Debate erupts over role job cuts played in weather forecasts ahead of deadly Texas floods

By MICHAEL BIESECKER and BRIAN SLODYSKO

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives.

After torrential rains and flash flooding struck Friday in the Texas Hill Country, the weather service came under fire from local officials who criticized what they described as inadequate forecasts, though most in the Republican-controlled state stopped sort of blaming Trump’s cuts.