The floods that ripped through Central Texas were not merely destructive—they were a direct result of failed leadership. More than 100 lives lost. Twenty-seven children drowned at Camp Mystic. Entire communities were obliterated. And the most pressing question still resounds: Could this have been prevented? Yes. And we know exactly why it wasn’t.

The Trump administration, empowered by a Republican-controlled Congress, deliberately slashed nearly 40% of NOAA’s budget—crippling America’s forecasting infrastructure. These cuts eliminated core technologies and resulted in the layoff of 560 National Weather Service employees, including key coordination experts in Texas. Among those gutted were Warning Coordination Meteorologists, the professionals responsible for translating raw forecast data into targeted, life-saving public alerts. When Texas needed them most, they weren’t there—because the federal government chose not to fund them.

And the damage didn’t stop at forecasting. The administration also canceled $4.5 billion in FEMA’s BRIC disaster mitigation grants—money that would have funded flood warning systems and protective infrastructure in high-risk communities. Kerr County was one of those communities. No outdoor sirens. No IPAWS alerts. Camp Mystic received no warning at all. Survivors were left to face deadly waters with no signal, no time, and no help.

IPAWS—the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System—is designed to push emergency alerts to phones, TVs, radios, and public systems. It works only when local and state agencies activate it. Kerr County had access to IPAWS. They failed to use it. While Governor Greg Abbott doesn’t directly control IPAWS, he is fully responsible for overseeing the Texas Division of Emergency Management, funding flood infrastructure, and prioritizing public warning capabilities. He failed. Bills to improve Texas’s alert systems were stalled or sidelined under his watch. Warnings that could have saved dozens of lives were never sent.

These failures are not technical mistakes. They are political choices. They reflect an agenda to privatize forecasting, silence climate science, and erode emergency preparedness. Congress could have pushed back. So could state leaders. Instead, they stood behind the cuts—and behind the silence.

Let’s be clear: NWS forecasters issued alerts. The science was sound. But with no staff to activate the warnings and no systems to deliver them, those alerts were useless. The pipeline between prediction and protection was deliberately severed.

The stakes are rising. The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season began on June 1 and runs through November 30. NOAA predicts an above-average season. Texas’s warning systems remain fragmented and underfunded. The same disaster could strike again, and next time, the toll could be even worse.

Texas deserves better. America deserves better. Our survival in times of crisis demands competent leadership, functional infrastructure, and unflinching investment in public safety.

Weather warnings are not bureaucratic fluff. They are essential. Undermine them, and you don’t just invite chaos—you ensure catastrophe.

This wasn’t just a natural disaster. It was a political failure with a death toll. And if we don’t hold our leaders accountable, the next tragedy is already waiting.

We cannot afford silence. Not from our leaders—and not from ourselves. Every time a flood warning fails, every time a siren isn’t installed, the next tragedy inches closer. If these lives mattered, say so. Write your officials. Demand funding. Call for investigations. Let this be the moment we stop treating emergency preparedness as optional. Because if we don’t, then the next loss won’t be a surprise. It will be a choice.