Texas floods: dozens dead and children among the victims in a preventable climate disaster

In Texas, 78 people died in catastrophic floods made worse by years of climate denial, outdated infrastructure, and budget cuts to weather services. Many victims were young girls.

The muddy banks of the Guadalupe River are still being scoured by search teams, their boots thick with sludge, their helicopters circling the shattered landscape from above. Here in Texas, the search for dozens of missing people doesn’t stop—not even after 78 confirmed deaths. Not even after the sky has finally cleared.

Most of the lives lost in Friday’s floods were in the riverside town of Kerrville, nestled in the heart of the Hill Country. There, the Guadalupe—usually a calm thread winding through town—turned violent in less than an hour, transformed by torrential pre-dawn rain into a deadly surge of water and debris.

And the most devastating part? Dozens of the victims were young girls.

The price of climate denial: Texas pays for its loyalty to fossil fuel politics

Texas, the second-largest producer of oil and gas in the United States, has become a case study in what happens when profits are placed above survival. Under the lasting influence of Donald Trump and the governance of Republican Governor Greg Abbott, the state has hardened its embrace of climate denialism—not just as rhetoric, but as policy.

Efforts to cut emissions? Framed as threats to “economic freedom.” Upgrades to the aging electrical grid? Branded unnecessary. This ideological rigidity has created a state infrastructure utterly unfit for extreme weather—which, ironically, is becoming more frequent because of that same denialism.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has doubled down on dismantling federal environmental protections. He has gutted pollution regulations, championed fossil fuel extraction without restraint, and slashed funding for both climate and scientific programs.

In Texas, those actions have taken root in the form of laws that favor energy corporations, widespread deregulation, and even open sabotage of renewable energy development. The result is a system that’s not only outdated but dangerous.

Back in 2024, when Hurricane Beryl tore through Houston, it left millions without electricity. The failure of this ideology was on full display: neighborhoods under water, homes destroyed, widespread blackouts. Yet even then, state leaders refused to support basic reforms, such as modernizing the electric grid or implementing a serious climate action plan.

Their message has remained consistent: “profits first, people later.”

What happens when ideology replaces science

This short-sighted philosophy—a direct legacy of Trump’s political agenda—is now revealing its most callous face. Climate change doesn’t negotiate, and Texas, like much of Trump’s America, is now being forced to deal with the consequences of its political choices.

And the damage isn’t just infrastructural—it’s systemic.

Budget cuts and weather alerts: another casualty of trumpism

The disaster in Texas was worsened by more than just decaying infrastructure. It was also fueled by recent budget cuts, championed by Elon Musk and enthusiastically backed by the Trump administration.

Earlier this year, a sweeping “spending review” pushed by Musk led to significant downsizing across federal agencies, including the National Weather Service (NWS) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—just as climate emergencies are becoming more frequent and severe.

The fallout was immediate: delayed alerts, underestimations of risk, and ultimately, lives lost because of a weakened early-warning system. As Kerr County Judge Ron Kelly bluntly admitted:

“We didn’t know this flood was coming.”

Forecasts from the NWS had predicted up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rainfall. But Hurricane Beryl delivered significantly more. Even W. Nim Kidd, the head of Texas emergency management, was caught unprepared.

And yet, the scientific community had warned the White House. They made it clear: without funding and personnel, the early-warning system would fail. And still, politics chose ideology over science.