President Trump visits Texas Hill Country, surveys flood damage
A week after a 34-foot flood rushed through the Hill Country, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump visited Kerr County on Friday to survey the damage and attend a roundtable.
He and the first lady looked over the damage and were briefed by first responders alongside Gov. Greg Abbott. Trump participated in a roundtable, draped in a “Texas Strong” table cloth, with first responders, state and federal officials, and members of the community.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Trump said after he viewed the damage.
Trump acknowledged the girls who died at Camp Mystic and the other “wonderful people” who were lost.
“How do you give condolences? How do you do that to a young person that three days ago was here, four days ago was here?” Trump said.
He said that he and the first lady, who asked to join, visited to express the love, support and anguish of the nation.
First Lady Melania Trump also spoke, expressing her sympathy for the parents of the deceased children, the community and everyone who lost a loved one. She said that she hugged, shook hands and prayed with the families of the victims, and was gifted a bracelet by young ladies in honor of Camp Mystic.
“We are grieving with you, our nation is grieving with you,” she said.
Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz and Reps. Dan Crenshaw of Houston and Brandon Gill of Flower Mound, among other officials, were also in attendance. Trump recognized them.
Trump thanked the state and federal officials and the first responders at the scene.
The future of flood warnings
Trump addressed questions from reporters about the warnings before the flood and future prevention.
“I think that everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” he said when asked to respond to families who claim they were not given sufficient warning before the flood. He stated that this is an unprecedented tragedy.
He told the reporter that only a “bad person” would ask a question like that.
Another reporter stated that Trump did “everything right,” but asked what can be done next time to make sure people are alerted, such as an alarm system or a siren system.
Trump responded by saying that they probably have to do something “very unique,” as there is no system currently in place.
“A thing like this has never happened that anybody knows, certainly not to this extent,” Trump said. “But I know the governor and everybody is working on it, they’re meeting, they’ll figure something out.”
Abbott added by saying that they will address every question that the reporter asked during a special legislative session that begins July 21.
“We have to devise a response right for this community, and this community has to weigh in and they need time to be able to convey that to us,” Abbott said. “But we’re going to work on alerts. We’re going to work on every single solution to make sure things like this don’t happen again, not just in this community, but in other river basins across the state also.”
Gov. Abbott says that ‘we remain committed’
Abbott thanked the Trump administration for responding in a swift and coordinated way. He thanked the first responders, legislators and state officials.
He said that he and his administration remains committed to rebuild and find everybody it can.
“We’re going to rebuild this community, from Hunt, to Camp Mystic, to Kerrville down below,” Abbott said. “We are committed for the long run, not just to rebuild, but to rebuild in a better way.”
This story was originally published July 11, 2025 at 11:17 AM.