Hurricane Harvey has been a storm of "epic proportions," but it's not yet time to congratulate anyone for the response that has come to its aftermath, President Donald Trump said Tuesday.
"Nobody's ever seen anything like this," Trump said, while making brief remarks in Corpus Christi, sitting with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, FEMA director Brock Long, first lady Melania Trump, and Small Business Agency administrator Linda McMahon, and several other emergency personnel. "Working with the governor and his entire team has been an honor for us."
However, he continued, "we won't say congratulations, we don't want to do that. We will congratulate each other when it's all finished."
Trump said there has been a "tremendous group of folks" who want to thank Texans for the job they have been doing.
"My folks have been telling me how great your representatives have been in working together," Trump said. "It's a real team. We want to do it better than ever before. We want to be looked at in five years, 10 years from now, as this is the way to do it."
Trump was preceded by Abbott, who said he wanted to talk about what's been going on behind the cameras during the unprecedented disaster.
"It's about 10 days in advance of the hurricane, even coming into the Corpus Christi area, members of the president's Cabinet and the president himself were in contact with me and my office, preparing for this catastrophe that was coming our way," Abbott said.
"Every step of the way as the hurricane came across the shore, as the flooding began in Houston, Texas, the president and his cabinet remained in constant contact with me and my staff and they all had one thing to say, 'Texas, what do you need? How can we help? You can count on us.'"
Abbott said he has learned that Texas can count on Trump and his staff for their assistance.
"Texas has been tested, but our response to this challenge has been made much more effective because of the very effective way the president and his staff have helped Texas respond to this challenge," Abbott said.