Hurricane Harvey: Trump Plans Stop In Austin To Survey Flooding Damage

AUSTIN, TX — Donald Trump is scheduled to make a stop in Austin during a trip to survey the effects of Tropical Storm Harvey on Tuesday, according to reports.

Trump and his wife are expected to arrive in Corpus Christi by 11:25 a.m., where he will be briefed on relief efforts, according to the White House. While there, the president will visit a fire station, the White House added,

Trump will depart Corpus Christi at 1:30 p.m. for Austin, with an expected arrival of 2:25 p.m. In the capital city, he is scheduled to tour the Department of Public Safety's Emergency Operations Center. The president and First Lady Melania Trump then will depart at 4:20 p.m. back for Washington, D.C.

At a Monday press conference highlighting a visit by a Finland head of state, Trump said he expects to approve federal funding requests for recovery in short order. “We think that Congress will feel very much the way I feel, in a very bipartisan way. That will be nice,” he said. “I think you’ll be up and running very, very quickly, really very quickly. So yeah, I think you’re going to be in fantastic shape.”

Also See: Some Of The Many Ways You Can Help Harvey Victims

Disaster authorities differed on the assessment that Texas will be "...up and running very, very quickly, really very quickly." Some houses in Houston and other coastal regions hit are expected to be inundated with water for at least two months, and recovery from the catastrophic flooding—now being labeled as an 800-year flood.

Time lapse images released by the Weather Channel showing before-and-after images of key points in Houston attest to the devastation. The startling images also contradict the notion that Houston will be "...up and running very, very quickly, really very quickly," as Trump suggested.

Scenes from Spring, Texas, also contradict predictions of a quick recovery.

In making his trip, Trump also won't be visiting the areas hardest hit by Hurricane Harvey, which spurred unprecedented flooding in cities across the Texas Gulf Coast. In earlier comments, he suggested he didn't want his presence to cause a "disruption" amid recovery efforts in the hardest-hit areas of Texas. Trump has suggested he might make a return trip to Texas on Saturday, although details of that itinerary haven't been developed.

>>> Photo by Gage Skidmore