WASHINGTON, D.C. (KTRK) -- President Trump's controversial comments during a FEMA briefing on Wednesday are causing a lot of reaction in Texas.The president and first lady visited the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington D.C., where Trump praised the U.S. Coast Guard for their efforts during Hurricane Harvey. "Saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas. For whatever reason, people went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn't work out too well," Trump said. "That didn't work out too well. "The U.S. Coast Guard tells Eyewitness News the storm was chaotic, but they were not asking people why they were in need of rescue.The USCG did not comment specifically about Trump's claims.<doc-sep>AUSTIN — President Donald Trump praised the Coast Guard for its heroics during Hurricane Harvey Wednesday, but credited the high number of water rescues to people taking their boats out to watch the storm roll in, baffling first responders. Trump was on a conference call with state and federal leaders in preparation for another dreadful hurricane season. During the call, Trump thanked the Coast Guard for its service in helping save 16,000 people after Harvey, Hurricane Maria and other storms. The Coast Guard doesn’t “get enough credit,” Trump said. "Sixteen thousand people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane,” Trump said. “That didn't work out too well.” FACT CHECK: Trump's wild tale of Texas hurricane gawkers Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez took umbrage with the president’s remarks, crediting civilians with making an “extraordinary effort” with their own boats to rescue neighbors, relatives and pets as Hurricane Harvey flooded the Texas coast with 52 inches of rain last year. “I didn't see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments,” Gonzalez said. "I'll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches," he added. No one could explain the president’s comment. When asked by the Houston Chronicle to confirm if Texans were out on boats gawking at the storm, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he had “no information one way or another about that.” PROVEN VALUE: Flood insurance paid homeowners $100,000 more than FEMA Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo said: “I don’t know how we would go about confirming that,” when asked for evidence. “I don’t even know how to respond to that,” said Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association. In the aftermath of the record rainfall, law enforcement responded to thousands of water-related calls for help. But agencies often didn’t have enough equipment, so people turned to social media to ask for help. Even the Houston Police Department tweeted a plea asking anyone with a boat to volunteer. Some Texans went out on kayaks and canoes to rescue others, and took pride in their ability to help their neighbors at a moment of crisis. Several good Samaritans who tried to rescue their neighbors perished in the flood waters. This isn’t the first time the president has made comments that seemed bizarre or ill-informed. For example, he claimed without evidence millions of people voted illegally and inflated the number of people attending his inauguration and other rallies. He wrongly claimed to have seen Muslims in New Jersey celebrating the 9/11 attacks on television. The Coast Guard rescued about 11,000 people and nearly 1,400 pets during Hurricane Harvey, the Coast Guard announced last year, calling its response “one of the largest our organization has seen in decades.” The guard rescued a dozen people on a 160-foot commercial diving vessel near Port Mansfield after a 3:40 a.m. report that the craft was taking on water. The Coast Guard airlifted passengers to safety hours before Hurricane Harvey made landfall on Aug. 25. The next day, the guard rescued 15 people aboard other vessels in distress near Port Aransas, although details of why people were on the vessel are unclear. FINAL REPORT: Harvey’s impact on Houston area laid out in grim detail Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said he wasn’t aware of the specific context of Trump’s quotes but praised the many Houstonians who used their own equipment to rescue trapped neighbors. “During Harvey, certainly the community — those who were able to get out and help their neighbors — that was really a game-changer for us in meeting the extraordinary demand for evacuations,” he said. “Without the assistance of private citizens in their own boats… we would have had a more difficult time in getting to everybody that needed assistance.” The comments perplexed a wide range of professional first responders and civilians who rushed into the flood waters to help their neighbors. “I can only imagine he’s not talking about Houston,” said Lancton. “The reality is, I did not experience people sitting out in Brays Bayou waiting for the storm to come in… All the boats I saw out there were ones trying to help.” Francisco Sanchez, spokesman for Harris County’s Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, said the U.S. Coast Guard was a “top-notch” partner with a long history helping out in disasters in Harris County. It rose to the occasion during Harvey, he said. “They were just beyond heroic in what they did,” he said. “They certainly -- here in Harris County -- are not underappreciated. they are part and parcel of any response that might involve maritime, ports, or even inland search and rescue operations.” Sanchez also echoed comments about how civilians had helped Houston and Harris County overcome Harvey’s onslaught. “I’m not aware of anybody in Harris County on a boat in the midst of the storm and its aftermath as a matter of leisure or entertainment,” he said. “The response from our community members and folks at the Cajun Navy that brought their boats, put them in the water to rescue people and to help, filled the gap that we couldn’t simply because of size and scope of what Hurricane Harvey was doing to our community." Taylor Fontenot was working as a bartender when Hurricane Harvey hit. Fontenot spent long days with other members of the Cajun Navy rescuing resident after resident. Many of the volunteers liquidated their financial resources in the rescue efforts. By the end of the storm, members of the Cajun Navy and other civilian volunteer organizations had rescued 35,000 people, he said. Fontenot, of Sugar Land, said he didn’t take the president’s comments personally, but said he'd heard from many other rescuers and people who had been victimized by the storm. “For it to be looked lightly on or diminished, or seen as a joke, it’s kind of a slap in the face,” he said. Sanchez said first responders coordinated closely with civilians to direct them to areas that needed help.<doc-sep>WASHINGTON, DC : U.S. President Donald Trump walks across the South Lawn after returning to the White House August 30, 2017 in Washington, DC. Trump traveled to Springfield, Missouri, to participate in a tax reform kickoff event, according to the White House. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) HOUSTON, TX - AUGUST 28: Evacuees fill up cots at the George Brown Convention Center that has been turned into a shelter run by the American Red Cross to house victims of the high water from Hurricane Harvey on August 28, 2017 in Houston, Texas. Harvey, which made landfall north of Corpus Christi late Friday evening, is expected to dump upwards to 40 inches of rain in areas of Texas over the next couple of days. (Photo by Erich Schlegel/Getty Images FEMA official: We'll be in Texas for years WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 6: (AFP OUT) U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during the 2018 Hurricane Briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency Headquarters (FEMA) on June 6, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Yuri Gripas - Pool/Getty Images) (CNN) — President Donald Trump suggested Wednesday that a main reason the US Coast Guard was so busy rescuing people during Hurricane Harvey was that people were watching the storm on boats. But local officials – including the state’s Republican governor – have no idea what he’s talking about. The Coast Guard “saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is,” Trump said during a visit to the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters for a briefing on hurricane season. He added, “People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn’t work out too well.” It’s not clear where Trump got the figure. A message left with the White House Thursday morning was not immediately returned. In a statement to CNN, the Coast Guard said it saved “nearly 12,000 Americans” in a response effort with federal, state and local partner agencies but referred questions about Trump’s claim about people taking to the seas to watch the hurricane to the White House. After the briefing, in which he participated via video teleconference, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters he had “no information one way or another about” the President’s claim. “I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, told the Houston Chronicle. Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo told the newspaper, “I don’t know how we would go about confirming that.” “I didn’t see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments,” Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the Chronicle. “I’ll be sure to invite the President to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches.” The hurricane slammed into the coast as a Category 4 storm near Corpus Christi in August, dumping several feet of rain on the Houston area. Trump visited Texas twice after the hurricane. During his visit to FEMA on Wednesday, Trump remained mum on Hurricane Maria’s latest death toll numbers. A new Harvard study released late last month estimated more than 4,600 people in Puerto Rico died in Hurricane Maria and its aftermath, far greater than previous estimates.<doc-sep>President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE claimed Tuesday that people had to be rescued during Hurricane Harvey last year after they “went out in their boats to watch the hurricane.” Trump made the comments at a Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) briefing on the upcoming hurricane season while praising the Coast Guard’s efforts during last year’s storm in Texas. "They saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is," Trump said of the Coast Guard. "People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn't work out too well." ADVERTISEMENT Reporters questioned Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) about Trump’s comment, according to the Texas Tribune. Abbott told the media he had “no information one way or the other about that." Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, whose jurisdiction covers Houston, told the Houston Chronicle that he “didn't see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments.” He instead credited Texans who helped to recuse those who were stranded on boats. "I'll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches," Gonzalez added. The Coast Guard said last year that it had rescued about 11,000 people during Hurricane Harvey.<doc-sep>
At a Glance President Trump claims the Coast Guard had to rescue Texans who "went out in their boats" to watch Hurricane Harvey. “I don’t even know how to respond to that,” one official says. President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed the number of rescues were so high during Hurricane Harvey because people went out in their boats to watch the storm. Trump, during a conference call with state and federal officials on the new hurricane season, praised the Coast Guard's response to the August 2017 storm, which slammed southeast Texas, adding: The Coast Guard "saved 16,000 people, many of them in Texas, for whatever reason that is. People went out in their boats to watch the hurricane. That didn't work out too well. That didn’t work out too well." (MORE: 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season Outlook) The president's remarks Wednesday baffled Texas officials. Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez told the Houston Chronicle: “I didn't see anyone taking the approach that would reflect his comments. I'll be sure to invite the president to ride out the next hurricane in a jon boat in Galveston Bay the next time one approaches." Advertisement Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told reporters he had “no information one way or another about that.” Coast Guard Petty Officer Edward Wargo said: “I don’t know how we would go about confirming that,” the Chronicle reported. “I don’t even know how to respond to that,” Marty Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, told the newspaper. The Coast Guard said in September that it rescued about 11,000 people during Harvey. The response during the Category 4 hurricane, which dumped record amounts of rain on southeast Texas and caused destructive flooding, was one of the largest the organization had handled in decades.