Jennifer Balkcom: DOGE Made Cuts To The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration And National Weather Service That Could Leave Western North Carolina Nonprofits Unprepared To Respond To Future Disasters

DOGE Made Cuts To NOAA, The National Weather Service, And The Office Of Oceanic And Atmospheric Research Leaving North Carolina Vulnerable And Less Prepared For Future Weather Calamities Like Helene

Peter H. Lewis Op-Ed: Cuts At NOAA, The National Weather Service, And The Office Of Oceanic And Atmospheric Research Meant Western North Carolina Was “More Vulnerable And Less Prepared For Future Weather Calamities Like Helene.” “As a result of cuts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, and plans to gut the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, western North Carolina — and the rest of the nation — is more vulnerable and less prepared for future weather calamities like Helene.” [Asheville Watchdog, Peter H. Lewis Op-Ed, 7/21/25]

NOAA Was Poised To Cut Over 20 Percent Of Its Workforce At DOGE’s Direction. "The Monday afternoon panel — hosted by the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning think tank — comes as NOAA, the agency that oversees the National Weather Service, is poised to lose more than 20% of its workforce. At DOGE’s direction, the agency is slashing more than 2,000 jobs — around 1,300 in February and another 1,000 set for March, according to the Associated Press.” [NC Newsline, 3/25/25]

A Western NC Nonprofit Director Warned DOGE Weather Service Cuts Could Cost Lives And Leave The Region Unprepared For Future Disasters

Headline: “Western NC Housing Nonprofit Executive Warns ‘Lives Will Be Lost’ To DOGE Weather Service Cuts.” [NC Newsline, 3/25/25]

Emergency Alerts Through The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration Allowed Local Non-Profits To Mobilize Ahead Of Storms. "On a panel Monday discussing the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service [NWS], Todd Carter, an executive with a western North Carolina housing nonprofit, warned 'lives will be lost' due to ongoing staff and budgets cuts. 'We make this information available for free. Not everything should be for sale, not everything should be for profit,' said Carter, Hospitality House of Northwest NC’s chief development director. '[Without NWS] we’d have to pay for a report every time something comes out — we don’t have the time to do that, we don’t have the funding to do that, and lives will be lost.' Carter said his organization, which has worked to house North Carolinians displaced by Helene across seven counties impacted by the hurricane, is able to mobilize ahead of storms early because it receives emergency alerts through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency targeted for major cuts by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. That’s because agency officials recognize Hospitality House provides 'critical' services to the rural counties it helps — Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, and Yancey — Carter said." [NC Newsline, 3/25/25]

Western North Carolina Nonprofit Director: “Lives Will Be Lost” Due To Trump And DOGE National Weather Service Cuts, Affecting Services Provided To Rural Counties. According to NC Newsline, "On a panel Monday discussing the Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service [NWS], Todd Carter, an executive with a western North Carolina housing nonprofit, warned 'lives will be lost' due to ongoing staff and budgets cuts. 'We make this information available for free. Not everything should be for sale, not everything should be for profit,' said Carter, Hospitality House of Northwest NC’s chief development director. '[Without NWS] we’d have to pay for a report every time something comes out — we don’t have the time to do that, we don’t have the funding to do that, and lives will be lost.' Carter said his organization, which has worked to house North Carolinians displaced by Helene across seven counties impacted by the hurricane, is able to mobilize ahead of storms early because it receives emergency alerts through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency targeted for major cuts by Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. That’s because agency officials recognize Hospitality House provides 'critical' services to the rural counties it helps — Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, and Yancey — Carter said." [NC Newsline, 3/25/25]

• The Nonprofit Director Warned That Cuts “May Leave Them Unprepared For A Future Disaster” And Unable To Help Trapped Residents Like They Did During Helene. “That’s because agency officials recognize Hospitality House provides ‘critical’ services to the rural counties it helps — Watauga, Wilkes, Ashe, Avery, Alleghany, Mitchell, and Yancey — Carter said. ‘One of our clients in an apartment, she was crying for help, she got to the very top of the roof of her apartment building, and she was telling our executive director [Tina Krause], ‘Miss Tina, I can’t swim, I can’t swim,’’ Carter said. ‘She’s 75 years old and was afraid she was going to die.’ Another resident helped by the nonprofit, a 72-year-old man, had to be rescued by boat, according to Carter. ‘They were bringing people by boat down the road to us and our staff were doing the best they can.’ It was after the region’s devastation by Helene — when rising floodwaters and violent winds knocked out cell service in Boone, where the housing nonprofit is based — that weather officials provided them with NOAA radios and set them up on the early warning system. Now, though, cuts to the service may leave them unprepared for a future disaster.” [NC Newsline, 3/25/25]