US President Donald Trump’s tour of flood-ravaged Texas turned confrontational on Friday when he lashed out at a journalist who asked whether more timely alerts could have saved lives calling the reporter a “very evil person” for raising the issue.

Trump first responded by saying that he thought “everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” and that he admired the response.

But then he criticised the reporter who posed the question, saying “only a bad person would ask a question like that” and “only a very evil person would ask a question like that.”

The biting exchange came as Trump praised first responders and local leaders at an emergency operations centre set up in Kerrville, even as those same officials faced scrutiny over their disaster preparedness.

“Everyone did an incredible job under the circumstances,” Trump said. “The people that are doing the search for the missing are unbelievable.”

The president then shifted to a friendlier question from a conservative outlet, Real America’s Voice, whose reporter expressed gratitude for his visit.

“Well, that’s a nice reporter. That’s a nice question,” Trump said, flashing a grin and avoiding further mention of the controversy.

Critics have questioned whether communities were given adequate time to evacuate as the floodwaters surged.

Trump talked about the loss of life from the flooding, saying “dozens and dozens of precious children taken from us.” “The search for the missing continues. The people that are doing it are unbelievable,” Trump told first responders and other state and local officials gathered at an emergency operations center in an expo hall in Kerrville. “You couldn’t get better people, and they’re doing the job like I don’t think anybody else could, frankly,” Trump said.

The president said his administration “is doing everything it can to help Texas” and insisted that “we’ve got some good people” running the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

– Ends