On Friday, July 4th, floods began to sweep across Texas Hill Country. The floods devastated the Hill Country, washing away vacation cabins, youth camps, and campgrounds along the riverbanks and hills of Kerr County—including Camp Mystic, a century-old Christian summer camp for girls located in a low-lying area along the Guadalupe River. At the time of writing, the flash floods have killed at least 135 people. Hill Country is naturally prone to flash flooding due to its dry, compacted soil, which cannot absorb heavy rainfall. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in just 45 minutes, and recently defunded emergency services were not equipped to respond in time. Fueled by climate change, which makes “freak” weather events common, and enabled by politicians serving big business, this disaster is a product of capitalism—and it’s working-class Texans who are paying the price.

System Failure

These floods have exposed politicians from both parties—particularly Republicans—and the catastrophic effect of Trump and DOGE’s ruthless cuts to crucial government agencies, such as the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). On day two of this disaster, FEMA laid off hundreds of call center workers whose contracts expired. The impact of this should surprise no one: FEMA did not answer two-thirds of the calls to its disaster assistance line.

Texas has been severely affected by climate change, with historic floods, droughts and freezes sometimes happening in the same year, and is one of the biggest beneficiaries of FEMA funds. Over the last decade, FEMA has sent more than $7 billion, just in individual and public assistance. Despite this, Governor Abbott is supporting Trump in slashing funding for the agency.

Abbott supports FEMA cuts because he believes the agency is ineffective, slow, and bureaucratic, while ignoring how worsening climate change and funding cuts are overwhelming capacity for disaster relief efforts. The Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has also significantly reduced the staff, research capacity, and data-sharing capabilities of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including its ability to provide accurate weather forecasts. The National Weather Service (NWS), in particular, has cut nearly 600 staff members at a time when 40% of national weather forecast offices are experiencing significant vacancies.

At the Austin/San Antonio forecasting office, which covers areas impacted by the recent Texas floods, DOGE’s layoffs included the elimination of a warning coordination meteorologist, a position critical for coordinating communication between forecasters, emergency managers, and the public. Still, this time, the NWS did issue 22 warnings to Kerr County. But the county failed to integrate an emergency alert system like FEMA’s IPAWS (Integrated Public Alert and Warning System) to promptly reach residents through sirens, phone alerts, radio, and television.

This downsizing is part of a broader privatization effort to turn public services into profit-making schemes. In several cases, the companies poised to fill the gap have deep ties to individuals Trump has appointed to lead weather-related agencies. Privatizing weather services has long been a Republican goal. During Trump’s first term, he signed a bill promoting the use of private weather data project 2025—a proposed blueprint for Trump’s second term co-authored by his former budget director—calls for NOAA to be broken up and for the National Weather Service to “fully commercialize” its forecasting operations.

Corporate Parties Protect Corporate Interests

In order to deflect blame away from fossil fuel corporations (and their donors), corporate politicians are quick to talk about “freak” weather events rather than the increasing trend of natural disasters and need to invest in preparedness because of climate change. President Trump told reporters, “That water situation, that all is, and that was really the Biden setup. But I wouldn’t blame Biden for it, either. I would just say this is a 100-year catastrophe.”

Instead of acknowledging that their support for Trump’s agenda contributed to the devastating loss of life, politicians like Ted Cruz took to the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter) to deflect. Cruz wrote, “President Trump committed ANYTHING Texas needs.” Meanwhile, Governor Abbott praised Trump for approving a major disaster declaration, claiming it would ensure that state and local governments have more resources to manage the emergency. 

Places like Texas need massive investment in disaster mitigation, wetlands preservation, stormwater drainage systems, levees, dikes, floodwalls, retention and detention basins, and dams and reservoirs. Trump and the capitalist class are simply unwilling to pay for this because it’s not profitable. Instead, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” points in the opposite direction, cutting taxes on the ultra-rich and subsidizing the fossil fuel economy while cutting agencies like FEMA and the NWS.

Capitalism Is To Blame

We need to put blame where it rightfully belongs—at the feet of the capitalist system. Just 100 companies account for over 70% of industrial greenhouse gas emissions. Republicans like Trump, Senator Ted Cruz, and Governor Greg Abbott deny the existence of climate change, but Democrats are also funded by fossil fuel corporations, and have also refused to take sufficient action to address the problem. We must be clear: climate change, a product of capitalism, is driving extreme weather. Warmer air holds more moisture, which increases flood frequency and severity. Capitalism created this problem, but is incapable of solving it, because it is driven by what is profitable for a small few.

Time and time again, working-class Texans have experienced the failures of this system—most recently during Hurricane Beryl on July 8th, 2024, when millions were left without power for weeks. The crisis resulted in the deaths of 42 people and caused extensive damage to the state’s infrastructure.

Similarly, in February 2021, Texas suffered a major power crisis during three severe winter storms, which triggered the worst energy infrastructure failure in Texas history, leading to widespread shortages of water, food, and heat. More than 4.5 million homes and businesses were left without power, with some estimates placing the death toll as high as 702.

Socialist Alternative Calls For:

• Immediate relief for Texas residents affected by the flooding
• Tax the rich to provide direct cash relief to cover all losses and to fully fund accommodations such as emergency housing, meals, schools, and mental health support; and to rebuild homes, schools, and infrastructure in affected communities
• Fully-funded emergency systems designed to protect and evacuate people from the increasingly frequent and severe storms, floods, and fires caused by climate change 
• A massive, unionized green jobs program that offers all workers in polluting industries the option to transition to union jobs rapidly building and operating green infrastructure—with no loss of pay, benefits, or seniority
• Take the top 100 polluting corporations into democratic public ownership, and repurpose their resources to begin the transition to green energy and infrastructure
• End the capitalist system that is driving climate change and disasters—for a socialist society run on a democratic and sustainable basis!