VP for Science at Climate Central: ‘To Be Clear, The National Weather Service Did Its Job’ in Warning of a Flood Risk in Texas

EXCERPT:

DAHL: “So, we have a National Weather Service office that covers every part of the country, that issued, in this case, a general warning to the region that there was the risk of flash flood. Now, over the course of about 12 hours, they issued subsequent warnings pinpointing the dangers more specifically, geographically, and really highlighting the danger of the situation. But those warnings largely happened at night because the disaster was unfolding at night. And it‘s clear that those many, many people did not see those warnings, did not have any chance to respond to them, to get to safety before the waters rose, because they were rising so, so quickly. And so, obviously, there‘s a need to investigate what happened and where that communications breakdown happened. But to be clear, the National Weather Service did its job in warning first to a large area to say there is flood risk in this area, and then over time, as the risk became clearer and clearer, they kind of refined those warnings and issued updates. But obviously, the loss of life here really indicates how unprepared we are as a nation for disasters of this scale, let alone the scale of disasters that‘s to come with with continued warming of our planet.”