With almost two months since the Texas floods devastated the state, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D) argues that he is still waiting for basic answers regarding the federal government’s response.
In a series of letters to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Commerce Department, Rep. Doggett has pressed for records detailing how the National Weather Service (NWS) staffed its offices, which emergency officials it contacted, and how staffing vacancies may have hindered communication.
The Texas Democrat says that he has yet to receive a response, accusing the agencies of “stonewalling” his inquiries. “If they have nothing to hide and the Trump slash-and-burn approach to the weather service did not have any impact here, they need to produce the logs.”
Rep. Doggett reportedly first raised alarms in May, warning that the Austin/San Antonio forecast office, which happened to oversee the areas hit hardest, had a 22% vacancy rate.
After the flooding over July 4th weekend, he followed up with 15 questions and requested call logs, radar archives, chat logs, and shift records. He said NOAA Director Ken Graham indicated such records would be “easy to provide,” yet they remain undisclosed.
Rep. Doggett has since accused the Commerce Department of withholding prepared responses.
In an August 27th letter to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Rep. Doggett expressed that “the refusal to provide a complete, timely response, suggests the Administration has something to hide concerning its handling of this tragedy.”
The Texas Democrat emphasized the flood’s death toll, noting that four children from Austin were among the dead.
“If this had been 27 children being lost in a plane crash, we would have NTSB doing a thorough investigation of every aspect of state, federal and local [actions],” he claimed. “I don’t see any indication of a thorough evaluation of what did and didn’t happen at the federal level.”
Governor Greg Abbott (R) called the recent special session to address concerns related to the floodings. However, Democrats scrutinized the session, accusing Republicans of politicizing the tragedy to pass a redistricting bill.
