Most of the U.S. adults who have experienced major flooding in the past five years think climate change was at least a partial cause, according to polling conducted earlier this year, before the deadly Texas floods. But while Americans largely believed the federal government should play a major role in preparing for and responding to natural disasters, an analysis of recent AP-NORC polls shows less consensus about how the government should respond to natural disasters, and particularly whether the government should be involved in combating climate change to try to keep extreme weather from getting worse.

The polls about how the government should respond to natural disasters from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research were conducted in February and June, before catastrophic flooding in Texas killed more than 100 people over the Fourth of July holiday weekend and left others missing. The polls found that Americans generally had a high level of confidence in the National Weather Service and their local weather report, and most thought the federal government should play a central role in alerting Americans to weather events.

That trust could now be undermined, as officials face scrutiny over flood preparations and the timing of alerts and evacuations. Although meteorologists warn that human-caused climate change can make bad storms worse, it’s unclear if overall views of climate change — and the government’s role in combating it — will be altered.

Many Have Experienced Recent Major Flooding

About 2 in 10 Americans said they had experienced major flooding in recent years, according to the February poll regarding how the government should respond to natural disasters. And among those, about 7 in 10 said climate change was at least a partial cause of the recent weather events they had experienced.

That’s in line with the share of Americans who have been affected in the past five years by any severe weather event, including extreme heat, droughts, hurricanes or extreme cold.

Those living in the Northeast and the South were more likely to say they had been personally impacted by major flooding in recent years.

Read the full article about the government's response to natural disasters at WTOP.