EXCLUSIVE: National Weather Service Responds to Claims of Understaffing Amid Texas Floods

FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL—As some Democrats seek to blame the Trump administration for at least 95 flash-flood deaths in Texas, a senior official with the National Weather Service assures Americans that the service features one of the most dedicated groups of employees in the federal government.

Critics of the Trump administration have claimed that funding “cuts” at the National Weather Service caused it to fail to do its job in Texas.

“You’d never find a more dedicated group of employees, as you do with the National Weather Service,” Erica Grow-Cei, communications director at the agency, told The Daily Signal in an exclusive interview.

However, Grow-Cei said local forecast offices in the Austin-San Antonio and San Angelo areas, where the floods hit, had extra personnel on duty during the freak rainfall weather event, in which the river reportedly surged by more than 20 feet within 90 minutes on Friday. 

Additional staff members from both offices were called in or were asked to stay later, so extra personnel were working on the night of Thursday into Friday.

The River Forecast Center made the decision to go into 24-hour operations on Thursday afternoon, before the flash flooding started.

“There’s a difference between having an opening and having the staff that you need to get the job done,” Grow-Cei said in response to reports of understaffing. “We have the staff you need to get the job done.”

The National Weather Service’s next step is to conduct a storm survey next week, if and when conditions allow, Grow-Cei said.

President Donald Trump has said he plans to visit the area on Friday. If the White House asks, the National Weather Service will provide decision support for the trip, Grow-Cei said.

When asked what she would say to Americans doubting the ability of the National Weather Service in the wake of the flood deaths, which included 27 young female campers and counselors, she said the mission of the NWS remains firm, regardless of who is president.

“Many of us—I’m one of them—dreamed of becoming a meteorologist since we were little kids, and so our passion for the mission and the service to our community is second to none,” Grow-Cei said. “Every American should feel confident that they are being served by a community that wants to get it right and wants to make sure that they stay safe.”

She said thousands of weather forecast office employees hundreds or even thousands of miles away from Washington, D.C., pour their hearts into their jobs every day.

“The mission doesn’t change, no matter what year it is, who’s in charge, anything like that,” she continued. “The dedication to the mission remains paramount.”

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said those Democrats who are seeking to politicize the Texas floods are “depraved and despicable.”

“Those comments are depraved and despicable, especially when so many Americans are mourning the loss of their children,” Leavitt said. “The National Weather Service, as I said, did its job. Many experts, many meteorologists, have said that.”

“Unfortunately, not all, but many Democrat elected officials are trying to turn this into a political game, and it is not,” she added. “This is a national tragedy, and the administration is treating it as such.”

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