Photos: Trump hugs children, serves food in Houston as city fights back

resident Donald Trump tried on the role of “comforter-in-chief” on Saturday, playing with children in an evacuation centre and passing out food and supplies to those in need after Hurricane Harvey’s assault on Houston.

Trump, dealing with the first natural disaster of his 8-month-old presidency, comforted victims and thanked volunteers and first responders after being criticized earlier in the week for not showing sufficient empathy on his first trip to the storm-battered Texas coast.

Trump, 71, was joined by his wife, Melania, as he passed out food and hugged, kissed and played with children at the “kid zone” in Houston’s NRG Center, a 700,000-square-foot (65,000 square meters) facility that was turned in to the city’s largest emergency shelter.

Trump appeared relaxed as he posed for photographs with volunteers and chatted with those relocated to the shelter alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
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Hurricane Harvey: Dell, Samsung, other corps donate $170 mln for relief

US corporate giants have pledged a whopping $170 million for disaster relief operations to help victims of Hurricane Harvey, one of the most destructive storms in US history that killed at least 47 people.

More than 185,000 homes were damaged and 9,000 destroyed as 42,000 people remain in shelters amid overflowing rivers and reservoirs, Texas officials said.

Harvey has soaked Texas with the heaviest rainfall in US history.

Authorities continue to search for survivors and made helicopter rescues from rooftops as the death toll from Harvey climbed to at least 47.

Companies have pledged $170 million to relief efforts as of Thursday, according to an estimate from the US Chamber of Commerce.

Fifty-two companies had donated $1 million or more as of that time. These figures are constantly growing as pledges continue to pour in.

Tech billionaire and Houston native Michael Dell has committed $36 million to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts.

The founder and CEO of Dell and his wife Susan yesterday also announced the launch of the Rebuild Texas Fund, along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott.

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