July 16, 2025 • 11 mins
Episode Title:
Episode Audio Link: https://ablackexec.com/
Episode Video Link:
In this urgent episode of Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton, Dr. Burton addresses the devastating floods in Central Texas and reveals the underlying causes behind the rising death toll. She pulls no punches in highlighting how government cuts to critical agencies, such as the National Weather Service and the CDC, have crippled our ability to prepare for and respond to disasters. Dr. Burton connects the dots between weakened infrastructure, ignored science, and the human cost of political decisions. She challenges the public to wake up to the realities of climate change, demand accountability from elected officials, and push for the restoration of vital resources that protect public safety. If you’ve ever wondered why disasters seem to hit harder and help arrives slower, this episode delivers the answers.
▶︎ In This Episode
00:00: Introduction and Welcome
00:18: Central Texas Flooding: A Tragic Event
00:42: The Importance of Government and Science
02:54: Failures in Warning Systems
04:33: Consequences of Gutting Agencies
08:20: Call to Action: Contact Your Representatives
11:02: Conclusion and Next Episode Preview
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
BEP Narrator (00:02):
A Black Executive Perspective.
Now presents need to know withthe award-winning hyphenated Dr.
Nsenga Burton, Dr.
Burton.
What do we need to know?
Dr. Nsenga Burton:
Good afternoon and welcometo Need To Know with Dr.
Nsenga Burton.
I am she.
Today I'm going to be talking aboutthe flooding in central Texas.
(00:24):
It has been a horrible, horrible story.
Um, very, very sad.
All of the losses.
Uh, the number of people who have beenlost has increased every single day.
Um, shoot by the hour by theminute, uh, since it happened.
And so I just wanna, um, offer condolencesto all of the people who were lost.
But I also want to talk about why itmatters who you vote for, um, because.
(00:49):
I can't say that they would've beenavoidable 'cause they literally got
four months of rain in four hours.
Um, but I will say that there could havebeen more done had we had people in place.
So, you know, there's a lot of discussionabout there's too much government, there's
too much, you know, waste in government.
There's too much of thisand that and the other.
(01:10):
But there is, to me.
You can never have more, uh, youcan never have too many people in
meteorology, in science or what have you.
Particularly as we face climate change.
And I know a lot of peoplethink climate change is a hoax.
I don't know how you are against,you don't believe in climate
change, but you believe that theDemocrats are manipulating the cloud.
(01:30):
So like, I don't, I don'teven know how you can like.
Put that together, that that justdoesn't even go together, but Okay.
Same people who don't believein climate change believe that
Democrats are manipulating theclouds, like spraying stuff up there.
I don't believe it.
Okay.
I do believe in climate change 'causeI actually believe in scientists.
I don't know when the church andscience separated, they've always been.
(01:52):
Uh, together.
Um, scientists have always been religious.
Religious People havealways believed in science.
You have science taught in Catholicschools, religious schools.
We've had science taught inChristian schools for like centuries.
So I'm not understanding whereall of this anti-science comes
from as it relates to religion.
But at any rate, when you, um.
(02:15):
Apply this whole like notion that,oh, it's too much government.
Oh, we can't believe the scientistsbecause they're against God.
And you think it's okay tojust gut agencies like the
c, d, C gut, um, agencies.
Um.
You know, that like the NationalWeather Service, um, at the local,
(02:37):
uh, at the federal level, whichthen of course has consequences
at the state and local level too.
'cause a lot of funding is, uh,begotten from the federal level.
Then you can, then you have disastersthat can be avoidable to some
extent, like this happened, so.
What happened, um, is that they didhave the information, the national
(03:00):
weather, uh, service and the forecast.
They did have the na, the information,but the warnings did not go out.
Until the middle of the night, andthat's when most people are sleeping.
When you think about campers and mydaughter just came back from away
camp, when you think about campers, um,sometimes they have technology free.
(03:20):
My daughter's camp was technology free.
Um, so they may not be accessing thatinformation, um, as readily as before.
So the middle of the night isnot a good time for anyone,
you know, just in general.
But specifically, they usuallyhave the warnings go out as needed.
Because you have a warning coordinator,meteorologist on staff, but that person
(03:41):
took Trump's buyout and so there was nowarning coordination meteorologist thus.
And so the warnings did not go outat the optimal time when people would
have been able to hear them or getthem, um, and maybe acted differently.
IE evacuated sooner toavoid, um, the flooding.
Um, in the San Antonio field office,uh, which is kind of the umbrella
(04:07):
office, um, they had some, uh, losses.
Uh, IE they don't havea senior hydrologist.
They don't have a staff forecasterand they don't have a meteorologist.
The same is the case in the San Angelooffice, which is actually close to
where the church camp was flooded.
I say all of this to say that.
(04:29):
You cannot just gut people.
Agencies, I'm sorry, that's, youknow, people make up agencies, but you
cannot just gut agencies because youare so pressed to give billionaires
a tax break without any thought orintentionality because disasters happen.
(04:49):
Now, I have said this before, I'mgoing to continue to say it 'cause
it really makes me mad sometimes.
You don't know what you're getting.
We saw how COVID was mishandled.
We saw how we did not do what was needed,what needed to be done to prevent it from
getting here, because so many people hadbeen laid off at the CDC or or silenced at
(05:14):
the CDC in these other agencies that werein place to stop it from getting here.
And so we had over a million peopledie, and it's more than a million
people because if you were called,they stopped counting people in
nursing homes because they'relike, oh, they're gonna die anyway.
They stopped counting peoplewho die with chronic illnesses.
Oh, 'cause they're gonna die anyway.
All right.
But we do know that there's beenover a million people die dead.
(05:37):
So we do know under this currentadministration, based on the previous
administration, that they don't dowell with natural disasters, epidemics.
Pandemics, they don't handle that well.
And the reason is, is becausethey're always eliminating
things and not thinking about it.
Such is the case with this flooding.
How can you not have a warning coordinatorin a place that floods and had the same
(06:04):
type of flooding a hundred years prior?
This is not a place that doesn'tflood, uh, often or routinely.
These are why theseplaces were established.
This is why theseagencies were established.
This is why these people are neededbecause prior behavior, and his buddy, Dr.
Phil, says that is the greatestindicator of future behavior.
(06:27):
That's not only in human behavior,but that's also in science.
It's also an economy,money, all of the things.
I'm not gonna say that it could have beencompletely prevented 'cause that four
months of rain and four days was coming.
But there were some major misstepsthat happened that could have saved
(06:47):
the lives of all those young kidsand their, uh, mentors and guides
and all the other people who havesince perished and I'm sure they'll
be, continue to find other people.
Um, if you've seen the footage of thefloods or if you survive the floods.
Um, so I know sometimes people don'twanna say things 'cause you know, we
wanna stay positive, we wanna keep peoplein our prayers, we wanna do all of that.
(07:11):
Well, you can do all of that.
Have your faith and you can haveyour acts, your deeds, right?
Because you have to have bothin order to be godly, allegedly.
Okay?
So.
What I would like for you to do is tocontact your Congress people and let
them know that the gutting of theseagencies, I mean, the first agency that
was gutted, uh, that was fired, thefirst person was the head of FA, a.
(07:34):
How can you not have someone atthe head of the Federal Aviation
Association when the United Stateshas the busiest airports in the world?
That is not a good decision.
Gutting, that agencyis not a good decision.
So, of course we have to get rid of waste.
Of course, we have to get rid of if youthink there's corruption or whatever.
(07:56):
But you have to do it methodicallyand you have to do it intentionally,
and you have to do it thoughtfully.
And this is an example of why youjust don't slash and burn, bash
and dash, whatever you wanna say.
Um, government agencies.
Government exists for a reason.
It is to take care of the people who paythe taxes to live here in this country.
(08:20):
All right, so what I needyou to know is there are
consequences to who you vote for.
There are consequences to knowing thedifference between somebody, uh, you
kind who's, who's kind of good andkind of bad and you know, they may have
had a rocky be beginning or the firstterm was terrible, but oh, somehow
the next term is gonna be better.
You know, there areconsequences to all that.
(08:41):
There Consequences to guttingagencies and not having our Congress.
People who are empowered, andthat would be the Republicans
stand up and say, listen.
Listen, we need a head of the FAA.
Listen.
We need a warning coordinatorat the National Weather Service.
Listen, we need these thingsat the state level because my
(09:02):
constituents will be harmed.
We also need a president who doesn'tsend help based on the makeup of
the political parties of the state.
So no help for California, 'causeNewsom is a Democrat, but lots
of help for Texas, uh, becauseGovernor Abbott is a Republican.
(09:28):
Okay?
So what you need to knowis we gotta do better.
We gotta choose better,and we have to fight back.
You cannot just sit idly by.
We are all in trouble.
We are all one missed warningsignal away from total devastation.
We are.
So talk to your Congress, people,Republicans, congress, people in my state,
(09:51):
we got Republicans, a lot of Republicans,I'm contacting them all this week.
Like, listen, we're not having this.
Make sure that these things are staffed.
If you can't get the money or the fundingfrom the federal agencies, then get it.
Give it to us from the state.
You are already charging us anarm and leg for taxes because
we are a Republican state.
Add a little bit more onwhatever you gotta do.
(10:12):
But this is unacceptable, and wehave to stop accepting poor decision
making and poor consequencesfrom our elected leaders.
We have to stop doing that.
It's not acceptable.
All right?
So what you need to know, contact yourpeople, make sure you stay abreast of
what you can as it relates to weather.
Uh, because there is climatechange and it is real.
(10:33):
Um, we are gonna have more flooding,we're all gonna have more hurricanes.
We're having them, uh, allthe things and listen to.
Scientists, meteorologists,they have degrees in this.
You have to go to school for it.
That's why we have nasa all the things.
Listen to people who actually know whatthey're talking about and stop buying.
(10:53):
You know, whatever these conspiracytheorists are pedaling, look
at what is actually happening.
Use your brain.
Alright, that's it.
So tune in next week to A BlackExecutive Perspective podcast with Tony
and Chris, the award-winning podcastwhere they discuss all things black and
executive and entrepreneurial and youcan tune into needs to know what Dr.
(11:16):
Burton
next week.
I will see you soon.
Have a wonderful day, stayfocused and stay informed.
A Black Executive Perspective.
A Black Executive Perspective.
Now presents need to know withthe award-winning hyphenated Dr.
Nsenga Burton, Dr.
Burton.
What do we need to know?
Dr. Nsenga Burton:
Good afternoon and welcometo Need To Know with Dr.
Nsenga Burton.
I am she.
Today I'm going to be talking aboutthe flooding in central Texas.
(00:24):
It has been a horrible, horrible story.
Um, very, very sad.
All of the losses.
Uh, the number of people who have beenlost has increased every single day.
Um, shoot by the hour by theminute, uh, since it happened.
And so I just wanna, um, offer condolencesto all of the people who were lost.
But I also want to talk about why itmatters who you vote for, um, because.
(00:49):
I can't say that they would've beenavoidable 'cause they literally got
four months of rain in four hours.
Um, but I will say that there could havebeen more done had we had people in place.
So, you know, there's a lot of discussionabout there's too much government, there's
too much, you know, waste in government.
There's too much of thisand that and the other.
(01:10):
But there is, to me.
You can never have more, uh, youcan never have too many people in
meteorology, in science or what have you.
Particularly as we face climate change.
And I know a lot of peoplethink climate change is a hoax.
I don't know how you are against,you don't believe in climate
change, but you believe that theDemocrats are manipulating the cloud.
(01:30):
So like, I don't, I don'teven know how you can like.
Put that together, that that justdoesn't even go together, but Okay.
Same people who don't believein climate change believe that
Democrats are manipulating theclouds, like spraying stuff up there.
I don't believe it.
Okay.
I do believe in climate change 'causeI actually believe in scientists.
I don't know when the church andscience separated, they've always been.
(01:52):
Uh, together.
Um, scientists have always been religious.
Religious People havealways believed in science.
You have science taught in Catholicschools, religious schools.
We've had science taught inChristian schools for like centuries.
So I'm not understanding whereall of this anti-science comes
from as it relates to religion.
But at any rate, when you, um.
(02:15):
Apply this whole like notion that,oh, it's too much government.
Oh, we can't believe the scientistsbecause they're against God.
And you think it's okay tojust gut agencies like the
c, d, C gut, um, agencies.
Um.
You know, that like the NationalWeather Service, um, at the local,
(02:37):
uh, at the federal level, whichthen of course has consequences
at the state and local level too.
'cause a lot of funding is, uh,begotten from the federal level.
Then you can, then you have disastersthat can be avoidable to some
extent, like this happened, so.
What happened, um, is that they didhave the information, the national
(03:00):
weather, uh, service and the forecast.
They did have the na, the information,but the warnings did not go out.
Until the middle of the night, andthat's when most people are sleeping.
When you think about campers and mydaughter just came back from away
camp, when you think about campers, um,sometimes they have technology free.
(03:20):
My daughter's camp was technology free.
Um, so they may not be accessing thatinformation, um, as readily as before.
So the middle of the night isnot a good time for anyone,
you know, just in general.
But specifically, they usuallyhave the warnings go out as needed.
Because you have a warning coordinator,meteorologist on staff, but that person
(03:41):
took Trump's buyout and so there was nowarning coordination meteorologist thus.
And so the warnings did not go outat the optimal time when people would
have been able to hear them or getthem, um, and maybe acted differently.
IE evacuated sooner toavoid, um, the flooding.
Um, in the San Antonio field office,uh, which is kind of the umbrella
(04:07):
office, um, they had some, uh, losses.
Uh, IE they don't havea senior hydrologist.
They don't have a staff forecasterand they don't have a meteorologist.
The same is the case in the San Angelooffice, which is actually close to
where the church camp was flooded.
I say all of this to say that.
(04:29):
You cannot just gut people.
Agencies, I'm sorry, that's, youknow, people make up agencies, but you
cannot just gut agencies because youare so pressed to give billionaires
a tax break without any thought orintentionality because disasters happen.
(04:49):
Now, I have said this before, I'mgoing to continue to say it 'cause
it really makes me mad sometimes.
You don't know what you're getting.
We saw how COVID was mishandled.
We saw how we did not do what was needed,what needed to be done to prevent it from
getting here, because so many people hadbeen laid off at the CDC or or silenced at
(05:14):
the CDC in these other agencies that werein place to stop it from getting here.
And so we had over a million peopledie, and it's more than a million
people because if you were called,they stopped counting people in
nursing homes because they'relike, oh, they're gonna die anyway.
They stopped counting peoplewho die with chronic illnesses.
Oh, 'cause they're gonna die anyway.
All right.
But we do know that there's beenover a million people die dead.
(05:37):
So we do know under this currentadministration, based on the previous
administration, that they don't dowell with natural disasters, epidemics.
Pandemics, they don't handle that well.
And the reason is, is becausethey're always eliminating
things and not thinking about it.
Such is the case with this flooding.
How can you not have a warning coordinatorin a place that floods and had the same
(06:04):
type of flooding a hundred years prior?
This is not a place that doesn'tflood, uh, often or routinely.
These are why theseplaces were established.
This is why theseagencies were established.
This is why these people are neededbecause prior behavior, and his buddy, Dr.
Phil, says that is the greatestindicator of future behavior.
(06:27):
That's not only in human behavior,but that's also in science.
It's also an economy,money, all of the things.
I'm not gonna say that it could have beencompletely prevented 'cause that four
months of rain and four days was coming.
But there were some major misstepsthat happened that could have saved
(06:47):
the lives of all those young kidsand their, uh, mentors and guides
and all the other people who havesince perished and I'm sure they'll
be, continue to find other people.
Um, if you've seen the footage of thefloods or if you survive the floods.
Um, so I know sometimes people don'twanna say things 'cause you know, we
wanna stay positive, we wanna keep peoplein our prayers, we wanna do all of that.
(07:11):
Well, you can do all of that.
Have your faith and you can haveyour acts, your deeds, right?
Because you have to have bothin order to be godly, allegedly.
Okay?
So.
What I would like for you to do is tocontact your Congress people and let
them know that the gutting of theseagencies, I mean, the first agency that
was gutted, uh, that was fired, thefirst person was the head of FA, a.
(07:34):
How can you not have someone atthe head of the Federal Aviation
Association when the United Stateshas the busiest airports in the world?
That is not a good decision.
Gutting, that agencyis not a good decision.
So, of course we have to get rid of waste.
Of course, we have to get rid of if youthink there's corruption or whatever.
(07:56):
But you have to do it methodicallyand you have to do it intentionally,
and you have to do it thoughtfully.
And this is an example of why youjust don't slash and burn, bash
and dash, whatever you wanna say.
Um, government agencies.
Government exists for a reason.
It is to take care of the people who paythe taxes to live here in this country.
(08:20):
All right, so what I needyou to know is there are
consequences to who you vote for.
There are consequences to knowing thedifference between somebody, uh, you
kind who's, who's kind of good andkind of bad and you know, they may have
had a rocky be beginning or the firstterm was terrible, but oh, somehow
the next term is gonna be better.
You know, there areconsequences to all that.
(08:41):
There Consequences to guttingagencies and not having our Congress.
People who are empowered, andthat would be the Republicans
stand up and say, listen.
Listen, we need a head of the FAA.
Listen.
We need a warning coordinatorat the National Weather Service.
Listen, we need these thingsat the state level because my
(09:02):
constituents will be harmed.
We also need a president who doesn'tsend help based on the makeup of
the political parties of the state.
So no help for California, 'causeNewsom is a Democrat, but lots
of help for Texas, uh, becauseGovernor Abbott is a Republican.
(09:28):
Okay?
So what you need to knowis we gotta do better.
We gotta choose better,and we have to fight back.
You cannot just sit idly by.
We are all in trouble.
We are all one missed warningsignal away from total devastation.
We are.
So talk to your Congress, people,Republicans, congress, people in my state,
(09:51):
we got Republicans, a lot of Republicans,I'm contacting them all this week.
Like, listen, we're not having this.
Make sure that these things are staffed.
If you can't get the money or the fundingfrom the federal agencies, then get it.
Give it to us from the state.
You are already charging us anarm and leg for taxes because
we are a Republican state.
Add a little bit more onwhatever you gotta do.
(10:12):
But this is unacceptable, and wehave to stop accepting poor decision
making and poor consequencesfrom our elected leaders.
We have to stop doing that.
It's not acceptable.
All right?
So what you need to know, contact yourpeople, make sure you stay abreast of
what you can as it relates to weather.
Uh, because there is climatechange and it is real.
(10:33):
Um, we are gonna have more flooding,we're all gonna have more hurricanes.
We're having them, uh, allthe things and listen to.
Scientists, meteorologists,they have degrees in this.
You have to go to school for it.
That's why we have nasa all the things.
Listen to people who actually know whatthey're talking about and stop buying.
(10:53):
You know, whatever these conspiracytheorists are pedaling, look
at what is actually happening.
Use your brain.
Alright, that's it.
So tune in next week to A BlackExecutive Perspective podcast with Tony
and Chris, the award-winning podcastwhere they discuss all things black and
executive and entrepreneurial and youcan tune into needs to know what Dr.
(11:16):
Burton
next week.
I will see you soon.
Have a wonderful day, stayfocused and stay informed.
A Black Executive Perspective.
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