Neil Jacobs, acting administrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, spoke at NOAA’s 2019 Hurricane Season Outlook press conference held in Arlington, Virginia on May 23, 2019. Get McNamee/Getty Images
A few days after catastrophic flash floods devastated central Texas, the candidate for President Donald Trump told the Senator on July 9 that he would ask the agency to improve its weather forecasting and warning capabilities despite recent budget cuts.
Meteorologist Neil Jacobs, who leads NOAA on an acting basis during the first Trump administration, testified before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee within a week after the flood claimed at least 119 lives in the Texas Hill Country, with at least 173 still missing.
