WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to central Texas on Friday to survey damage from the July 4 flash flood that killed at least 120 people and left dozens more missing.
His visit comes amid intense focus on the government response a week after the storm and as thousands of first responders comb through muddy debris, with hopes diminished of finding additional survivors.
Torrential rains sent a wall of water raging down the Guadalupe River in the predawn hours of the U.S. Independence Day holiday. The disaster is the deadliest of the Republican president’s nearly six-month term in office.
Trump is expected to speak with family members of the victims and emergency responders, according to a White House official.
He will also receive a briefing from local elected officials and see sites in Kerr County, the center of the damage. The county is located in what is known as “flash flood alley”, a region that has seen some of the country’s deadliest floods.
More than a foot of rain fell in less than an hour on July 4. Flood gauges showed the river’s height rose from about a foot to 34 feet (10.4 meters) in a matter of hours, cascading over its banks and sweeping away trees and structures in its path.
The dead include at least 36 children, many who were campers at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer retreat on the banks of the river.
Local and federal officials have faced scrutiny for their response, including questions about whether they could have done more to warn people of the rising floodwaters. The county declined to install an early-warning system years ago after failing to secure state grant money to cover the cost. Officials have said their current focus is on rescue and recovery.
The state legislature will convene in a special session later this month to investigate the flooding and provide disaster relief funding.
The Trump administration has supported the disaster response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sending funds for disaster recovery, temporary housing and property losses.
Trump has largely sidestepped questions about his prior plans to shrink or abolish the agency and for its key functions to be carried out by state and local government.
“I’ll tell you some other time,” Trump said on Tuesday, when asked by a reporter about FEMA.
The U.S. Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer, on Monday asked a government watchdog to investigate whether cuts at the National Weather Service affected the forecasting agency’s response. The NWS has defended its forecasting and emergency management, noting it assigned extra forecasters to two Texas offices over the holiday weekend.
The Trump administration has said the agency was sufficiently staffed and responded adequately to “an act of God.”
On Sunday, Trump was asked by a reporter whether government cuts hobbled the disaster response.
“It didn’t,” Trump responded.
(Reporting by Nicole Johnson in Washington; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt and Cynthia Osterman)
