But given the information we did have—the city was in the path of a tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of about 45 mph—did it make sense that all of the drinking water should be gone? Shouldn’t we have been armed with the knowledge that a storm like Bill likely wouldn’t incapacitate the municipal water supplies? That supermarkets and drugstores wouldn’t shut down for days on end? Honestly, when was the last time we heard about a tropical storm hitting a city and hordes of unprepared people perishing wretchedly of thirst?

Source: Still Bill | Texas Monthly

Even Texas Monthly has questions about this weeks news coverage…the director of Galveston’s NOAA lab sent this memo to his staff:

The Galveston Laboratory will be open on Tuesday (June 16). At 8 PM CDT the Tropical System off the Texas Coast is moving to the Northwest and all the computer models currently show the system moving on shore near Port O’Connor, TX. Tomorrow morning we may experience some periods of heavy rain as the system moves inland. Please use caution as you drive in these rainy conditions.