Live: Trump visits Texas after deadly flash floods, FEMA in focus
US President Donald Trump travels to site of Texas flash floods
At least 120 died, more missing after Guadalupe River rose
US cuts to weather service, FEMA raise questions
Trump speaks to officials and press around 2 p.m. ET (1800 GMT)
Read our full roundup here
21 minutes ago
10:39 EDT
A vehicle rides through a flooded road in Hunt, Texas, July 6, 2025. REUTERS/Marco Bello
'It's a horrible thing'
10:31 EDT
Nandita Bose and Doina Chiacu
Trump speaks to reporters as he departs for Texas, Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
"It's a horrible thing, a horrible thing," Trump said as he left the White House. "Nobody can even believe such a thing - that much water that fast."
34 minutes ago
10:26 EDT
Nicole Jeanine Johnson
Trump and first lady Melania board Air Force One to head to Texas, U.S., July 11, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
U.S. President Donald Trump is heading to central Texas on Friday to survey damage from the July 4 flash flood that killed at least 120 people and left dozens more missing.
His visit comes amid intense focus on the government response a week after the storm.
Thousands of first responders continue to comb through muddy debris, with hopes diminished of finding additional survivors.
Torrential rains sent a wall of water raging down the Guadalupe River in the predawn hours of the U.S. Independence Day holiday. The disaster is the deadliest of the Republican president's nearly six-month term in office.
Trump is expected to speak with family members of the victims and emergency responders. He will also receive a briefing from local elected officials and see sites in Kerr County, the center of the damage.
Local and federal officials have faced scrutiny for their response, including questions about whether they could have done more to warn people of the rising floodwaters.
The county declined to install an early-warning system years ago after failing to secure state grant money to cover the cost. Officials have said their current focus is on rescue and recovery.
The Trump administration has supported the disaster response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, sending funds for disaster recovery, temporary housing and property losses.
Trump has largely sidestepped questions about his prior plans to shrink or abolish the agency and for its key functions to be carried out by state and local government.
"I'll tell you some other time," Trump said on Tuesday, when asked by a reporter about FEMA.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Mom and her four American-born children detained after visiting Canadian border: ‘What authoritarianism looks like'
Four American-born siblings and their mother have been held inside a border patrol facility for more than two weeks after her arrest by federal law enforcement agents near the U.S.-Canada border. Kenia Jackeline Merlos, her nine-year-old triplets and seven-year-old son, were visiting her sister at Peace Arch State Park in Washington state on June 28 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents took them into custody. Merlos' mother, who joined the family on the trip, was also detained, but it remains unclear where she is being held. The Department of Homeland Security accused Merlos of 'attempting to smuggle illegal aliens' into the country, according to a statement. Merlos had requested that her children stay with her during her detention, the agency said. Merlos' husband Carlos was detained several days later outside the family's home in Portland, Oregon. He is currently being held inside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement processing center in Tacoma, Washington. The couple's immigration status is unclear. 'What began as a simple family trip to Peace Arch Park — a place Jackie had safely visited in the past to visit family in Canada — has turned into a devastating immigration nightmare,' according to a statement from family friends helping raise money for the family's legal defense. Merlos' sister, a legal resident of Canada, had stepped across the boundary while saying goodbye, 'which triggered this unfounded accusation,' they said. The family's arrest and detention has alarmed legal advocates and members of Congress who are pressing Donald Trump's administration for their swift release from custody. Customs and Border Protection policy largely prohibits holding people in custody for more than 72 hours. 'Every effort must be made to hold detainees for the least amount of time required for their processing, transfer, release, or repatriation as appropriate and as operationally feasible,' according to CPB guidelines. 'Trump said he would go after 'the worst of the worst.' Instead, his immigration machine is abducting Oregonians without cause — including four U.S. citizen children in my district,' said Democratic Rep. Maxine Dexter, who accused CBP of misleading her office about the family's location. The congresswoman confirmed that Merlos, who is originally from Honduras, and her children were being held inside a detention center near Ferndale, Washington, during a visit to the facility last week. She was not able to speak with the family but did enter the facility and see them. 'It is wholly unprecedented for CBP to detain any individual for weeks without cause — let alone four U.S. citizens,' Dexter said in a statement. 'This is what authoritarianism looks like. Citizen children abducted. Community members disappeared. If we allow this to become normal, we surrender who we are. We cannot look away. We cannot back down.' Merlos has not been charged with a crime. Federal immigration authorities have not provided any documents to support allegations against her, according to attorney Jill Nedved. Family friend Mimi Lettunich, who is also a godparent to her youngest child, said Merlos sent her a text message after she was brought into custody. 'Mimi, I've been detained,' the message said, Lettunich told Oregon Public Broadcasting. 'I've known them about 20 years,' Lettunich said. 'They're wonderful people.' The Merlos family is 'the kind of people we want in our community,' Dexter said in a statement on social media. 'Kind, hardworking, small business owners, and devoted to their neighbors. The kind of people we are proud to call ours.' Over the last two weeks, the family has been held 'in a windowless cell, without access to legal counsel,' according to Dexter. 'Treated not as citizens, not as children, but as threats.' tens of billions of dollars over the next decade to expand detention center capacity and hire more immigration officers.
The Independent
37 minutes ago
- The Independent
Cuomo staying in NYC mayor's race as independent after losing Democratic primary to Mamdani
News Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says he will campaign for mayor of New York City as an independent candidate, staying in a crowded field running against surging left-wing Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani
NBC News
an hour ago
- NBC News
E.U. tariffs set to raise pasta and wine prices, threatening jobs on both sides of the Atlantic
Europe is sounding the alarm: Tariffs could soon be hitting wallets of people in the United States. The 30% tariffs on European Union imports, announced by President Donald Trump on Saturday, could be a 'death blow' to the European food industry and lead to price hikes for American consumers, the Italian winemakers association UIV said. 'The 30% tariff on wine … would be virtually an embargo on 80% of Italian wine,' the group added, according to a translated statement. Coldiretti, an association that represents European agricultural companies, said American consumers would likely face shortages or see price hikes for imported wine, cheese and pastas. And German industry association BDI called the escalation 'incomprehensible,' warning that it threatened jobs and investment worldwide. Germany is the top E.U. exporter to the U.S. Cars and other vehicles produced in the E.U. could also face increased prices. "The costs for our companies have already reached the billions—and with each passing day, the total continues to grow," the German auto trade group VDA told NBC News in a statement Monday. Those statements come after Trump sent a letter to the E.U. (and a separate one to Mexico) on Saturday threatening a blanket 30% tariff on goods shipped to the U.S. starting Aug. 1, an indication that ongoing trade negotiations have failed. After initially backing down from his 'Liberation Day' tariffs and promising trade deals with dozens of countries, Trump has steadily returned to his trade war posture, sending letters to countries around the world with ultimatums and tariff rates from 20% to 40%. President Emmanuel Macron of France, a key source of U.S. food and wine exports, said Saturday he strongly disapproved of the 30% tariff and urged the E.U. to speed up 'the preparation of credible countermeasures.' He said trading partners such as the U.S. and Europe 'owe each other' respect. In 2024, the U.S. was the top destination for E.U. exports. The top exported products from the E.U. to the U.S. last year were medical and pharmaceutical products, medicines, motor vehicles and machinery, according to Eurostat. Trump has threatened sector-specific tariffs on pharmaceutical products, although it's not clear when those might be unveiled. Ireland's deputy prime minister and foreign minister Simon Harris, one of the first E.U. leaders to react to Trump's Saturday letter, said 'there is no necessity to escalate the situation.' Harris said he planned to meet with the U.S. ambassador to Ireland on Monday to discuss the situation. Ireland is the top source of U.S. pharma imports from the E.U., and serves as the European headquarters of Apple, Google, Microsoft and Meta. Speaking in Brussels on Monday after a meeting of E.U. trade ministers, the European Commission's top trade negotiator, Maros Šefčovič, said the 30% tariff 'is absolutely unacceptable. That is the level which is absolutely prohibitive to any trade.' Last year, the total value of E.U.-U.S. trade amounted to nearly $2 trillion. Some are still expressing hope for a deal. 'The clear impression was that we were very, very close in agreement in principle,' Denmark's foreign minister said Monday after the trade ministers meeting. 'Unfortunately, it wasn't possible due to this presidential letter, but it is still our major vision that we should reach an agreement, but we also want to send signal that it must be a fair deal for everybody.' For its part, the E.U. has delayed any countermeasures — or retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. — but it currently has more than $100 billion of retaliatory tariffs on standby. Some of that retaliation targets goods and produce from politically sensitive U.S. states, such as soybeans from House Speaker Mike Johnson's home state of Louisiana or bourbon from Kentucky. Other retaliatory tariffs could target Boeing planes and U.S.-built vehicles. The American Chamber of Commerce in the E.U. said it was 'concerned' about the tariffs that it said would 'generate damaging ripple effects across all sectors of the EU and US economies.' The group added that 'tariffs disrupt supply chains and add costs and complexity for businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.' Despite the major escalation, Šefčovič said that he planned to speak with his American counterparts, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on Monday to keep negotiations going.
