7/12/2025–|Last update: 05:15 (Mecca time)
US President Donald Trump expressed his shock from the scale of the destruction he had in Texas as a result of the recent floods that left hundreds of dead and missing, and defended the performance of his administration and local authorities towards the disaster.
A week after the floods that struck the state, Trump and his wife, Melania, on Friday, visited the city of Kerville in the most affected province of Kiir.
Commenting on the damages he saw, “The situation is difficult … I have witnessed a lot of hurricanes … I have not seen an example for this,” he said, commenting on the damages.
“Nobody can believe” … Trump describes the Floods of Texas with the terrible pic.twitter.com/1cyoskf6sa
– Al -Jazeera Mubasher (@ajmubasher) July 11, 2025
Trump angrily responded to journalists who questioned the speed of the authorities’ response in this republican state to the catastrophe, saying that he wanted to focus on solidarity with relief workers and volunteers.
He also ignored questions about the impact of his campaign to reduce the workforce in federal agencies – including the Federal Emergency Management Agency – to respond to the floods that he described as a “disaster that occurs every 100 years” and “no one expected.”
The US President likened the water level, which rose surprisingly to “a giant wave in the Pacific Ocean, feared by the best surfing passengers in the world.”
The floods resulted in the killing of 120 people – 96 of them in Kiir Province – while 130 others are still missing, and on Friday continued searching for them.
Among the victims are 27 girls and supervisors who were in a summer camp when they were surprised by the flooding of the Guadalobi River.
The authorities in Texas were criticized for the immediate response to the disaster, especially the delay in the emergency evacuation messages of the population and visitors along the Guadalobi River.
However, Trump and members of his administration defended the performance of local officials, considering that the response was fast.
