With the number of confirmed dead in the flooding disaster in Texas topping 100 people and rising, questions are being asked about what more could have been done to limit the death toll. Specifically, some have pointed fingers at the National Weather Service, claiming it failed to warn of the severe weather in time, and there are concerns that cuts to the NWS and other federal agencies will continue to have negative effects as time goes by.

Death toll tops 100 while fingers are pointed at the National Weather Service

As CNN reported, the death toll from the Texas floods has reached at least 119 people. This includes over two dozen campers and counselors at a Christian summer camp, per journalist Kirstin Garris via her Here’s The Deal with KG newsletter, and at least 150 other people in the Kerr County area are still missing or unaccounted for in the aftermath of the flood. With the scale of the flooding catching many people off guard, local officials and Democrats have pointed toward cuts made by the Trump administration to the National Weather Service and its parent organization, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Texas officials have said that the forecast from the NWS vastly underestimated the amount of rain, while Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, have called for an investigation into the role that cuts to the NWS played in the lack of preparation for the storms.

Texas officials blame the NWS (national weather service) for a faulty forecast in the deadly flood disaster.

Say it out loud
-Who fired NOAA staff
-Who defunded the NWS

Hands up if you predicted this would happen✋🏼 pic.twitter.com/szGxQQSRgV
— BlueDream (@58bugeye) July 5, 2025

Staff cuts may have left NWS underprepared

The Associated Press reported that the National Weather Service lost nearly 600 employees this year due to layoffs and early retirement offers implemented by the Trump administration. The cuts led to a scramble last month to refill over 100 of these positions. Mary Glackin, who once served as undersecretary for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), said in June that the country had entered “a severe weather season, and I know that’s put quite a strain on the system,” per The Associated Press. Glackin said that “it’s not a good time to be understaffed,” warning that it could take months to fill the advertised positions and that the current hiring process was “kind of putting a band-aid on a rather large wound.”

Trump administration defends itself; Democrats warn against more cuts

The National Weather Service and the Trump administration, meanwhile, have attempted to defend the agency’s performance. The NWS pointed out that it did issue numerous weather and flood warnings, though critics question whether or not the messages were received by the right people due to staffing cuts and the timing of the messages, which sometimes went out in the early hours of the morning. Trump and his allies, meanwhile, have rejected the idea that staffing and budget cuts were responsible for the loss of life in Texas, instead blaming the unusually severe weather and even suggesting that former President Joe Biden could be responsible. Democrats and other critics have not backed down, though, warning that other changes, such as Trump’s proposal to completely eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency, might exacerbate future disasters. Schumer recently said of the flooding that “as communities rebuild, today would be a good day for Donald Trump to back away from his threats to dismantle FEMA.”

Sen. Chuck Schumer said that the floods in Texas should send a clear message to President Trump and his desire to cut FEMA. pic.twitter.com/K7F2NhESE9
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) July 9, 2025

It remains to be seen whether or not this disaster will prompt the Trump administration to reverse course on its cuts to key government agencies. For Texas, it is still dealing with the full impact of the tragic disaster while Washington seeks to figure out who, if anyone, is responsible for what happened and what can be done for the future.

death toll rising

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