Trump 'significantly reduced' forecasting staff — and then a deadly tornado came

Donald Trump's administration "significantly reduced" the number of meteorologists working in a state where 14 people were then killed by a tornado, according to a new weekend report.

Trump and Elon Musk made a name for themselves by offering buyouts to federal workers, and simply letting others go. As a result of these cuts, one weather forecasting office in Kentucky was unable to operate overnight.

Then an "all-hands-on-deck moment" came in the form of a tornado, according to the Washington Post.

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In an article entitled, "Staff cuts forced this forecast office to shut overnight. Then a tornado hit," the Post reports, "The Jackson, Kentucky office is one of a growing number of forecast offices unable to cover an overnight shift since the Trump administration cut staffing levels through buyouts and firings."

"If not for the storms, the critically understaffed National Weather Service office responsible for monitoring weather hazards across eastern Kentucky would have gone dark by midnight," wrote global weather reporter Scott Dance, adding, "It’s one of a growing number the agency’s local offices that have been unable to cover an overnight shift since the Trump administration significantly reduced staffing levels through buyouts and firings earlier this year."

Those cuts came to a head Friday when the local system was really put to the test by the storms, according to the Post.

"But Friday brought the kind of harrowing conditions meteorologists train for. Storms that killed at least 21 people across the heart of the nation unleashed what was likely a violent and long-lived tornado across Kentucky, a state that accounted for at least 14 of those deaths," the report states. "It posed the latest test for a beleaguered Weather Service corps that has endured a season of dangerous storms and floods while facing major upheaval in their offices. The forecasting office in Jackson, Kentucky, is four meteorologists short of what agency officials have deemed ideal staffing — a 31 percent vacancy rate that makes 24/7 operations impossible, according to the union that represents Weather Service staff."

Read the report here.