people sought medical help in Kamchatka after the earthquake, but no serious injuries were reported. People were advised to move to higher ground around much of the Pacific coast. They were warned that the potential danger posed by a tsunami could last over a day. Most places where tsunami waves have already hit have reported no significant damage so far. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 8.0, according to US and Japanese seismologists. However, the US Geological Survey later updated its measurement to 8.8 magnitude and said it occurred at a depth of 20.7km. Tsunami felt across the Pacific The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned that waves of 1 to 3 metres above the tidal level may occur in some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands. In some coastal areas of Russia and Ecuador, waves of more than 3 metres may occur. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Japan and stated that waves of up to 3 metres could reach the coast of northern Japan. "Urgent action must be taken to ensure the safety of life and property," the warning said. It was stated that the first waves were expected around 7 pm local time on Tuesday. The Alaska-based National Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, while parts of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, were also under caution. Tsunami warning coordinator Dave Snider with the National Tsunami Warning Centre in Alaska said the impact of the tsunami could last for hours or perhaps more than a day. 'A tsunami is not just one wave,' he said. 'It's a series of powerful waves over a long period of time. Tsunamis cross the ocean at hundreds of miles an hour - as fast as a jet airplane - in deep water. But when they get close to the shore, they slow down and start to pile up. And that's where that inundation problem becomes a little bit more possible there.' 'In this case, because of the Earth basically sending out these huge ripples of water across the ocean, they're going to be moving back and forth for quite a while,' which is why some communities may feel effects longer, he said. Among the world's strongest recorded quakes Wednesday's earthquake is one of the world's strongest since a 2011 9.0 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Japan sent a massive tsunami which set off meltdowns at a nuclear power plant. Only a few stronger earthquakes have ever been measures around the world. Japanese nuclear power plants have reported no abnormalities following the earthquake off of Russia. Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant said around 4,000 workers were taking shelter on higher ground at the plant complex while monitoring remotely to ensure safety. It was the strongest earthquake to hit the Kamchatka Peninsula since 1952, when a 9.0 quake caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1 metre waves in Hawaii. In early July, five strong earthquakes occurred near Kamchatka, the strongest had a 7.4-magnitude. The largest earthquake was 20 kilometres deep and occurred 144 kilometres east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000.
Euronews
a day ago
- Euronews
8.8 magnitude earthquake hits eastern Russia
The 8.8-magnitude earthquake that occurred in northeast Russia on Wednesday morning caused tsunami warnings to be issued in the US states of Alaska and Hawaii and in Japan. Damage was reported and evacuations were issued in Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the quake's epicenter. A tsunami of up to 4 metres was reported in parts of the region, the regional minister for emergency situation Sergei Lebedev said. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre warned that waves of 1 to 3 metres above the tidal level may occur in some coastal areas of Hawaii, Chile, Japan and the Solomon Islands. In some coastal areas of Russia and Ecuador, waves of more than 3 metres may occur. The Japan Meteorological Agency issued a tsunami warning for the Pacific coast of Japan and stated that waves of up to 3 metres could reach the coast of northern Japan. "Urgent action must be taken to ensure the safety of life and property," the warning said. It was stated that the first waves were expected around 7 pm local time on Tuesday. The Alaska-based National Tsunami Warning Centre issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska, while parts of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii, were also under caution. In early July, five strong earthquakes occurred near Kamchatka, the strongest had a 7.4-magnitude. The largest earthquake was 20 kilometres deep and occurred 144 kilometres east of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which has a population of 180,000. A 9.0 magnitude earthquake in Kamchatka on 4 November 1952 caused 9.1 metre waves in Hawaii, causing damage but no casualties.
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Powerful 8.7 quake off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula triggers tsunami alerts
Japan's meteorological agency issued a tsunami alert for Japan's Pacific coast, upgrading an earlier advisory stemming from the powerful, magnitude 8.0 quake that hit on Wednesday morning, July 30, near Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The agency issued an advisory for a tsunami of up to 3 meters across the Pacific coast of Japan, possibly starting to arrive along the northern Japanese coasts in less than half an hour after the alert. A tsunami warning also was extended to the US state of Hawaii, with the National Weather Service's Pacific Tsunami Warning Center saying a tsunami from the quake had been generated that could cause damage along the coastlines of all the Hawaiian islands. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property," the warning stated. The first waves were expected around 7 pm local time. Japan's meteorological agency said the quake occurred at 8:25 am and registered a preliminary magnitude of 8.0. The quake was about 250 kilometers away from Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost of the country's four big islands, and was felt only slightly, according to Japan's NHK television. The US Geological Survey said it hit at a depth of 19.3 kilometers. The USGC said shortly after initial reports that the quake's strength was 8.7 magnitude. Tsunami warning for portions of the US West Coast Russia's Tass news agency reported from the biggest city nearby, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, that many people ran out into the street without shoes or outerwear. Cabinets toppled inside homes, mirrors were broken, cars swayed in the street and balconies on buildings shook noticeably. Tass also reported power outages and mobile phone service failures in the capital of the Kamchatka region. The National Tsunami Warning Center, based in Alaska, issued a tsunami warning for parts of the Alaska Aleutian Islands, and a watch for portions of the West Coast, including California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii. The advisory also includes a vast swath of Alaska's coastline, including parts of the panhandle.
