Trump tours Houston, Louisiana to meet with victims, 1st responders
U.S. president, wife helped hand out relief packages in battered Texas city
U.S. President Donald Trump met Saturday in Houston with people affected by catastrophic storm Harvey, one week after itcame ashore, and later travelled to Louisianaas funerals began for some of the victims.
Trump, who travelled aboard Air Force One with his wife MelaniaTrump for the visit, wasat Houston's NRG Stadium to speak with individuals affected by the floods. The couple spenttime inan area of the shelter designated for children.
Trump said he is seeing "a lot of love" and"a lot of happiness" as he visits Harvey victims.He spoke briefly with reporters before serving food at the stadium, one of Houston's designated emergency refuge centres. TheAmerican Red Cross said this week that more than 17,000 people havesought refuge in Texas shelters.
Trump also visited with children at the centre and said, "They'redoing great."
Kevin Jason Hipolito, 37, an unemployed Houston resident rescued from the roof of his car two days earlier when his first-floor apartment was flooded, was pleased by Trump's visit to the fourth most populous U.S. city.
Visit 'raises morale'
"I'm a Democrat. It raises the morale," he said, while the Trumps served lunch. "This shows a lot of support."
Robert Hendricks, 48, an electrical engineer standing on line at NRG Stadium, was skeptical about Trump's visit to Houston.
"What's he going to do? Use us as props to serve us lunch?" he said, but added: "It's good that he's showing his face."
As the Trumps made their way through areas affected by Harvey, attention was alsofocused on MinuteMaid Park, where baseball's Houston Astrosreturned to the city to playthe first game of a double-header. The team relocated to Florida for three games and were returning to the Texas field for the first time.Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner threw out thefirst pitch at the first game against the New York Mets, and a moment of silence was observed for those who perished.
Trump later touched down inLake Charles, La., where Harvey hit as a tropical storm.During his brief stop there, Trump met with first responders and a group of volunteers known as the Cajun Navy, many of whom were in cowboy hats and waders. Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards accompanied him. Trump supporters lined the route to and from the National Guard Armory, and before departing for Washington, the president posed for photos with law enforcement officers who'd led his motorcade.
1 million out of their homes
The storm, one of the costliest to hit the United States,has displaced more than onemillion people. Fifty arefeared deadfrom flooding that has paralyzed Houston, swelled river levels torecord highs and knocked out the drinking water supply inBeaumont, Texas, which has a population of about 120,000.
The storm is blamed for at least 44 deaths.
Authorities say an elderly woman was found floating face-down in water in her flooded home in Port Arthur, Texas.Justice of the Peace Brad Burnett told radio station KFDM on Saturday that the woman was found dead in her bedroom. He says the house had at least 60 centimetres of water.
Hurricane Harvey came ashore last Friday as the strongeststorm to hit Texas in more than 50 years. Much of the damagetook place in the Houston metropolitan area, which has aneconomy about the same size as Argentina's.
Seventy per cent of Harris County, which encompasses Houston,at one point was covered with 45 centimetresor more ofwater, county officials said.
Trump first visited the Gulf region on Tuesday, but stayedclear of the disaster zone, saying he did not want to hamperrescue efforts. Instead, he met with state and local leaders,and first responders.
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He was criticized, however, for not meeting with victims ofthe worst storm to hit Texas in 50 years, and largelyfocusing on the logistics of the government response rather thanthe suffering of residents.
The Trump administration, in a letter to Congress, asked fora $7.85-billion US appropriation for response and initial recoveryefforts. White House Homeland Security adviser Tom Bossert hassaid aid funding requests would come in stages as more becameknown about the impact of the storm.
Texas Gov.Greg Abbott has said that his state may needmore than $125 billion.
Trump pledges exceeddonations,says report
Trump has pledged $1 million from his own money toward Harvey relief. But the Trump Foundation came under heavy scrutiny during the 2016 presidential campaign when itwas revealed that Trump frequently did not follow through on his charitable promises.
Records show that in the 15 years before his campaign, Trump made $8.5 million in pledges, but paid out about $2.8 million, according to the Washington Post.
The storm, which lingered around the Gulf of Mexico Coastfor days, dumped record amounts of rain in Texas and left devastationacross more than 480 kilometresof the state's coast.
- How Harvey turned Houston's unchecked sprawl into an economic disaster
- Trump asks Congress for $7.85B in Harvey relief funds
As water receded, many returned to survey the damage andleft hundreds of thousands wondering how they can recover.
'We never had water here'
In Orange, Texas, about 200 kilometreseast of Houston,Sam Dougharty, 36, returned on Friday where waist-highwaterremained inhis backyard and barn.
His family's house smelled like raw sewage and was stillflooded to the ankles. A calf and a heifer from their herd of 15were dead. The chickens were sagging on the top two roosts oftheir coop.
"We never had water here. This is family land. My aunt'sowned it for 40 years and never had water here," he said.
Harvey came on the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina,which killed about 1,800 around New Orleans. Then U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush's administration was roundly criticized for itsbotched early response to the storm.
Hundreds of thousands apply for disaster relief
In the Harris County area of Clear Creek, the nearly 127 centimetres of rain that fell there equated to a once-in-a-40,000-year event, Jeff Lindner, meteorologist with the HarrisCounty Flood Control District, said.
- Houston tries to safeguard some areas by flooding others
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Some 440,000 Texans have already applied for federalfinancial disaster assistance, and some $79 million has beenapproved so far, Abbott said.
The storm shut about a fourth of U.S. refinery capacity,much of which is clustered along the Gulf Coast, and causedgasoline prices to spike to a two-year high ahead of the longLabour Day holiday weekend.
The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline hasrisen more than 17.5 cents since the storm struck, hitting $2.59as of Saturday morning, motorists group AAA said.
With files from The Associated Press
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