Why did a camp still open in a risk zone? Were the alerts correct? Did they adjust to the threat that cinded? Why did he catch the schools asleep? How have the cuts in the National Meteorological Service (NWS) affected the catastrophe prevention? Does it make sense to propose the dismantling of the FEMA, the Federal Agency for Emergency Management?
All these questions are crowded these days in the United States everywhere except in the White House. At least in public statements when questioned by the tragedy that has caused at least 104 deaths in the center of Texas.
“The alerts were sent before the flood, when people slept and flood occurred at dawn,” said the White House spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt: “It was a fortuitous event. It is not the fault of the administration that the flood has hit so much, but there were early and constant alerts, and, again, the National Meteorological Service fulfilled its duty.”
Leavitt has insisted: “To blame President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it is no use during this time of national grief. The National Meteorological Service did his job despite the unprecedented rains, he executed appropriate and precise forecasts and warnings. At this time, the administration's approach will be to provide victims in their communities the support they deserve. of Texas, especially the parents who have lost their children.
“May God bless the state of Texas. It is an incredible place,” Donald Trump had said this Sunday before going up to the Air Force One to return to the White House after having been playing golf in his New Jersey field: “This has happened in second Thus … I mean, people try to blame school, the camp.
Senator Chuck Schumer (New York), leader of the Democratic minority, has demanded “an investigation into the scope, breadth and ramifications of personnel scarcity at the key stations of the National Meteorological Service (NWS) and if they have contributed to the catastrophic loss of lives and properties during fatal floods”.
Senator Christopher S. Murphy, a Democrat by Connecticut, wrote on social networks that “a precise weather forecast helps avoid fatal disasters. Trump's brawl attacks against public employees, such as meteorologists, have consequences.”
“We have been in contact with Governor Abbott (Republican) and with all the people of Texas,” Trump said Sunday. “Kristi Noem has been present and will continue to present, and we have been working in close collaboration with Texas representatives.” And this Monday he added: “We are going to make the situation as comfortable as possible for the state of Texas. They have a great governor, senators and wonderful representatives, and we will collaborate with them, and we have been working hard. It was terrible. We will continue on Friday.”
However, the scope of the federal response on the ground remains uncertain, New York Times is questioned On a president who has repeatedly proclaimed his intention to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which coordinates the federal response to natural disasters, by, according to him, inefficient and clumsy. The agency has already lost some of its most experienced responsible.
This Monday Leavitt has not answered the future of FEMA, and has said that it was simply “a political discussion that will continue.”
The Trump administration has cut hundreds of jobs in the NWS, with a reduction of personnel of at least 20% in almost half of the 122 NWS field offices nationwide, and at least half a dozen no longer have 24 -hour staff.
The White House has also proposed to cut the budget of its parent agency by 27% and eliminate federal research centers dedicated to the study of climate, weather and oceans of the world.
The NWS office website in Austin/San Antoniowhich covers the region that includes Kerr County, severely affected, shows that six of the 27 posts are vacancies. Vacancies include a key manager responsible for issuing alerts and coordinating with local emergency management officials, explica Associated Presswhich reports that former federal and expert officials have affirmed that indiscriminate reductions in Trump jobs in the NWS and other weather agencies endanger the federal government's ability to issue timely and precise forecasts. These predictions can save lives, especially those of those who are in the trajectory of rapid propagation storms.
