Death Toll from Texas Floods Surpasses 100
The death toll from the devastating floods of July 4 that swept through Texas has surpassed 100, with over 160 people still missing. The clambering of the bourgeois media outlets, seeking to pin the tail on which individual is responsible, has somewhat shed light on the criminal inadequacy of the emergency preparedness of the state, including the lack of preventative measures such as warning systems in Kerr County, late warnings for residents, and the lack of care for evacuation. The capitalist state has repeatedly demonstrated its inability to prioritize the lives of the people of the US, from the tornadoes that tore through the South and Midwest to the fires that ravaged California.
The flooding catastrophe is another example of social murder in the world’s dominant imperialist power. The hypocrisy of Governor Abbot and other Texas state officials knows no bounds, as they attempt to bury their illicit responsibility beneath an American football metaphor, dismissing those who seek accountability as behaving like a “losing team”. Governor Abbot, whose administration enacted Operation Lonestar, allocating $11 billion to militarization of the Texas-Mexico border, is trying to take the role of the “championship team” seeking “solutions” while transportation, construction, and other private contractors grow plump in exchange for campaign contributions. It is characteristic that the most senior official stated that the absence of a warning system in Kerr County was due to it being too expensive. This is the logic of capital, where safety and livelihood are debated as “costs of taxpayers” and not a guarantee; a system where the needs of private interests are always met.
A petition by locals in Kerr County demanding the installation of a modern warning system has been circulating online, shattering the lies of Texas officials. It has already received over 30,000 signatures.
Governor Abbott has warned that more rain could worsen the flooding, even as search missions continue, though no real guarantees for residents’ protection have been offered. Meanwhile, Texas Senator Ted Cruz claimed that cutting funding to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would not affect future forecasting. This comes from the same senator who vacationed in Greece during the disaster and infamously fled to Cancun during the deadly 2021 Texas energy crisis. Even worse, Cruz introduced language into the Big Beautiful Bill Act to eliminate $150 million in funding meant to improve and accelerate weather forecasting through advances in research, observation systems, modeling, and public information sharing.
In the context of vast cuts, the National Weather Service underestimated the amount of rainfall in Central Texas and issued warnings only after flash flooding was already underway. More than 600 employees have left the agency in recent months, leading to critical staffing shortages. At the same time, nearly one-fifth of full-time employees at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are set to leave.
From Tempi to Texas, these are the criminal politics of profit that sacrifice our lives. They cannot be forgiven, forgotten, or covered up.