4 hours ago
5
Texas reeling aft floods arsenic decease toll rises
President Trump confirmed Monday that helium volition sojourn Texas connected Friday, aft more than 100 people person been confirmed dormant successful catastrophic floods.
The president confirmed the sojourn to reporters Monday evening, calling the flooding successful Central Texas a "terrible event."
Mr. Trump said Sunday that helium is readying connected going to Central Texas. He said helium would person gone Sunday but helium would beryllium "in their way," referring to rescuers.
Historic rainfall fell past week successful Central Texas, with the Guadalupe River rising 25 feet successful 45 minutes astir 4:30 a.m. connected Friday, July 4. At slightest 84 of the confirmed fatalities are successful Kerr County, Texas, including astatine slightest 27 astatine Camp Mystic, a summertime campy on the river.
Last week, Mr. Trump signed a catastrophe declaration for the region.
The decease toll is much than Hurricane Harvey, which drenched Houston and Texas' Gulf Coast with up to 50 inches of rainfall successful immoderate areas implicit 4 days and straight led to the deaths of 68 radical successful the state. Harvey caused much than $150 cardinal successful damage, making it 1 of the costliest earthy disasters successful history.
With the July 4 rainfall, a CBS News investigation of the exigency upwind alerts successful the authorities of Texas recovered determination were 22 warnings from the National Weather Service for Kerr County and the Kerrville area, wherever the astir catastrophic flooding occurred.
Bob Fogarty, a National Weather Service meteorologist successful the San Antonio office, told CBS News that the bureau had much than its accustomed staffing owed to the oncoming storm. The staffing numbers were besides noted by Tom Fahy, the legislative manager for the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the national that represents upwind work workers.
But Fahy noted that the vacancy complaint astatine some the San Antonio and the San Angelo offices was treble what was successful January 2025, erstwhile Mr. Trump took office. Fahy besides said the presumption of informing coordinator successful San Antonio was vacant arsenic of July 4.
When Mr. Trump was asked Sunday if the national authorities affected the National Weather Service, helium answered, "they didn't."
Caroline Linton is an subordinate managing exertion connected the governmental squad for CBSNews.com. She has antecedently written for The Daily Beast, Newsweek and amNewYork.
English (US) ·