Uproar over newspaper's 'disgusting' cartoon mocking Texas flood victims as Trump supporters
The cartoon was created by Adam Zyglis, and is titled 'Swept Away.'
In the image, a man in a MAGA hat holds a 'HELP' sign, and is illustrated drowning in the flood waters.
A road sign that reads ' Texas - Kerr County' floats in the water nearby alongside a car, a house, and multiple trees.
The cartoon is accompanied by a speech bubble, which reads, 'Gov't is the problem, not the solution.'
The artwork has quickly circulated online, and the paper received intense scrutiny for publishing the shocking image.
Michael Kracker, the Chairman of the Erie County Republican Committee, shared the image on his official X account, writing, '@TheBuffaloNews ran a cartoon mocking Texas families who lost loved ones in a tragedy, just because they might've voted Republican.
'Twisted, vile, and shameful. They owe those families an apology and should pull this filth immediately.'
Many flocked to the comments in agreement, with one writing, 'This is disgusting.'
'This is absolutely unacceptable & heartless too !!' another wrote.
'Evil! So much for being a representative of the city of good neighbors peddling such a vile idea!!
'@TheBuffaloNews should not only issue an apology immediately but should issue a check in support of the victims families…' another wrote.
'You don't bring politics into innocent child's deaths. It repulsive,' said a third.
However, some resonated with the cartoonist's message.
Daily Mail reached out to The Buffalo News and Zyglis for comment on the backlash to the cartoon.
The devastating floods ravaged Kerr County, Texas over the July 4 holiday, launching a massive multi-agency search and rescue mission to recover remains and survivors.
As of Wednesday evening, at least 119 people were killed in the travesty and 150 people remain unaccounted-for.
Many of the victims were children, including at least 27 campers who were attending Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp right in the path of the floods.
The cabins alongside the Guadalupe River, where many of the youngest campers under the age of 10 were staying, took the brunt of the devastation.
As the massive operation continues to recover those who remain missing, authorities are forced to reckon with why evacuation measures didn't save more lives.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning for the area just after 1 am, but authorities didn't notify residents until hours later.
Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly had claimed after the tragedy that officials 'didn't know this flood was coming.'
'This is the most dangerous river valley in the United States, and we deal with floods on a regular basis – when it rains, we get water.'
'We had no reason to believe this was going to be anything like what has happened here, none whatsoever.'
At a Wednesday morning news briefing, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha said authorities were focused on finding the missing individuals and not investigating the timeline of the flash flood warnings.
'We're not running, we're not going to hide from everything. That's going to be checked into at a later time. I wish I could tell you that time.'
Governor Greg Abbott also pushed aside questions for who was to blame for the mounting death toll, telling reporters on Tuesday, 'Every football team makes mistakes.'
'The losing teams are the ones that try to point out who's to blame. The championship teams are the ones who say, "Don't worry about it, man.
'We got this. We're going to make sure that we go score again and we're going to win this game."'
The governor added that the Texas legislature would meet for a special session to investigate the emergency response to the flooding.
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