President Donald Trump visited Kerrville, Texas, on Friday as the devastated region continues rescue efforts from last week’s catastrophic flooding.
Trump and first lady Melania Trump visited Texas for an aerial tour of the sites of the catastrophic flooding, which killed at least 120 people while more than 170 remain missing. The president will also participate in a roundtable discussion with first responders and local officials.
He said the flooding was a “horrible thing” and he would visit with “great families” and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
At a roundtable discussion Friday after touring the site and meeting with families, Trump said it was a “tough one.”
“It’s hard to believe the devastation. Trees that are 100 years old just ripped out of the ground. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said.
The president said he met with families who had children at the Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic, where more than 20 young girls were killed by the floods.
“They were there because they loved God, and as we grieve this unthinkable tragedy, we take comfort in the knowledge that God has welcomed those little, beautiful girls into his comforting arms in heaven,” Trump said.
Will FEMA be handed to the states?
Trump’s visit to the area comes as the administration is discussing how to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and return disaster relief to individual states.
During a June press conference with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Trump said he wants the country to “wean off of FEMA” and bring it back to the state level. He said they were calling governors to “handle it.” The president noted that funds for disaster aid wouldn’t entirely fall to states under the administration’s proposed plan.
Since the flooding, officials haven’t focused on the future of the federal agency as relief efforts are underway in Texas.
Office of Management and Budget director Russ Vought spoke to reporters Friday morning outside the White House and said that FEMA has $13 billion in its reserves to continue to fund “necessary expenses.”
“The president has said to Texas, anything it needs it will get,” Vought said, adding, “We also want FEMA to be reformed. We want FEMA to work well.”
FEMA was criticized for its handling of relief efforts in North Carolina after Tropical Storm Helene last year.
Vought said Trump will be asking “tough questions” of all agencies in the administration’s continued push to scale back spending.
However, The Washington Post reported Friday that as Trump heads to Texas, a senior White House official said there were no official actions being taken to wind down FEMA and any future change would likely amount to a “rebranding” that places state leaders at the top of the agency.
The catastrophic floods hit Central Texas over the July Fourth holiday weekend. Rivers in the region began to rise due to heavy rain. Emergency alerts went out overnight, urging residents and people camping to leave the area. In a short time, the Guadalupe River rose significantly and washed through the surrounding area.
On Thursday, Abbott requested that the Texas Division of Emergency Management ask Trump for more federal disaster assistance.
“I thank President Trump and his administration for their swift and continued support. Texas will continue to deploy all available resources and support to help those impacted until the job is done,” Abbott said.
Trump briefly noted FEMA in the roundtable discussion Friday, and said it had been changed for the better by his administration. He said he and Noem approved disaster funding within minutes for Texas and deployed thousands of first responders.
“FEMA has deployed multiple emergency response units, and FEMA has been really headed by some very good people. We have some good people running FEMA. It’s about time, right? We got some good ones. They failed us in North Carolina, but when we got in on January 20, they fixed it up in no time,” Trump said.