Story highlights Lars Anderson: Trump's words matter greatly in Hurricane Harvey aftermath

President needs to help set realistic expectations for the long road to recovery

Lars Anderson is the Founding Partner at BlueDot Strategies, a strategic consulting firm, and was the counselor to the administrator, deputy chief of staff, and director of public affairs at the Federal Emergency Management Agency from 2012-2015. During the response to Hurricane Sandy, he was responsible for coordinating the federal government's external affairs resources. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) What do you say to someone who's lost everything?

At this moment in Houston and other places affected by Hurricane Harvey, parents are sitting in emergency shelters wondering: How will we rebuild our home? How will we get to work? How will we get the kids to school -- and is there a school to go to?

Lars Anderson

This is the scene President Donald Trump flew into Tuesday. And to be sure, the people who have suffered in Harvey's wake needed to hear from him. In a national disaster, the words of the President of the United States matter. He needs to be reassuring to survivors.

But there is something else he must do. He needs to help set realistic expectations for the long road to recovery. He needs to tell them the truth.

The truth is that over the course of the storm, more than 24 trillion gallons of water have fallen on Southeast Texas and southern Louisiana. This recovery will take years and billions of dollars. People continue to be evacuated and tens of thousands of residents will need temporary shelter and transportation to jobs and schools.

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