North Carolina also hit with life-threatening flash floods
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Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Videos Show Water Rising Within Minutes During Deadly Texas Flash Flood
At least 90 people have died and more than a dozen are missing after devastating flash floods hit central Texas over the 4th of July weekend. Search and rescue operations are still underway as more rain is expected to hit the battered region in the coming days.
USA Today
22 minutes ago
- USA Today
Are you experiencing extreme weather more? Do NWS cuts worry you? Take our poll.
The Trump administration has made cuts to the NWS, NOAA and FEMA. Are you worried about what this means for weathering storms? Take our poll. Severe. Extreme. Unprecedented. More and more, these words seem a routine part of our forecast rather than rare weather events they once described. It's been four days since the Guadalupe River reached an unprecedented 29 feet, one of the many overflowing waterways in central Texas that devastated the area with severe flooding, sweeping away homes and neighbors as they slept. The death toll has reached 90 people as of July 7, with 10 campers and one counselor from Camp Mystic in Kerry County still unaccounted for. Thunderstorms and heavy rain continue to batter the region, hampering search efforts and increasing the risk of flash floods. Tropical Depression Chantal has brought severe flooding to North Carolina as it makes its way up the eastern United States, bringing more flood warnings with it. Severe thunderstorms are forecast for parts of the Great Plains and Midwest into Monday evening, while extreme heat is expected to bear down on the Southwest beginning July 8. A USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll conducted in mid-June found a majority of Americans (58%) fear this extreme weather is getting worse – and will continue to be in the near future. Thirty percent of respondents said they have personally experienced extreme weather events in the previous month – with many citing severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall, much like those that triggered the rapid flooding in central Texas. (Have you endured severe weather recently? Scroll down to tell us about it.) And yet, as climate change ravages the country, the Trump administration has cut the very departments Americans rely on: the National Weather Service, the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Who are we supposed to turn to for trusted weather warnings that can save lives, and aid that can help us pick up the pieces when disaster inevitably strikes? NWS doesn't have enough staff: The NWS is understaffed during hurricane season. It keeps me up at night. | Opinion What's the weather like where you live? Are you worried about NWS cuts? This spring, the NWS lost nearly 15% of its workforce – approximately 600 people – due to Trump administration layoffs and early retirement packages, the New York Times reported. NWS offices are understaffed with critical roles unfilled. Furthermore, the Trump administration is proposing massive cuts to the NOAA – the parent agency of NWS – further hamstringing funding and eliminating programs that do crucial climate research. And on top of all that, the president has said he wants to get rid of FEMA altogether. I don't know about you, but as weather events throughout the U.S. become more catastrophic, none of this makes me feel safer. Or better prepared to weather these storms. How do you feel? Are you concerned about the accuracy of the National Weather Service or how cuts will impact your forecasts and warnings? Is the weather becoming more extreme where you live? How do you think we should handle it? Are you concerned about the impact of climate change – and do you think there's anything we can do to change it? Take our poll below. USA TODAY Opinion may use your responses in an upcoming column. Janessa Hilliard is the director of audience for USA TODAY Opinion and Opinion at Gannett. You can read diverse opinions from our USA TODAY columnists and other writers on the Opinion front page, on X, formerly Twitter, @usatodayopinion and in our Opinion newsletter.
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Search for woman who texted 'we're being washed away' in Texas flood
As the raging Guadalupe River burst its banks and wreaked havoc in central Texas, a young woman named Joyce Bandon sent a text message that may have been her last. Triggering one of many frantic search efforts, Bandon pleaded for help from a house along the river, according to Louis Deppe, leader of a group of volunteers trying to help the Bandon family find their daughter. Torrential rains starting the night before the Independence Day holiday caused the river to rise the height of a two-story building in less than hour, flooding parts of Kerr County, including several children's camps, tearing down trees and tossing cars as if they were toys. The death toll as of Sunday afternoon was at least 78, with more casualties expected. Bandon and three friends had gone to a country house to spend the July 4 holiday together. It rained all Thursday night into Friday morning, when disaster struck. "Their house collapsed at about 4 in the morning and they were being washed away. On her cellphone, the last message (her family) got was 'we're being washed away' and the phone went dead," Deppe told AFP. He said the team works in groups of two or three people as they look through the debris and detritus left behind by the deluge. "One of the bodies was 8 to 10 feet in a tree, surrounded up by so much debris. Not one person could see it, so the more eyes, the better," he added. The river is returning to normal now but there is utter destruction everywhere on its banks, like a dead cow hanging from a tree, its head caught between two branches. Nearby a pickup truck lies upside down and around it dozens of dead fish swept out of the water are beginning to rot and stink. Helicopters fly overhead looking for survivors or bodies while rescue teams in boats ride up and down the river and emergency officials comb its banks. Little by little, debris like uprooted trees and ruined cars is being taken away. - Finding bodies - Tina Hambly, 55, the mother of Joyce Bandon's best friend and roommate, walks around with a kayak oar poking at branches and other debris, hoping to find something or someone. "We're doing a seven-mile stretch, and there's seven teams and we're doing a mile apiece, so just kind of dividing and conquering, trying to find any four of them or anyone," Hambly told AFP. "But, you know, we are friends and families and frankly, some strangers have shown up," she added. In the town of Hunt, one of the worst hit areas, a summer gathering for children called Camp Mystic initially reported dozens of those kids missing in the flooding. The figure now stands at 11 plus a counselor. Toys, clothing, towels and other belongings lie strewn around camp cabins full of mud. The volunteers looking for Bandon have found some bodies -- two early on Saturday morning and then another stuck in debris up in a tree. "And they did let me know that she was one of the Camp Mystic girls that went missing," said Justin Morales, 36, part of the search team. "We're happy to give a family closure," he said. "That's why we're out here." mav/sla
