Texas flood death toll continues to rise, Trump vows revamped alert system

My beloved state of Texas was pummeled over the last few days with storms.

While I live in North Texas, we were not hit as hard as our friends in Central Texas, who are facing a tragedy I cannot simply imagine.

So far, at least 82 are dead, with dozens more still missing or injured.

Still rising

There were clearly mistakes made here that could have lessened the impact of the storm, but first, we need to worry about trying to find these missing children in the hopes that they are still alive.

The area hit worst was along the Guadalupe River, with water surging more than two feet in what seemed like a matter of minutes.

A nearby Christian camp was flooded, as were other areas where homes and other businesses were located.

Children were swept away, camp counselors gave their lives trying to save children, and family members died trying to save their loved ones as their homes and trailers were flooding.

How did this happen?

In a previous report, I noted that I used to live in a shore community that was prone to these types of situations, and we always had enough warning, so what happened here?

Warnings were sent out, but nobody reacted to them late Thursday, choosing to stay instead of evacuating.

The state also reportedly declined to upgrade its weather alert system due to expense, which makes no sense as Texas is one of the few states in the country that is flush with cash.

Secretary Noem addressed this issue, stating, "That is one of the reasons that, when President [Donald] Trump took office, he said he wanted to fix and is currently upgrading the technology. The National Weather Service has indicated that with that and the [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] (NOAA), we needed to renew this ancient system that has been left in place with the federal government for many, many years."

Trump headed to Texas

Trump spent the weekend in Florida playing golf, and there was a video of him chomping down an ice cream cone, so you can imagine the reaction on social media over that.

Trump, however, had already stated that he would be heading to Texas on Friday to survey the situation and talk to Governor Abbott. And while Trump was in Florida, unlike Biden, he was accessible to the media and addressed the flooding, stating, “This is a hundred-year catastrophe and it’s just so horrible to watch.”

When Trump was asked if he was going to Texas, he responded, “I would’ve done it today but we just would’ve been in their way.” And that is the right call, as we need to let the rescue crews do their thing before the motorcade starts to eat up resources.

Dems want to blame Trump and DOGE for this, but that is not what happened here. This was a failure by local authorities, not the federal government. Not to say that improvements cannot be made at the federal level, but I am highly disappointed that Abbott did not have a better response to be both proactive and reactive to the flooding. There was a breakdown somewhere, and these excuses are just not going to cut it.