DANIEL VAUGHAN: Lies and Conspiracy Theories Dominate Texas Floods

The floods in Central Texas are a tragedy, which is something anyone with a functioning heart and brain can easily observe. For lacking one or both of those things, the Texas floods are a moment for whipping up conspiracy theories. Misinformation occurs frequently in natural disasters, but what we’re seeing right now is purposeful and malicious.

At the time I’m writing, the death toll has soared above 80 and appears destined to get worse, with so many still missing. It’s one of the worst floods in that region in several decades. In the specific towns involved, it’s a 100-year flood.

However, it’s also not uncommon for cities and counties in central Texas to experience flooding. The National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center released a graphic showing that this event was the 20th instance where the interior of Texas received 15+ inches of rain in a short period.

One of the more recent events that hit in a somewhat similar manner was Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Tropical systems can enter Texas, stall for various reasons, and dump a significant amount of rain. In some of those places, it’s so arid that flash floods hit faster than anyone can predict.

It’s tragic but not entirely uncommon. And the areas hardest hit by the current event were all in a flood plain.

That’s not enough for the conspiracy theorists. On the right, we have Representatives like Majorie Taylor Greene pushing cloud seeding conspiracies. And on the left, Democrats and their media outlets are pushing the idea that DOGE cuts to NOAA left the people of Texas with no warnings.

The cloud seeding theories are flawed because we know what caused this: remnants of a tropical system slammed into Gulf moisture, creating a massive downpour in one area. It’s the same story we’ve witnessed twenty other times in the past century.

The DOGE cuts are slightly different because it’s a mildly new argument. Democrats have tried to argue, after every disaster this year, that these cuts would kill people. Every time there’s been a natural weather disaster, far-left idiots say that the cuts are to blame.

Democrats are picking a conclusion and working backward. It doesn’t matter how many times they’ve been proven wrong and continue to push conspiracy theories; they’ll persist because they believe they’ll eventually be right. Every natural disaster for the rest of Trump’s presidency will get this same treatment because Democrats want political points. It’s disgusting, and it won’t be the last time we’re here.

Here’s the problem. Texas got warnings. Texas got a lot of warnings. We know this because the National Weather Service is transparent about everything it says and publishes. It’s easy to find it all.

Fifteen hours before the flood event, at 1:18 pm local time, NWS started issuing flood watches. What hurt was that they didn’t receive the confidence in flash flood warnings until after midnight, notably at 1:14 am Central. The NWS local offices for that area recognized the potential and responded accordingly.

The NWS local office brought in extra staff, paying overtime, to provide full meteorological coverage. As they told the Associated Press, “Where the office would typically have two forecasters on duty during clear weather, they had up to five on staff. There were extra people in here that night, and that’s typical in every weather service office — you staff up for an event and bring people in on overtime and hold people over.”

For anyone who follows the NWS and meteorology, this response is unsurprising. When they know bad weather is coming, they staff up. It’s standard operating procedure to ensure they have extra eyes and full coverage.

Where things get bad, though, is that when things truly got dire, the flood warnings were upgraded. At 4:03 am central, the NWS upgraded the flood warnings to flood emergencies, warning of “catastrophic damage and a severe threat to human life.”

That was the moment when emergency response had to start, if not earlier. The problem for both the city and local authorities is that it was the worst kind of weather event: a nocturnal one. Everyone in those camps along the river would have been asleep. There are stories suggesting that few people had phones or radios, so there was nothing that would have woken them up to the emergency alerts going out.

The next problem is with camp leadership: if they cannot get severe weather warnings while sitting in a flood zone, that opens them up to potential liability. Simply put, there’s little excuse for not having a way to receive weather warnings and respond accordingly.

And I’m not even referring to floods on this point. Texas is like my native Tennessee in the summer. It’s nothing for summer storms to bring lightning, hail, floods, and even tornados. You have to be prepared and able to receive warnings. It’s still early, but some hard questions remain about how the camps were ready for such situations.

Local authorities are trying to claim they had no notice, but that’s simply not true. What’s true is that they didn’t take the possibility of a flooding threat seriously. They received the warnings but didn’t take them seriously.

I’ve seen some people claim that “we get too many warnings.” That’s not the fault of the National Weather Service. Nothing is guaranteed in forecasting. You have to respond correctly when severe weather arrives. The evidence so far suggests a total breakdown in state, city, and local camp officials’ response to a severe weather threat.

However, it can’t be said that this was the National Weather Service’s fault. Those men and women stayed up all night, sent out warnings, and did their job. They deserve thanks.

Conspiracy theorists are smearing good people who did everything they could to save lives. We need more like them.

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