Almost two months after the tragic floods of July 4 in Texas who killed more than 130 people, the representative Lloyd Doggett, D-Texas, said he is still looking for answers to some of the most basic questions about the federal government’s answer.
What emergency officials did they call the National Meteorological Service on the night of floods? How exactly was the agency staff for the storm event? How did vacancies affect key positions in the local office of the National Meteorological Service, such as the Warning Coordination Meteorologist?
In four letters to the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration, and in a fifth to the Department of Commerce, Austin’s congressman has demanded records that would help tell the history of July 4.
“I have never received a written answer,” said Doggett, who is accusing the agencies of giving Stonewall his consultations.
Congressman’s impulse for records highlights the gaps in the public accounting of what happened that day. Immediately after the floods, independent meteorologists said that the National Meteorological Service issued timely advertising and that their forecasts were solid, given the limits of modern prognosis technology during sudden flood events.
What was less clear then, and thus remains, at the end of August, was the effectiveness of the agency that the agency was able to reach emergency administrators and other stakeholders in the field when the risk of specific locations became evident. Reaching “Last Mile” is something that former NWS meteorologists have said that he suffers when the prostication offices are little to the staff or with excess of work.
“If they have nothing to hide and the triumph approach of the weather service had no impact here, they need to produce the trunks,” said Doggett, referring to the records he has been looking for. “Bringing public attention to it is perhaps the only way to make the administration respond.”
Neither NOAA nor the Commerce Department responded to comments requests.
Doggett sent his first letter to NOAA on May 20, before flooding. In the letter, which went to the interim administrator of NOAA Laura Grimm, Doggett shared concerns about the vacancies rate at the Austin/San Antonio time forecast office. That office supervised the prognosis and communication in the areas affected by the thunderstorms of July.
“A vacant rate of 22% in the local NWS endangers the punctuality of the forecasts and warnings on which the community depends,” Doggett wrote, asking how the agency would deal with the scarcity of personnel and if he planned to occupy any of the roles of the office.
After the flood disaster, Doggett continued with NOAA on July 8 with 15 additional questions about the agency’s answer. Doggett said he received a videoconference meeting on July 11 with Ken Graham, director of the agency.
In a letter sent after the meeting on July 11, and again in a follow -up of July 24, Doggett requested that the agency provide call records, chat records, radar files and shift records, among other records.
“He said things were easy to provide,” Doggett said, transmitting his memory of Graham’s comments during his zoom meeting. “I’ve been asking for that since then and there is no good explanation.”
The agencies of the executive branch can respond to their discretion to the individual members of the Congress who carry out supervision, according to the interpretation of the law by the Department of Justice. But executive agencies often voluntarily accommodate Congress requests.
Doggett said he harassed Noa with calls and text messages, and in a letter from August 27 to the secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick, Doggett accused the trade department of quelling an answer that he thought NOAA prepared to address his questions.
“I have been informed that answers to my consultations have been prepared, but that their office is being retained,” Doggett wrote. “We have no evidence of the preparation, communication and response of the NWS, or lack of it, related to the flood of July 4. The refusal to provide a complete and timely response suggests that the administration has something to hide about its handling of this tragedy.”
Doggett said that four Austin children were killed in the floods and requested an investigation of the tragedy similar to those made by the National Transport Security Board after great disasters, an idea that has attracted bipartisan support.
“If this had been 27 lost children in a plane crash, we would have an exhaustive investigation of all aspects of all aspects of states, federal and local [actions]”Doggett said.” I see no indication of an exhaustive evaluation of what happened and did not happen at the federal level. “
NBC News has submitted several requests from the Law on Freedom of Information (FOIA) with NOAA, looking for NWS records. Some of these requests could submit records with answers to Doggett questions, but have not yet been fulfilled.
One of the applications, for chat records and communications between forecasting, appeared as “assigned for processing”, according to the public records website of the Department of Commerce. The agency said that another request, for personnel information and job cuts, would be processed in lots and will be publicly released together with other similar applications on Texas floods.
“We are working to provide a provisional launch in early September, with continuous launches until the end of the year,” wrote Julia Swanson, the agency’s coordinatorc in an update of state of August 18. “To focus our limited personnel of staff effectively, all other FOIA requests have been presented temporarily so that the NWS Foia team can focus on processing Texas flood requests.”
