Melania to the rescue!
First Lady is mocked over outfits as she flies to floods
MELANIA Trump was mocked yesterday after flying to the Texas flood zone wearing snakeskin stiletto heels and aviator sunglasses.
The ex-model and First Lady is rarely seen without heels at least 4in high, but she drew immediate criticism on social media over their inappropriateness.
It was not clear whether the Trump entourage was aware of the derision before stepping off the plane in the stormbattered city of Corpus Christi, Texas.
Mrs Trump had by then changed into white tennis shoes. But on Twitter she had already been dubbed ‘Disaster Barbie’.
She joined Donald Trump on the Air Force One flight to Texas to see the damage caused by Tropical Storm Harvey – the biggest natural disaster of his presidency.
The slow-moving storm has brought record rains and catastrophic flooding to the state, killing at least ten and prompting mass evacuations. Rescue calls have so overwhelmed emergency services that they have had little time to search for bodies. Officials say fatalities could soar once the floodwaters recede.
Houston, the fourth most populous US city, was largely submerged and some 30,000 are expected to be left homeless.
Officials who had previously urged residents to stay in their homes told them to evacuate yesterday, as water was released from nearby reservoirs to alleviate the pressure on two important dams.
Mr Trump was anxious to demonstrate a personal commitment to the crisis-hit region, mindful of the criticism his Republican predecessor George W Bush faced over a hands-off approach to Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The President pressured aides to fit in a visit, during which he met disaster response officials, as early as possible. He also planned a stop in state capital Austin but did not try to visit Houston, home to 6.6million people, as it is considered impassable. A White House spokesman said: ‘The President wants to be very cautious about making sure any activity doesn’t disrupt the recovery efforts.’
The visit came five days after Harvey made landfall as a 130mph hurricane which has dumped up to 4ft of water on some areas.
Tens of thousands of residents were forced to flee to higher ground, climb on to their roofs, or rely on a flotilla of boats working to save them. Many pleaded for help on social media as emergency hotlines have been overwhelmed.
Some 450,000 are expected to seek federal aid. Experts estimate the storm could cause up to £31billion ($40billion) worth of damage.
Texas governor Greg Abbott called it ‘one of the largest disasters America has ever faced’. The American Red Cross said more than 17,000 people are being housed in shelters. In Houston alone, some 3,500 have so far been rescued, with police, firemen and the National Guard continuing to try to locate those still trapped. A man drowned on Monday night trying to swim across a flooded road, and a woman was killed when a tree fell on her trailer. A woman from Houston said she presumes six of her relatives died after their van sank when it was swept off a bridge.
Houston mayor Sylvester Turner said: ‘This is a storm of historic proportions.’ Harvey has broken the record for total rainfall by a tropical system on the continental US, America’s National Weather Service said, with more than 49in.
Harvey was expected to hit Louisiana today, a day after the 12th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
‘One of the largest disasters we’ve faced’