Texas, flash flood
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FEMA, Texas
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Safety and weather protocols are top of mind for parents and summer camp leaders following a deadly flood that overwhelmed Central Texas.
Q: Is it true that if President Donald Trump hadn’t defunded the National Weather Service, the death toll in the Texas flooding would have been far lower or nonexistent? A: The Trump administration did not defund the NWS but did reduce the staff by 600 people.
Heavy rain poured over parts of central Texas, dumping more than a month's worth of rain for places like San Angelo.
The Fourth of July flooding had an outsized effect not just on the Hill Country but also on rain-starved Texas cities like San Antonio and Austin.
Flash floods surged through in the middle of the night, but many local officials appeared unaware of the unfolding catastrophe, initially leaving people near the river on their own.
Viral posts promoted false claims that cloud seeding, a form of weather modification, played a role in the devastation. Meteorologists explain it doesn't work that way.
Texas leads the country in flood deaths. Steep hills, shallow soils and a fault zone have made Hill Country, also called "flash flood alley," one of the state's most dangerous regions.
This is false. It is not possible that cloud seeding generated the floods, according to experts, as the process can only produce limited precipitation using clouds that already exist.
Cats and dogs from the flood-ravaged Texas Hill Country will be available for adoption in Dallas and Fort Worth.
Congressional Democrats are demanding an inquiry into whether NWS staffing shortages have affected the death toll, and President Donald Trump took a swipe at Joe Biden for setting up “that water situation,