President Trump said he will visit Central Texas on Friday as the state recovers after more than 100 people, including at least 30 children, were confirmed dead from the flash floods of July Fourth.
Mr. Trump also said first lady Melania Trump will accompany him on the trip.
“We will be going down on Friday with the first lady. We will be taking a trip, and we don’t want to get in anyone’s way because that’s what happens when the president goes. I don’t want anyone to focus on us,” Mr. Trump said Tuesday at a meeting with his Cabinet secretaries.
Tuesday’s announcement was the first time he confirmed the visit.
He didn’t say where in Texas he would visit. Many of the communities wrecked by the flooding are in Kerr County, 65 miles northwest of San Antonio, in the heart of the Texas Hill Country.
Search and rescue operations continued five days after heavy rainfall overwhelmed the Guadalupe River. The monsoon sent floodwaters through homes and killed children at a summer camp.
As of Tuesday morning, the death toll stood at 107 across six counties, including at least 30 children and adult counselors at the Christian girls’ Camp Mystic in Hunt.
Democrats have complained that Mr. Trump’s budget cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which includes the National Weather Service, hampered the flood response because it limited alerts and other warnings for residents in the flooded areas.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, has asked the Commerce Department to investigate whether staffing vacancies at the NWS’ San Antonio office resulted in delays or gaps in alerting residents about the flooding.
The White House has pushed back on that criticism, insisting that the alerts were “timely and precise.”
“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 Monday. “Blaming President Trump for these floods is a depraved lie, and it serves no purpose during this time of national mourning.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.