Q: Is it true that if President Donald Trump hadn’t defunded the National Weather Service, the death toll in the Texas flooding would have been far lower or nonexistent? A: The Trump administration did not defund the NWS but did reduce the staff by 600 people.

For years, employees say, they've had to do more with less. But the ability to fill in the gaps became strained to the breaking point when the Trump administration began pushing new staffing cuts.

The death toll from the devastating Texas floods has risen to over 110 people and at least 173 remain missing. Former NOAA Administrator Richard Spinrad joins Ana Cabrera to break down the timeline of the flood alerts and to provide more insight on response.

Deadly flood in Texas sparks a debate over whether recent cuts and staffing shortages led to a greater loss of life.

After deadly floodwaters swept through Central Texas, there are questions about the timeline of weather alerts and possible gaps in the warning system.

Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.

From 1959 to 2019, 1,069 people died in Texas in flooding, which is nearly one-fifth of the total 5,724 flood fatalities in the Lower 48 states in that time, according to a 2021 study in the journal Water.

While the chances of having an event similar to what had occurred in Texas are significantly lower, it raised a question about staffing at local National Weather Service (NWS) offices. Southcentral Kentucky is observed by two NWS offices: Paducah and Louisville.