A wall of water surged early July 4 through central Texas. It drowned communities along the Guadalupe River and swept more than 100 precious lives away before sunrise. This extreme weather event was absolutely devastating and heartbreaking.
Many deaths could have been prevented. But as suggested last month in a column about climate, most lawmakers don’t understand basic science. Yet they are making big decisions on weather and climate funding that literally impact our survival.
Our elected officials have a lot of answering to do. Some say flash flood warnings were issued, but came too late, or were missed entirely by communities still asleep or simply never received. Where did the breakdown occur? Could lives have been spared?
Just last year in North Carolina, stalled storms unleashed catastrophic rainfall, flooding towns, destroying homes and displacing thousands. Most of those towns are still recovering and some may never fully rebound. These events weren’t just “acts of God.” They were fueled by human-induced climate change and are the new normal. Scientists have been shouting this from mountaintops for decades but too many have had deaf ears. If we continually let politicians make decisions without listening to researchers, then this is what we’ll have more of.
Here in Charleston, king tides now routinely flood our streets on sunny days. Hurricanes push farther inland. The rain falls harder. The ground we’re standing on is built on infilled marshes. And our outdated stormwater systems are not built to withstand what’s coming. Climate change isn’t a distant threat. It’s already here, lapping at our doorsteps. And guess what? These impacts don’t care what your belief system is. They don’t care if you are red, blue, purple or gray.
Yet while the risks from a changing climate grow, the federal government is actively gutting the very tools we need to understand and prepare for these disasters. And too many stand idly by with “thoughts and prayers.”
The current administration has slashed funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National Weather Service and FEMA. In 2024, NOAA warned of a dire budget shortfall that could halt weather balloon launches that are crucial for monitoring temperature, wind and pressure systems in real-time. These balloons are the backbone of short-term weather forecasting, especially for flash floods, hurricanes and severe storms. Fewer balloons mean less accurate forecasts and more people caught off guard. Now thanks to cuts, there are about 20% fewer balloons being launched under this administration.
Hundreds of NOAA staff, including too many in the Lowcountry, have been laid off or not replaced. Local weather offices across the country are stretched thin. In Texas, the National Weather Service station near the deadly flooding had lost nearly a quarter of its staff in the months before the disaster. When storms intensified, there simply weren’t enough people to monitor data or issue warnings fast enough.
Even FEMA, the agency charged with leading disaster response and resilience, has seen steep cuts in staff, preparedness grants and climate resiliency programs. Instead of investing in tools like flood mapping, early warning systems and infrastructure, the administration is actively dismantling them. Scientific grants have been pulled from research institutions across the country.
If we don’t protect the science, the scientists and the systems that protect us, then we are choosing vulnerability and allowing unnecessary death and loss. The lives lost in Texas and North Carolina are a warning and a call to action. We must restore funding for NOAA, FEMA and the National Weather Service. We must elect leaders who “believe” in climate science and understand that protecting communities means funding the people and technology that keep them safe.
Science isn’t political. It’s survival.
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