President Trump and Melania Trump traveled Friday to an area of Texas devastated by last weekend’s extreme flash flooding, which left more than 120 people dead. The president and first lady made their way past downed trees and saw an overturned tractor-trailer as local officials took them on a tour of a disaster zone around Kerrville, a community along the Guadalupe River that has become a hub for search and recovery work.
After the tour, Mr. and Mrs. Trump held a round table packed with state and local officials. The state’s governor, Greg Abbott, a Republican, sat beside Mr. Trump. Texas’ Republican U.S. senators, John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, were there, too. Dr. Phil McGraw, the Trump-supporting reality television star with Texas roots, also turned up.
The Republican lawmakers praised the Trump administration for its response to the floods, and the president batted away any suggestion that there was anything lacking in how the authorities handled the tragedy.
He has described the flood in Texas as an unavoidable act of nature — “a hundred-year catastrophe,” as he put it — but his administration has faced intense scrutiny over its level of preparedness and response, including concerns over unfilled positions at local offices of the National Weather Service and troubles at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Mr. Trump has talked of eliminating FEMA since he came into office. The agency has lost about a quarter of its full-time staff, including some of its most experienced officials. It is housed under the Department of Homeland Security.
At the direction of Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, FEMA instituted a policy requiring all expenses over $100,000 — including the deployment of search-and-rescue teams — to be approved directly by Ms. Noem. Questions have been raised about whether Ms. Noem’s decision contributed to delays in emergency relief.
At a cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, Mr. Trump praised FEMA’s work, and Ms. Noem said that the agency was stronger under the current administration.
“FEMA has been deployed, and we’re cutting through the paperwork of the old FEMA, streamlining it much like your vision of how FEMA should operate,” she said. “It’s been a much better response to help these families get through this terrible situation.”
Russell T. Vought, leader of the Office of Management and Budget, told reporters on Friday that the Trump administration wanted to overhaul FEMA.
“We want FEMA to work well,” he said. “And, you know, the president is going to continue to be asking tough questions from all of his agencies.”
He added that FEMA had $13 billion in its reserves, and that Texas will get “anything it needs.”Officials said more than 170 people were unaccounted for after the flooding. Twenty-seven campers and staff members were reported dead, and several were still missing at Camp Mystic, a girls summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.
“We’re still looking for a lot of little girls and other family members that were camping along that river,” Ms. Noem said.
Maxine Joselow contributed reporting.
Shawn McCreesh is a White House reporter for The Times covering the Trump administration.
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