Turns out we need NOAA, FEMA, etc. : Texas tragedy

[RAMd®d]

"We didn't know this flood was coming," Kelly said. "Rest assured, no one knew this kind of flood was coming." .


WTF?!

How is that any kind of assurance.

Maybe he meant well, but he may just as well said 'Everybody dies'.

In reading the first NPR article, I see mention of the NWS posting advisories on X and none about using radio and TV.

Is it a given there were warnings on other media, so no mention, or did I miss that.

I do see local government saying 'Hey we put the word out but hey, we get flash floods all the time'.

Maybe it is the case of nobody saw this coming, but local government is so weaselly about this, that I just can't find any sympathy for them.

[RAMd®d]

"I'll tell you, if you look at that, what a situation that all is. And that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup," Trump added. "But I wouldn't blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe, and it's just so horrible to watch."  .


No, not you. 

You'd never blame Biden for something that wasn't his fault.

It's entirely possible, maybe possibly probable that his /DOGE ~600 job cuts had zero affect on this tragedy.

To me, it looks like local government had a choice on which side to err, and it didn't choose the side of caution.

[Acer]

Random thoughts:

I've spent a career running summer camps and getting kids into the woods. The nightmare this represents keeps everyone in the business awake at night. Because we can't predict or prevent every potential tragedy. This camp sat sleepily and safely along the river for 100 years. Should the owners be held accountable? Perhaps, but at least one of them died in the flood so we'll have to go after who's left, hopefully giving them time to bury their dead first.

A fully-staffed and funded weather department can't predict exactly over which river a given storm will park itself. We just don't have that level of science yet. AI may change all that, but in the meantime starving the department of funds or personnel, or farming it out so a for-profit can include its shareholders in the forecasting process is not going to help.

Cynically, the demographic of the families attending this camp will likely ensure a robust response.

[AllGold]

Texas lawmakers fail to pass a bill to improve local disaster warning systems:

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/07/06/...le-floods/

[special]

A GOP state lawmaker who represents Kerr County says he likely would vote differently now on House Bill 13, which would have established a grant program for counties to build new emergency communication infrastructure.

Likely? So he has blood on his hand and still not sure how he would vote?

[ThePosterFormallyKnownasbfd]

Random thoughts:

I've spent a career running summer camps and getting kids into the woods. The nightmare this represents keeps everyone in the business awake at night. Because we can't predict or prevent every potential tragedy. This camp sat sleepily and safely along the river for 100 years. Should the owners be held accountable? Perhaps, but at least one of them died in the flood so we'll have to go after who's left, hopefully giving them time to bury their dead first.

A fully-staffed and funded weather department can't predict exactly over which river a given storm will park itself. We just don't have that level of science yet. AI may change all that, but in the meantime starving the department of funds or personnel, or farming it out so a for-profit can include its shareholders in the forecasting process is not going to help.

Cynically, the demographic of the families attending this camp will likely ensure a robust response.

There are levels of cynicism … don't think your take is that cynical at all. Guaranteed if this were a different situation with a different color of campers we might be spared the worst of the hand-wringing and second-guessing. (now that's cynical…) 

One person who's already outspoken about this lost their job.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/artic...ity-board/

[Lemon Drop2]

Acer,
I agree with much of what you wrote.  I also have a lot of career/volunteer/parenting experience with summer camps. Including high adventure camps like Philmont Ranch in New Mexico, which is also prone to flash floods. 

But I disagree on giving the owners of Camp Mystic a pass.  The heroic man who died trying to save girls from drowning was the camp director, not an owner.  I can only imagine his terror. 

Other first responders, like the coast guard rescue swimmer credited with evacuation 165 girls, are remarkable heroes. Thank God for them. 

I've seen the images showing how close the youngest girls, hundreds of them, were sleeping to the riverbank. Less than 500 feet, and worse, at the same elevation as the non-flooded river.  This area is called "flash flood alley" and in 1987, 10 teens were killed in a flash flood there.  This is not the first time this river has flooded at the height it did on July 4.   It was wreckless to have hundreds of very young girls sleeping that close to a major flood hazard.  Ironically the older, stronger girl campers were sleeping at higher ground.  They are all safe. 

Before that camp is allowed to reopen, I sincerely hope they move the cabins to higher ground further from the river and develop better emergency preparedness plans.

[rgG]

Before that camp is allowed to reopen, I sincerely hope they move the cabins to higher ground further from the river and develop better emergency preparedness plans.

I doubt that camp will ever reopen. The number of lawsuits that will be/have already been filed will surely put it out of business.