If you’ve been paying attention to the news at all lately, I’m sure you’ve heard of the devastating floods in Texas that have caused 134 deaths and counting. Just a few days later, flash floods hit my home state of New Jersey, and, like the floods in Texas, they caused a lot of harm. The New Jersey floods destroyed structures, cars and caused at least two deaths. However, the key difference between the two events was the accessibility to emergency services that assist in the aftermath. Recognizing the importance of the National Weather Service (NWS) is crucial in addressing natural disasters.
Who Is At Fault Here?
In response to the deadly flash flooding, some state officials have argued that the Trump administration’s budget cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) were disastrous. After the events, the New York Times found that thousands of distress calls were left unanswered due to staffing shortages. However, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has continued to argue that these claims are untrue.
Yet, the NWS reaffirms the fact that warnings went out, but budget cuts from the Trump Administration and staffing shortages — as well as blatant ignorance of weather warnings — have continuously damaged their ability to respond in disaster scenarios. Most people don’t necessarily seem to understand what makes certain weather situations dangerous, and people often have little faith in meteorologists’ ability to predict the weather. After all, the average American doesn’t have a borderline obsession with the National Weather Service and weather warnings.
Why You Need To Care About the National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) does a lot more than forecast mediocrity, like your Apple weather app might. You might not believe it, but meteorology is a science, and factors like ocean temperatures, air temperature, cold fronts and hundreds of other weather terms influence weather predictions. Additionally, the NWS issues all sorts of weather warnings, controls national radars, surveys weather damage and attempts to keep every American safe in dangerous weather scenarios.
During the flash flooding in my home state, I received a “deadly flash flooding” emergency alert on my phone, and from my background with weather, I knew it was in everyone’s best interest to listen to the NWS alert.
Since I am from northern New Jersey, you might be wondering why I care so much about the weather; In my childhood home, I never experienced much more than the outer edges of Hurricane Sandy and a single tornado watch. However, when I was in high school and looking mostly at colleges in the Midwest, I stumbled across a YouTuber channel called Ryan Hall, Y’all, who livestreams severe weather coverage. Behold, the beginning of my obsession.
Torrential Downpour, Tornados and The Boy Who Cried Wolf
Now, I go to school in Indianapolis, a city whose density keeps many tornadoes and extreme weather from forming. This past year, though, we went under a warning for a tornado that touched down mere blocks from where I was living. A handful of people in my sorority house of 250 or so, including myself, were the only ones who didn’t live in tornado-prone areas. Yet, due to my incessant monitoring the NWS and my trusty severe weather livestream, I was the calmest and most prepared.
When my everyday weather app showed that we were under a tornado watch for the evening, I turned on my livestream. (Tornado watch, by the way, means there are some ingredients for severe weather to potentially form, while a tornado warning means that the weather is able to happen or is currently happening).
One of the most important things I’ve learned from my weather obsession is that you need to listen to the National Weather Service. With this helpful tool, I knew we were about to be warned minutes before the NWS sent out the warning. The tagline of the stream I watch is “don’t be scared, be prepared,” so that I was. It was important to keep relaying information about exactly where the tornado was so we could all feel a little more at ease while we were hunkered down in the basement.
While incessant weather warnings that result in no “real” weather threat — such as a tornado never touching down — can result in a “boy who cried wolf” type of phenomenon, the weather is only predictable to a certain extent, not a promise, and it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Blame Game
At the cafe I work at, I still got the flash flood NWS warning despite being practically in the middle of the woods, surrounded by creeks. Unfortunately, I was required to stay until closing, but as soon as the creeks started overflowing and the cafe’s gutters started leaking, I urged our remaining patrons to get home as quickly and safely as possible.
One silver lining in the Texas floods is that they served as tragic examples of the devastation that could happen without the NWS. That, combined with a little more trust in emergency alerts, led the majority of people in New Jersey to respect the warnings. Heeding the warnings helped minimize death tolls and keep people safer overall.
While the Trump administration as a whole cannot be blamed for the devastation seen in Texas, it is important to keep in mind how dangerous weather can be. Without proper NWS and FEMA funding, as well as a lack of weather awareness, what might seem as simple as a rainstorm can soon become deadly.
The moral of the story is that, as a country, we don’t need to be scared of incoming weather. Rather, we need to be prepared locally and nationally to deal with disaster relief, which starts with utilizing governmental departments as intended.
Acknowledgement: The ideas expressed are those of the individual author.
