‘Gross negligence’: Official in charge of coordinating TX flood response was ‘likely asleep’
On Wednesday, July 23, ABC News reported that the death toll from the flooding that ravaged areas of Central Texas during the 4th of July Weekend had climbed to 136 people. The tragedy continues to generate heated discussions on the response of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which has experienced major cutbacks during Donald Trump’s presidency.
Many Democrats are arguing that in light of climate change and the severe weather events it is inflicting, the last thing the Trump Administration should be doing is defunding FEMA or the National Weather Service (NWS). And during a Thursday, July 24 segment on CNN, Wolf Blitzer reported that according to the Kerr County, Texas sheriff, the official “responsible for coordinating the emergency response was likely asleep.”
Blitzer brought on Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s (D-Texas) to discuss the sheriff’s allegation, and he had a scathing response.
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When Blitzer asked Doggett about the possibility of the official being asleep “at such a critical moment,” the Texas congressman responded, “It’s really alarming. I think that there were failures at every level of government. Certainly, the most gross negligence was at the local level, but the state and the federal also had a role here.”
Doggett continued, “If we had a plane crash and lose 135 people, there would be a major investigation of it. I think that more investigation is needed at every level.”
The Texas Democrat noted that the NWS “lost a significant number of people” due to “the Trump cuts.”
Doggett told Blitzer, “The primary person responsible for coordinating with that county manager was retired under the Trump get-out-of-here approach that they took. And I think there was not the level of coordination from the weather service that was needed. They’ve told me that they focused primarily on the county emergency manager, who was apparently asleep.”
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The congressman added, “These alarms were not coming out until after most of Kern County was asleep. This was a preventable disaster; it didn’t have to take as many lives, including, I think, it’s about 27 mostly little girls. So painful. FEMA was also not up to the task.”
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