President Joe Biden spent much of his Wednesday surveying the damage left behind in Kentucky by last week’s rash of tornadoes. According to Monday’s announcement of the trip, President Biden was set to visit Fort Campbell for a briefing on the response operations, as well as Mayfield and Dawson Springs to tour damage. The video above includes clips from the briefing and the tour.
“The president’s message today is that he and the federal government intend to do whatever it takes, for as long as it takes, by providing any support that is needed to aid recovery efforts and support the people of Kentucky and of other impacted states as they rebuild,” White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One en route to Kentucky.
More than 30 tornadoes hit Kentucky and seven other states. One of the tornadoes that hit Kentucky had an extraordinarily long path of about 200 miles. As of Wednesday, the death toll from the tornadoes was 88, with 74 of those coming from Kentucky. Among the other 14 deaths:
- At least six people died in Illinois, where the Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville was hit.
- Four people died in Tennessee.
- Two people died in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed and the governor said workers shielded residents with their own bodies.
- Two people died in Missouri.
“We’re also partly on the Chesapeake Bay, as well as on the Delaware River and the Atlantic Ocean, we got a lot of storms,” Biden said at a briefing with local, state and federal officials. “But nothing like we’ve seen the tornado that came through here.”
Biden also said he was “amazed” by the community’s efforts to recover from the damage left behind from the tornadoes.
“I’ve been asking my FEMA folks and my Homeland Security ‘what is the most impressive thing you’ve seen,’” Biden said. “They said the way you all come together, where people just come out of nowhere to help as a community, and that’s what we’re supposed to be doing. That’s the way it’s supposed to be.”
This is far from the first time Biden has visited areas affected by extreme weather events. A month after he was sworn into office, Biden went to Houston to survey the damage wrought by a historic storm. Over the summer, he was in Idaho, Colorado and California to survey wildfire damage. And in September, he went to Louisiana, New Jersey and New York to tour Hurricane Ida damage.