1). “Head of local weather warnings takes early retirement as NOAA cuts continue”, Apr 21, 2025, Nick Bannin, KXAN.com, at < https://www.kxan.com/weather/
2). “The May 28, 2025 Austin Microburst: A review of a damaging wind, hail, and heavy rain event caused by a powerful severe thunderstorm”, Jun 10, 2025, NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX, at < https://storymaps.arcgis.com/
3). “ICE Barbie Dodges Blame for Disastrous Texas Flooding on Trump’s Watch”, Jul 5, 2024, Catherine Bouris, MSN, at < https://www.msn.com/en-us/
4). “ 'Call a thing what it is’: Trump biographer says president caused Texas flood deaths”, N.D., Ailia Zehra, MSN, at < https://www.msn.com/en-us/
5). “ 'DOGE has consequences': Fingers pointed at Trump admin after Texas flood deaths”, Jul 5, 2025, David McAfee, Raw Story, at < https://www.newsbreak.com/raw-
6). “MAGA Congressional Candidate Calls Texas Floods ‘Fake’: It’s ‘Murder’ ”, Jul 5, 2025, Kenneal Patterson, MSN, at < https://www.msn.com/en-us/
~~ recommended by dmorista ~~
Introduction by dmorista : The death toll from flooding near San Antonio and Austin, Texas, has now reached 79 dead still there are reports that there are “dozens missing”. The crazed fanatics working with Elon Musk, and other deluded Trumpista budget slashers, had recently cut the budget of the National Weather Service with the goal of making the weather predictions, currently provided for free, into a major profit center for Trump's and Musk's cronies. Predicting these sorts of localized extremely high precipitation events is difficult, but the NWS has gotten better and better at it and, in fact, issued warnings for just such events taking place overnight in the Guadalupe River area near Kerrville, in Kerr County, Texas. However, as pointed out in Item 1)., “Head of local weather warnings ….”, a senior meteorologist in the Austin/San Antonio office took early retirement as a result of the various budget cuts at NWS. The article noted that in late April:
“Paul Yura, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio office, has announced he has taken the early retirement offer as part of NOAA’s recent cuts to personnel and budget.
“Yura has over 32 years experience, spending more than half of his career at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office. In the process, he gained tremendous experience understanding local weather patterns while ensuring timely warnings get disseminated to the public in a multitude of ways.” Two other senior meteorologist positions are vacant at the Austin / San Antonio NWS office and there is not prospect of them being filled under current budgetary conditions.
We have seen that local politicians and officials, as well as state politicians in Texas have claimed that there was “no way to predict” such an event and that it was “unprecedented”, both of these statements are complete BS. And in a series of questions while he was standing on the tarmac in New Jersey Trump also claimed that these events were so rare that they could never have been anticipated. In fact as Item 2)., “The May 28, 2025 Austin Microburst: ….”, pointed out there was a similar storm that occurred, with less disastrous consequences, just 6 weeks earlier this year. In fact, there are occasional events in Central Texas that bring isolated extremely high levels of rain. Some of the better known events are the 1987 rainfall event and subsequent flooding around Kerr County in 1987 that killed several people; but there have been plenty of other such events including the 1980 Shoal Creek Flood that occurred in Central and North Central Austin, and then from October 17 - 22 1998 a massive local flooding event took place in San Antonio, San Marcos and Lockhart, Texas; after up to 22 inches of rain fell during the period October 17 & 18 (I actually measured 25 inches of rain in Oct 1998 at my house north of Lockhart). Furthermore there had been a flooding event just a month earlier in San Antonio that killed 13 people.
What happens afterwards of one of these exceptional rainfall events depends on where this precipitation falls and what is downstream. But these sorts of events are not rare, but are rather fairly regular, once every couple years, events in the overall Central Texas area.
In Item 3)., “ICE Barbie Dodges Blame ….” Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem blames what she calls “ancient systems” inherited from the Biden Administration.
In Item 4)., “ 'Call a thing what it is’: ….”, Seth Abramson a Trump biographer states that he:
“ …. directly blamed Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk for the deaths of more than 50 Texas in recent catastrophic flooding --- Arguing their politically driven decisions led to avoidable tragedy
“ 'I have no difficulty saying that Trump and Musk caused some of the 50+ flood deaths in Texas,' Abramson wrote in a widely shared thread on the social platform X.
“ 'And here's why: these two men with no expertise in disaster preparedness were told not to cut the positions they cut, and were told people would die if they did. And then people died,' he said.
In Item 5). “ 'DOGE has consequences': ….”, the article reports that:
“Now, the Daily Beast is reporting that "officials in Texas are casting blame on the National Weather Service (NWS) for failing to forecast catastrophic flooding that has killed" dozens of people, including nine kids, according to new reports.
“According to the Daily Beast:
“NWS was among the government agencies targeted by the Trump administration in its effort to gut the federal bureaucracy, losing approximately 600 staffers. After the cuts, the agency—which was already understaffed—began to prepare to offer 'degraded' forecasting services, facing 'severe shortages' of meteorologists, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times in April.' ” (Emphasis added) ….
“Former GOP lawmaker Adam Kinzinger, a frequent target of Trump, had this to say Saturday:
“ 'Regarding the flooding: GOP doesn’t want to fund the programs that predict these things, but they still want to blame the federal government for not predicting this.' ” (Emphasis added)
“ 'DOGE has consequences,' the ex-congressman said.”
Finally Item 6)., “MAGA Congressional Candidate ….”, reports from the lunatic far right that:
“A MAGA congressional candidate is facing backlash after spreading conspiracy theories about the deadly flash floods in Texas and calling them 'fake.'
“Kandiss Taylor, who is running to represent Georgia in the House of Representatives, posted on X Saturday: 'Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.' ”
Posted:
Updated:
AUSTIN (KXAN) — Paul Yura, the warning coordination meteorologist at the National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio office, has announced he has taken the early retirement offer as part of NOAA’s recent cuts to personnel and budget.
Yura has over 32 years experience, spending more than half of his career at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office. In the process, he gained tremendous experience understanding local weather patterns while ensuring timely warnings get disseminated to the public in a multitude of ways.
The warning coordination meteorologist (WCM) is a senior role at a local NWS office. According to NOAA, “The WCM coordinates the warning function of the office with the outside world. This would include heading the Skywarn Program, conducting spotter training and being a voice to the local media for the office.”
Only the ‘meteorologist in charge’ (MIC) has a higher position within a local office.
Yura’s retirement is part of an early retirement package offered to National Weather Service employees as the Trump Administration works to slash the budget at NWS and the larger NOAA organization.
In an e-mailed message to media partners, Yura said, “I cannot have asked for a more rewarding career that has spanned over 32 years, with over half of that career right here in South Central Texas as the WCM for the NWS Austin-San Antonio office. And while I am sad that it is ending a few years earlier than I had planned, the friendships and relationships that I have made while being your WCM cannot be replaced.”
As for a replacement to the WCM, the current hiring freeze, as mentioned by Yura in his message, may make filling that role more challenging.
This comes less than a week after several Regional Climate Center’s across the county had their funding “lapse” even though they were restarted again on Monday.
The importance of experience in the WCM role cannot be understated. Ensuring ample and timely warning to the Central Texas counties covered by NWS Austin/San Antonio is among the chief responsibilities.
Yura’s final date of employment, April 30, comes just before severe weather season in Central Texas typically peaks in the month of May.
Staffing at NWS Austin/San Antonio
According to the NWS Austin/San Antonio website, the office is already short two meteorologist positions currently listed as vacant. The positions of ‘lead meteorologist’ and ‘meteorologist’ remain open. Separately, NWS Austin/San Antonio have a vacant ‘electronics technician’ position.
Science Operations Officer also retiring
In addition to Yura, Science Operations Officer Jon Zeitler is also retiring on April 30, but it is not an early retirement as part of NOAA personnel cuts. Zeitler has worked at NWS Austin/San Antonio for the past two decades and across all types of impactful severe weather and winter weather events in this area.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — At least 82 people have been killed in catastrophic flash flooding across Texas, while several others remain missing.
Deaths have been confirmed in six counties, with the majority in Kerr County.
Kerr County: 68 dead, 11 missing
At least 68 people, including 28 children, were killed in Kerr County. In a Sunday afternoon update, Sheriff Larry Leitha said 10 girls remain missing from Camp Mystic, as well as one camp counselor.
Family members identified some of those killed. Austinite Michael McCown posted on Instagram that his daughter, Linnie, did not survive the flood at Camp Mystic. The family of camper Lila Bonner also confirmed to KXAN that she was among those killed in the flooding.
Travis County: 6 dead, 11-13 missing
Six deaths have been confirmed in Travis County after “an extremely deadly and destructive flood event,” County Judge Andy Brown said. The Sandy Creek area has been hardest hit.
Officials couldn’t give an exact number of missing people, but said it’s around 11-13, as of Sunday morning. Among the missing is a 17-year-old girl.
Burnet County: 3 dead, 3 missing
Three people were killed in flooding in Burnet County. The sheriff’s office identified one of them Sunday afternoon as Preston Prince.
Three others remain missing, including Michael Phillips, chief of Marble Falls Area Volunteer Fire Department. Four of the missing are believed to be in the Marble Falls area, while one is thought to be near Hamilton Creek in Burnet.
Kendall County: 2 dead
Two people were killed in Kendall County, according to the county’s Office of Emergency Management. Further details were not immediately available.
Williamson County: 2 dead, 1 missing
Two people have been confirmed killed in Williamson County, while one other remain missing. In a Sunday afternoon update, Sheriff Matt Lindemann said one of the victims was found trapped under a partially-submerged vehicle near County Road 284.
County officials later identified one of the victims at Kaitlyn Swallow, 22, from the Liberty Hill area.
Tom Green County: 1 dead
Officials in Tom Green County confirmed a 62-year-old woman was killed in the flooding. She was found in her vehicle after previously being reported missing, according to the City of San Angelo.
Rodolfo Gonzalez / Rodolfo Gonzalez/AP
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the Trump administration from suggestions that the delayed warning residents received during the tragic flash floods in Texas this week were insufficient.
While speaking at a press conference alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Saturday, Noem was asked by a reporter about whether the fact that he and many others did not receive warnings from the National Weather Service until 7 a.m. was a “fundamental failure of the federal government’s responsibility to keep people safe.” Noem argued that the technology was “ancient” and that the Trump administration is working to upgrade it.
“When President Trump took office… he said he wanted to fix [that], and is currently upgrading the technology. And the National Weather Service has indicated that with that and NOAA, that we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years, and that is the reforms that are ongoing,” Noem explained, seemingly shifting the blame onto previous administrations who failed to upgrade the technology. Trump was previously president from 2017 to 2021.
When asked about the impact of cuts and closures made to weather research labs as part of Trump’s “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Noem once again defended the current administration, telling reporters that she would relay their concerns to the president.
“I do carry your concerns back to the federal government, and to President Trump, and we will do all we can to fix those kind of things that that may have felt like a failure to you and to your community members,” Noem said. “We know that everybody wants more warning time, and that’s why we’re working to upgrade the technologies that been neglected [for] far too long.”
In addition to the cuts detailed in Trump’s tax bill, the Department of Government Efficiency cut hundreds of jobs at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service earlier this year.
A May report from NPR detailed how the NWS was left reeling by the cuts, with eight of the 122 NWS offices across the U.S. falling below the level of staffing that enables them to operate 24 hours a day, with a former NWS meteorologist telling host Scott Simon that the current situation was not sustainable.
“The National Weather Service is putting together plans to really help with this short-term challenge of short-staffing. But that’s really what it is—it’s a Band-Aid on the short-term challenge of that short-staffing,” meteorologist Brian LaMarre explained.
At least 47 people, including 15 children, have lost their lives in the floods. More than 20 young girls are still unaccounted for after their camp was flooded, and at least four of the young campers have been confirmed dead.
Rep. August Pfluger (R-TX) revealed on X that two of his daughters had been attending the camp, but had been safely evacuated.
“We want to thank the first responders who have come from far and wide to save lives,” he wrote. “The TX Division of Emergency Management has been incredible and the White House, DHS, FEMA, DPS and local officials have all been responsive and helpful.”
Last month, Trump announced plans to begin phasing out FEMA once the year’s hurricane season had ended, and that disaster relief funds would be distributed directly from the White House, telling reporters, “We’re going to give out less money.”
Just three weeks ago, Abbott was asked about Trump’s plan to do away with FEMA. Andrew Mahaleris, the governor’s press secretary, said his boss “has full confidence that the Texas Division of Emergency Management will be able to swiftly take action when disaster strikes.” On Saturday, Abbott confirmed that he has requested federal assistance to aid in the state’s recovery efforts.
The Daily Beast reached out to both the Department of Homeland Security and The White House for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
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CALL A THING WHAT IT IS
In a scathing social media post, Seth Abramson, biographer of President Donald Trump, directly blamed Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk for the deaths of more than 50 Texans in recent catastrophic flooding — arguing their politically driven decisions led to avoidable tragedy.
“I have no difficulty saying that Trump and Musk caused some of the 50+ flood deaths in Texas,” Abramson wrote in a widely shared thread on the social platform X.
“And here's why: these two men with no expertise in disaster preparedness were told not to cut the positions they cut, and were told people would die if they did. And then people died," he said.
Abramson’s remarks come amid growing scrutiny over public service cuts made in Republican-led states, where disaster readiness programs have been downsized or gutted.
In Texas, where flash floods have left at least 50 people dead, analysts and former emergency managers have raised concerns that early warning systems, regional FEMA coordination, and infrastructure resilience have been compromised due to staffing and budget reductions.
Abramson urged Democratic leaders to take a more forceful stance over the tragedy. “Democrats are never going to start winning elections again until they're willing to call a thing just what it is,” he wrote. “Texas Democrats should be clear and persistent in saying that public service cuts overseen by non-experts desperate for billionaire tax cuts killed people.”
He preemptively addressed Republican rebuttals accusing Democrats of politicizing tragedy. “And if Republicans respond by saying that Democrats are politicizing these deaths,” Abramson added, “the Democrats should respond: THAT'S BECAUSE THE DEATHS ARE POLITICAL. POLITICIANS CAUSED THEM.”
Abramson, who has written extensively on Trump’s business and political life, framed the Texas disaster as a warning of worse to come.
“A key reason we need to start having this conversation now—and why cowardly Democratic politicians need to get over their aversion to having this conversation—is because the number of dead attributable to Trump and Musk this year will be in the thousands or tens of thousands," he wrote in the X post.
The Texas floods, which resulted from unprecedented rainfall and infrastructure failures across several counties, are among the deadliest in recent state history. Emergency responders have said many deaths occurred in areas where early warning systems failed or where evacuation routes were unmaintained.
'DOGE has consequences': Fingers pointed at Trump admin after Texas flood deaths - NewsBreak
By David McAfee,
Donald Trump's administration is picking up some of the blame for recent deaths from flooding in Texas.
Trump's team already faced a fact check in connection with the Texas flood that swept through a girls' camp and has led to an estimated 27 deaths.
Now, the Daily Beast is reporting that "officials in Texas are casting blame on the National Weather Service (NWS) for failing to forecast catastrophic flooding that has killed" dozens of people, including nine kids, according to new reports.
According to the Daily Beast:
"NWS was among the government agencies targeted by the Trump administration in its effort to gut the federal bureaucracy, losing approximately 600 staffers. After the cuts, the agency—which was already understaffed—began to prepare to offer 'degraded' forecasting services, facing 'severe shortages' of meteorologists, according to an internal document obtained by The New York Times in April."'
The outlet goes on to quote Texas Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd, who pointed to bad data.
"The original forecast that we received Wednesday from the National Weather Service predicted 3-6 inches of rain in the Concho Valley and 4-8 inches in the Hill Country," according to the chief. "The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”
Others have noticed the connection between the Trump administration's cost-cutting efforts and the Texas tragedy, as well.
Former GOP lawmaker Adam Kinzinger, a frequent target of Trump, had this to say Saturday:
"Regarding the flooding: GOP doesn’t want to fund the programs that predict these things, but they still want to blame the federal government for not predicting this."
"DOGE has consequences," the ex-congressman said.
A MAGA congressional candidate is facing backlash after spreading conspiracy theories about the deadly flash floods in Texas and calling them “fake.”
Kandiss Taylor, who is running to represent Georgia in the House of Representatives, posted on X Saturday: “Fake weather. Fake hurricanes. Fake flooding. Fake. Fake. Fake.” Her bizarre post came as authorities searched for dozens of people who lost their lives in Texas’ flash floods. Of the 30 people confirmed dead so far, at least nine were children.
Around 25 campers from a nearby summer camp are still missing.
Taylor later posted her message again: “FAKE WEATHER. REAL DAMAGE.”
“This isn’t just ‘climate change.’ It’s cloud seeding, geoengineering, & manipulation,“ she added. ”If fake weather causes real tragedy, that’s murder. Pray. Prepare. Question the narrative.”
When she later added that tragedy had struck, someone in the comments called her out for walking back her earlier post. She wrote back: “I’m not walking back a thing. No one can control the way you raging liberals twist words. Brainwashed zombies.”
Taylor, who recently ran to be Georgia’s governor, was slammed by leaders across the nation.
“Do your job Georgia... Is this the best you have got?” wrote attorney Tracey Gallagher.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) added: “Hey Texas. What do you think of this? She’s running for congress as a Republican? Any thoughts?”
“Over two dozen dead and more children missing, and this candidate for Congress says the flooding in Texas is fake,” said retired intelligence officer Travis Akers.
“So the dead bodies floating in Texas are fake too? The homes ripped apart? The kids being pulled out of floodwater?” asked commentator Thomas Mix. “You’re a clown. Sit the hell down and stop embarrassing the human race. I guess not even Republicans care when Republicans are hit with natural disasters.”
Taylor, whose X bio reads: “Christian. Georgian. MAGA. Jesus, Guns & Babies,” also notes that she’s a candidate for Congress in 2026.
Her posts came one day after fatal, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet on Friday, washing away homes, sweeping aside vehicles, and killing dozens of nearby individuals.
Even President Donald Trump called the deaths in Texas “shocking.”
At least 850 people have been saved by rescue workers in the last 36 hours, said Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, including those “clinging to trees to save their lives.”
“Our Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, will be there shortly,” Trump said on Truth Social Saturday. “Melania and I are praying for all of the families impacted by this horrible tragedy.”
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