Multiple parts of Central Texas, including Kerr County, were shocked by flash floods Friday when the Guadalupe River and others rose rapidly.

During Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, Trump did not mention those plans and instead praised the federal flooding response. Turning to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, whose department oversees FEMA, he said, “You had people there as fast as anybody’s ever seen.”

At least 120 people have been found dead since heavy rainfall overwhelmed the river and flowed through homes and youth camps in the early morning hours of July 4. Ninety-six of those killed were in the hardest-hit county in central Texas, Kerr County, where the toll includes at least 36 children.

Weather warnings predicted devastation from both the Texas floods and Hurricane Helene. But in both disasters, people were left in harm’s way.

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

A Kerrville-area river authority executed a contract for a flood warning system that would have been used to help with emergency response, local officials said.

Historic Texas flood leaves 161 missing and 96 dead. Rescuers battle harsh conditions, as communities grapple with heartache and aid reaches survivors.