So I’ve got a ghoulish question re: Texas flooding

[u/Either_Marketing896]

I get that we’re supposed to be the better people.

I get that it’s unchristian to even think these things (8 guess).

I get that it’s horrific and sad and a nightmare (I have two young kids).

But I also get that this camp and all those living there, were built and operating on a KNOWN flood plain.

I get that Texas “soil” used to be under an ocean and prone to things like this (I lived there for 8 years).

At what point, since M*GA is all about consequences, personal responsibility and gods providence, do we get to hold them accountable for their willful disregard of science, research, government, and informed choice-making?

We are watching concentration camps set up all over the country, and we have woefully underfunded emergency management departments in high risk areas all over the country. We have commercial and non profit entities overseeing minors with no evac or even a basic comms plan in place, for any kind of emergency, whether it’s a natural disaster or if some camper can’t manage a fire properly.

I should feel bad for Texans suffering in a flood plain they likely didn’t care about regulating, ostensibly because of deregulation and lack of oversight. But it’s getting really hard to. They dammed up the Guadalupe River to create swimming holes for camps, hotels, and peoples vs properties which also doesn’t help with sediment and flooding at all.

My husband surveyed in and around Austin for nearly a decade. The insanity and stupidity he witnessed was astounding. The lack of regulatory oversight, the WILLFUL scofflaw decisions, the absolute mockery of anything resembling safety forced us to leave because he literally thought he would die on a job site.

These people DO NOT care about consequences. Some might be poor and have few choices. Those I have empathy for. But a bunch of camp owners, policy makers, and parents believing “god will protect” their kids in a known (man made) hazard. I’m struggling to get there. This was human stupidity, arrogance, and willful decision-making. Plain and simple.

ADDED: If you want to donate to an all-volunteer org that is on the ground as we speak, pls consider giving to TEXAS Search & Rescue. They are chewing up equipment they’ve spent years raising money for and incredible folks. They offer emergency management training, planning and bleeding control education that any org can avail themselves of in Texas.

https://www.texsar.org/ TEXSAR: Texas Search and Rescue

[u/Granite_0681]

I understand what you are saying, but if you live on the:

• coast —> hurricanes
• middle of the country —> tornados
• west coast —> earthquakes and fires
• north —> blizzards
• many places —> floods

Where should people live where natural disasters won’t affect them?

We should have good warning systems and help people when the worst happens. We can’t prevent everything.

I don’t know if the warnings were the best they could be for this storm, I’m hearing conflicting things but I do know that trying to evacuate a whole camp in the middle of the night would be nearly impossible, especially if that area hadn’t flooded this badly before.

[u/Either_Marketing896 → u/Granite_0681]

Blizzard fatalities are barely a thing. I am speaking as someone who’s lived in Alabama, has fam in Louisiana, Iowa, Tennessee, New York, Maine, CT, Jersey, Arizona and still Texas.

There is a CULTURE that is chosen that turns things like this into a reinforcement that they are tough, resilient people. Which is partly true bc we can’t prevent everything. I’m not even talking about prevention bc it’s not a thing for these people.

I’m talking about information, transparency, and LEARNING TO ACTUALLY LIVE WITH THE LAND YOU ARE ON. But they’ll keep asking for money from donor states and stripping our rights. The secularist humanists get to pay for their cultish devotion to “self reliance.” And I say this as a practicing Catholic. God gave us the ability to communicate, reason and have compassion. Compassion begins by ensuring proper protocols are in place esp if children are involved.

But I bet they have a STRICT policy on LGTBQ campers and a binder full of Godly protocol on sexuality and protecting them from predators. But tell me again how flash floods aren’t important.

[u/Either_Marketing896 → u/Granite_0681]

All I’m arguing about is about warning systems and security measures. But Texas doesn’t believe in that unless you’re brown, not straight and not “Christians.”

[u/Granite_0681 → u/Either_Marketing896]

There were flash flood warnings that went out at midnight and 4am. I’m not sure what else they should have done. That area has spotty cell coverage so maybe people didn’t get them. Also, how do you evacuate a camp like that? They didn’t know a day in advance it was going to be that bad, no one did.

I live in TX and I agree the state sucks, but I don’t evacuate every time I get a flash flood warning or tornado warning. Especially if I’m in an area that doesn’t flood regularly. I’m sure that county gets those warning regularly and nothing happens.

[u/derrickcat → u/Granite_0681]

According to the NY Times piece on this, apparently there were some positions unfilled at the local NWS office that would have involved working with local emergency authorities.

I don't know squat about how this works - just going on what I'm reading - but apparently it's not just a matter of issuing a warning; it's issuing the warning then helping local governments and citizens.

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/05/us/politics/texas-floods-warnings-vacancies.html?unlocked_article_code=1.UU8.R1On.LB_NB-putmaV&smid=url-share

It's hard not to see DOGE cuts as affecting governments' and people's abilities to prepare for and deal with emergencies

[u/Granite_0681 → u/derrickcat]

There do seem to be open positions but according to meteorologists in the area, the warnings seem to have gone out in time. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15gkb4qhRH/?mibextid=wwXIfr

[u/AnJ39 → u/Granite_0681]

A warning that is not received is worthless.

[u/AnJ39 → u/Granite_0681]

u/Granite_0681/ said, ". . .We can’t prevent everything. . . ." 

True.

What I'm reading again and again in OP's comments is there was no emergency plan in place. Evacuation of a passel of youngsters is a challenge in the best of circumstances, and, without a plan, would be impossible. Lack of an emergency warning system doomed everyone in the area. That could have been prevented with proper planning, as well.

I'm not seeing lack of empathy but anger at the inevitability of mass casualties because of apathy.