Monica Medina

The meteorologists in charge of the area where the devastating storm hit this summer and where so many people were tragically killed

by the storm.

The meteorologist in charge position was empty.

And what does that mean?

Well, yes, the forecast was issued because the people who were there still

trying to hold the thing, the whole operation together, even though they were shorthanded, were able to issue the forecast.

But what doesn't happen is the person who knows how to get in touch with the camp administrator at those camps isn't able to make the calls because that person's gone.

And so we lose the connective tissue that is a key part of our

social fabric, our safety net, the way that we respond to these disasters as a community.

And those people, like I said, are not bureaucrats sitting in Washington behind some desk pushing paper, unlike the FEMA administrator at the time who was too busy to show up to work over that weekend.

These are people who show up every day and they don't make their forecast based on how they voted in the last election.

They do it in order to keep people safe.

But when we have huge holes,

in the actual staffing of these agencies, things fall through the cracks.

And that's just a good example of a place where, yes, the storm forecast was out and it was on time, but we lost some of the people who are crucial to keeping everyone safe when a storm happens in the middle of the night, which happens a lot.

So it is crucial that we

fully staff these positions.

And the Trump administration then scrambled to try and replace people in them, but it's hard to do.

And a lot of people didn't want to go back and risk being furloughed or fired again.

And so we really are much less safe and protected against these disasters.