Texas floods are a climate crisis warning

On the Fourth of July, Donald Trump signed his "megabill." The law boosts the dying fossil fuel industry with tens of billions of taxpayer dollars. It invites an additional 470 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2035 — that’s the equivalent annual emissions of more than 100 million gas-powered cars. And it aims to stop dead in its tracks the clean energy transition and the green manufacturing jobs boom the Inflation Reduction Act was already starting to create.

Just hours later, a climate-fueled storm settled over and dumped four months worth of rain on Texas Hill Country. The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet within 45 minutes. The resulting flash floods killed at least 110 people — at the time of this writing, although that number will go up — mostly in Kerr County. That death toll includes dozens of young girls attending the Camp Mystic youth camp.

This disaster was not a random event. It was a crisis written by the climate crisis and made far worse by the types of policies being pushed by this administration everyday.

Before the absurdly named One Big Beautiful Bill Act landed on Trump’s desk, his administration had already begun gutting America’s frontline defenses against climate disasters — like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s climate labs, the National Weather Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As questions abound about why parts of the flood-impacted region did not receive adequate warning about the floods, Trump insisted that "nobody expected it" and it was a "once in 100 years" event.

But storms like this, as well as increased flooding from the Guadalupe River, were expected — and predicted. The U.S. Geological Survey — another vital body Trump is trying to eviscerate — issued a report to that effect in 2019. The science is clear: warmer air holds more moisture, intensifying storms and accelerating flood risk. We’re now witnessing the violent proof of these predictions.

UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain, posted on X, "this kind of record-shattering rain (caused by slow-moving torrential thunderstorms) event is *precisely* that which is increasing the fastest in [a] warming climate."

As for the "one in 100 years" claim, those once-in-a-century extreme weather events are now happening far more often thanks to the climate crisis. Between just 2015-2019, one St. Louis suburb had three major floods and at least two of them were considered "1-in-100-year events."

It is not hard to see how the climate crisis became a political debate. Decades of anti-science propaganda from the coal, oil and gas industries. Politicians bought and paid for by fossil fuel oligarchs. A current administration with a cabinet full of industry shills.

Big Oil alone spent a whopping $445 million through the 2024 election cycle to influence Trump and Congress. A staggering figure to be sure, that does not include donations funneled through dark money groups (likely tens of millions of dollars more — at least). And it still falls short of the $1 billion Trump asked the country’s oil executives to kick in to his campaign — an amount Trump insisted would be a "deal" for the industry because of what he was willing to give them.

But it is high time that our leaders, at every level and of every party, stop kowtowing to a toxic and unnecessary industry built on death, illness and poisoning our communities. It is time they treat this crisis as a struggle for survival — a fight for the future our children deserve.

As the people of Texas grieve and the country grieves with them, their pain is our warning.

We are at a crossroads: We can double down on denial and let superstorms, heatwaves, droughts, floods and fires determine our fate. Or we can lead — with science, resilience, courage, and a recommitment to our values.

If we harness our outrage and come together to fight like hell for our collective future, we will win. Because when people stand up and demand a safe planet, nothing — not even rising water — can drown the American spirit.

Ben Jealous is executive director of the Sierra Club and a professor of practice at the University of Pennsylvania.