Republican Senator Ted Cruz was not in his home state of Texas when it was hit by deadly floods on Friday. “A planned family vacation” in Greece, was the explanation from Cruz’s cabinet. But the fact that he was still seen in the streets of Athens 24 hours after the first flood reports was met with incomprehension.

The images from The Daily Beast, in which Cruz appears to be lining up for a visit to the Parthenon, have been shared frequently on X. According to a witness, these images date from Saturday evening (Eastern European time), when there were already reports of around forty deaths as a result of the flooding. However, the senator's office continues to emphasize in the American media that Cruz has booked"the first possible return flight" to finally arrive in the emergency area on Monday.

The senator did not want to say much about his responsibilities or those of the local authorities during the press conference."There is no doubt that we will have a serious evaluation, as you do after every disaster," he said rather briefly."We will ask ourselves what should have been done differently to prevent this disaster."

Help from Mexico

The Guadalupe River overflowed its banks on Thursday night when several inches of rain fell in a matter of hours. In less than an hour, the river's water level rose by about eight meters. The devastating flooding that followed has so far claimed the lives of at least 104 people, according to American media. The wooded Kerr County has been hit particularly hard. At least 27 children who were attending the Christian summer camp Camp Mystic on the banks of the Guadalupe have died there.

Meanwhile, emergency services continue to search for 10 more missing children and a camp counselor. Searches are also continuing elsewhere in the region. The state of Texas is receiving help from Mexico. A team of 13 firefighters and emergency workers from the Mexican city of Acuna were able to cross the border into the US to use their experience with rescue operations on the Rio Grande River in Texas."We have a number of firefighters who have visas and we thought, 'Let's just go help,'" emergency worker Jesus Gomez told CBS News.

Savings policy

The fact that the region was so surprised by the extreme rainfall, which caused more than 20 billion dollars in damage, has raised questions in the US about whether the authorities were sufficiently prepared for the disaster. The National Weather Service (NWS) in particular has been criticized in recent days for not having given sufficient warning of the seriousness of the situation. However, the weather service has stated that several alerts were sent in time to alert citizens and authorities to the danger.

Others do not seek the explanation with the weather service, but with the austerity policies of US President Donald Trump. The budget cuts have resulted in the firing of more than 600 NWS experts. Although the field offices in Texas remained sufficiently staffed to warn citizens of the disaster, according to the weather service's union, a lack of staffing would have caused problems in coordinating with local emergency services.

Cruz has not been spared criticism in this area either. Before leaving for Greece, the senator voted in favor of cutting funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). This climate institute studies, among other things, how extreme weather conditions can be better predicted. According to The Guardian, Cruz eliminated a $150 million fund that was intended to “improve and accelerate” weather forecasting with an addition to the “Big Beautiful Bill” that Trump signed on Friday. A $50 million package was also scrapped to study the impact of climate change on oceans, water systems and coastal areas.

“Reprehensible lie”

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has since asked the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General to investigate the possible link between the NWS cuts and the scale of the disaster. Cruz responded during the press conference by acknowledging that authorities should look into whether warnings could be issued earlier. However, the senator dismissed criticism of Trump's policy.

“It is predictable that during tragedies some people will engage in political games and try to blame their political opponents for a natural disaster,” Cruz shot back. “However, I do not believe that now is the time for partisan accusations and attacks.” White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt also said later Monday that people who “blame President Trump” for the floods are spreading “reprehensible lies.”