What went wrong in the Texas floods?
DOGE may not have been to blame but local politicians have a case to answer
LONG BEFORE the sun rose the waters came rushing. Heavy rain swelled the rivers of Texas’s hill country until they burst, drowning people, cars and trailers before dawn on July 4th. Greg Abbott, Texas’s governor, announced five days later that the storm had killed 109 people and that 173 are still missing. More than two dozen of the dead are children and counsellors from Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls whose cabins dotted the bank of the Guadalupe River. As ground crews comb the mud for bodies, many people are asking the same question. What went so terribly wrong?
Explore more
Jeffrey Epstein is still causing trouble for Donald Trump
His administration cannot shake rumours of a cover-up—in part because MAGA types enthusiastically endorsed it
American men are hungry for injectable testosterone
A legion of new health clinics are serving it up
Trump embarrasses the Pentagon with a U-turn on Ukraine
His decision to resume arms shipments is a victory for common sense—while it lasts
ICE’s big payday makes mass deportation possible
What the controversial agency will do with even more funding
What becomes of Republicans who cross King Donald?
We analysed 52,792 social-media posts to find out