President Trump announced Sunday that later in the week, he plans to visit Texas’ Hill Country, where devastating floods have killed at least 80 people – including kids at a Christian all-girl camp swept away by the deluge.
“This is a hundred-year catastrophe and it’s just so horrible to watch,” Trump told reporters.Trump said.
Asked if he plans to head to the Lone Star State to survey the damage, Trump said he’ll “probably” go on Friday.
“I would’ve done it today but we just would’ve been in their way,” the president added.
Trump denied that cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), formerly run by Elon Musk, to the National Weather Service had any effect on the forecasting and response to the disastrous floods.
“They didn’t,” he said, responding to a reporter’s question. “That water situation, that all is and that was really the Biden setup. That was not our setup.”
However, Trump was uncharacteristically magnanimous and wouldn’t point the finger at his predecessor.
“I wouldn’t blame Biden for it either,” he added.
An around-the-clock full throttle search and rescue mission remains underway as teams are combing the area searching for survivors from the land, the sea and air.
Hundreds of rescue workers from 20 agencies representing local, state and federal government are working together to find anyone still caught up in the vast destruction unleashed by the floods.
There have been 525 rescue operations across the state, with 366 being conducted by air.
Gov. Greg Abbott and local officials confirmed the death toll Sunday in a press conference, with 68 of those victims coming in Kerr County alone.
The confirmed dead in Kerr were 40 adults and 28 children. Four of the children found by rescue workers have not been identified, along with multiple adult victims.
At least dozens of people remain missing, and the death toll is expected to rise. Part of the challenge officials have had is trying to get a handle on how many people had come to visit the area for the Independence Day holiday.
Eleven girls and one counselor are still missing from Camp Mystic, the Christian girls’ summer camp just off the banks of the Guadalupe River, according to Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha. Five campers, ages 8 and 9, have been confirmed dead in the flooding — along with the camp’s owner..
The National Weather Service predicted several more inches of rain in the area. The agency extended its flood watch and warned that 2-4 inches of rain were possible in some areas — with certain areas expected to see as much as 10 inches.
