"The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved appeals from Camp Mystic to exempt several structures from a flood zone designation over a decade before extreme flooding in Central Texas swamped the Christian girls camp and killed 27 campers and counselors, according to FEMA records."

"In an effort to shrink the federal government, President Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps that are diluting the country’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, disaster experts say."

"Two days after catastrophic floods roared through Central Texas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line, according to documents reviewed by The New York Times."

"As the Guadalupe River swelled from a wall of water heading downstream, sirens blared over the tiny river community of Comfort -- a last-ditch warning to get out for those who had missed cellphone alerts and firefighters going street-to-street telling people to get out."

"Camp Mystic, the private summer camp that now symbolizes the deadly Central Texas floods, sat on a tract of land known to be at high risk for a devastating flood. Nearly 1.3 million Texas homes are similarly situated in parts of the state susceptible to dangerous floodwaters, according to a state estimate."

"Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has doubled down on her past calls to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — but also says it should be “remade” as the agency responds to floods in Texas."

"First, a filthy Chesapeake Bay represented all that wasn’t working with America’s stewardship of its natural environment. Then, the bay became a success story. The sloughs of poorly treated sewage at the bottom of slime-green lagoons disappeared, and oyster populations, once nearly wiped out, made a near-miraculous comeback. ... In recent years, however, progress has stalled."

"President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration told a panel of U.S. senators on Wednesday that he would make it “a top priority” to fill staffing shortages created by recent firings and buyouts across the National Weather Service, while also standing by the administration’s proposal to make drastic cuts to weather and climate research budgets."

"The ​“Big, Beautiful Bill” includes rollbacks of clean energy incentives that at least two offshore wind projects rely on to pencil out financially, analysts say." 

"As Americans flock to the country’s coasts — and to the lakes and rivers in between — in the heat of summer, they may be doing so despite the presence of fecal matter."