During a visit to the devastated Hill Country region on Friday, US President Donald Trump praised the federal government’s reaction to the devastating flash floods in Texas that killed at least 120 people, including dozens of children.
Along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott and First Lady Melania Trump, the president visited Kerr County, the epicentre of the tragedy last week, and took part in a roundtable meeting with officials and emergency personnel.
Trump praised Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Governor Abbott, calling the government’s reaction “an incredible job under the circumstances.” He said this as search crews continued to look through the Guadalupe River’s debris-filled banks for the dozens of people who were still reported missing.
When a reporter asked if enough had been done to alert locals before the flash floods that occurred in the early hours of July 4, a national holiday, tensions were high during the briefing. “I don’t know who you are, but only a very evil person would ask a question like that,” Trump said, clearly annoyed.
The president’s comments were made as criticism of his administration’s proposed budget cuts to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Weather Service (NWS) grew. Although administration officials have denied the accusation, claiming the changes had no effect on predicting ability, critics suggest these cuts may have compromised catastrophe preparedness.
Following the revelation that the county refused to construct an early-warning system because of a lack of state funding, Kerr County officials have also come under pressure. Lawrence Walker, 67, a long-time Kerrville resident, claimed that catastrophe preventive measures had long been disregarded by local officials. His statement, which reflected the frustration of many in the town, was, “It’s been fine since the water was at 8 feet.”
Nevertheless, Texas Governor Abbott brushed off claims of official ineptitude, calling them “the word choice of losers.” Later this month, the state legislature is anticipated to hold a special session to look into the flooding and distribute emergency assistance money.
Water levels in the Guadalupe River rose from one foot to over 34 feet in a matter of hours as a result of the catastrophe, which started when more than a foot of rain fell in an hour. Now regarded as the deadliest natural catastrophe of Trump’s current administration, the floods destroyed houses and ripped through communities.
At least 36 children were among the victims, many of them were enrolled in Camp Mystic, a Christian summer camp for girls that has been around for almost a century and is situated along the river’s edge. Kerr County is located in an area known as “flash flood alley,” which is infamous for its fatal and swift flooding storms, according to meteorologists.
Under clearing skies, search personnel wearing hard hats continued to rummage through the wreckage while Trump received a situational briefing near the riverbank. Officials warn that the list of more than 160 missing people may be inflated because of duplicate complaints, but no survivors have been located since the first day of floods.
The government’s response was not criticised by all residents. The catastrophe was essentially inevitable, according to 71-year-old Jon Moreno, whose property was spared, because of dangerous buildings along the river. He remarked, “I wouldn’t want to live there, it’s too dangerous, all those people along the river.”
However, there are still those people who are angry. A message blaming Trump of reducing emergency spending in his recent budget bill was spray-painted on a nearby petrol station in Kerrville. The day the floods hit Texas, the president signed the comprehensive bill, which contains significant spending and tax cuts.
