Texas, flood
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"It's not community to community. It's a national system," Sen. Maria Cantwell said on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan."
Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.
The early warnings and alerts from the National Weather Service didn’t indicate a catastrophic flood was on its way.
Experts said warnings issued in the run-up to this weekend’s flooding were as timely and accurate as possible, but questions about whether the alerts reached people most at risk remain.
NWS says Flash Flood Warnings were issued on July 3 and early July 4 in Central Texas, giving more than three hours of warning.
Texas forecasters issued a series of early-morning warnings about “life-threatening flooding” along the Guadalupe River.
"A lot of the weather forecast offices now are not operating at full complement of staff," said the former lead of NOAA.
In the wake of the central Texas flash flooding, after local officials pointed fingers at the National Weather Service for its alerts and forecasts, the agency responded: The NWS alerts gave several hours of lead time,
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