By Trevor Hunnicutt and Maria Alejandra Cardona KERRVILLE, Texas (Reuters) -President Donald Trump defended the state and federal response to deadly flash flooding in Texas on Friday as he visited the stricken Hill Country region,

Robert Earl Keen has a personal connection to Kerrville, TX, the site of massive flooding on July 4 that authorities say resulted in the deaths of 111 people, with nearly 170 still unaccounted for at press time.

Before heading to Texas July 11, the president expanded a federal disaster declaration for the floods, making residents of eight Central Texas counties eligible for federal assistance programs.

Heavy equipment is tearing through massive debris piles in Kerr County as the search for the missing continues.

The devastating floods that swept through the Texas Hill Country on July Fourth weekend have claimed more than 100 lives, including young campers whose lives were cut tragically short, with dozens still missing.

Heavy rain poured over parts of central Texas, dumping more than a month's worth of rain for places like San Angelo.

The death toll in the central Texas flooding is up to 119 people, 95 of them in Kerr County, including 36 children.

"FEMA has been really headed by some very good people,” Trump said during a roundtable with local officials, suggesting his administration turned the agency around after sharply criticizing the Biden administration-led FEMA response to flooding in North Carolina in late 2024.