Trump congratulates Texas recovery workers

President Trump congratulated those assisting in Harvey recovery efforts at a distribution center in Pearland, Texas, on Saturday after meeting with storm victims. 

“I want to congratulate the governor, I want to congratulate everyone who has worked so hard. It’s been an incredible five days, six days,” Trump said alongside Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R), Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and first lady Melania Trump. 

“It seems like it’s been much longer than that, but actually it’s going so well that it’s going fast,” he continued. 

{mosads}

Trump went on to congratulate the crowd on having a National Prayer Day on Sunday, noting to Cruz, “I don’t think they’ve done that for a while in our country, but now we’ve done it.” 

“The waters disappearing and we do, we have a long way to go,” he said, adding, “You have a lot of hardworking people.”

Trump’s congratulatory comments came days after he praised recovery efforts during his first trip to Texas in the aftermath of the storm but said it was too early to offer congratulations. 

“We want to be looked at in five years, in 10 years from now as, this is the way to do it. This [storm] was of epic proportion. Nobody’s ever seen anything like this and I just want to say that working with the governor and his entire team has been an honor for us,” Trump said Tuesday in Corpus Christie.

“We won’t say congratulations. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want to congratulate. We’ll congratulate each other when it’s all finished, but you have been terrific,” the president had said. 

Trump’s comments come as the death toll from Harvey continues to climb, with at least 47 fatalities across eight counties confirmed as of Saturday.

Volunteers and first responders are continuing to search for missing people, as the the flooding just begins to recede. 

The storm dumped more than 50 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service.

The president’s visit on Saturday appeared to be much more hands-on compared to his visit on Tuesday.

Trump handed out food and played with children at a center that provides temporary shelter to evacuees. 

The president’s Tuesday visit to Texas was met with criticism after he praised the size of a crowd of people that had gathered to see him. 

Trump is set to visit flood stricken areas of Louisiana after his visit in Texas.