Cruz was captured queuing up to visit the Parthenon in Athens, Greece, on Saturday afternoon local time, after Texas authorities had already announced 24 deaths from the catastrophic flash floods in the Texas Hill Country and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) had signed a disaster declaration to aid the response.

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz was on a pre-planned vacation in Greece with his family when devastating floods hit central Texas, and he sought to travel back “as fast as humanly possible,” his office said.

The Republican senator, who was on a planned family vacation, did not return to his state until 72 hours after the deadly disaster, which his spokeswoman said was as quickly as possible.