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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Comment
Rebecca Solnit

Don’t blame the National Weather Service for the Texas flood disaster

National Weather Service NWS Texas Flood Ted Cruz Wired National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration United States
two people wearing neon vests peer over bridge
‘There were two opposing reasons to blame this vital government service.’ Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Why exactly so many people drowned in the terrible Independence Day floods that swept through Texas’s Hill Country will probably have multiple explanations that will take a while to obtain. But it’s 2025, and people want answers immediately, and lots of people seized on stories blaming the National Weather Service (NWS).

There were two opposing reasons to blame this vital government service. For local and state authorities, blaming a branch of the federal government was a way of avoiding culpability themselves. And for a whole lot of people who deplore the Trump/Doge cuts to federal services, including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and the National Weather Service, the idea that the NWS failed served to underscore how destructive those cuts are.

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