Austin – While Texas goes to its second rainy season of the year, the regional vacancies in the National weather office Austin/San Antonio are increasing just two months after the death of fatal floods is at least 135 people.
“This is not the last natural disaster we will get,” said Dujett, a member of Congress Lloyd Dujett. “We want to be better prepared for the next one.”
After a week of floods on July 4 in CARE, Dujett wrote a letter urged NWS to fill 126 job opportunities that he said described as “permanent and important field positions.” However, more than two months later, the Austin/San Antonio office, which is located in New Bronvils, works with lower resources. About 26 % of the situations that were currently vacant, According to online recruitment disclosure.
Dujett County is covering the province of Travis, where July floods killed nine people.
Since May, he sent half of the letters of the messages to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the mother organization of NWS, and its umbrella agency, the US Department of Commerce. Dogit said he spoke directly with the director of NWS Graham after a week of floods to discuss the agency’s “low capabilities”.
In July, KXAN first reported that the Austin/San Antonio office had six vacancies. These situations are still not filled. Since then, electronic systems analyst has not publicly listed as part of this office, according to the comparison of the Internet archive Public recruitment records from July and September. KXAN continues the analyst to ask him if he was still with NWS but he did not hear immediately. This article will be updated with any response we receive.
This analyst has more than 18 years of experience with radar and information technology systems, according to his LinkedIn profile. On the Internet, he described his role as overseeing “management, maintenance and technical support for decisive weather control systems, including WSR-88D radar and surface monitoring systems.
“A league that includes supervising a team of technicians, managing information technology networks, and ensuring the reliability of basic equipment for meteorological and public safety analysis,” the analyst said in his CV.
“Evaluating the need for additional employees”
The Austin/San Antonio office now lists seven “vacant” jobs In the following sectors: management and administrative, leading meteorological specialist, meteorological specialist, hydrology, notes and electronic technician.
These openings are an increase in the three vacancies listed in March and the fourth in July 2024, according to Search Internet archive.
“The national weather service is evaluating the need for additional employees and publishing jobs to fill positions that are necessary for operational continuity,” said NWS National Spokesman and Air Meteorological Specialist. “These jobs are offered as needed to ensure the safety of Americans and the responsible use of tax dollars.”
General recruitment records at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office are only “vacant” next to open positions. The agency will not confirm job addresses for positions that have not yet been filled.
“We have no additional information at this time,” said Grow Cei.
“Why are these documents hiding?”
For Doggett, the constant lack of answers is a problem.
“There is no excuse, not at least, to define vacant situations,” he said in response to the NWS statement.
Although NWS will not confirm job titles, KXAN checks a review of the archived staff records at the positions of the Austin/Saint Antonio office employees who have been previously included but not current Techanical, and Elsasinase Systems (OPL).
In his letters, Doggett requested records related to these vacancies, including all chat, calls, shifts and radar archives from July 2-July 5 at the NWS Austin/San Antonio office.
Dogit wrote in a letter on August 27 to US Trade Minister Howard Lottenic, who oversees Nawa and NWS,
Dujet says that his request to see the records is “Stonewallled”. The administration accused it of “something to hide regarding the treatment of this tragedy.”
“If there is nothing to hide, why do these documents hide?” Dujet wrote this week in a letter dated September 15, “If there is nothing to hide, then why hide these documents?”
On the same day, the US Department of Commerce responded to the frequent Doggit inquiries dating back to May 20. The agency has repeated the prediction offices in Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo “additional service employees in support of timely operations and alerts.”
“NWS offices are usually made in the region with one to two of those who are in service overnight; however, NWS has taken pre -emptive steps to increase a large number of employees to five employees,” said the Acting Minister of Trade for Legislative and International Jerusalem, Will Turner, in a letter to a dog.
Turner added that the regional predictions of weather forecasts in Austin/San Antonio and San Angelo “managed to successfully provide decision support services to local partners, including those in the emergency management community, during the disaster.”
“The awareness cannot be called if the intended reciter is not accessed, such as the emergency manager in Kiir Province,” “I have a reason to question this claim unless they are supported through chat records and NWS calls that show successful attempts to communicate with emergency and other local leaders, including camp managers.”
“The factor contributing to at least some losses in life”
“With the passage of time,” former NOAA director, Dr. Richard Spinrad, told KXAN in July, “I am more convinced that we will have to look carefully, specifically, the vacant effects of the meteorological doctor,” KXAN told KXAN in July.
Spinrad said WCM is a major position responsible for communicating directly with local officials, especially during the harsh weather.
The role is described as the “primary interface” between weather forecasts and local emergency and public safety department officials, according to NWS view.
The situation has been vacant since April 30 and has not been listed according to the current recruitment. The former WCM has occupied the Austin/San Antonio office, Paul Eura, this position for more than 32 years. Early retirement as part of federal budget discounts.
In April, Yura said he was “sad” to leave the agency “a few years ago” from what he was planning.
“I will be surprised if these vacancies are not a contributing factor in at least some losses in life,” said Spinrad.
In July, after the flooding of CARE, KXan communicated with Eura – who indicated the freezing of employment in his retirement message to the media – but he referred questions to NWS.
The full -time WCM site is currently being announced to fill the opening at the Austin/San Antonio office in New Bronfls. WCM will be “the main interface” between offices and the public, and planning for preparation at the level of the region “, as a supervisor when appointed, and not more than a quarter of time, as great predictions, according to Job description published on usajobs.gov.
The spread of the job was included on September 10 – a little more than a week after KXAN NOAA asked why the position was not filling – and it is announced on September 23. The situation pays between $ 124,531 and $ 186,700 annually, according to the list.
“Not doing this task”
Critics, like Doggett, blaming the number of dead and responding to the floods for federal discounts in the Trump Administration’s government efficiency management. At that time, Dog Eleon Musk led.
“I think we see in losing life here some real cost of the cutting and burning approach [of] “Just an attempt to build a number of bodies there are people who were removed from the national weather service,” Dogit said.
The White House and NWS had previously retreated, saying that the agency did its work, and he was sent in time and had enough people to support local emergency officials.
“These offices were good employees,” the White House press secretary Caroline Levitt He told reporters on July 7. “In fact, one of the offices was already exaggerated. They had more people than they needed. So any demand to contradict it is completely wrong.”
as NWS looks forward to re -hiring basic situationsHe said in a recent phone conversation that Spinrad expects immediate employees to be occupied first – such as the southeast of hurricanes and northwest of forest fires.
“They are not doing the task of filling these positions,” Dujet said, referring to NWS. “I hope we will not have another catastrophe in the region – because they are in fact not completely ready to deal with it.”
Kxan arrived at the White House for comment. The administration official reiterated what NWS told us, saying that the agency is evaluating the need for additional employees carefully.