President Donald Trump travels to Texas on Friday amid rising questions on how native officers responded to the devastating floods, in addition to questions in regards to the federal response — together with FEMA’s destiny — that he has thus far prevented.
Trump’s go to comes per week after heavy rainfall prompted the Guadalupe River in Kerr County to rise 26 toes in lower than an hour, killing at the least 121, together with dozens of youngsters on the close by Christian summer season camp, Camp Mystic.
He and first girl Melania Trump will go to flood-affected areas, in line with an announcement from the primary girl’s workplace.
The seek for greater than 170 folks nonetheless lacking continues with greater than 2,100 responders on the bottom in Kerr County from native, state and federal companies.
In the meantime, native officers are beneath scrutiny about what steps had been taken to adequately warn folks and the way lengthy it took for authorities to take motion primarily based on escalating climate and different alerts.
Trump, notably, hasn’t engaged in related criticism about how the disaster was dealt with — as he has performed within the case of different disasters.
“I’d simply say it is a hundred-year disaster, and it is simply so horrible to look at,” Trump stated on Sunday.
President Donald Trump walks towards the media with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick earlier than boarding Air Power One, at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., July 6, 2025.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
As a substitute, Trump has largely centered on his relationship with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott — a Republican and powerful ally of the president.
“We have been in contact with Governor Abbott, I am very near Governor Abbott, and everyone in Texas,” Trump stated on Sunday.
It is a marked distinction to how Trump has reacted prior to now, together with to the California wildfires earlier this 12 months, the place he blasted California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and different native Democratic officers.
A number of the hardest-hit areas of central Texas, together with Kerr County, are areas of sturdy Republican help that voted for Trump within the 2024 election.
Trump authorised a serious catastrophe declaration for Texas earlier this week.
Abbott stated throughout a information convention on Tuesday that he spoke with Trump that morning and obtained assurances that help can be offered.
“He couldn’t cease speaking about how unhappy he was for all of the little women who’ve misplaced their lives,” Abbott stated. “He recounted his personal understanding of what occurred with what was actually a tsunami wave, a wall of water, that swept too a lot of them away.”
“And he cares quite a bit about these younger girls. And he needs to step up and be sure that any want that we’ve got right here in Texas goes to be met in a short time,” Abbott continued.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks throughout a press convention, July 8, 2025, after touring harm from flash flooding in Hunt, Texas.
Eli Hartman/AP
The White Home has pushed back heavily on criticism of the administration’s cuts to the Nationwide Weather Service, which led to some to query if staffing ranges or forecasting skills had been impacted.
“Blaming President Trump for these floods is a wicked lie, and it serves no objective throughout this time of nationwide mourning,” White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated from the briefing room podium on Monday.
Trump’s additionally prevented answering questions on whether or not he’s nonetheless aiming to section out the Federal Emergency Administration Company.
Division of Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem, mentioned the federal response to the floods throughout a Cupboard assembly on Tuesday.
“We as a federal authorities do not handle these disasters, the state does,” Noem contended. “We are available in and help them. And that is precisely what we did right here on this scenario. FEMA went to an enhanced degree instantly. However as quickly as you signed the key catastrophe declaration, we had been in a position to get them sources and {dollars} immediately, identical to you envisioned via state lot grants to assist them with cleanup. And we’re nonetheless there in presence.”
A car drives via a highway flooded by the waters of the Guadalupe River, in Hunt, Texas, July 9, 2025.
Umit Bektas/Reuters
Later within the week, although, Noem went after FEMA through the Biden and different earlier administrations — alleging the company has suffered from “gross mismanagement and negligence.”
“The checklist of well-known failures is staggering,” Noem claimed in feedback to the FEMA Advisory Council, a process pressure designed to suggest reforms to the company, together with potential dismantlement of the company because it exists at this time. Trump appointed Abbott as a brand new member to the group again in April.
Performing FEMA Administrator David Richardson had but to go to the affected areas in Texas as of Thursday afternoon.
ABC Information’ Luke Barr and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
