Texas criticizes Biden for making the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl a "political issue"

Following the landfall of Hurricane Beryl in Texas - which has left a death toll of eight in the United States, 18 overall when adding the death toll in Caribbean countries-, President Joe Biden heeded requests from state authorities and issued a major disaster declaration for the damage caused by the weather phenomenon.

"I spoke today with Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell," Biden said in a statement. "On the call, I raised the need for an emergency declaration and immediately approved a Major Disaster Declaration for the damage sustained from the hurricane, which ripped through Texas’ Gulf Coast and Houston yesterday."

However, Texas did not like Biden's decision and it was evaluated as political opportunism, as stated by Lieutenant Governor Patrick: "I am disappointed that President Biden is turning Hurricane Beryl into a political issue. We had a cordial call today that ended up with him granting my request for a major disaster declaration. But that’s not good enough for him. He falsely accused me of being unreachable. He obviously did not know his own employees from FEMA were side-by-side with me for 3 days! All he had to do was call them and have them hand their phone to me. I even took a photo with them!"

Also critical of Biden's statement was Greg Abbott. The Texas governor accused the president of never once contacting him to learn first-hand about the damage caused by the hurricane: "Biden's memory fails again. Not once did he call me during Beryl."

Hurricane Beryl has caused immense material damage - in addition to deaths and injuries - as it passed through Texas. As reported by AFP, almost two million users suffered power outages. Temperatures reached 106°F and winds of more than 80 mph were recorded.