The National Weather Service is warning more flash floods could hit central Texas. This summer’s big sales events could offer some of the best pre-tariffs bargains. Trump’s policies are reshaping immigration enforcement in Puerto Rico.
Here’s what to know today.
At least 81 dead in Texas floods as search for missing people goes on
The National Weather Service is warning more flash floods could hit central Texas.
The death toll rose to 81 across six counties as of 2 a.m ET. In Kerr County, officials reported 40 adults and 28 children had died. Officials said 10 children are still missing from Camp Mystic. The catastrophic flooding struck on Friday, causing a surge of 20 to 26 feet on the Guadalupe River near Kerrville and leading to widespread damage and washing out roads. As the flooding in Texas became a fight for survival, some residents clung to trees and meter boxes to stay alive.
Within hours of the deluge early Friday, some Texas officials were critical of the NWS, saying forecasts underestimated the rainfall. Yesterday, President Donald Trump rejected the idea of investigating whether NWS cuts had left key vacancies, and the White House said claims that NWS cuts had anything to do with the tragedy were “disgusting.”
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Independent meteorologists and a former NWS official said warnings issued in the run-up to the flooding were about as timely and accurate as could be expected with the weather data available in real time. Predicting extreme rain and flash flooding beyond several hours is challenging, they said, and it is also not easy to ensure urgent warnings reach those most at risk. The meteorologists said they did not think understaffed offices were a primary factor in the tragic outcome, even though the NWS has leadership gaps after a rash of staffing cuts.
Follow live updates on the Texas floods here.
Summer sales could offer the last pre-tariff bargains on many goods this year
What happens with prices after the summer sales events is anyone’s guess. Retail executives, including at Walmart, and major consumer brands have warned that tariff-fueled price increases are likely as the year wears on and the inventories they’ve built up dwindle.
To reduce some of the guesswork for shoppers, NBC News is tracking online price levels for dozens of items at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and Home Depot to determine when and how much they may fluctuate throughout the rest of the year. The NBC News Price Tracker is powered by the e-commerce price-tracking platform Bright Data, which is monitoring 27 to 61 items for each of the five retailers.
Read the full story here.
Read more:
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the U.S. will revert to steep country-by-country tariff rates at the beginning of August, weeks after the tariff rate pause is set to expire.
- NBC News modeled out a 3-bedroom home and found that Trump’s tariffs added more than $4,000 to total construction costs.
How Trump’s policies are reshaping immigration enforcement in Puerto Rico
Residents in Puerto Rico fear that President Donald Trump’s efforts to carry out mass deportations will fundamentally change how immigration policies are enforced in a U.S. territory that had long been perceived as a sanctuary for immigrants.
That perception was first shattered on Jan. 27, the same week Trump took office. Immigration authorities raided Barrio Obrero and arrested more than 40 people. Witnesses told Telemundo Puerto Rico, NBC’s sister station on the island, that they saw agents break down the doors of several homes and businesses. Detainees were handcuffed, placed in vans and taken away, they said. In his 40 years living in Puerto Rico, Ramón Muñoz, a Dominican immigrant, had seen authorities sporadically detain undocumented people but never “with the aggressiveness” displayed during that raid.
Complicating matters for immigrants in Puerto Rico, detainees are transferred to the mainland U.S. — an ocean away from their families and attorneys managing their immigration cases — because there are no permanent detention centers on the island that can hold them for prolonged periods, according to Rebecca González-Ramos, the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Juan.
Read the full story here.
Read All About It
- Ozzy Osbourne, with Parkinson’s disease and a spine held together with screws and plates, forced his battered body through one last concert with Black Sabbath, capping a 10-hour marathon featuring the biggest names in hard rock.
- Women suffering rare genital disorder that can cause intense pain, burning, buzzing, tingling often go undiagnosed.
Staff Pick: Eurotrip 2025 — cheaper flights, pricier dinners
Airfares to European destinations are falling, offering last-minute summer travelers some bargains. But the good news ends at the customs gate, thanks to exchange rates that haven’t been too kind to U.S. visitors. The dollar has seen its worst half-year performance since 1973, eroding Americans’ spending power in the U.K., E.U. and elsewhere. Take a three-night Barcelona hotel bill of €850 — it worked out to about $965 as recently as a month ago but will set you back $1,002 today. But, as Harriet Baskas reports, consumers looking to travel this summer have more on their minds than just currency swings.
— Rich Bellis, senior business editor
NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified
The NBC Select team played with the Nintendo Switch 2 for a few weeks to see if it was a worthwhile successor to the original Switch console. Here’s the verdict. Plus, don’t shouldn’t peel your sunburn, and try these dermatologist-approved treatments instead.
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