President Trump said on Sunday evening that he plans to visit the site of deadly flash floods in Texas on Friday, after freeing up federal funds with a disaster declaration. He declined to address concerns that cuts at the National Weather Service contributed to the loss of life.

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

Some experts say staff shortages might have complicated forecasters’ ability to coordinate responses with local emergency management officials.