Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) mentioned Sunday the “actual story” of the lethal flooding in Texas is the “heroism of those that confirmed up” to assist, versus who could be responsible.
“I feel the actual story shouldn’t be all of the finger-pointing that the media needs to level to. It is the heroism of those that confirmed up like Ian there with the Coast Guard, who I used to be standing subsequent to after we met with the president, speaking about his emotions as a dad,” Roy told anchor Shannon Bream on “Fox Information Sunday.”
“There was one other younger man within the Coast Guard speaking about how he retains Jolly Ranchers in his pocket, and he was handing Jolly Ranchers to the little women that had been on the helicopter with him,” he added. “It is the heroism of all the first responders in Kerrville.”
Roy added later that as you drive into Kerrville, Texas, which was on the middle of the flooding, there’s a big cross on a hill.
“And in the event you ask me what the story of this entire tragedy is, it is the cross. And it is the facility of the cross,” he mentioned.
No less than 129 folks had been killed in flooding that started on July 4 alongside the Guadalupe River in central Texas, with about 170 folks nonetheless lacking as search operations stretch right into a second week.
Federal, state and native officers have confronted questions on why early warning techniques weren’t put in in identified flood zones, and why a summer time camp was allowed to broaden in a harmful flood plain.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem has denied reports that federal support to Texas was delayed because of a brand new rule requiring her sign-off on all Federal Emergency Administration Company (FEMA) grants or contracts price greater than $100,000.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) used a soccer analogy to criticize these looking for to assign blame for the tragedy, drawing criticism from Democrats.
“Each soccer crew makes errors,” Abbott mentioned. “The dropping groups are those that attempt to level out who’s responsible. The championship groups are those that say ‘Don’t fear about it, man. We obtained this. We’re going to guarantee that we go rating once more after which we’re going to win this recreation.’”
President Trump and first girl Melania Trump went to the Texas Hill Nation earlier this week.
“I’ve been to lots of hurricanes and tornadoes and I’ve by no means seen something like this,” President Trump mentioned at a roundtable that includes native, state and federal officers after touring the world.
Trump has also commended Noem over the federal response to the Texas floods, whereas the administration has changed its tune on terminating FEMA totally after the catastrophe.
Noem mentioned Sunday her division was on the bottom in Texas virtually instantly after the flooding started.
“Inside simply an hour or two after the flooding, we had sources from the Division of Homeland Safety there, serving to these people in Texas,” she mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“It was a heartbreaking scene. And I feel it’s been effectively coated about what the Coast Guard did, how they had been deployed instantly and helped rescue so many people from these floodwaters.”