Trump Touches Down in Texas to Console Harvey Victims, Marvel at Crowd Sizes
Donald Trump touched down in Texas to survey the damage caused by hurricane Harvey knowing that it involved a difficult political balancing act. Don’t appear and potentially suffer the same barrage of criticism George W Bush faced in the wake of hurricane Katrina, do appear and risking affecting rescue efforts with rain still set to hammer the area for another two days.
Mr Trump was quick to praise the efforts of those on the ground during a visit to the town of Corpus Christi - one of the cities near the coast that faced the brunt of Harvey - while later visiting Austin. The presidential entourage avoided Houston and the surrounding area, where the vast majority of the more than 17,000 who had sought shelter were gathered, with the White House keen to stress that Mr Trump wanted to be “very cautious” not disrupt recovery efforts.
Meeting officials in Corpus Christi Mr Trump was decked out in a white cap that can apparently be purchased on his website, it was marked with ‘USA’ and the front and ‘trump’ on the back. With her husband, Melania Trump was wearing a ‘FLOTUS’ cap, standing for First Lady of the United States. At a briefing, Mr Trump made clear he wanted his response to be an example.
“We want to do it better than ever before. We want to be looked at in five years, in ten years from now as, this is the way to do it. This was of epic proportion,” he said.
“Nobody's ever seen anything like this and I just want to say that working with the governor [Texas Governor Greg Abbott] and his entire team has been an honor for us”, The President added. Mr Abbott was also effusive in his praise for Mr Trump and his response, saying he had been in contact with the White House for the last two weeks.
Mr Trump later met a crowd outside a local fire station. “Thank you” he said to applause, “we love you, you are special, we are here to take care of you,” he said. “It's going well.”
“What a crowd, what a turn out” he called out to the hundreds of people gathered, although there appeared no expression of sympathy victims of the storm.
Elsewhere, more than 3,500 rescues had taken place across Houston by Tuesday afternoon, with rising water still a major issue. The US record for rainfall from a tropical storm system was broken at the Mary’s Creek weather station, reaching 49.32 inches. The record had stood since 1978, and with further rain - up to 12 more inches in certain parts of the Texas coast - expected, officials are preparing for further problems.
At least 15 deaths have been reported, the latest being a policeman driving to work in Houston, while two major dams in the area are either overspilling or close to. Some of the water from the reservoirs around the dams has had to be vented, flooding neighboring areas, a necessary problem for local officials.
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