President Donald Trump on Saturday thanked "all of the volunteers helping with Hurricane Harvey," which has claimed one life and has so far dumped as much as 14 inches of rain on Texas since making landfall late Friday.
Trump took to Twitter:
He also tweeted earlier that he was monitoring the storm from Camp David:
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence met with Cabinet and top administration officials later Saturday at Camp David on the federal response to Harvey, with the president instructing agencies to prioritize saving lives, the White House said.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Saturday issued a disaster declaration for 50 of the Lone Star State's 254 counties — and officials said that at least one person has died as a result of Hurricane Harvey.
Abbott said that the heavy rainfall coming from Harvey over the next several days would result in "catastrophic, life-threatening" flooding.
"I have issued a disaster declaration that originally included 30 counties," Abbott said in Austin. "This is a state disaster declaration, and we have now added 20 more counties for a total of 50 counties.
Harvey is forecasted to dump as much as 40 inches of rain on the region over the next several days.
Trump declared a major disaster declaration for Texas on Friday — and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price issued a public health emergency declaration for the state on Saturday.
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