In the wake of deadly flooding in Texas, my colleague Noel King, who cohosts the Today, Explained podcast spoke with CNN senior climate reporter Andrew Freedman about what we know about the impact of cuts to the National Weather Service and what those cuts could mean for future disasters.

This conversation originally appeared on the Today, Explained podcast and was featured in the Today, Explained newsletter, which you can subscribe to here.

Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. There’s much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify.

What do we know about [the two weather forecasting offices in Texas]? Were they fully staffed?

The term that I would use is they were “adequately staffed.” They were staffed to the extent that most offices would be staffed........

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