Children’s camps wiped out by floods.
The people running these camps, from counselors on upwards (if they survived), should be charged with negligent homicide for not heeding the warnings. Every parent should get one good whack with a sick on each of them as long as they survive.
Low-lying children’s camps flooded, leading to dozens of dead and missing.
Say a prayer for those missing children and their families. It doesn’t look good.
It’s a heartbreaking situation. From what I’ve read, there wasn’t much warning to heed — flood watches were issued the night of July 3, and flash flood warnings came shortly after midnight. In some areas, people had less than an hour before the Guadalupe River surged over 20 feet. That’s well beyond typical flash flood expectations.
There’s also growing scrutiny over how prior cuts to the National Weather Service — especially staffing and forecasting tools — may have impacted early detection and communication. Several experts raised those concerns months ago.
For me, first thoughts are with the families — it’s hard to imagine the grief. There’ll be time to understand what went wrong and whether anyone acted negligently, but right now I just feel for those affected and hope for survivors.
“For me, first thoughts are with the families” except the first thing you stated was about the budget cuts….so it wasn’t your first thought… You just used this reply to make your political statement then thought about the kids and their families.
Nice how you get your digs in on the budget cuts…..But that is BULLSHIT:
I live in the Chicago area, and even here, at least 48 hours before, they advised that there would be heavy rainfall over mid-south Texas. So the budget cuts had no effect on the forecasting. Stop with that kind of bullshit. Again you are LYING. Either stop it I will ban you. You know and I know that the NWS still functioned just as well as before. Your agenda is showing.
If you weren’t paying attention, then that’s on you, weather wise. Those people running the camps had a responsibility and they failed. Warnings were issued 24+ hours beforehand in Kerr county.
Dude, I like dissenting viewpoints, but your agenda driven lying and political grandstanding is too much. Either get with the program or leave…There is no place for weasels here.
I’m not here to rewrite timelines or win point-for-point. I just don’t want a tragedy to turn into a blame game before the facts are even sorted out. I think most people — parents especially — are wondering how to keep this from happening again, not just who to punish. That’s where I was coming from.
Backtrack all you want, that isn’t even close to what you wrote.
You can dance all you want, but first reread your own words in the comment.
You chose to say that the NWS failed to warn because of Trump Budget cuts, then and only after that, did you choose to say nice words about the families and the missing kids.
Now you want to weasel-word your way out of that, but too late.
I haven’t backtracked — I’ve clarified. There’s a difference.
I pointed out that the flooding was fast, warnings came very late, and that some experts have raised concerns about whether weather service capacity has kept up with climate volatility. That’s not the same as blaming NWS or assigning political fault.
I also said — and meant — that first thoughts should be with the families. I’d stand by that in any conversation, anywhere. If that comes across as “weaseling,” that’s disappointing, but I won’t apologize for trying to approach a hard subject with some care.
You “clarified” like the Media “clarified” what they meant about Joe Biden’s dementia.
When caught, you danced and tried to change what you said,
You lied and you tried to blame the nonexistent failure of the National Weather Service for the failure of the camp operations top properly prepare, attempting to use this tragedy to make some political gain.
Now you lie and claim you are “Clarifying”
Yer a weasel.
If you really were worried about the families, that would have been firs, not later, as an afterthought in your original comment.
Yer a turd and a weasel.
I’ve been around long enough to know that when people don’t like a message, they often go after the messenger. I get it. But I didn’t lie — I shared what I understood about the timeline of alerts and noted that others had raised concerns about budget cuts affecting forecasting. That’s not a political agenda. It’s a piece of the broader conversation, like pointing out variables in a complex event.
As for when I expressed concern for the families — I don’t think compassion has to come in a specific order to be genuine. I said what I felt, and I stand by it.
I know you’re angry. But anger doesn’t make your interpretation correct — or my intentions malicious. If being here means everything I say will be twisted into a bad-faith reading, I’m happy to step aside. No hard feelings.
Maybe it should be pointed that the “budget cuts” don’t go into effect until October?
Good point and you’re right that the official FY2025 budget changes aren’t slated to go into effect until October — but in practice, the NWS has already been feeling the squeeze for months, if not years.
Staffing shortages, hiring freezes, and unfilled vacancies aren’t future possibilities — they’re current realities. By some estimates, the NWS has already been operating with around 20% fewer meteorologists than it needs. The Dallas-Fort Worth office itself had been flagged as severely understaffed as early as spring 2024. That’s not speculation. That’s documented.
So, yes — maybe the headline cuts kick in this fall. But the actual capacity to provide timely, granular warnings in high-risk areas has already been compromised. That’s not a partisan claim — that’s been raised by former NWS officials, union reps, and emergency response partners across the country. It’s why there’s growing national and international concern. Also worth noting: the affected area had no flood warning sirens.
When we blame camp staff or parents for “not reacting,” we have to ask: React to what? If alerts didn’t come through clearly, quickly, or with enough lead time to act, then pointing fingers at victims becomes a convenient deflection from a deeper, systemic failure.
And there ya go: the words the sort of words every weasel uses to say what they want to say without taking responsibility….:
“others had raised concerns about budget cuts affecting forecasting” Of course, you were just repeating those words, you have no responsibility for them, right? Weasel
You “shared your concerns about what you understood about the timelines”…Not that you ever bothered to actually LOOK at the timelines, you just shared your concerns. Not your fault, again. Weasel
The Families were an afterthought.
You are a turd, and weasel. I have never banned anyone in all my years of blogging no matter how much I disagreed with them, and I really don’t wish to do so now, But you are coming closer to being the first one banned with every comment.
Hey B…..we the “normals” have given Illinoisians multiple warnings about voting the way y’all do. We warned ya it would lead to folks like Pritzker et al., high taxes and increased crime. And you chose to ignore those warnings. Get yourself out of that area…..there hows that for an “early-warning system”?
Oh and get your anger in check. You sound plenty stressed out.
Not in Illinois, but in the Chicago area media wise.
I’m not stressed, I just hate weasels like RJ.
Prayers up for them and the families.
A lot of things came together that, collectively, allowed the tragedy to happen.
1: The camp was built on a flood-plain. The land was cheap because it could not be developed. It was probably wooded. Water is a natural attraction. Lots of moral hazard.
2: Staff at youth camps are typically very young. They are high school kids for day counselors, college kids (usually in their first two years) for overnight staff. The “senior staff” is often young school teachers work through their summer breaks. Young? Yep, like in…have not started their family yet kind of young. Maybe early twenties.
3: Many/most of the staff are city people. Maybe I am biased, but city people seem more likely to dismiss or be in denial about natural forces. That reinforces the young people thinking “If I haven’t already seen it, then it cannot exist”.
4: Texas has been a magnet for inward migration from California, New York, Illinois, Minnesota and places like that. They THINK they have seen floods. They have no appreciation for TEXAS with her unique geology and the steamy Gulf of America generating huge thunderstorms.
5: It seems highly doubtful that any evacuation plans had been practiced by the staff. Think “fire drills”. It is equally doubtful that there WAS a plan…what routes…where to marshal the campers and so-on.
6: And media bears some of the blame for dramatically calling every time 2″ of water runs over the pavement a “flash flood”. The viewing public is jaded and and they simply DID NOT REACT.
I am not calling anybody out. I am just sharing some of the observations Mrs ER and I had regarding this tragedy. It might have been almost inevitable (somewhere) before-hand but it IS PREVENTABLE if we rationally sort through the events and human failings that led to this one and make appropriate changes.
In training to fly airplanes it is taught that catastrophic failures are almost always multiple small errors or failures that are unnoticed or ignored. Same here.
There was most likely no emergency plan in place, or if there was one it was not practiced.
Staff not experienced.
No one assigned to monitor local conditions.
Probably more that contributed to the loss, but certainly those simple (I.e. “small things”) bunched up to a huge tragedy