Weather Service Staffing ‘Clearly a Concern’ Ahead of Deadly Texas Floods

The National Weather Service (NWS) has published timely forecasts and warnings before Friday’s catastrophic floods in the center of Texas, but long -standing endowment problems, including non -filled management positions – have been the cause of weather professionals.

Why it matters

The devastating floods in the regions of the county of Kerr and neighboring killed at least 37 people, including 14 children, and left much more. The NWS, responsible for the issue of critical warnings which can save lives, recently underwent hundreds of layoffs following economic directives of the Ministry of Government (DOGE).

The agency lost around 560 workers earlier this year, raising questions about resilience and system capacity to operate at full power during potentially fatal events. The endowment levels, in particular at the levels of management and higher forecasts, were examined while the country enters the hurricanes season in the forecasts of an increased storm activity.

Chronology of disaster and response NWS

Tom Fahy, Legislative Director of NWS employees organization, told NBC News that, although local forecast offices were sufficiently endowed with personnel during the crisis, vacancies were “clearly a concern”.

Friday, catastrophic floods struck the center of Texas while the Guadalupe river jumped more than 20 to 26 feet in 90 minutes, causing a general devastation and forcing mass evacuations.

Some officials challenged the forecast warning, which they think was far from the flood levels that occurred. The Chief of the Emergency Management of Texas, Nim Kidd, told journalists on Saturday that “everyone has obtained the forecasts of the National Weather Service, right? You all have it, you are all in the media, you have obtained these forecasts. This did not predict the amount of rain that we saw.”

The NWS office in Austin / San Antonio carried out forecasting briefings for emergency management on July 3, issued a watch to the flood at 1:18 p.m. and intensified for the warnings of lightning floods in the night and early in the morning, offering more than three hours of discharge before the flood reaches the critical thresholds.

The NWS said Nowsweek In a declaration sent by email according to which the first flash flood warning for the event was published at 11:41 p.m. on July 3 for the Bandera county, but had expressed flood watches from 1:18 p.m. Thursday until Friday morning. The NWS has issued subsequent warnings and an emergency of sudden floods for Kerr county in the early hours of July 4.

The Mether Prediction Center (WPC) has published three discussions on Meso-scale precipitation for the excessive precipitation event from 6:10 p.m. Thursday indicating the sudden flood potential, the agency said.

The first reports of the Kerr County flood office with low level passages had 201 minutes of delay (4 h 35 cdt). The warning of lightning floods has been improved in an emergency of sudden floods for the South Center of Kerr, including Hunt, from 4:03 am on Friday.

Current endowment challenges

The NWS has recognized the current endowment shortages resulting from federal layoffs and early retirements instituted by DOGE.

At the beginning of the summer, the agency tried to fill 155 vacant forecast positions, including 76 meteorologists, some of which are in regions subject to storms like Texas. The NWS has deployed temporary assignments and staff reallocations to compensate for critical operational gaps, while looking for candidates to fill permanent critical positions.

Despite these challenges, the Local NWS offices in Texas have expressed a timely warning before the floods. However, Fahy stressed the persistent risk, saying: “WFOS [weather forecasting offices] Had adequate staff and resources because they have published forecasts and warnings in a timely leading to the storm, “even if he noted that the roles of vacant leadership posed a current problem.

The latest layoffs affected employees through the divisions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including the NWS and the National Hurricane Center. Earlier this year, representative Jared Huffman, a California Democrat, described the cuts as endangered by public security by reducing the ability to forecast meteorological forecasting.

Debate rages online

Perhaps the most bizarre turn in the entire debate took place on X, formerly Twitter, where some users have asked the artificial intelligence of the platform (AI), Grok, on the statements that the Doge Cutts may have exacerbated the problems to which the NWS and the NOAA. Musk, who ran down until his return to the private sector at the end of May, also has X and uses regularly and promotes grok on the platform.

When a user asked Grok: “Did Trump and Dogi cut to Noha and the National Weather Service contributed to the tragedy in Texas?” The AI ​​replied: “While Trump and Doge implemented important discounts at the NOAA and NWS at the beginning of 2025 – including a 20% reduction in the staff and the interrupted meteorological models – these probably altered forecasts for the extreme floods of Texas.

In another response, Grok said: “No excuses – the facts. The NOAA cuts initiated by DOGE began in June 2025, including 10% of staff and interrupted operations (by Axios, PBS). NWS Warning for the flood was issued but underestimated precipitation by 20 to 30% by experts (Nyt, Guardian).

What people say

The National Weather Service in a declaration at Newsweek: “”The National Weather Service has the heart broken by the tragic loss of life in the county of Kerr. On July 3, the NWS office in Austin / San Antonio, TX, carried out forecast briefings for emergency management in the morning and published flood monitoring in the early afternoon. Flash flood warnings were issued on the night of July 3 and early in the morning of July 4, giving preliminary deadlines of more than three hours before the satisfaction of the warning criteria. “”

He added: “The National Weather Service remains attached to our mission to serve the American public through our forecasts and decision -making services.”

Tom Fahy, Legislative Director of the NWS Employee Organization, told NBC News: “WFOS [weather forecasting offices] Had adequate staff and resources because they have expressed timely forecasts and warnings leading to the storm, “said Fahy, adding that the unable management positions were” clearly a concern “.