"There has been a lot of misinformation flying around lately, so let me clarify: the Texas Department of Agriculture has absolutely no connection to cloud seeding or any form of weather modification," Miller said in a statement.

As a succession of thunderstorms fed by the remnants of Tropical Storm Barry pummeled Texas' Hill Country, tools used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to detect extreme rainfall began “maxing out the color charts.

Chris Hayes pushes back on right-wing claims that questions about the Texas flood response are "politicizing" the tragedy. "Policy is about risk and managing it and accountability. The government is there first and foremost to protect us.

In the early hours of Independence Day, rain pelted sleeping communities in central Texas. No one knew yet how devastating the storm would become.

Flooding is the deadliest natural disaster facing Oklahomans, a threat far greater than tornadoes. In the United States, flooding kills an average of 103 people a year. Tornadoes, however, caused 48 deaths on average during the same period, according to the National Weather Service.

"It's sadly common for people to abandon puppies near public areas where they hope someone might find them," the rescue told Newsweek.

Meteorologists point out that hurricanes and flood-making storms possess extraordinary amounts of energy that humans can't reproduce or control.

Some regions in the mid-Atlantic are also facing risks of flooding. On Sunday, Tropical Storm Chantal flooded parts of North Carolina, where more than 10 inches of rain fell near the Chapel Hill area. The Haw River, near Bynum, North Carolina, crested to nearly 22 feet, the highest crest on record there, as a result of those heavy rains.

"A lot of the weather forecast offices now are not operating at full complement of staff," said the former lead of NOAA.

Climate change was likely a factor in the flood that devastated the Texas Hill Country.