The Perfect Storm

"A series of circumstances, colliding at the worst possible location and time, caused the tremendous flooding, several meteorologists told USA TODAY." USA Today

     I was originally going to publicize the launch of my new audiobook but the news coming out of Kerr County, Texas is just too horrifying to ignore.

     Kerr County in central Texas is what's known as hill country. You would think that that fact alone would've protected the residents from the floor waters but you'd be wrong. The Guadalupe River runs through Kerr County and just hours after the rain came, the river had swollen so that the banks were overrun and the river got up to 26 feet in height. That part of Texas is made of hard-packed earth that makes water skip across it, making for perfect for flash flood conditions.

      Greg Abbott today announced that the missing just shot up to over 170 and the death toll has risen to 111. Some of the deaths were at least 28 little girls at a Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, who had must graduated from second grade. In Kerr County, houses floating past are getting to be a common sight. Those are just the bullet points of a disaster that's so horrible and complex, no one person can comprehensively report on it.

     Of course, this has resulted in a lot of finger pointing on the part of Republicans. Ted Cruz, typically, decided now would be a great time to go on vacation to Greece then snarl at another American who confronted him about his latest example of fecklessness.

     None of those fingers seem to be pointed at the Trump administration who, just before the rain hit during the 4th of July weekend, decided, through the Pentagon, to deny meteorological data from the National Weather Service and the NOAA (or what's left of them) because... who needs accurate, real time weather forecasting when you have a storm bearing down on you in a part of the region that's prone to flooding?

     Being the shiftless piece of shit that he is, Trump has actually blamed Joe Biden for this, as if it was his Defense Department that arbitrarily decided to deny weather data to forecasters and weather services.

     Texas was essentially left in the dark. A city manager in Kerr County had been jogging along the bank of the Guadalupe River at four in the morning hours before the rain hit and he'd reported he saw nothing amiss. If Texas meteorologists had access to that crucial, real time weather data, county officials could've evacuated the affected areas and lives could've been saved, starting with those 28 little girls.

     People, one more fucking time, this is what happens when you put Republicans in charge. They have historically proven to be utterly worthless in a crisis. Republican senators go on vacation and snarl at critics and people like Trump blame the last administration. We've seen this fecklessness and uselessness with past Republican administrations during 9/11, Katrina and COVID. You voted for this, America. You voted for this, Texas. Now it's time to reap the whirlwind and the flood waters that come with it.