
By Nick Gilbertson. Media: Breitbart
President Donald Trump on Friday will set out for Texas, where flooding in Kerr and other counties tragically killed at least 120 people and left another 173 in the state missing last week.
Trump will meet with first responders and some of the affected family members during his visit, a White House official tells Breitbart News. He is scheduled to receive a briefing from local elected officials, and a roundtable with local officials is also planned. Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) is expected to be in attendance for the president’s visit.
Trump announced he would be visiting the state on Monday.
“We wanted to leave a little time. I would’ve done it today, but we’d just be in their way,” he told reporters, referencing first responders.
Trump also noted that the Guadalupe River flooding on July 3 and 4 and its fallout “is a hundred-year catastrophe” that is “just so horrible to watch.”
The brunt of the tragedy occurred in Kerr County, where officials say 96 people, including 36 children, were killed, as NBC News noted Thursday, citing officials. Another 161 people in Kerr County are unaccounted for. Statewide, the death toll has reached 120 people, and 173 are missing.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem was on scene on Saturday to survey the situation, and on Sunday, Trump announced he signed a major disaster declaration for Kerr County to ensure that first responders have the necessary resources.
Abbott lauded Trump and his administration’s response while speaking with journalist Nick Sortor in a Blackhawk helicopter over Hill Country Wednesday:
Never have I seen a response as quick or as effective as I have the Trump adminsitration’s response to this storm. Trump immediately granted our request, immediately called to help, immediately sent down Kristi Noem and I’ve dealt with a lot of staff, administrators, or secretaries of cabinets who have come to the state of Texas to help out, no one has been as actively hands on and swiftly delivering results as much as Kristi Noem.
Abbott also spoke with Sortor about the 850 rescues by first responders in the course of 36 hours, crediting the rescuers’ skill and commitment.
“It was an act of true heroism, but it was very successful because they’re so trained and they’re so effective at what they do, and because we had so many of them out running around on the ground also to make sure that we would be able to rescue as many people as possible,” he said.
During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Noem discussed the unity she witnessed among first responders when she arrived on the ground in Texas on Saturday and said that Trump’s subsequent major disaster declaration enabled DHS to provide resources and funds for cleanup efforts.
She also noted that the federal government will continue to aid and assist first responders in search and recovery efforts.
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