Now to bail ’em out
TRUMP PLEDGES $1M OF HIS CASH TO ’CANE VICTIMS
CHARITY DIDN’T begin at home for President Trump — it only started when he reached the White House.
Multibillionaire Trump, after his charitable foundation stiffed the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy, announced a $1 million personal donation Thursday to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.
“He would like to join in the efforts that a lot of people we have seen across the country do,” said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders two days after the President visited waterlogged Texas.
But Trump famously donated not a penny in the wake of Sandy in October 2012, a hurricane that wreaked $50 billion in damage on his hometown of New York and its neighbors.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was even forced to contradict a statement that his pal Trump kicked in cash to a relief fund run by Christie’s wife.
Trump, in fact, did offer a $5 million gift at the time — if President Obama made his passport records public.
After a 2015 review of tax returns from the Donald J. Trump Charitable Foundation, The Smoking Gun website reported New Orleans and other areas gutted by Katrina in 2005 received nothing from the deep-pocketed developer.
And a Daily News probe last year revealed that Trump, who bragged about generous post-9/11 gifts, skipped out on a promised $10,000 donation to a major Sept. 11 charity.
His foundation also gave nothing to the 9/11 nonprofits aiding survivors, rescue workers or the families of first responders killed at Ground Zero, The Smoking Gun reported.
Trump flew down to Texas aboard Air Force One on Tuesday. By Thursday, the numbers were growing grimmer in the Lone Star State: 44 people dead, more than 37,000 homes damaged and another 7,000 destroyed.
All those numbers were expected to rise as floodwaters in Houston and surrounding Harris County began to ebb, giving first responders, homeowners and relatives access to once-submerged streets.
Some 779,000 Texans have been told to leave their homes and another 980,000 fled voluntarily amid dangers of new flooding from swollen rivers and reservoirs, according to Department of Homeland Security acting secretary Elaine Duke.As Trump promised financial aid to what looms as a massive, multibillion-dollar recovery project, Vice President Pence visited the devastated coastal city of Rockport — near where Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane last Friday.
“The American people are with you,” said Pence, standing Thursday outside a church where one side was blown out by the crippling storm.
“We are here today, we will be here tomorrow and we will be here every day until this city and this state and this region rebuild bigger and better than ever before.”
Pence later popped into a Victoria, Tex., distribution center where relief agencies are handing out supplies — cans of tuna fish, Keebler cookies and Annie’s Cheddar Squares.
The most powerful hurricane to hit the area in 50 years continued to cause Texas-size problems Thursday, even as the now-sputtering storm moved into neighboring Louisiana.
A flooded Houston-area chemical plant caught fire after a pair of explosions spewed a 40-foot high flame, sending 15 sheriff’s deputies to a local hospital for treatment of respiratory problems.
State officials descended on the Arkema SA Inc. outlet to monitor the air quality from its thick, black, smoky plume, and the plant’s owners warned more explosions could follow.
Smoke from the chemical plant blaze in Crosby, Tex., was tested for toxicity, and the Environmental Protection Agency said initial testing showed no toxic materials in the air.
A 11/2-mile radius around the plant was nevertheless evacuated. The plant was fined more than $100,000 just six months ago for 10 safety violations found by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
Some 30,000 gallons of crude oil were also spilled when floodwaters toppled a pair of South Texas storage tanks, although it was unclear how much of the oil was contained — if any.
The receding waters were expected to expose more damage to oil industry infrastructure after the storm dumped a record 50-plus inches of rain in parts of the state.
Harvey, though downgraded Thursday to a tropical depression, was still expected to dump up to 10 inches of rain in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky.
With the flooding finally abating, the Houston Fire Department launched a block-by-block scouring of the city to rescue still-stranded citizens and recover any bodies in the water.
More than 200 rescuers, including police officers and volunteers, began pounding on doors and peeking through windows in a sweep that could turn ghastly at
any moment.
“Fire department!” they shouted as the search continued in one neighborhood where the streets were piled with damp furniture, carpeting and wood.
“We don’t think we’re going to find any humans, but we’re prepared if they do,” said Houston Fire Department District Chief James Pennington.
The searchers used GPS devices to log the inspected homes, a move aimed at keeping looters out. Thieves in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina targeted houses marked “X” once they were checked.
Authorities said 10,000 stranded people were already saved since Harvey made landfall last Friday night. Another 32,000 were forced into shelters by the massive flooding.
For some who returned to their homes, their worst fears were confirmed. Anita Williams, 52, came back to a Houston shelter after heading out to examine her one-story residence.
“It’s not my house anymore,” said Williams as her voice cracked. “My deep freezer was in my living room.”
Houston officials announced the opening of schools was put off until Sept. 11, two weeks after the scheduled start date. The district’s 216,000 students were slated to start classes last Monday.
The coastal towns of Port Arthur and Beaumont, inundated Wednesday when Harvey plowed back into the coastline after hovering over the Gulf of Mexico, were still reeling a day later.
Jessica Richard, 24, spent six days waiting out the storm inside her Port Arthur home. She waded out into a street waist-high with water Thursday, and climbed inside a passing pickup truck.
“All my family is safe, even though there were a few close calls,” she said.
Her nephew, along with some other relatives, survived one night inside a flooded apartment infested by snakes in the water and spiders on the walls, she said.
Damage to the main pumping station in Beaumont shut down the water supply for its 120,000 residents, with doctors and nurses moving 190 patients from the city hospital once the water went out.
“Everybody goes,” said Baptist Beaumont Hospital cardiologist Dr. Chima Nwaukwa, hopeful the worst of the rain was over. “Things can get worse from here, definitely worse from here, if we get more rain.”
As the hospital shuttered its doors, heart patient J.D. Clark arrived seeking medicine and water — both in short supply at his apartment.
“We’re trying to get up out of here,” said his wife, Regina Blackburn. “I’m trying to call for a hotel, but they won’t answer. We’re leaving. We’re getting out of Beaumont.”
Most roads in and out of Port Arthur remained flooded out, and a local bowling alley was serving as the main shelter.