Texas floods | “I have never seen anything like it,” says Trump

(Kerrville) Donald Trump went to Texas on Friday to observe the damage caused by floods that left at least 120 dead, when the response of the local and federal authorities is pointed out.

The center of Texas was struck on July 4, the day of national holiday in the United States, by torrential rains which caused sudden floods, surprising many inhabitants in their sleep.

Upceded trees, overturned tractor, and debris of all kinds: the American president and his wife Melania were able to see the devastation, a week just after the disaster.

“I have never seen anything like it,” the American president then said during a round table with the local authorities.

“Devastation is hard to believe,” he added, quoting “centenary trees that have simply been torn from the ground”.

In total, at least 120 deaths linked to the floods were identified while the authorities have more than 170 missing.

The county of Kerr is the hardest hit with 96 dead, including 36 children.

A Christian girl holiday camp, located in the locality of Hunt, on the banks of the Guadalupe river, paid a heavy price: 27 children and monitors perished in the disaster.

Federal resources

The visit of the American president intervenes while the questions are more pressing on the management of the crisis by the local authorities and on the impact of the budget cuts, wanted by the Trump administration, on the alert and rescue systems.

Questioned shortly after the disaster to find out if he always intended to gradually delete the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Donald Trump replied that it was not the time to talk about it.

The Republican leader, who had previously declared that in the event of a disaster, the emergency services had to be managed at the level of the States, also quickly signed a disaster declaration in order to provide Texas with federal resources.

The immediate response to the disaster on the part of the federal state “was rapid and efficient,” insisted on X Secretary with Homeland Security, Kristi Noem on Thursday.

But the CNN channel says that FEMA’s rescue operations have been delayed by bureaucratic obstacles after a new rule adopted by the secretary to reduce expenses.

During the round table, Donald Trump denounced the democratic opposition “who only wants to criticize”, but also certain questions of the press – even qualifying a journalist present as “evil”.

“Everyone in this room did an incredible job, and people know it,” he added.

Alert system

The sheriff of Kerr County, Larry Leitha, said that he was alerted on Friday “around 4 or 5 am” by calls for rescue services.

According to the Texan Ksat channel, a local firefighter requested at 4:22 a.m. the sending of “red code” alerts, an emergency message on the phones of the inhabitants of Hunt, the most affected locality, while the waters of the Guadalupe river, supplied by torrential rains, rose dangerously.

However, according to this local media affiliated with CNN and ABC, the sheriff’s office would have asked the firefighter to wait, time to obtain the authorization of a superior.

The “red code” alerts were reportedly transmitted at least 90 minutes later, around 6 a.m., and the message took up to six hours to reach some Hunt residents, according to Ksat.

Questioned several times this week on this subject, local authorities have been kicked out.

Donald Trump assured him on Friday that “the governor and everyone” were now working to design a better alert system. “They will find something,” he said.

More than 2,000 rescuers, police and cynophile teams, supported by helicopters, excavate the area tirelessly for seven days to try to locate the disappeared, even if the chances of finding them alive are now tiny.