President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for saving 16,000 people during Hurricane Harvey, but he then confounded officials when he said the high number of recoveries was because people got in their boats to watch the storm roll in.
The remarks came as Trump was on a conference call with state and federal leaders to talk about preparedness for the 2018 hurricane season during a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday.
He thanked the Coast Guard for its service and said it doesn’t “get enough credit,” the Houston Chronicle reported.
His next comment left officials on the call confused.
President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for saving 16,000 people during Hurricane Harvey, but he then confounded officials when he said the high number of recoveries was because people got in their boats to watch the storm roll in
A Sheriff Department boat rescues people after Hurricane Harvey caused heavy flooding in Houston, Texas in August 2017
Boat rescue traffic on the flooded Jimmy Johnson Road in Port Arthur, Texas, on Aug. 30, 2017
“Sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane,” Trump said. “That didn’t work out too well.”
It was also at FEMA on Wednesday where Trump also ditched the talk of storm preparation and, instead, bragged about his popularity, proclaimed his love of coal, shared his optimism about the upcomingNorth Korea summit, and boasted of the billions he saved on the cost of replacing Air Force One.
Texas officials on the call were not pleased with the president’s characterization of the Coast Guard rescue efforts, the paper reported.
Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez credited civilians for making an “extraordinary effort” with their own boats to rescue neighbors, relatives and pets in the storm.
“I didn’t see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments,” Gonzalez told the newspaper. “I’ll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches,” he added.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had “no information one way or another about that” on what the president meant.
Hurricane Harvey flooded the Texas coast with 52 inches of rain last year.
The record rain fall led to law enforcement putting out the call for help.
The Houston Police Department tweeted a plea asking anyone with a boat to volunteer.
Some Texans went out on kayaks and canoes to rescue others. There were even some died in the flood waters while trying to rescue their neighbors.
The Coast Guard rescued about 11,000 people and nearly 1,400 pets during Hurricane Harvey, it said last year, calling its response “one of the largest our organization has seen in decades.”
People use boats to help bring items out of homes in September 2017.
Volunteers in boats rescue people and their pets from their homes near interstate 45 in Houston, Texas on August 29, 2017
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center predicts the 2018 hurricane season brings a 70 percent chance for as many as 10 to 16 tropical storms to develop. Five to nine of those could grow into hurricanes, a few of which could reach Category 3 status.
Hurricane Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 storm.
Hurricane season began June 1 and goes through Nov. 30.