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Despite torrential rains and deadly flooding in his home state late last week, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) remained for some time in Athens, Greece, where he was vacationing when the disaster took place.
Although it was well known by July 4 and 5 that the floods were catastrophic, Cruz remained in Greece, sightseeing at, among other places, the Parthenon, The Daily Beast reported. One witness to the senator’s presence there said they confronted him, questioning why he wasn’t cutting his travels short when people were dying.
“As he walked past us, I simply said, ’20 kids dead in Texas and you take a vacation?’” the publication’s source said. “He sort of grunted and walked on. His wife shot me a dirty look. Then they continued on with their tour guide.”
Cruz returned to Texas on Sunday. A spokesperson for the senator derided The Daily Beast’s reporting, calling it “a bullshit rag outlet with no credibility” and said the senator “arrived as fast as humanly possible” to his home state.
Images obtained by the publication suggest Cruz was in no real hurry to get back as he was sightseeing. Even if he had booked the flight and was waiting to return, the senator was out and about in Athens, not preparing himself for what he would have to confront when he returned home. Flight data also reveals that Cruz could have taken an earlier trip home than he did, as multiple flights to return to the U.S. were available.
The incident is reminiscent of a vacation Cruz took in February 2021, as Texas faced a brutal winter storm that knocked out portions of the state-based power grid. Instead of remaining in Texas to monitor the situation or coordinate help from Washington, Cruz traveled to Cancun, Mexico, with his family.
Cruz later admitted that it was “obviously a mistake” to leave but maintained that he himself was a victim, blasting the media for reporting on his travels during the crisis. Nearly 250 people died in that Texas storm.
As of Tuesday morning, the floods in central Texas have killed at least 104 people across six counties. Kerr County has suffered the most fatalities, with 84 deaths total — 56 adults and 28 children. Camp Mystic, a popular summer camp, saw 27 campers and counselors perish due to the flooding.
Floods are becoming more dangerous not only in Texas but across the U.S., in large part due to the climate crisis (a reality that Cruz has frequently denied). As the atmosphere becomes warmer, it holds more moisture, allowing storms to drop more rain than they have in the past.
An initial analysis by ClimaMeter, which examines the effects of the climate crisis on natural disasters, suggests that climate change likely made the “once in 100 years” storm more likely to have occurred.
“Natural variability [in weather patterns] alone cannot explain the changes in precipitation associated with this very exceptional meteorological condition,” the organization concluded.
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