As our own Amy Curtis reported earlier, CNN senior national security analyst Juliette Kayyem seemed to blame at least some of the deaths from flash flooding in Texas on DOGE cuts to weather services and struck out at MAGA and right-wingers who ignored the “chorus of us experts” who discussed the impact of cuts to weather forecasting.
Some noted that the cuts don’t take place until October. Others, like CBS Austin’s meteorologist, noted:
All I’ll say is this. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for Kerr County more than 12 hours ahead of the catastrophic flood. A flash flood warning was issued for Hunt & Ingram 3 HOURS before the Guadalupe started to climb.
They did their job and they did it well
— Avery Tomasco (@averytomascowx) July 5, 2025
It was a flash flood in the middle of the night while people were asleep. But blame DOGE for the deaths of young campers.
Rachel Bitecofer was a bit more straightforward in playing the blame game, saying that the flood that devastated Camp Mystic was a result of Republicans’ “small government” lunacy:
Republican’s “small government” lunacy got these poor kids killed. https://t.co/DWkhYCSUnK
— Rachel Bitecofer 🗽🦆 (@RachelBitecofer) July 5, 2025
Yes, that’s what got those poor kids killed. Not the flood waters. The GOP.
Yes because big government can stop weather from happening
— Dr Strangetweet or How I Learned to Love the RT (@lone_rides) July 5, 2025
Was it government when the floods happened in North Carolina?
— SaltyAlaskan (@salty_alaskan) July 5, 2025
From what I understand, NWS did issue flash flood warnings in plenty of time. No one, however, was prepared for an historical amount of rain to be dumped on the area. So, what else could have been done?
— Ethan Nobles 🐗🏴☠️ (@NoblesLawFirm) July 5, 2025
Explain how, exactly
— Seppie (@Seppie123456) July 5, 2025
You aren’t just wrong. You are an evil and hateful person. I hope exploiting a tragedy with lies was worth it to appease your fans
— Kyle Beckley (@Kyle_Beckley) July 5, 2025
You’re truly evil.
— Mark Starrett 🇺🇸 (@MTStarrett) July 5, 2025
— Al’s Café Americain™ (@therealADWarren) July 5, 2025
You are insane.
— Beth Donovan (@AngoraGoatLady) July 5, 2025
You lying monster, no, “small government lunacy” had nothing to do with it. There was plenty of warning from the weather service. But the river rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. The missing have not even been found yet, but you had to try to make yourself look clever!
— Dianna Deeley (@DiannaDeeley) July 5, 2025
This was an unprecedented tragedy in Texas. Wasn’t predictable.
And unprecedented tragedies have a way of drawing out political leeches like you to piggyback your agenda onto their deaths.
— Mousewrangler (@Mousewrangler2) July 5, 2025
Absolute bullshit, you fat menace. The National Weather Service issued warnings beginning twelve hours ahead of the storm.
— SinNombre (@SinNomb54107159) July 5, 2025
You don’t care about the kids.
— Maze (@pordadow) July 5, 2025
Let us spell it out for her. Here’s another meteorologist:
Okay. Let’s talk some facts.
The Camp Mystic flood disaster in Texas is very unfortunate, and I hope that all of the missing girls are found.
The usual suspects are exploiting this tragedy to score political brownie points. Some left-wing activists are blaming this flood on… pic.twitter.com/ODX5Rmpm7G
— Chris Martz (@ChrisMartzWX) July 5, 2025
The post continues:
… “climate change,” others are blaming the deaths and missing persons on inadequate warning caused by low staffing at the National Weather Service (NWS) caused by Trump administration federal RIFs. ✂️
First of all, staffing cuts played no part in this tragedy. 🙅♂️
The NWS issued a flood watch for Kerr County more than 12 hours ahead of the flood. They also issued a flash flood warning for Hunt and Ingraham THREE HOURS before the Guadalupe River began to climb. There was plenty of lead time with respect to the forecast and issuance of warnings.
The flood was caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry becoming embedded into a broad mid-level trough over central Texas. These remnant lows are typically slow-moving and drop heavy rain over a large geographical area where the troposphere destabilizes. 🌧️
This particular one stayed quasi- (fairly) stationary, and caused massive flooding along the Guadalupe River, something that has happened many times before. In 1987, a flash flood on the same river killed 10 teenage campers from the Pot O Gold Christian Camp, with another 33 swept away who survived. 🏕️
🔗 https://newspapers.com/image/979014003/
Camp Mystic is built on a floodplain. It is on sediment that has been deposited by hundreds, if not thousands of floods over the last millennium.
The event has nothing to do with climate change.
And, the tragedy had nothing to do with DOGE cuts.
If you are someone who has exploited this catastrophe because you just don’t like Trump, you need to take a serious look in the mirror🪞
How can you be so completely, politically ghoulish and such a clown at the same time?
— Roger Wilco, Space Janitor (@outtatim) July 5, 2025
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