AI6YR Ben
@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago

KXAN Meteorologist Jim Spencer:

"I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning."

#disaster#TXwx

facebook Open app & kxan.com/weather @ Jim Spencer & < 6h - Q I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning. O % 0O Michol Springer and 2.2K others d5 2.2K () 454
facebook Open app & kxan.com/weather @ Jim Spencer & < 6h - Q I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning. O % 0O Michol Springer and 2.2K others d5 2.2K () 454
facebook Open app & kxan.com/weather @ Jim Spencer & < 6h - Q I'll keep my thoughts on that press conference to myself, but my phone is blowing up with friends asking me if federal cuts and hiring freezes contributed to this disaster to begin with. Currently at our local National Weather Service office, due to early retirement packages to reduce its budget/personnel and a hiring freeze there are: *Warning and Coordination Meteorologist position open (yes they coordinate Warnings) *2 open meteorologists positions (yes they are on call 24(7) *Hydrologist position open (yes, they project floods) *Electronic Tech position open *Manager position open So, | don’t know — you tell me. Look up Josh Hinkle and David Barer's investigation on our website. They've done fantastic, rapid work and are only just beginning. O % 0O Michol Springer and 2.2K others d5 2.2K () 454
Diane
@alienghic@timeloop.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@ai6yr

Actually to toss in another explanation for the Texas disaster.

One reason for Texas' cheaper housing is they weren't paying any attention to where the flood plains are.

Apparently after Harvey they finally completed their first state wide flooding plain analysis in 2023, and found 20% of the state lives in a flood plain.

"Almost 6 million Texans, or about 20% of the population, live in an area susceptible to flooding, according to first-of-its-kind data gathered as part of a statewide effort to harden Texas against floods and rising sea levels."

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/07/28/texas-floodplain-water-development-board-flood-plan/
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@EricFielding@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@alienghic @ai6yr The flood zone risks are a huge problem. In the hilly area around Kerrville, Texas, there is not much land that is not too steep to build on and is not in the flood plains. This is the same problem they have in the mountains of North Carolina, West Virginia, and Kentucky that have had catastrophic floods.
Dr. Eric J. Fielding, PhD
@EricFielding@mastodon.social  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@alienghic @ai6yr There are at least two blog posts on Substack where people say that the NWS was able to do their predictions of this event despite the staff reductions, but the NOAA research on how to make the predictions better will be zeroed out in the President's Budget Request for FY26.
https://theeyewall.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-the-weather-that
https://substack.com/inbox/post/167593068
Diane
@alienghic@timeloop.cafe  ·  activity timestamp 2 weeks ago
@EricFielding @ai6yr

Yale climate connections also seems to think the NWS issued the alerts with time for warning and of sufficient severity.

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2025/07/devastating-flash-floods-slam-texas-hill-country-tropical-storm-chantal-heads-for-carolinas/

Though they do mention.

"It remains unclear whether or how the overnight warnings made it to the people most at risk – a classic 'last-mile problem.'"

Over here in California when faced with wildfire eventually the police or sheriffs get sent out to tell people to evacuate, did they do that? (Though considering how fast this event happened was that even possible?)

Also were there power outages before the flooding? Does Texas require cell towers to have battery back up? Since this apparently happened in hilly terrain, how bad is phone coverage in the region, did people even get the alerts?