Overview

• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Rep. Joaquin Castro called on Commerce Department acting Inspector General Roderick Anderson to probe whether NWS staff cuts affected the July floods’ response.
• Reports cite critical vacancies at San Angelo and San Antonio offices, including missing warning coordination meteorologists, science officers and hydrologists during the deluge.
• Flash floods between July 3 and 4 killed at least 82 people in Central Texas, including around two dozen children at Camp Mystic near the Guadalupe River.
• The Commerce Department maintains that forecasts and alerts were timely and accurate, and several experts attribute the high death toll to breakdowns in last-mile communication.
• Texas Division of Emergency Management chief Nim Kidd has disputed forecast accuracy, highlighting a partisan dispute over whether staffing or communication failures were to blame.