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President Donald Trump made a trip to central Texas on Friday morning to see the devastation left by the record July 4 flash floods that killed at least 120 people and more than 160 remain unaccounted for. The trip was made amidst growing criticism of how the government has handled the disaster, which is now the deadliest of Trump’s presidency to date.
Flanked by local and federal authorities, Trump will make a meeting with families of the victims, first responders, and emergency personnel. He will also be personally briefed in Kerr County, the center of the destruction, within the area where it earned a notorious reputation as “flash flood alley.”
The flooding took place when heavy rains caused the Guadalupe River to swell from one foot to 34 feet in a few hours, sweeping trees, houses, and everything in its way. Among the fatalities are at least 36 children, some of whom were at Camp Mystic, a near-century-old girls’ summer camp located on the riverbank.
As of now, no other survivors have been discovered apart from the first day of the flooding by thousands of emergency personnel. The magnitude of the disaster and increasing number of missing individuals have also raised questions regarding whether the authorities warned residents adequately prior to the flooding.
Kerr County officials have faced particular scrutiny for opting not to install an early-warning system years ago after failing to secure state funding. In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Thursday, Trump appeared to support new efforts to implement warning systems, saying, “After seeing this horrible event, I’d imagine you’d put alarms up in some form.”
Congress is set to take action. The Texas state legislature will have a special session in late this month to examine the flood and dispense emergency funds. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has also asked for an investigation as to whether recent staff reductions at the National Weather Service affected its capacity to predict the fatal storm.
The Trump administration denies the agency was understaffed and characterized the flood as a “once-in-200-years” act of nature. Trump, however, avoided answering questions about his plan to eliminate or cut back on FEMA, the federal government’s agency tasked with overseeing disaster relief efforts, simply saying, “I’ll tell you some other time.”
