The forecast calls for Hurricane Elon to keep spinning
- By cigaretteman
- Off Topic
- 2 Replies
Most presidents faced with a natural disaster try to make the situation better. They declare presidential disasters in the stricken area and send federal help.
As with so many things. President Donald Trump is different.
Trump has created his very own disaster.
Hurricane Elon is a ferocious storm. Its maximum sustained winds can’t be measured. Its warning cone covers the entire United States.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has slashed funding and fired hundreds of personnel who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency which includes the National Weather Service.
Federal grants totaling $35 million for IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa, which includes the Iowa Flood Center, have been put on indefinite hold.
Trump has said he’d like to eliminate or downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. He signed an executive order calling on states to “play a more active and significant role” in responding to disasters. Billions of dollars not included.
"I say you don't need FEMA, you need a good state government," Trump said in January as he surveyed wildfire damage in Los Angeles. "FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation."
In the midst of all this, the Trump administration turned down requests for extended FEMA aid by Washington state and North Carolina.
So, disaster preparation, forecast warnings and disaster response are being wiped out or face debilitating funding cuts.
Don’t worry, the president will toss us paper towels.
Targeting NOAA’s climate work
NOAA is being targeted due to its extensive research into climate change, including vital data used by researchers around the globe. The climate, apparently, stopped changing when Trump took office. It’s right there in Project 2025, which said NOAA is a major driver of the “climate change alarm industry.”
We keep hitting snooze on our climate change alarm.
The National Weather Service is also threatened by cuts.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, an Illinois Democrat, is the only meteorologist in Congress. He told WQAD TV that six employees lost their jobs at the National Weather Service Quad Cities office, which provides forecasts, warnings and river level reports to most of Eastern Iowa, including Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
Sorenson told the AP the Quad Cities office now has 37.5 of its staffing slots vacant.
“Going forward with these types of cuts, we can’t guarantee that people are going to be as safe as they were,’ Sorensen said.
Most of the employees let go are new, probationary hires. But as forecasters retire, the new employees were supposed to take over their duties.
Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump administration policy, argued weather service duties could be handed to private firms. Bill Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, said it would be a mistake.
“Right now, the National Weather Service is the only one that is allowed to issue warnings,” Gallus said this past week on IPR’s River to River. “You know, if you go to private companies doing this, then you would have to pay to know that a tornado is coming. You know that simply won't work.”
So far, Gallus said, the overall weather service budget remains intact, despite personnel cuts and fears reductions will go further.
“So, I'm hoping that there's been enough public outcry, and there's been sort of an acknowledgment now that we really need the National Weather Service. It's been pointed out for every dollar spent the National Weather Service saves the country, I think, $73 because weather forecasting is so critical to our economy, Gallus said.
Still, a lack of personnel could leave too few employees to, for example, make stream level reports and launch weather balloons that gather important data. Climate laboratory cuts at NOAA will hurt forecasting.
“But what seems to be getting missed here is, if you cut the laboratories … that is where all the work goes on that discusses how to improve the forecast models, how to create better radar. You're going to basically stop all the progress that has happened for the last 50 plus years in meteorology,” Gallus said.
The Iowa Flood Center has developed invaluable inundation maps of scores of Iowa communities showing exactly where flooding will hit at different river depths. The center’s federally funded Watershed Approach studied nine Iowa watersheds with hopes of reducing the risk of flooding and improving water quality.
Larry Weber, professor of engineering at the University of Iowa and cofounder of the flood center, said federal cuts have hit research on renewable energy, carbon sequestration and building resilient infrastructure.
“So, we feel that we are vital to the economic development of the state of Iowa, having adequate water resources for our state, preparing ourselves against these disasters that cost our communities in our state, 10s or hundreds of millions of dollars are very important in disaster mitigation,” said Weber, who also appeared on River to River.
“I think if we pull that away from the federal government, we're going to slow down discovery in this nation. We're going to see other nations surpass us, because they continue to make those same investments, and to think that we can simply privatize all of these activities, I think, is very shortsighted,” Weber said.
The flood center’s $1.2 million in state funding hasn’t changed since 2017.
FEMA provided $330 million for flood recovery projects in Cedar Rapids following the flood of 2008. The agency took plenty of criticism, some of it warranted, but also provided much needed assistance in the flood’s aftermath.
FEMA already works with states to coordinate a response by multiple federal agencies. But federal funding is the main source of recovery resources.
But if FEMA is eliminated or its duties are curtailed, states would face multi-billion-dollar recovery costs. Can states match the speed of FEMA’s emergency assistance payments that arrive within days to pay for temporary housing and other basic needs?
Not only would states need to find money to pay for disaster response, they would also need a lot of people to carry out the mission. NPR reports that 8,500 federal workers responded to Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Even if FEMA bucks are sent to the state in block grants, it may not be enough to cover the costs of a major disaster, such as a flood or derecho.
Climate change is already helping fuel extreme weather events. Iowa is now at more risk for flooding, according to researchers who may or may not still have jobs. It seems like a really bad time to roll back disaster response.
So, Hurricane Elon keeps spinning. Scientific discovery, critical forecasting and disaster response are in jeopardy. No amount of sandbags, plywood and prayers will shield us from the storm.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
www.thegazette.com
As with so many things. President Donald Trump is different.
Trump has created his very own disaster.
Hurricane Elon is a ferocious storm. Its maximum sustained winds can’t be measured. Its warning cone covers the entire United States.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, has slashed funding and fired hundreds of personnel who worked for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency which includes the National Weather Service.
Federal grants totaling $35 million for IIHR-Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa, which includes the Iowa Flood Center, have been put on indefinite hold.
Trump has said he’d like to eliminate or downsize the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA. He signed an executive order calling on states to “play a more active and significant role” in responding to disasters. Billions of dollars not included.
"I say you don't need FEMA, you need a good state government," Trump said in January as he surveyed wildfire damage in Los Angeles. "FEMA is a very expensive, in my opinion, mostly failed situation."
In the midst of all this, the Trump administration turned down requests for extended FEMA aid by Washington state and North Carolina.
So, disaster preparation, forecast warnings and disaster response are being wiped out or face debilitating funding cuts.
Don’t worry, the president will toss us paper towels.
Targeting NOAA’s climate work
NOAA is being targeted due to its extensive research into climate change, including vital data used by researchers around the globe. The climate, apparently, stopped changing when Trump took office. It’s right there in Project 2025, which said NOAA is a major driver of the “climate change alarm industry.”
We keep hitting snooze on our climate change alarm.
The National Weather Service is also threatened by cuts.
U.S. Rep. Eric Sorensen, an Illinois Democrat, is the only meteorologist in Congress. He told WQAD TV that six employees lost their jobs at the National Weather Service Quad Cities office, which provides forecasts, warnings and river level reports to most of Eastern Iowa, including Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.
Sorenson told the AP the Quad Cities office now has 37.5 of its staffing slots vacant.
“Going forward with these types of cuts, we can’t guarantee that people are going to be as safe as they were,’ Sorensen said.
Most of the employees let go are new, probationary hires. But as forecasters retire, the new employees were supposed to take over their duties.
Project 2025, the blueprint for Trump administration policy, argued weather service duties could be handed to private firms. Bill Gallus, a professor of meteorology at Iowa State University, said it would be a mistake.
“Right now, the National Weather Service is the only one that is allowed to issue warnings,” Gallus said this past week on IPR’s River to River. “You know, if you go to private companies doing this, then you would have to pay to know that a tornado is coming. You know that simply won't work.”
So far, Gallus said, the overall weather service budget remains intact, despite personnel cuts and fears reductions will go further.
“So, I'm hoping that there's been enough public outcry, and there's been sort of an acknowledgment now that we really need the National Weather Service. It's been pointed out for every dollar spent the National Weather Service saves the country, I think, $73 because weather forecasting is so critical to our economy, Gallus said.
Still, a lack of personnel could leave too few employees to, for example, make stream level reports and launch weather balloons that gather important data. Climate laboratory cuts at NOAA will hurt forecasting.
“But what seems to be getting missed here is, if you cut the laboratories … that is where all the work goes on that discusses how to improve the forecast models, how to create better radar. You're going to basically stop all the progress that has happened for the last 50 plus years in meteorology,” Gallus said.
Flood Center grants halted
The Iowa Flood Center has developed invaluable inundation maps of scores of Iowa communities showing exactly where flooding will hit at different river depths. The center’s federally funded Watershed Approach studied nine Iowa watersheds with hopes of reducing the risk of flooding and improving water quality.
Larry Weber, professor of engineering at the University of Iowa and cofounder of the flood center, said federal cuts have hit research on renewable energy, carbon sequestration and building resilient infrastructure.
“So, we feel that we are vital to the economic development of the state of Iowa, having adequate water resources for our state, preparing ourselves against these disasters that cost our communities in our state, 10s or hundreds of millions of dollars are very important in disaster mitigation,” said Weber, who also appeared on River to River.
“I think if we pull that away from the federal government, we're going to slow down discovery in this nation. We're going to see other nations surpass us, because they continue to make those same investments, and to think that we can simply privatize all of these activities, I think, is very shortsighted,” Weber said.
The flood center’s $1.2 million in state funding hasn’t changed since 2017.
FEMA is in Trump’s crosshairs
FEMA provided $330 million for flood recovery projects in Cedar Rapids following the flood of 2008. The agency took plenty of criticism, some of it warranted, but also provided much needed assistance in the flood’s aftermath.
FEMA already works with states to coordinate a response by multiple federal agencies. But federal funding is the main source of recovery resources.
But if FEMA is eliminated or its duties are curtailed, states would face multi-billion-dollar recovery costs. Can states match the speed of FEMA’s emergency assistance payments that arrive within days to pay for temporary housing and other basic needs?
Not only would states need to find money to pay for disaster response, they would also need a lot of people to carry out the mission. NPR reports that 8,500 federal workers responded to Helene and Hurricane Milton.
Even if FEMA bucks are sent to the state in block grants, it may not be enough to cover the costs of a major disaster, such as a flood or derecho.
Climate change is already helping fuel extreme weather events. Iowa is now at more risk for flooding, according to researchers who may or may not still have jobs. It seems like a really bad time to roll back disaster response.
So, Hurricane Elon keeps spinning. Scientific discovery, critical forecasting and disaster response are in jeopardy. No amount of sandbags, plywood and prayers will shield us from the storm.
(319) 398-8262; todd.dorman@thegazette.com
Opinion: The forecast calls for Hurricane Elon to keep spinning
President Trump gets a FEMA briefing in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Trump said he expects Hurricane Florence to be …
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