President Trump says he plans to visit flood-ravaged Texas on Friday
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said he would visit Texas on Friday as the state reels after more than 100 people have been confirmed dead in last weekend's devastating floods.
Trump mentioned his upcoming July 11 trip to Central Texas as he talked to reporters during a White House dinner Monday night with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
"Texas was just so badly hurt by something that was a big surprise, late in the evening," Trump said. "So, we'll be working with the governor and all of the people of Texas. We'll be going on Friday."
Trump on Jan. 6 said he would have visited Texas that day but didn't want to "be in their way."
Search and rescue operations in central Texas entered their fifth day on Tuesday after heavy rainfall overwhelmed the Guadalupe River, sending floodwaters through homes and summer camps and killing over 100 people.
The death toll stood at 104 on July 8, including at least 27 children and counselors from Camp Mystic, a storied Christian girls camp in Kerr County, where flooding hit the hardest beginning during the early morning hours of July 4.
Trump did not say where in Texas he would visit. The state's governor, Republican Greg Abbott, is a strong ally of the president. The communities that flooded are deeply Republican, including heavilyhit Kerrville, where Trump won nearly three-fourths of the overall vote in the 2024 election.
Democrats have scrutinized the role that Trump's recent cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service, may have played in limiting flash-flood warnings and other alerts for residents in the flooded areas.
Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer of New York asked the Department of Commerce's acting inspector general to investigate whether staffing vacancies at the NWS's San Antonio office contributed to "delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy" in forecasting the flooding.
The White House has vigorously defended the weather service's actions and said forecasts and alerts were "timely and precise" as the flood unfolded on July 3 and 4.
“Unfortunately, in the wake of this once-in-a-generation natural disaster, we have seen many falsehoods pushed by Democrats, such as Sen. Chuck Schumer and some members of the media,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a July 7 briefing with reporters. “Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning.”
Contributing: Jeannine Santucci of Paste BN, Reuters