there are still states that take care of their people. weirdly they tend to vote Democratic. but y'know, correlation doesn't equal causation /s
https://www.npr.org/2025/01/18/nx-s1-5262563/radio-traffic-l...
The real issue with those fires was the unfathomably fast growth rate and the gigantic wilderness-urban interface.
Municipal water supplies are (correctly) designed to put out house fires. A few at a time. They are not designed to put out thousands of house fires in high wind.
Also: California's early warning system did work correctly -- IIRC the fire was detected when it was 10 acres. Within 60 minutes, the fire was 300 acres. 3 hours later it was 1200 acres.
The issue was explosive growth.
Genuinely curious to see it.
NOAA pushed out 2 senior flood forecasters in the Austin office.
911 dispatcher gatekept the Amber Alert/EBS system on approval process grounds in the middle of an emergency.
Camp grounds and other occupied structures were allowed in a known flood zone.
This is always what happens in rural counties with small towns Texas. The politicians maintain their small club of lazy incompetence.
PS: I'm around 1 mile away from the Guadalupe and blocks from Geronimo Creek, on high ground
(1) The weather center develops a warning directed graph of persons who spread the word to get the PAS at their work. You ask what is the PAS?
(2) PAS -- People's Alert System: Everyone in the weather center, fire, police, and everyone else ready and willing to help, etc. who has access to a car, better, a firetruck or ambulance, gets in and turns on the horn and/or siren and drives all the vulnerable streets and makes sure all the buildings are awake and know about the threat. Then the PAS people, with others as passengers, drive the heck out of the area of the threat. Should also work for hurricanes, etc.
There already exist:
- Apps like Tile (lost device sound) and CodeRED that effectively act like EAS/EBS/AMBER Alerts.
- There are zillion of water stream gauges all over Flash Flood Alley operated by the probably soon-to-defunded NOAA.[0]
0. https://water.noaa.gov/wfo/ewx#@=260.834452,29.625805,7.9432...
I explained in (2). The main point in (2) is that ALL the people in the threatened area, right on the street they ARE, where they live, work, shop, walk, whatever, get LOUD SIRENS, REALLY LOUD, to warn them and also transportation OUT'A there.
Alerts on cell phones, TV, radio, newspapers, "water stream gauges", etc. leave HUNDREDS of people, including a camp full of girls and counselors, still ASLEEP and now "missing" or "DEAD". As in (2), we need to WAKE them, everyone, UP and get them OUT.
There may be proposals to install flashing lights, bells, whistles, sirens, etc. on phone poles, etc., but in the ~60 years to the next such flood such means will likely be rusty, broken, dead, etc. Sooooo, (2) just has people alive at the time of the flood THEN using the cars, trucks, horns, sirens available and working THEN to solve the problem.
Step 1. More billionaires
Step 2. ???
Step 3. Functional society!
When we built that infra the workers didn't have health insurance and they didn't need it because they could afford their own healthcare out of pocket. Some things have changed.
__d•7mo ago