By Sean Murphy and Will Weissert
Associated Press
KERRVILLE, Texas — President Donald Trump arrived Friday in Texas for a firsthand look at the devastation from the state’s catastrophic flooding.
Since the July 4 disaster, which has killed at least 120 people and left more than 170 missing, the president has focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred and the human tragedy.
“It’s a horrible thing,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House. He approved Texas’ request to extend the major disaster declaration beyond Kerr County to eight additional counties, making them eligible for direct financial assistance to recover and rebuild.
The Trump administration isn’t backing away from its pledges to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and return disaster response to the states.
The first couple will tour some of the hard-hit areas by air, then visit the state emergency operations center in Kerrville to meet with first responders and relatives of flood victims.
“This area is primarily pro-Trump,” said Harris Currie, a rancher from Utopia, Texas, near Kerrville, who said that having the president visiting boosts morale. “It’s the country, and that’s what got him elected. Do they expect it? No. Is it uplifting? Absolutely.”
Trump won Kerr County with 77% of the vote last year, and Currie said his visit is “something a president should do. It exhibits a level of leadership that a president should exhibit.” He also said the flood devastation can be fully understood only by seeing it first-hand.
“Pictures do not do it justice,” Currie said.
The president will get a briefing from officials in Kerrville, where he will joined by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz.
Kerr County Commissioner Jeff Holt, who also is a volunteer firefighter, said the focus of Trump’s visit should be “how we responded and what we’re going to do in the future.”
“In the future, we’re going to figure out how we get a little better at what we do,” Holt said.
Asked what he might tell Trump officials needed, Holt stressed the need for repairs to nonworking phone towers and “maybe a little better early warning system.” Trump himself has suggested that a warning system should be established, though he has not provided details on how that might happen.
It’s relatively common for presidents visiting disaster sites to tour the damage by air, a move that can ease the logistical burdens on authorities on the ground.
During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump praised the federal flooding response. Turning to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, he said, “You had people there as fast as anybody’s ever seen.”
Pressed this week on whether the White House will continue to work to shutter FEMA, press secretary Karoline Leavitt would not say.
“The president wants to ensure American citizens always have what they need during times of need,” Leavitt said. “Whether that assistance comes from states or the federal government, that is a policy discussion that will continue.”
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Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Seung Min Kim in Washington and Nadia Lathan in Ingram, Texas, contributed to this report.
