Trump Cuts at NWS Linked to Deadly Texas Floods

Grieving Texans are pointing fingers at the National Weather Service (NWS) following the deadly floods that hit the region. The NWS had only five staff members on duty as severe thunderstorms formed over Texas, which critics argue was inadequate given the severity of the weather event. The floods resulted in the deaths of at least 80 people, including more than two dozen girls and counselors attending a summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Current and former NWS officials defended the agency, highlighting the urgent flash flood warnings issued in the pre-dawn hours before the river rose. Brian LaMarre, a retired meteorologist-in-charge of the NWS forecast office in Tampa, Florida, praised the agency's response, stating that the catastrophic flash flood warning demonstrated the meteorologists' awareness and urgency. However, questions remain about the level of coordination and communication between the NWS and local officials during the disaster.

The Trump administration has implemented deep staffing cuts at the NWS, with nearly half of the 122 NWS field offices nationwide and at least a half dozen no longer staffed 24 hours a day. Hundreds of experienced forecasters and senior managers were encouraged to retire early. The White House has also proposed slashing the budget of the NWS's parent agency by 27% and eliminating federal research centers focused on studying the world’s weather, climate, and oceans.

Democrats have pressed the Trump administration for details about the cuts, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanding an inquiry into whether staffing shortages contributed to the catastrophic loss of life in Texas. Meanwhile, President Trump has stated that the job eliminations did not hamper any weather forecasting, claiming that the raging waters were a sudden and unexpected event.

Former federal officials and experts have warned that Trump’s job reductions at the NWS and other weather-related agencies could result in a brain drain, imperiling the federal government’s ability to issue timely and accurate forecasts. Such predictions are crucial for saving lives, particularly for those in the path of quick-moving storms. Louis Uccellini, a meteorologist who served as NWS director under three presidents, including during Trump’s first term, expressed concern that the staffing shortages could lead to missed forecasts and warnings.

The cuts follow a decade-long Republican effort to dismantle and privatize many of the duties of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the agency within the Commerce Department that includes the NWS. The reductions have come as Trump has handed top public posts to officials with ties to private companies that stand to profit from hobbling the taxpayer-funded system for predicting the weather. Project 2025, the conservative governing blueprint, calls for further commercializing the weather service.

Chronic staffing shortages have led to curtailments in the frequency of regional forecasts and weather balloon launches needed to collect atmospheric data. In April, the weather service abruptly ended translations of its forecasts and emergency alerts into languages other than English, including Spanish, though the service was soon reinstated after public outcry. NOAA’s main satellite operations center briefly appeared on a list of surplus government real estate set to be sold, and Trump’s proposed budget seeks to shutter key facilities for tracking climate change.

On June 25, NOAA announced that the U.S. Department of Defense would no longer process or transmit data from three weather satellites crucial to accurately predicting the path and strength of hurricanes at sea. LaMarre, now a private consultant, warned that removing data from the defense satellite could reduce the quality of life-saving warnings. Despite a broad freeze on federal hiring, NOAA announced last month it would seek to fill more than 100 “mission-critical field positions” and plug holes at some regional weather offices by reassigning staff.

Uccellini and the four prior NWS directors who served under Democratic and Republican presidents criticized the Trump cuts in an open letter issued in May, stating that the administration’s actions resulted in the departures of about 550 employees, an overall reduction of more than 10 percent. They warned that NWS staff would have an impossible task to continue its current level of services, expressing concern that understaffed weather forecast offices could lead to needless loss of life.

Experts worry that the cuts could result in a patchwork system where taxpayers finance the operation of satellites and collection of atmospheric data but are left to pay private services that would issue forecasts and severe weather warnings. This arrangement could lead to delays or missed emergency alerts, resulting in avoidable deaths. D. James Baker, who served as NOAA’s administrator during the Clinton administration, questioned whether private forecasting companies would provide the public with services that don’t generate profits, raising concerns about the viability of such a system.

While the National Hurricane Center in Miami has been largely spared staff reductions, professionals who depend on federal forecasts and data have expressed profound worry about the quality of future forecasts. Longtime South Florida TV meteorologist John Morales warned that the Trump administration cuts meant he might not be able to provide as accurate forecasts for hurricanes as he had in years past, citing staffing shortfalls of between 20% and 40% at NWS offices from Tampa to Key West. He urged his audience to call their congressional representatives to address the issue.