"The forecasting was good. The warnings were good. It’s always about getting people to receive the message,” “It appears that is one of the biggest contributors — that last mile.”

1- The forecasting was not good; it was woefully underestimated.

2- The warnings were not good, had they been, no one would be missing.

3- The message was not received because your delivery was also fubar, you owned that last mile.

This is not the 1st time this has happened. Look at the history of the Texas 'hill country' particularly in 1987.

This is a direct result of maga / doge and their reckless / irresponsible cuts to programs they have no clue about. Programs put in place due to disasters exactly like this in the past.

The lies have to end.

From what I have read and heard from meteorologists, the forecasting was about as good as possible. I have not seen evidence that this particular issue was affected by DOGE.

The notion that all deaths are preventable is a big assumption, especially given that some people won’t follow any warnings. You can’t cure stupid - as far as I know.

The third point may well be THE issue that can and should be addressed. At least that’s how I see it.

But while the forecasts and alerts were issued, the lead up wasn't handled properly as wot senior coordinators who should have alerted state officials about the impeding risks were DOGEd out of their jobs. And I will bet the cuts have been even worse in blue states.

This was just posted on DU. I have read and heard other similar narratives

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1016408348

Basically a specific extreme flood risk as the ground is mostly rock with little drainage. I heard it was one of the two most at risk river valleys in the USA

https://www.texasmonthly.com/news-politics/beauty-and-danger-of-guadalupe-river/

David Wolters/Getty
“When the river takes you, don’t fight it,” my parents told me when I was about nine years old. “If it takes you under, focus your effort on holding your breath—it will push you back up.” We would practice floating on our backs, feet downstream, like tiny giggling canoes moving diagonally across the Comal, Medina, San Marcos, and other lesser currents that made up the landscape of our gorgeous, dangerous childhoods, until we were ready for something bigger.

One of those bigger rivers was the Guadalupe, which runs from the Texas Hill County to the Gulf of Mexico, crossing aquifers and collecting tributaries as it plows southeast with a depth millions of years in the making. Before there were roads or fences, the Guadalupe was already cutting its way through limestone in a slow choreography of water and stone. It’s that clever pathway that makes the river so beautiful. It’s that perseverance through rugged terrain that makes it so deadly.

“This whole landscape has basically been carved out by running water,” said Kimberly Meitzen, a fluvial geomorphologist at Texas State University. Fluvial geomorphology is the study of how rivers and the earth shape one another—a cool name for a poetic phenomenon that’s been contouring the Hill Country for millions of years. Massive flooding events like the one over the July 4 holiday weekend played a large role in creating the stunning canyons and cliffs, which in turn contribute to more powerful flash floods.

Most of the time, Meitzen said, those cloistered landscapes—rocky riverbeds beneath the canyons lined with rows of cypress trees—are complemented by the tranquil, cool spring-fed flows of the three tributaries that make up the headwaters of the Guadalupe. The North Fork, the South Fork, and Johnson Creek stay reliably strong even in seasons of drought. Meitzen spent her 2018–2021 summer field seasons with a research team walking along, paddling in, and wading in the upper Guadalupe, where the recent floods wreaked havoc. She was looking for barriers to the movement of aquatic wildlife, such as Guadalupe bass, but as she gazed up at the steep canyon walls around her, she often wondered, “How would you get out of here in the event of a flood?”

and yet all of "them" conclude it's really no one's fault but ours -- that the people wouldn't listen. I'm so damned sick of lies and always the victim blaming.

have been communicating with local responders and officials, there is no doubt in my mind that there was an impact. Funny how when a proverbial gun is held to the heads of remaining Federal workers that they feel the need to defend the gun-holders.

But more immediate is the lack of alarm systems locally (most locales subject to flooding and tornadoes have dual systems) and apparently such simple blasting alarm systems were considered after a similar, albeit less dramatic tragedy in 1987, but for the want of $15K, the local administration chose not to implement them. It is being reported that the girl's camp, unlike the nearby boys camp, did not have NOAA radios and cell service would not have reached them. The aforementioned boy's camp had full survival.

Sigh...

about a boy's camp. But damn, I hate to say it comes as no surprise. Women should get wise and band together, but they won't because we're our own worst enemies. Too many have been raised since childhood to be submissive and beholden to men, and will fight anyone who tries to tell them differently.

With all the cuts this maladministration has made, I fear we're only seeing the first of the calamities we can expect. The fact is arrives as the tipping point of climate has been reached and in full swing only adds to the immediate misery. Of course, I do think they want to kill as many of everyone as they possibly can. In fact, I believe they actually feel the same way towards those in their own rarified air of wealth, too. After all, those people are taking the most away from them on a daily basis... why NOT wish to be rid of them. And climate and weather just gives them plausible deniability.

"flash flood alley", let alone building summer camps there that aggregate a large number of children in "flash flood alley". How about that idea?

Oh, wait, you're TEXAS

we know what the consequences of that would be as well.

Austin has turned its back on state infrastructure investment outside of highways. This weekend is one consequence. There have been others. There will be more.

even if they allowed cell phones, coverage is spotty