Trump on Harvey: ‘Never been something so expensive in our country’s history’

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President Trump said Tuesday that the damage and destruction brought about by Tropical Storm Harvey will be the costliest natural disaster the United States has ever faced.

“Probably there has never been anything so expensive in our country’s history, we’ve never done anything so historic in terms of damage and in terms of ferocity as what we’ve witnessed with Harvey,” Trump said during a meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott and other Texas officials.

“This is long term. Nobody has ever seen anything this long and nobody has ever seen this much water. The wind was pretty horrific,” Trump added, noting that the name Harvey sounds “like such an innocent name … but it’s not innocent.” 

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The storm has displaced thousands of people as water continues to swell in the streets of Houston and other parts of southeastern Texas.

It is unclear how steep the bill will be for Harvey, which made landfall Friday as a Category 4 storm, while rainfall has continued to pound the state.

Risk modeler Chuck Watson, of Enki Research, told Bloomberg News on Tuesday that the estimated cost of Harvey is currently about $42 billion, but the price to make repairs is bound to rise along with the water levels.

Hurricane Katrina, which hit the southeast U.S. coast in 2005, is considered the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history at an estimated cost of $160 billion, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. 

Trump tweeted Sunday that the city is experiencing “historic” rainfall and “unprecedented” floods in the area.

Tags Donald Trump Hurricane Harvey

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