Trump: Drought-stricken Dakotas ‘better off’ than Harvey flood victims

President Trump said the drought-stricken Dakotas are “better off” than cities flooded by Hurricane Harvey last month, and that his administration will make the drought “go away.”

“I know you have a little bit of a drought. They had the opposite, believe me,” Trump said during a tax reform speech in Mandan, N.D.

“You’re better off. You are better off, they had the absolute opposite.”

Trump also said he was surprised that droughts could happen “this far north.”

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“We’re doing everything we can but you have a very serious drought. I just said to the governor, I didn’t know you had droughts this far north. Guess what — you have them,” he said.

“We’re working hard on it, and it will disappear, it will all go away.”

Hurricane Harvey dropped more than 50 inches of rain in some parts of Texas and Louisiana in late August, breaking the record for rainfall from a tropical storm or hurricane.

Parts of the high plains, meanwhile, are suffering through a protracted drought. A federal drought monitor report issued last week said there were “long-term precipitation deficits” in parts of the Dakotas, Nebraska and Montana, where 41 percent of the state’s pasture and range conditions are rated “very poor.”

Trump said his Agriculture Department has been working closely with states in the region to alleviate the impact of the drought on farmers and ranchers.

“We will always stand strong with our farmers and our ranchers, the backbone of America, that I can tell you 100 percent,” he said.