US president pledges $1M to Harvey relief

American President Donald Trump will pledge one million dollars of his own money to relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Thursday.

“I am happy to tell you that he (Trump) would like to join in the efforts that a lot of the people that we have seen across this country do.

“He is pledging one million dollars of personal money to the fund,” Sanders told reporters at a White House briefing.

Economic losses in Texas from Hurricane Harvey, which is still pounding the water-logged US state with rain, will be some $58 billion (49 billion euros), disaster analysts in Germany said Thursday.

If that estimate holds, it would make Harvey the world's 9th most expensive natural disaster since 1900, according to the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) in Karlsruhe, Germany.

It would also push the yearly economic loss from earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, cyclones and other natural cataclysms past $100 billion for the 8th year in a row.