The victims of catastrophic flooding in Texas were still being found, the dead were still being counted, and families were still looking for loved ones when Democrats began throwing around baseless charges and blaming President Donald Trump. They instantaneously politicized the disaster by suggesting it was due to staff shortages caused by cuts the administration has been making.
Democratic strategist David Axelrod cranked up the partisan messaging machine Sunday morning, calling the flooding “a canary in a coal mine” while linking to a story claiming “key roles” at the National Weather Service were vacant when the rains hit. ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos, fresh off of paying $15 million for falsely claiming Trump raped a woman, then went on to claim “significant staffing shortfalls” that may have made the disaster worse.
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This was followed up by a letter Monday from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling on Department of Commerce acting Inspector General Roderick Anderson (the National Weather Service is in the Commerce Department) to “open an investigation into the scope, breadth, and ramifications of whether staffing shortages at key local National Weather Service stations contributed to the catastrophic loss of life and property during the deadly flooding.”
But we already know the San Antonio NWS office was staffed with three extra meteorologists Thursday and Friday, for a total of five meteorologists on duty, precisely because NWS knew heavy rains and flash flooding were possible. A flood watch for the affected area was issued at about 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, 15 hours before the flooding, and a flash flood warning was issued at about 1:15 a.m. Friday morning, more than three hours before the Guadalupe River crested. We already know that the NWS did what was needed to warn people in the area. The cynical call for an investigation is a Democratic ploy to smear its political opponents with the blood of a terrible event.
The reality is that Friday morning’s storm hit at the worst possible time, when most people were sleeping, and delivered a generational but not record-setting deluge of 21 inches of rain in the span of 24 hours. More than 80 people died in the flooding, including 27 people, many of them children, at Camp Mystic, a girls summer camp on the Guadalupe River in Kerr County.
As appalling as the loss of life was, however, even the strongest critics of Trump’s spending reductions, such as meteorologist Matt Lanza, said there was no link between the two. “In this particular case, we have seen absolutely nothing to suggest that current staffing or budget issues within NOAA and the NWS played any role at all in this event. Anyone using this event to claim that is being dishonest,” Lanza wrote Saturday. “In fact, weather balloon launches played a vital role in forecast messaging on Thursday night as the event was beginning to unfold.”
To the extent more could have been done to save lives this weekend, the proper focus seems likely to be on proposals for a flood warning siren system along the river, such as a tornado warning system, that might have alerted more people that danger levels were rising while they slept. Local voters decided not to spend on such costly infrastructure, a choice that may be revisited soon.
In contrast to the erroneous and reprehensible recriminations of the Democrats, United States Coast Guard Petty Officer Scott Ruskan emerged as a true American hero this weekend. The aviation survival technician reportedly rescued approximately 165 people at the Camp Mystic site, acting as the only first responder available to move campers and staff to higher, safer ground.
May Ruskan and his bravery be what people remember from this tragedy, not the petty partisan point-scoring of the Democratic Party.