'I've never seen anything like this': President Trump says in visit to flood-ravaged Texas

 President Donald Trump showered praise on the recovery efforts in Central Texas and pledged the federal government's full support as he visited the state Friday a week after devastating floods ripped through communities.

Trump said his administration is doing "everything in its power to help Texas" after last weekend's July 4 floods killed at least 120 people while the search continues for 160 others still missing.

"This is a tough one," Trump said during his July 11 trip, kicking off a 47-minute discussion in Kerrville, Texas, with local, state and federal officials. "It’s hard to believe the devastation. Trees that are 100 years old just ripped out of the ground. I've never seen anything like this, and I've seen a lot of bad ones."

Trump said he met with parents who lost children in the flood. "Nobody has any idea how and why a thing like this could happen," he said as he remembered the "young angels" who died while staying at the girls' camp, Camp Mystic.

'Americans' hearts are shattered,' Trump tells community

The president's visit to Texas sought to blunt criticism from Democrats who have alleged the president's cuts to the National Weather Service might have slowed the agency's weather forecasts and flood alerts getting to residents on the morning of July 4, as heavy rain pushed floodwaters from the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Trump said the federal government has deployed more than 400 first responders and enabled 1,500 rescues during the flood.

"The people here ‒ first responders, the sheriff's office, all of the police, law enforcement, they've done an unbelievable job," Trump said.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump surveyed damage near the Guadalupe River in Kerrville that included an overturned tractor, several downed trees and plastic debris as the president received a briefing from Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott and local officials.

Wearing a white "USA" cap, Trump nodded his head as he listened to officials. Along the way to the site, residents standing in front of strips malls and at intersections waved as Trump's motorcade rolled by.

"All across the country, Americans' hearts are shattered," Trump said. "All the beautiful souls. We're filled with grief and devastation at the loss of life. And unfortunately, they're still looking. There's a lot of missing children."

Melania Trump offered her "deepest sympathies" to everyone who lost loved ones. "We are grieving with you. Our nation is grieving with you," she said, pointing to a bracelet she received from the camp in honor of the girl campers who died. "I will be back. I promise."

Trump has avoided playing the blame game in response to the flood disaster in Texas, taking a drastically different approach in the Republican-led state compared to Los Angeles' wildfires in January, which he pinned largely on Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump last year accused then-President Joe Biden of being slow to respond to Hurricane Helene's devastation in North Carolina.