Remarks at a Briefing on Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts in Dallas, Texas

The President. Well, thank you very much, everyone. We've had a tremendous success in the State of Texas. And the Governor and Lieutenant Governor—I'll tell you, Governor, you've done a fantastic job, and I appreciate it. And the people of Texas appreciate it. Actually, the people of the country really appreciate it. So I want to thank you very much. And maybe I'd ask you to say a few words to our friends in press.

Governor Gregory W. Abbott of Texas. I'd be honored to. Well, Mr. President, once again we thank the President for being here in Texas once again. He continues to show his commitment to helping Texans respond to the disaster of Hurricane Harvey and the flooding event. He has seen firsthand the challenges that Texans face.

Through his multiple trips to Texas, he has seen homes that were destroyed, businesses that were destroyed. He's seen the needs that we have. And so the ongoing commitment that he has to ensure that Texans are going to be able to respond and rebuild is essential not just to Texas, but also vital to the United States of America, because of the powerful engine for the American economy that Texas provides.

Mr. President, I applaud you for constantly working with me and the people of the State of Texas to make sure that we recover. Thank you very much.

The President. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Very nice.

Dan, would you like to say something?

Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick of Texas. The response from this administration, dealing with this storm, has far exceeded any previous administration in response to these storms. We have a lot of counties that have suffered hurricanes before, and when I talk to those county judges and those mayors, they say that FEMA has responded in a way they've never seen: faster, with more help. And it's because you were on the ground on day 1, and you looked at it and said, we have to fix this, let's take care of it. And the Governor has done a fabulous job.

We have a long way to go and a lot of people to get back in their homes. We are—it's the biggest storm in the history of America and the biggest recovery effort and the best recovery effort by the Federal Government.

The President. And by far—thank you. And by far, the most water.

Lt. Gov. Patrick. And by far, the most water.

The President. There was never a water drop like this one. There's no question.

Gov. Abbott. Right.

The President. The FEMA folks have been so incredible.

Would you like to say something to the press?

Federal Emergency Management Agency Region 6 Regional Administrator Tony Robinson. Sure. It's just a great team effort. So from the administration and your efforts, to the governor and his team of our State and Federal counterparts working hand-in-hand, working with citizens—in the early days, it was neighbor helping neighbor—— Lt. Gov. Patrick. Right.

Mr. Robinson. ——that helped the rescue, and it's going to continue to do that through the long road of recovery.

National Incident Management Assistance Team West Team Lead Kevin L. Hannes. Mr. President, again, thank you. I think our ability to tailor the programs to meet the survivors' needs, rather than them having to meet into the bureaucracy, the flexibility that the administration gave to us, along with the Governor, to do that has made this the success that it is so far. And we'll keep that going forward.

The President. Well, I'll tell you, the military was so great. And the Coast Guard, I mean, I'm hearing numbers of 16,000 people saved by the Coast Guard.

Lt. Gov. Patrick. Our first responders were——

The President. Amazing. All first responders.

Lt. Gov. Patrick. Our—they worked for 4 and 4 days, Mr. President, without any sleep. And many of them, their homes had flooded. So while their homes were flooding, they were helping others. We had our own Dunkirk of our flotilla——

The President. You did.

Lt. Gov. Patrick. ——of volunteers bringing boats.

The President. You did. And what a job they did, there's no questions about it.

Fellas, go ahead.

Texas Division of Emergency Management Chief W. Nim Kidd. Mr. President, I've been a first responder and emergency manager for 24 years. I've been the State Director of Texas Emergency Management for 7 years. This is my 12th Presidential disaster declaration. This has been the fastest FEMA has ever moved in this process. Your leadership, Brock Long——

The President. Thank you.

Mr. Kidd. ——Tony Robinson, bringing in all of the Federal partners.

The rest of our disasters have been big, but nothing of this size. And to have your support and their support, putting $1.3 billion of money in the hands of Texans to start rebuilding their lives and over $400 million on the streets for local governments to start getting back to normal has been phenomenal. So thank you very much.

The President. Thank you very much. That's so nice. I appreciate it. Would you like to say? Go ahead. You deserve it.

Governor's Counselor and Chief Operating Officer Reed Clay. Sure, Mr. President. Thank you very much for your partnership, for FEMA's partnership. It's been an amazing effort, and we really appreciate it. Thank you.

The President. Well, thank you very much. We're very proud of our Governor. We're very proud. You have done something very special. And, Dan, we're very proud of all of you guys. And it's true, first responders, military—everybody. Everybody.

And I do single out Coast Guard, because people, I think, get sometimes unsung. Like, they were out there, and they were following then, at tremendous peril to themselves. They were just right on the edges, and they'd follow it right in. And it was incredible. And they saved 16,000 people.

Gov. Abbott. That's unbelievable.

The President. Think of it. Think of what that could have been. If you lost anywhere near that number, it would have been probably one of the worst—maybe the worst catastrophe we've ever had.

Gov. Abbott. They saved us.

The President. So the Coast Guard has been so incredible. All of the military. I just want to say I'm very proud of all of you, everybody at this table. And keep it going. And we're going to look at the concept of a more permanent solution, because you do get inundated. And this has been going on for decades. Houston has got some difficulty with that, and we're going to see if we can solve that on a more permanent basis. And there is a way of doing it, a method of doing it, and they've known it for 20 or 25 years, but nobody has ever done it.

But this Governor and this Lieutenant Governor have been talking about it, and let's take a look at the cost, and let's see if it's possible to do, because that would save a lot of money into the future. And it would also put a lot of people to work building it.

So let's see what we can do. You'll come, and you'll show me what the concepts are. I think the concepts work. It's question, do the costs work? And I think the costs do work.

Gov. Abbott. We can make it work.

The President. There's nothing like what we went through, believe me. So if we can solve that. And this— had it been built, much of what you went through would have been very small by comparison, perhaps almost nothing. So we're going to take a very serious look at that.

I'm the builder President, remember that, so I understand it. [Laughter]

Gov. Abbott. You're made for this.

The President. Yes. One of the other things we were talking about is greenboard. It's called greenboard. It's sheetrock, but it's really a very strong form of sheetrock that actually people use around bathtubs. They use it around bathtubs and showers, and it's—water has no impact on it.

And if they would use that on first floors, it covers the same, you'll fix it the same. The construction guys know exactly what I'm talking about. We were discussing it, and I said, has anyone ever thought of that? And the statement was, only the people in the construction industry would know. It's just a little more expensive than sheetrock.

And frankly, if people would do that on their first floor, that water would come in, it would come out, and they'd be back in business. You wouldn't have to rip out the whole house.

So it's something, I think, that should be, maybe in certain areas, considered very strongly. And in the areas that we're talking about, I think it would be a tremendous—for a very small amount of money, make a big, big difference. And the water doesn't get through it at all.

Thank you very much, everybody.