Trump to tour Texas flood damage as the scope of the disaster tests his pledge to shutter FEMA

As President Donald Trump heads to Texas connected Friday for a firsthand look astatine the devastation caused by catastrophic flooding, helium has remained conspicuously quiescent astir his erstwhile promises to bash distant with the national bureau successful complaint of catastrophe relief.

The Trump medication isn't backing distant from its pledges to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency and instrumentality catastrophe effect to the states. But since the July 4 disaster, which has killed astatine slightest 120 people, the president and his apical aides person focused connected the once-in-a-lifetime quality of what occurred and the quality calamity progressive alternatively than the government-slashing crusade that's been fashionable with Trump's halfway supporters.

"Nobody ever saw a happening similar this coming," Trump told NBC News connected Thursday, adding, "This is simply a once-in-every-200-year deal." He's besides suggested he'd person been acceptable to sojourn Texas wrong hours but didn't privation to load authorities inactive searching for the much than 170 radical who are inactive missing.

Take a look astatine the latest stories and videos astir the deadly and devastating flooding successful Texas here.

Trump's displacement successful absorption underscores however calamity tin complicate governmental calculations, adjacent though Trump has made slashing the national workforce and charging ally-turned-antagonistElon Musk with dramatically shrinking the size of authorities centerpieces of his administration's opening months.

The president is expected to bash an aerial circuit of immoderate of the hard-hit areas.

The White House besides says he'll sojourn the authorities exigency operations halfway to conscionable with archetypal responders and relatives of flood victims. Trump volition besides get a briefing from officials. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, Sen. John Cornyn and Sen. Ted Cruz are joining the visit, with the GOP senators expected to alert to their authorities with Trump aboard Air Force One.

It's comparatively communal for presidents visiting catastrophe sites to circuit the harm by air, a determination that tin easiness the logistical burdens connected authorities connected the ground.

Trump's predecessor, President Joe Biden, observed the aftermath of Hurricane Helene successful occidental North Carolina and Hurricane Milton successful Florida past autumn by aerial earlier gathering with catastrophe effect officials and victims connected the ground.

Trump, though, has besides utilized past catastrophe effect efforts to motorboat governmental attacks. While inactive a campaigner trying to triumph backmost the presidency, Trump made his ain sojourn to North Carolina aft Helene past twelvemonth and accused the Biden medication of blocking catastrophe assistance to victims successful Republican-heavy areas.

First woman Melania Trump volition travel the president Friday, marking the 2nd clip this word that she has joined her hubby to circuit a earthy catastrophe site.

During his archetypal play backmost successful the White House, Trump again visited North Carolina to scope retired Helene harm and toured the aftermath of devastating wildfires successful Los Angeles. But helium besides utilized those trips to sharply knock the Biden medication and California officials.

Trump has promised repeatedly - and arsenic precocious arsenic past period - to statesman "phasing out" FEMA and bring catastrophe effect absorption "down to the authorities level."

During Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Trump didn't notation those plans and alternatively praised the national flooding response. Turning to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose section oversees FEMA, helium said, "You had radical determination arsenic accelerated arsenic anybody's ever seen."

Pressed this week connected whether the White House volition proceed to enactment to shutter FEMA, property caput Karoline Leavitt wouldn't say.

"The president wants to guarantee American citizens ever person what they request during times of need," Leavitt said. "Whether that assistance comes from states oregon the national government, that is simply a argumentation treatment that volition continue."

While the absorption is connected FEMA astatine the national level, section officials person travel nether mounting scrutiny implicit however overmuch they were prepared and however rapidly they acted. But not everyone affected has been speedy to constituent fingers.

Darrin Potter, a Kerr County, Texas, nonmigratory for 25 years who saw ankle-high flooding successful his location and said helium knew radical killed, said, "As acold arsenic aboriginal warnings, I'm definite they tin amended connected that."

But helium said each the speech astir evacuating was missing thing important. The country wherever a partition of h2o ripped done was a two-lane road, helium said.

"If you would person evacuated astatine 5 successful the morning, each of those radical would person been washed distant connected this road," helium said.

During the Cabinet meeting, Noem described traveling to Texas and seeing heartbreaking scenes, including astir Camp Mystic, the century-old all-girls Christian summertime campy wherever astatine slightest 27 radical were killed.

"The parents that were looking for their children and picking up their daughter's stuffed animals retired of the mud and uncovering their daughter's footwear that mightiness beryllium laying successful the cabin," she said.

Noem said that "just hugging and comforting radical matters a lot" and "this is simply a clip for each of america successful this state to retrieve that we were created to service each other."

But the caput is besides co-chairing a FEMA reappraisal assembly charged with submitting suggestions for however to overhaul the bureau successful coming months.

"We arsenic a national authorities don't negociate these disasters. The authorities does," Noem told Trump connected Tuesday.

She besides referenced the administration's government-reducing efforts, saying: "We're cutting done the paperwork of the aged FEMA. Streamlining it, overmuch similar your imaginativeness of however FEMA should operate."