Live Updates: Desperate Search for Missing in Texas Floods as Death Toll Passes 50

New York Times

2 days ago

Texas officials have blamed the Weather Service for issuing forecasts on Wednesday that underestimated how much rain was coming. But the staffing shortages present a more complicated picture.
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.
Texas officials appeared to blame the Weather Service for issuing forecasts on Wednesday that underestimated how much rain was coming. But former Weather Service officials said the forecasts were as good as could be expected, given the enormous levels of rainfall and the storm's unusually abrupt escalation.
The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, those former officials said — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight.
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, roughly 50 miles northwest of San Antonio, is where many of the deaths occurred.
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,' Mr. Kelly said. Asked if people might reconsider in light of the catastrophe, he said, 'I don't know.'
The National 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.
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, Mr. 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 on 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 Mr. Trump returned to the White House in January, according to Mr. Fahy.
John Sokich, who until January was director of congressional affairs for the National 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 spokeswoman for the National 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.'
A White House spokeswoman directed a request for comment to the Commerce Department, which includes the Weather Service. The department did not respond to a request for comment.
The tragedy began to unfold in the early hours of July 4, 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. As of Saturday evening, 27 girls from a Christian summer camp remained missing.
That night, Nim Kidd, chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management, appeared to fault the Weather Service, noting that forecasters on Wednesday had predicted as much as six to eight 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 Gov. Greg Abbott.
But what makes flash floods so hazardous is their ability to strike quickly, with limited warning. Around midnight on 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 spokesman for the Kerr County emergency management department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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 National Weather Service from 2013 until 2022.
'It's pretty hard to forecast for these kinds of rainfall rates,' Dr. 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.
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Most of the deaths occurred in Kerr County.
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Michel Fortier/The San Antonio Express-News, via Associated Press
'You have to have a response mechanism that involves local officials,' Dr. 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 work force that until recently was as large as 4,000.
Some forecasting offices began to close down at night, and others launched fewer weather balloons, which send back crucial data to feed forecasts. The Weather Service said it was preparing for 'degraded operations,' with fewer meteorologists available to fine-tune forecasts.
Last month, despite a government hiring freeze, the Weather Service announced a plan to hire 126 people in positions around the country, in what Ms. Cei, the agency's spokeswoman, described as an effort to 'stabilize' the department. As of this week, those jobs had not been posted in the federal government's hiring portal.
Mr. Sokich said that the local Weather Service offices appeared to have sent out the correct warnings. He said the challengewas getting people to receive those warnings, and then take action.
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Under the Trump administration, the Weather Service, like other federal agencies, has been pushed to reduce its number of employees.
Credit...
Jordan Vonderhaar for The New York Times
Typically, Mr. Sokich said, the Weather Service will send an official to meet regularly with local emergency managers for what are called 'tabletop operations' — planning ahead of time for what to do in case of a flash flood or other major weather disaster.
But the Trump administration's pursuit of fewer staff members means remaining employees have less time to spend coordinating with local officials, he said.
The Trump administration has also put strict limits on new hires at the Weather Service, Mr. Sokich said. So unlike during previous administrations, when these vacancies could have quickly been filled, the agency now has fewer options.
The Trump administration also froze spending on travel, he added, making it even harder for Weather Service staff members to meet with their state and local counterparts.
That does not mean there is not room for cuts at the Weather Service, Mr. Sokich said. 'But you need to do them deliberately and thoughtfully,' he said.
David Montgomery and Judson Jones contributed reporting.