Tragedy has struck on behalf of an uncontrollable disaster in Central Texas, leaving over a
hundred dead and families forever torn apart. As rescue crews continue searching for those
missing, some people have taken this as an opportunity to impose political slander in the media.
Let’s cut to the chase on the misfortune of the floods out of respect for those suffering, and work
to mitigate the unnecessary and insensitive rhetoric that appeared not even a full day after July
4th.
WHAT HAPPENED
Over the July 4 th weekend, flash floods tore through Central Texas as the Guadalupe River rose
to 26 feet in just 45 minutes. Camp Mystic for Girls, a Christian summer camp, lost campers and
counselors in the floods that hit early Friday morning. Other areas surrounding the river,
including RV parks and homes, were swept away.
Congressman August Pfluger’s two daughters were at the summer camp over the weekend and
were safely evacuated.
“The last day has brought unimaginable grief to many families and we mourn with them as well
as holding out hope for survivors,” Pfluger told Fox News.
Dick Eastland, co-owner of Camp Mystic, died in the floods while trying to save campers.
“There are countless heroes who acted so bravely during this tragic situation – who sacrificed for
others – thank you… and for most of you who we will never even know the stories or understand
what you did! But, thank you!” the congressman wrote on social media.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE HILL COUNTRY
The Washington Post reports that the Hill Country is prone to producing walls of water from
“slow, shallow rivers”, making it the most prone region in the country to flash-floods.
Nonetheless, no one was prepared for this level of severity.
WHAT WERE THE WARNINGS
Weather forecasts remained consistent, but the local response to the severe weather seems to
have delayed; which has many people up in arms.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an initial warning on July 3 rd for a flood watch over
Del Rio, Leakey, Brackettville, Kerrville, Bandera, Hondo, Uvalde and Rocksprings.
The rain had already started as people were asleep on July 4 th . The sad reality is, “warnings were
issued about the potential for flash flooding hours before the waters reached their peak.”

The first warning from the NWS was sent at 1:14 a.m. Friday morning. The most pressing one was
issued at 4:03 a.m., “warning of an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation and urging
immediate evacuations to higher ground” as stated by Texas Tribune.
To set the record straight – every flood warning issued by the NWS, including those sent on
July 4th, trigger Wireless Emergency Alerts push notifications that go to all wireless phones in the
directed area. There have been many claims that the NWS did not send out alerts – this is false.
You can look at published timelines of NWS alerts at

Tragedy has struck on behalf of an uncontrollable disaster in Central Texas, leaving over a
hundred dead and families forever torn apart. As rescue crews continue searching for those
missing, some people have taken this as an opportunity to impose political slander in the media.
Let’s cut to the chase on the misfortune of the floods out of respect for those suffering, and work
to mitigate the unnecessary and insensitive rhetoric that appeared not even a full day after July
4 th .
WHAT HAPPENED
Over the July 4 th weekend, flash floods tore through Central Texas as the Guadalupe River rose
to 26 feet in just 45 minutes. Camp Mystic for Girls, a Christian summer camp, lost campers and
counselors in the floods that hit early Friday morning. Other areas surrounding the river,
including RV parks and homes, were swept away.
Congressman August Pfluger’s two daughters were at the summer camp over the weekend and
were safely evacuated.
“The last day has brought unimaginable grief to many families and we mourn with them as well
as holding out hope for survivors,” Pfluger told Fox News.
Dick Eastland, co-owner of Camp Mystic, died in the floods while trying to save campers.
“There are countless heroes who acted so bravely during this tragic situation – who sacrificed for
others – thank you… and for most of you who we will never even know the stories or understand
what you did! But, thank you!” the congressman wrote on social media.
GEOGRAPHY OF THE HILL COUNTRY
The Washington Post reports that the Hill Country is prone to producing walls of water from
“slow, shallow rivers”, making it the most prone region in the country to flash-floods.
Nonetheless, no one was prepared for this level of severity.
WHAT WERE THE WARNINGS
Weather forecasts remained consistent, but the local response to the severe weather seems to
have delayed; which has many people up in arms.
The National Weather Service (NWS) issued an initial warning on July 3 rd for a flood watch over
Del Rio, Leakey, Brackettville, Kerrville, Bandera, Hondo, Uvalde and Rocksprings.
The rain had already started as people were asleep on July 4 th . The sad reality is, “warnings were
issued about the potential for flash flooding hours before the waters reached their peak.”

The first warning from the NWS was sent at 1:14am Friday morning. The most pressing one was
issued at 4:03am, “warning of an extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation and urging
immediate evacuations to higher ground” as stated by Texas Tribune.
To set the record straight – every flood warning issued by the NWS, including those sent on
July 4 th , trigger Wireless Emergency Alerts push notifications that go to all wireless phones in the
directed area. There have been many claims that the NWS did not send out alerts – this is false.
You can look at published timelines of NWS alerts at https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/texas-
news/national-weather-service-alert-timeline-texas-flooding/3879084.
Bob Fogarty, a meteorologist with the NWS Austin/SanAntonio office, told the Texas Tribune
that each warning triggered alerts through the Emergency Alert System and the Wireless
Emergency Alerts. “The warning was updated nine times throughout Friday.”
Greg Waller from the NWS West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth also stated that NWS
forecasting offices were operating normally at the time of the disaster, despite rapid accusations
that recent DOGE cuts had drastically harmed NWS staffing levels.
“We had adequate staffing. We had adequate technology. This was us doing our job to the best of
our abilities,” said Waller.
Another individual who is the legislative director at the union representing NWS employees,
Tom Fahy, stated that all Texas offices called “all hands on deck” so that the emergency was met
with a full staff.
The NWS has certainly experienced staff cuts – this is not something I contest. However, every
step of protocol was followed by the necessary people.
POLITICAL INSENSITIVITY
Unfortunately, the depth of this disaster has escaped the minds of some individuals. One Texas
pediatrician was immediately fired following an obscene social media post that said “May all
visitors, children, non-MAGA voters and pets be safe and dry. Kerr County MAGA voted to gut
FEMA. They deny climate change. May they get what they voted for.”
Former Houston appointee Sade Perkins also threw her opinion into the mix by posting a TikTok
video of herself scrolling through Camp Mystic’s website.
In the video, Perkins is recorded calling Camp Mystic a “white-only” Christian camp. She goes
so far as to tempt social fate by suggesting that she might be cancelled for what she was about to
say.
“I know I’m going to get cancelled for this, but Camp Mystic is a white-only girls’ Christian
camp. They don’t even have a token Asian. They don’t have a token Black person. It’s an all-

white, white-only conservative Christian camp. If you ain’t white you ain’t right, you ain’t
gettin’ in, you ain’t goin’. Period.”
She continued to add comments about ‘white people’ and their refusal to “give a damn” about
ICE detentions. “There’s no prayers going up for them (children in ICE detention), but we’re
supposed to stop the world and stop everything we’re doing to go and hunt for these little
missing white girls.”
Sadly, the attempt to steep this tragedy in polarized politics doesn’t stop with a couple of
individual comments. Sources are reporting on the issue, adding bits of divisive rhetoric that
suggest that voters belonging to the two political parties do not align in response.
PBS released an article identifying a difference in response by Republicans and Democrats.
“…though most in the Republican-controlled state stopped short of blaming Trump’s cuts.
Democrats, meanwhile, wasted little time in linking the staff reductions to the disaster.”
Why was this necessary to distinguish? Why do some feel the need to facilitate flippant banter by
glorifying one child’s misfortune over another’s? Why charge a person based on their vote with
the responsibility of a natural disaster that no human-being can control?
Now that our heads are slightly back on our shoulders… there are a few difficult points worth
comprehending.
WHERE’S THE DEFICIENCY?
First, alerts were sufficiently sent out by the NWS to trigger local authorities and wireless alerts
of severe weather at every degree. The first point of truthful deficiency highlights Kerr County
and it’s weather alert system.
Rick Spinrad led the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) during the
Biden administration. He told The Hill, “It seems like the communications breakdown in the last
mile is where most of the problem was.”
What sources have found is that Kerr County has struggled to fund basic warning systems for
decades. The region has relied on the NWS and word-of-mouth to reach residents.
On the morning of July 4 th during a press conference, Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly stated that
the county “does not have a warning system in place along the river.”
A reasonable question to ask here would be, why hasn’t the Texas government allocated funding
for weather alert systems in Kerr County?
A single alert siren can cost anywhere up to $50,000. In 2016, it was estimated that the county
would need $1 million to implement a new system with sirens but they never received the
funding from the state.

House Bill 13, which recently died in the Texas legislator, would have paved the way for an
emergency response plan with a grant program to be established. “The bill also called for the
plan to include the use of outdoor warning sirens like those used in tornado-prone Texas
counties, and develop new emergency alert systems,” wrote the Texas Tribune.
The hold-up that led to the bill’s downfall was its’ initial $500 million price tag. Of course,
tragedy tends to alter priorities and highlight necessities after the fact.
If we’re going to mandate change without losing all sense of civility and compassion, perhaps
we should look to our local governments first. Oftentimes the problem is sitting right in front of
us.
Second, despite every step of protocol being followed by the NWS, cell service and the time of
the alerts does stand as a huge factor.
A Politico article said, “Late-night and early-morning warnings can be an even greater challenge
to distribute, when much of the public is asleep.” It’s something we simply cannot ignore. People
were asleep and were most likely in areas without decent cell reception.
If all you have to rely on is your phone at 1am when the sufficiency of its’ operation is
contingent on cell service, there’s a good chance many did not hear the alert. Hence, the need for
local alert systems is dire. Especially in areas historically known to experience devastating
weather events.
RECENTERING OUR PERSPECTIVES
Texas is grieving.
Some might suggest that loss of life is nothing new to humanity. With our society constantly
witnessing calamity plague communities across the world in all capacities thanks to the ever-
evolving media, surely it wouldn’t weigh as heavily… But the fact is, death never ceases to
pierce each and every one of us no matter how frequently we’re exposed to it. Especially when it
comes in the middle of the night and takes those who had yet to experience a long life.
More can always be done and mistakes do hurt, but let’s not be absentminded. We can (and
should) take account of our shortcomings and adopt a proactive mindset, but it is equally
important to face the hurt.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
“There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven –
A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.

A time to weep and a time to laugh; A time to mourn and a time dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones; A time to embrace and a time to shun
embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost; A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together; A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate; A time for war and a time for peace.”