Biden Visiting Storm-Ravaged Kentucky to Offer Aid, Support

12/15/2021 Rachel Kennedy News 0
President Biden participates in briefing with homeland security and disaster response officials in the Oval Office to discuss what more the federal government can do to support those affected by the natural disaster. The White House said he would visit Ft. Campbell, Kentucky for a briefing on the response operations, and then to hard-hit Mayfield and Dawson Springs to survey the damage. Source :WDRB-Louisville

From NBC:

For the fifth time since taking office less than a year ago, President Joe Biden is taking on the grim task Wednesday of visiting an area impacted by natural disaster to offer comfort and condolences. Biden was headed to Kentucky to survey damage and offer federal support for the victims of devastating tornadoes that killed dozens and left thousands more in the region without heat, water or electricity.

More than 30 tornadoes tore through Kentucky and four other states over the weekend, killing at least 88 people and demolishing homes, downing power lines and cutting off residents from key utilities as temperatures dropped below freezing in Kentucky earlier this week.

Tornado 2021, Slideshow

  • A member of the recovery crew searches for missing victims in the creek that runs between Henry F. Moss Middle School and the neighborhood off Creekwood Avenue in Bowling Green, Ky., on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, following the tornado and severe storms that hit the city several days earlier. (Grace Ramey/Daily News via AP)
  • Damage from a tornado is seen in downtown Mayfield, Ky. on Saturday, Dec. 11, 2021. Tornadoes and severe weather caused catastrophic damage across multiple states late Friday, killing several people overnight. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Biden will visit Fort Campbell for a storm briefing and Mayfield and Dawson Springs to survey storm damage. While Biden is not expected to deliver an address, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the president will meet with storm victims and local officials to provide federal support.

Biden “wants to hear directly from people, and he wants to offer his support directly to them,” Psaki said.

The president said his message to governors was that the federal government would help them get “Whatever they need, when they need it. We’re going to get this done,” Biden added. “We’re going to be there as long as it takes to help.” Biden said he was worried, beyond the lives lost, about the emotional toll the disaster is putting on all those impacted. “I worry quite frankly about the mental health of these people,” he said. “He said his administration was working to help people with “peace of mind” so that that can “actually put their head on a pillow, lie down and be able to know their kids are going to be okay.” Federal assistance is available to people in Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor and Warren counties.

WDRB-Louisville