The Texas Flood Green Herrings

Blame cruel nature, not DOGE, or weathermen, or climate change. 

WSJ editorial. Excerpts:

"The region has long been dubbed “flash flood alley” because its topography turbo-charges the effect from storms. Its dusty hills and limestone don’t easily absorb precipitation, so runoff can rapidly rush into creeks and streams."

"Such events have happened every 10 to 20 years and typically during the summer."

"local authorities for unknown reasons didn’t evacuate the flood-prone areas. Precipitation came harder and faster than the NWS predicted and than local officials were prepared for."

"More than four months of rain fell within a few hours in Kerr County"

"The river surged by more than 20 feet in 90 minutes. Flash flood alerts were issued late Thursday night and increased early Friday, though by then many were asleep."

"there’s scant evidence that staffing shortages at NWS affected events. The local NWS office had extra staff on duty last week and upgraded its precipitation models and forecasts repeatedly" 

"For the most part, state and local authorities seem to have improved their emergency management and preparation, as the death rate from floods dropped by about two thirds from 1958 to 2018."

"there’s no indication that extreme precipitation in “flash flood alley” or the U.S. overall has been increasing."

"The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change concluded in 2021 that “there is limited evidence and low agreement on observed climate change influences for river floods in North America.”"

All posts on this topic:

How Terrain in Texas Hills Turned Stalled Rainstorm Into Flood Disaster: Water cascaded down cliffs and swelled waterways when shallow soil failed to absorb the deluge 

The Texas Flood Green Herrings: Blame cruel nature, not DOGE, or weathermen, or climate change 

Why It’s So Hard to Link Extreme Weather Events to Climate Change: Attribution science examines how global warming fuels extreme weather, but making the connection is challenging 

The Texas Floods Were a Natural Disaster, Not a Policy Disaster: There's no evidence that cuts to the National Weather Service impacted the response to the weekend's tragic flash floods