(NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to do “whatever it takes, as long as it takes” to help Kentucky and other states after a series of deadly tornadoes that he said left a trail of unimaginable devastation. “You will recover and rebuild,” he said.
“The scope and scale of this destruction is almost beyond belief,” he said as he stood before a home reduced to a few walls and piles of rubble in Dawson Springs, one of two Kentucky towns he visited.
Biden spoke of the stress felt by victims of natural disasters such as the weekend storms that swept across eight states and said it was urgent that people be moved from emergency shelters in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, the president praised the outpouring of support from reeling communities and said the federal support he has committed will keep flowing.
“Something good has to come out of this,” Biden said. “In so many places, destruction was met with compassion.”
More than 30 tornadoes tore through Kentucky and seven other states over the weekend, killing at least 88 people. Thousands of residents have lost their houses or are without power. Five tornadoes hit Kentucky, including one with a long path of about 200 miles, authorities said.
“I intend to do whatever it takes, as long as it takes, to support your state, your local leaders, as you recover and rebuild, and you will recover and rebuild,” Biden said.
In Dawson Springs, Biden walked through mounds of debris. Shattered Christmas decorations were tangled up with shards of furniture and strewn clothing. Trees were uprooted among homes reduced to rubble. Over the sounds of heavy machinery engaged in cleanup just blocks away, the president stopped to speak with storms victims, including a young girl clutching an American flag.
Earlier, in Mayfield, the president held hands in prayer with Graves County Executive Jesse Perry and a pastor. A family who had gathered in front of a destroyed home talked with Biden, who told reporters he was “impressed how everybody is working together” on the recovery. On Mayfield’s main street, Biden spoke with two women in a shattered building. They had a sign that said, “God is good. Beaten but not defeated.”
Biden also took an aerial tour of the damage and held a briefing with officials in an airport hangar. “I’m here to listen,” he said. This kind of tragedy, Biden said, “either brings people together or it knocks them apart.”
He added, “There’s no red tornadoes and blue tornadoes.”
Besides the deaths in Kentucky, the tornadoes also killed at least six people in Illinois, where the Amazon distribution center in Edwardsville was hit; four in Tennessee; two in Arkansas, where a nursing home was destroyed and the governor said workers shielded residents with their own bodies; and two in Missouri.