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India Today
  • 7/7/2025
After more than 80 lives were lost, critics are linking Trump’s proposed cuts to weather agencies with delays in forecasts and warnings.

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Transcript
00:00Okay, my house is flooding. Anybody out there?
00:04Did Trump's budget cuts drown Texas?
00:06Now, this video went viral.
00:08A family stranded as raging floodwaters
00:10go through Central Texas on July 4th.
00:13They can't come look.
00:14We've lost our cars, everything.
00:17This, we've lived here for 30 years and this has never happened.
00:20Thankfully, they were rescued.
00:22But the floods had claimed at least 80 lives by July 7th.
00:25Now, critics of President Trump are blaming budget and staff cuts
00:29at this agency called the National Weather Service.
00:31The White House called those accusations shameful and disgusting.
00:35Here's the context.
00:36Even before the tragedy, the Trump administration's budget for 2026
00:39had proposed cuts to NOAA,
00:42the agency that runs the National Weather Service there.
00:44That included shutting down some weather research labs
00:47and laying off hundreds at NOAA and the National Weather Service.
00:51Now, meteorologists say the cuts have already reduced
00:54the number of weather balloons by about 20%,
00:56which hurts forecasts.
00:58On the morning of the floods, the New York Times reported
01:01critical NWS positions were vacant.
01:03Some experts wondered if the shortages slowed down warnings and response.
01:08But not everyone agrees.
01:09A member of the NWS employees organization told NBC,
01:13the WFOs had adequate staffing and resources
01:15as they issued timely forecasts and warnings.
01:18An NWS meteorologist in the region told AP
01:21they actually had extra staff on duty,
01:23five instead of the usual two.
01:25So, were these deadly floods a failure of staffing, funding
01:28or just a brutal act of nature?
01:31That debate is still raging even as Texas starts to recover.
01:34What do you think?
01:35Could better funding have saved lives in Texas?
01:37Tell us in the comments.
01:39I'm Anusha Dikari.
01:40First things fast.

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