As the news updates from central Texas grew increasingly horrifying over the Fourth of July weekend, I couldn’t help but worry that Jefferson County might soon face a similarly predictable tragedy. Allow me to explain.
After Kerr County, some 30 miles northwest of San Antonio, received a year’s worth of rain in four hours last Friday morning, the Guadalupe River experienced a massive surge that inundated several towns and a beloved century-old summer camp. By Saturday morning, reports said at least 25 people had died. By Sunday it was 50, and by Monday the death toll neared 100.
It’s already one of the U.S.’ deadliest natural disasters in recent memory, and reports suggest the federal staffing cuts made by the Trump Administration and its Department of Government Efficiency contributed to its impact. As The New York Times detailed a few days ago:
