Texas Flooding Tragedy: Stop Blaming Trump. Blame Texas.

Perspective from a certified Texas-trained weather spotter.

I am a Skywarn certified weather spotter and I received my training in Texas. The advanced portion of our training focused exclusively on the flooding threat. We were taught to help spot flash floods, noting that even a small increase in water coming downstream could indicate a massive influx on the way.

Weather spotters are trained volunteers who are instrumental in weather preparation and warnings. Even before DOGE, weather spotters were needed because radar coverage in many areas has always been spotty, and certain weather events need human spotting.

Specifically, we were taught that spotters were invaluable for tracking hail because radar cannot spot hail on the ground. One of our jobs was to call the National Weather Service on the spotter hotline and let them know the size of any hail we witnessed. This hail reporting is crucial in alerting communities to hail threats. I myself have called in numerous hail reports over the years.

Spotters are also crucial in warning about flash floods.

So let me preface the rest of what I’m going to write by saying: If you are upset that DOGE allegedly “gutted” the National Weather Service, get off your butt and go attend a spotter training in your state.

Spotters have ALWAYS been necessary in warning about weather disasters. Many of the tornado warnings that occur each year don’t come from radar but from spotters and storm chasers.

So quit yer bitchin’ and go volunteer and make a difference if you care that much!

Here’s the thing. I’m tired of hearing that Trump is to blame for the tragedy in Texas. Given what I’ve just told you, you should have deduced that the weather coverage in this country was NEVER perfect, that it has ALWAYS relied on volunteer human observers.

And we all know that weather prediction is often just as wrong as it is right. Even before DOGE went and likely cut a bunch of useless DEI programs from the NWS.

Weather technology is great, but the models get things wrong. Always!

People have such short memories. Was Trump president when Hurricane Helene struck North Carolina on September 27, 2024? It resulted in over 100 confirmed deaths, destroyed thousands of homes, and severely disrupted essential services like water, electricity, and transportation. The storm’s impact was especially devastating in western North Carolina, with damages estimated at over $59.6 billion, making it one of the costliest disasters in the state’s history. Our National Weather Service utterly failed in predicting this disaster, before DOGE!

So let’s get back to the Texas floods of 2025. These floods were not preventable, but the deaths were. And I don’t blame Trump as much as I blame Texas.

Hill Country and Central Texas is called Flash Flood Alley. Surprise floods here are NOT NEW, and we don’t even need to go back to 1987 for a bad one.

In May 2015, the Blanco River surged from 5 feet to over 44 feet in just a few hours, washing away hundreds of homes, including entire streets with only slabs remaining. The floods resulted in multiple fatalities, with 13 people killed during the Memorial Day weekend floods. Friends of a friend of mine were among the dead. Their entire home was swept away while they were sleeping inside.

In addition to the massive flash floods that happen once in a while, smaller flash floods occur on a regular basis in central Texas. This is why, when there is significant rain in Texas, you’ll hear the computerized weather channel voice warn about high water on roads:

Turn around, don’t drown!

In Austin, Texas in 2013, flash floods killed at least four, including a mother and son who were washed away in a car. In almost every minor flood it seems, some Karen in an SUV will drive around a barricade to attempt to cross a flooded roadway, only to be swept away in her car.

I almost got a very nice apartment at the bottom of a hill in Austin, only, it straddled a creek. I had enough sense to realize this could become a massive hazard in a big storm and opted instead for a smaller but less floodprone home at the top of the hill. Still, I was well aware that the beautiful trees surrounding the property could become deadly in a flash fire, and was warned by a fellow resident to get the hell out the minute I saw flames and head to the nearby Lowe’s parking lot to evacuate.

People need some damn common sense. Be aware of your surroundings! Be prepared!

The big problem with Texas right now is that too many out-of-state people have moved in and not enough of them have weather sense.

Furthermore, local Texas officials have done a terrible job at stopping development along rivers in floodzones. so a lot of clueless people are now living in danger.

Not enough is done to train newcomers as well as oldtimers what to be alert for when it comes to rainfall.

People also don’t pay attention to the weather anymore. How many times do you read a story these days about a boater who got stuck out in a “freak storm” when all they needed to do was look at the sky?

Some of this lack of weather awareness may stem from the now lost habit of watching the local news after work, which provides the local weather forecast. People can check the weather on their phones, but do they?

Given all this lack of weather knowledge, Texas municipalities need to do a better job training and alerting residents to local flood dangers. This is not the job of the National Weather Service. DOGE is not responsible here. Texas is.

More importantly, camps and homes probably should not be allowed to nestle up against flood-prone rivers…at least not without homeowners signing an explicit waiver acknowledging the risks and accepting full responsibility.

Camps with kids should not be in floodzones, period.

If camps are to be held in floodzones, then camp counselors should be required to take spotter training about floods and get certified. They should also be required to have weather radios and evacuate the camp even in the event of a flood watch. This is a state policy issue, not a federal one.

You can’t just rely on cellphone warnings. Watches and warnings were sent out about this flood via smartphone alerts, but non-locals did not get these alerts, and locals maybe didn’t either. Who knows how spotty the cell coverage is in certain areas.

In short, there are a lot of public policies to blame here, most of them related to local Texas laws and governance…none of which have do with Trump.

But ultimately, the responsibility for weather awareness comes down to you personally. Stop being passive and expecting the government to save you all the time. Use your common sense. If a slow moving rain system is moving into the area, and you are in a flood area, be ready to evacuate. How many times do you need to see hurricanes hit in “surprise” areas before you realize that even before DOGE, weathercasters guesstimate much of the time?

Also, if you are sending your child to a camp, vet it and make sure they have emergency procedures in place. If they don’t, don’t send your kid to that camp.

Better yet, have your entire family trained in weather spotting. It is a useful lifelong skill.

PS No, lack of access to Department of Defense satellites was not the culprit here. That change won’t go into effect until July 31, 2025, and NOAA said in a statement they do not expect this change to impact hurricane prediction.

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