It has been a week since catastrophic flooding in Texas Hill Country. At the time of writing the death toll exceeded 120 people with roughly 170 missing. As the tragedy unfolds, important questions are being raised about the lack of a real-time warning system,

Maps show how heavy rainfall and rocky terrain helped create the devastating Texas floods that have killed more than 120 people.

As a succession of thunderstorms fed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry pummeled Texas' Hill Country, tools used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to detect extreme rainfall began “maxing out the color charts.

Left-wing critics argue Texas floods were worsened by climate denialism, while conservatives call out politicization of the tragedy amid ongoing search and rescue efforts.

This is false. It is not possible that cloud seeding generated the floods, according to experts, as the process can only produce limited precipitation using clouds that already exist.

Central Texas is infamous for its flash flooding and arid soil, hard-packed ground into which water does not easily infiltrate. So when rain hits the ground, it runs off the region's hilly terrain and canyons and accumulates into creeks and rivers rapidly, overwhelming them, causing them to rise quickly.

Q: Is it true that if President Donald Trump hadn’t defunded the National Weather Service, the death toll in the Texas flooding would have been far lower or nonexistent? A: The Trump administration did not defund the NWS but did reduce the staff by 600 people.

Factors such as elevation and soil consistency are vastly different in Florida than in Texas, according to meteorologists.

First reported by the Houston Chronicle, cloud seeding involves releasing silver iodide into clouds to increase rainfall under specific conditions. According to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, it is used in select areas of West and South Texas, typically during dry seasons to enhance precipitation.

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