"A lot of the weather forecast offices now are not operating at full complement of staff," said the former lead of NOAA.

Weather models that meteorologists use to predict thunderstorm activity and heavy precipitation suggested on Thursday the possibility of 10 inches of rain — and even as much as 20 inches — across

Congressional Democrats are calling for investigations and hearings into the federal government’s preparation and response in the wake of last week’s deadly floods in Texas. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer asked the Commerce Department’s internal watchdog to immediately open an investigation into reported staffing vacancies at two Texas-based National Weather Service forecast offices.