Texas floods: Catastrophic floods in Texas have claimed at least 51 lives, while more than 25 girls remain missing, according to authorities. Rescue operations are underway across the state as emergency teams race against time. In a viral video circulating on X (formerly Twitter), officials have blamed the Trump administration’s National Weather Service (NWS) for the failed weather forecast, attributing it to cost cuts and halted funding by the DOGE, a department once headed by Elon Musk.
At a press conference on Friday, Texas Emergency Management Chief W Nim Kidd stated, “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.” He added, “The amount of rain that fell at this specific location was never in any of those forecasts.”
As Texas officials point to the National Weather Service failing to predict the amount of rain that caused this tragedy, it’s fair to wonder if the cuts made to the dept that many warned about played a role here.
(Now add FEMA cuts & hospital closures) pic.twitter.com/PBhUYJUUG3
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) July 5, 2025
Echoing this sentiment, Kerrville City Manager Dalton Rice explained that the devastating flash floods occurred because the skies “dumped more rain than what was forecasted” on two of the river’s forks.
This comes after Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) made significant cost cuts to several departments in the administration. This led to a reduction of staff by nearly 600 staffers at the NWS. The agency was facing “degraded” forecasting services and “severe shortages” of meteorologists, as per a New York Times report from April.
Netizens call out ‘blame-game’
However, users online did not take this blame game well and continued to assert that weather forecasts have often been wrong. Not negating the job cuts, but they disagreed with the Texan officials. The comment section echoed a similar feeling, calling the accusations politically motivated.
As per a user @brsprin, the residents received an alert on July 3 of a flash flood warning. The alert warned of seven inches of rain.
Texas Floods
The flash flood in Kerr County has killed at least 51 people, including 15 children. Authorities have not disclosed the official count of missing persons apart from the children from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp along a river in Kerr County, from where most of the dead bodies were recovered.
The destructive, fast-moving waters rose 26 feet (8 meters) on the Guadalupe River in just 45 minutes before daybreak Friday, washing away homes and vehicles. The danger was not over as rains continued pounding communities outside San Antonio on Saturday and flash flood warnings and watches remained in effect.