President Trump and first lady Melania Trump are touring flood-ravaged Kerr County, pledging Texas relief.
KERRVILLE, Texas — President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump are touring the damage zone in Kerr County after devastating floods ravaged the area on July Fourth.
Air Force One arrived at Kelly Field at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland just past noon Friday. The president and his traveling party then boarded Marine One to head to Kerr County. Additional Osprey aircraft accompanied the tour with support staff and journalists.
The president has pledged to provide whatever relief Texas needs to recover. He was scheduled to take an aerial tour of the hardest-hit areas of Kerr County, including Kerrville, Ingram and Hunt, early Friday afternoon.
The president held a roundtable just before 3 p.m. with local officials and first responders following his tour of the devastation.
“It’s hard to believe the devastation, trees that are 100 years old just ripped out of the ground. I’ve been to hurricanes, tornadoes, this is a bad one,” Trump said.
It was clear the president was stunned by the devastation and the stories he heard from the people he met.
“The Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. This is like a giant wave in the Pacific Ocean that most surfers would be afraid to surf,” Trump said. “I have never seen anything like it…a little narrow river that becomes like a monster. But that is what happened.”
Both the president and first lady spoke about Camp Mystic, the riverside girls camp where 27 girls have been confirmed killed in the flood.
“A lot of lives lost, a lot of angels…at the girls Christian summer camp, Camp Mystic…a legendary camp that people want to come to from all over the country,” Trump said.
“I met beautiful young ladies. They gave me this special bracelet from the camp in honor of all of the little girls that lost their lives,” Melania Trump said. “We are here to honor them and give support and help. I will be back, I promise them. I just pray for them and give them my strength.”
Take a look at full roundtable below:
The Trump administration has been criticized for pledging to shutter the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and return disaster response to the states.
But since the July 4 disaster, which has killed at least 120 people, the president and his top aides have focused on the once-in-a-lifetime nature of what occurred and the human tragedy involved rather than the government-slashing that’s been popular with Trump’s core supporters.
“Nobody ever saw a thing like this coming,” Trump told NBC News on Thursday, adding: ”This is a once-in-every-200-year deal.” He’s also suggested he’d have been ready to visit Texas within hours but didn’t want to burden authorities still searching for the numerous people still missing.
Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.