As I write this, there’s a desperate search for dozens of girls, missing from a flood where the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. More than 80 people drowned at the time I sent this column. Yet critical data about this freakish weather hitting America and the rest of the world is about to go offline, at the moment in history that we need it the most. Don’t let the government withhold this lifesaving information from its people, for hurricanes, floods or other disasters.

Dear Editor,

When a sudden, unexpected storm hit Alexander City Thursday night, action was taken almost immediately by the city’s government.