‘Cloud Seeding’ Believed by Many to Have Caused Deadly Central Texas Floods

(Guadalupe River, Texas) - The flooding along the Guadalupe River has been a devastating natural disaster for Texas. As of this writing, over 100 people have lost their life in the flood waters. There are many other people still unaccounted for.

What caused the flooding was the remnants of Tropical Story Barry that moved in from the west. The storm stalled over the area and dumped a massive amount of rain. Some people are not buying it saying that cloud seeding caused the massive rainfall. So what is cloud seeding and why do some people believe this conspiracy theory?

Beginnings of Cloud Seeding in Texas

I'll be completely honest with you, I had never heard of this before today. I've read conspiracy theory articles saying that the government could somehow control the weather but it all read like science fiction. Apparently, cloud seeding is a real thing.

It started in the 1950s as a way to help breakup a drought (mysanantonio.com). In the 1960s, the Texas legislature passed regulations about it. State and federal dollars were then allocated to continue the weather modification research.

What is Cloud Seeding?

Cloud seeding is a relatively simple process. A plane flies over rain clouds and drops ice crystals into it in the hope that those crystals will produce more rain. There are companies in Texas that do this over about 31 million acres of land in Texas.

One of those companies is appropriately named Rainmaker. As early as July 2, the company had flown a cloud seeding mission in the area. The rain clouds that were seeded were gone by that afternoon, more than 24 hours before the storm moved in that caused the flooding.

National Weather Service Response

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings before the remnants of Tropical Story Barry moved over Central Texas. As the storm slowed, the heavy rain created the deadly flooding. Senator Ted Cruz even commented that he has seen zero evidence linking weather modification to the flooding.

This natural disaster has affected all of Texas. Please pray for the families that have lost loved ones and pray for the first responders and volunteers who are on site helping with recovery efforts.

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