No Sirens. Just Darkness and Floods.

Texas was left unprotected by policy and design. The rest of the country should pay attention.

Before we go any further, let me say this: behind every number is a human being. These aren’t just statistics, they’re children, parents, grandparents. Loved ones. Writing this wasn’t easy. Over the last few days, my emotions have swung between heartbreak and fury. What happened in Texas wasn’t just a natural disaster. It was a preventable tragedy. The more I dug into the failures, at every level of government, the angrier I became. Because I want a system of governing, from local to national, that protects all of us, not just the lucky, the wealthy, or the politically aligned. I spent most of my career working inside that system, and I believe in doing everything we possibly can to keep Americans safe.

My home state is underwater.

The Texas Hill Country just endured a catastrophic flood, one of the worst in our history. Over a foot of rain fell in six hours. The Guadalupe River surged more than 26 feet above flood stage. Cabins at Camp Mystic were swept away in the dead of night. Helicopters rescued campers. Over 170 people are still missing, and the death toll has climbed to 119. Governor Greg Abbott has warned both numbers may continue to rise. This isn’t just a storm. It’s a policy failure and a warning for every community in the country. Towns across America are experiencing severe flooding, from North Carolina to California, and just this week, Ruidoso, New Mexico, a place I often visited while growing up in the southwest.

Imagine being a parent, jolted awake in the blackness of night by the roar of floodwaters. Your phone didn’t ring. The alert never came. By the time headlights flicker through the rain, it’s already too late. That’s what happened in Kerrville, Ingram, and Hunt. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued alerts on Thursday afternoon, but it wasn’t until early morning hours that the urgent flash-flood warnings raised the risk of catastrophic damage and severe threat to life. Kerrville’s mayor said it plainly: “We didn’t even have a warning.” This tragedy reflects a warning system under pressure, stretched thin by rising climate threats, and now facing questions about the timing and effectiveness of its early morning alerts.

Texas Had a Chance to Warn Its People. It Chose Not To.

In the months leading up to the deadly floods, Texas lawmakers had an opportunity to address their broken emergency alert system. They didn’t. House Bill 13, a bipartisan proposal in the Texas Legislature, would have created a statewide emergency response council, supported first responder grants, and, most critically, helped fund outdoor warning sirens and statewide emergency alert systems. It passed the Texas House but was killed in the state Senate earlier this year, mainly over cost concerns. Lawmakers are now left second-guessing their decisions.

Republican State Rep. Wes Virdell, who voted against the bill, told The Texas Tribune:

“My vote would probably be different now… I think even if you had a warning system there, this came in so fast and early in the morning it’s very unlikely the warning system would have had much effect.” 

But survivors say even a few extra minutes could’ve made the difference between life and death.

A Broken Federal System By Design

While Texas stalled, the federal government under Trump has taken a sledgehammer to the very systems meant to warn and protect Americans.

Since returning to office in January 2025, Trump and his allies have raced to dismantle our emergency infrastructure, following the extreme roadmap laid out in Project 2025 (p.166), which calls for ending federal disaster aid, privatizing weather alerts, eliminating resilience grants, and limiting FEMA to only the most catastrophic events.

Here’s what Trump’s second term has already put into motion:

• Dismantling FEMA- Trump established a FEMA Review Council through an executive order, triggering a strategic reevaluation of the agency's core missions. He has vowed to phase out FEMA entirely after the 2025 hurricane season.

• Canceling the BRIC Program- FEMA’s Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) grants, vital for community preparedness, were terminated in February. That funding could have bolstered Texas’ defenses before the flood.

• Quadrupling the Disaster Threshold- Fewer communities now qualify for federal disaster aid. Small towns, like those just hit, could be on their own.

• Slashing NOAA and the NWS- On July 4, Trump signed the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill,” slashing $150 million from NOAA and cutting over 800 jobs, including more than 100 forecasters from the NWS. The plan moves us toward outsourcing public weather alerts, potentially opening the door to delayed or paywalled warnings. You know that frustration when you click a news link and can’t read it without a subscription? Now imagine that same wall, but it’s between you and the alert that tells you a flash flood is heading straight for your home. The sky is black, the storm is here, and the warning you need is stuck behind a corporate login.

These cuts delay radar processing, weaken flood modeling, and reduce the lead time families have to seek safety. That’s not hypothetical. That’s exactly what just happened in Texas.

This Is Climate Change, and We’re Choosing Not to Prepare

Here’s what almost no one is saying out loud: This was a direct result of climate change. The Texas Hill Country flood wasn’t just a freak event. It was a climate-fueled disaster, made worse by rising temperatures, slower-moving storm systems, and overloaded waterways. And yet, Trump’s FY2026 budget eliminates nearly all federal weather and climate research. Entire NOAA divisions, including the National Severe Storms Laboratory, are being defunded. When you strip away scientists, silence forecasters, and eliminate early warning systems, you're not just unprepared; you're choosing to be blind. 

As someone who coordinated on federal disaster response as Homeland Security Advisor to Vice President Mike Pence, I understand how these systems are intended to function. And I also know what it looks like when the system is deliberately dismantled.

I watched Donald Trump slow-roll aid to blue states, attack governors who challenged him, and put his image and political agenda ahead of American lives. What we’re seeing now, from Project 2025 to the “Big Beautiful Bill,” is the same playbook I witnessed firsthand, now formalized and expanded into official policy. That playbook has real consequences, especially for communities now left exposed and unprotected.

And then there is Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, vacationing in Greece while Texans drowned, returning after backlash only to warn others not to “politicize” the tragedy. This, after recently inserting language into the very legislation that slashes funding for storm research and public alerts. You can’t claim moral outrage while actively enabling the very policies that left people to die.

This isn’t “efficiency.” It’s depravity. When a government starts treating emergency alerts as a “business opportunity” and disaster relief as “pork,” people die.

And yes, Project 2025 (p.186) explicitly refers to FEMA grants as "pork." In its own words:

“FEMA manages all grants for DHS, and these grants have become pork for states, localities, and special-interest groups... DHS should not be in the business of handing out federal tax dollars: These grants should be terminated.”

That includes the very programs used to train first responders, fund flood sirens, harden cyber defenses, and support shelters. The plan argues that these investments should be scrapped, and that states should “bear the costs” themselves, even after disasters they didn’t cause and can’t afford to recover from. In other words, if your town needs a flood alert system, a school evacuation plan, or shelters to keep people alive, it’s now your problem.

Americans deserve real accountability.

Because when emergency alerts are delayed, dismantled, or sold off to private firms, someone always profits. But it’s never the families trying to outrun rising floodwaters in the dark.

Start by asking:

• Why did the Texas Legislature kill House Bill 13, knowing our alert systems were outdated? What lobbyist decided lives weren’t worth the cost?

• Why were extreme flood warnings delayed? Were NWS offices too understaffed to act? Once recovery is underway, we need a full accounting of what went wrong and why.

• Which radar systems and storm modeling tools were slashed, tools that could have bought families precious minutes to escape?

• Why are Trump and the Heritage Foundation so set on trying to sell off the National Weather Service?

• Why is basic weather safety becoming a luxury, something you have to pay for?

• Who profits from privatized weather forecasting?

• Why is broadband-based alerting treated as sufficient when so many rural and low-income areas lack access?

• How are small towns expected to rebuild with no BRIC program or FEMA aid?

• And to the most ardent “America First” supporters, many of whom have written to me, why does the U.S. spend so heavily on military defense, but so little on protecting its own people from floods, fires, and climate disasters here at home? Your communities are the ones paying the price for these policies.

The Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country has launched a relief fund to help displaced families, small businesses, and emergency responders. Please consider donating. I’m deeply grateful to the volunteers, neighbors, and first responders who showed up with courage and compassion in the face of unthinkable loss.

Texans, and Americans across the country, are stepping up, as they always do. But kindness alone can’t rebuild systems that were never built to withstand this. The floods will recede. The damage from these cuts won’t.

If you live in a floodplain, a wildfire zone, or a hurricane corridor, pay attention. The warning that never came in Texas may never come for you. Find out what your town, your state, and your elected officials are doing to prepare for disasters or what they’ve quietly stopped doing.

This isn’t leadership. It’s deliberate neglect dressed up as policy. And it’s getting people killed.

More soon,

Olivia