President Biden visits tornado-ravaged Kentucky to offer aid, support

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- President Joe Biden toured two Kentucky towns Wednesday that were devastated by recent tornadoes, pledging federal aid for the recovery ahead and committing more U.S. government funds for short-term cleanup costs. 

Standing in front of shattered homes in Dawson Springs in western Kentucky, Biden said he had authorized the federal government to cover 100% of the state's emergency response spending for the first 30 days. 

"Every single cost the federal government's going to take care of," the president said, including debris removal, temporary housing and overtime for law enforcement. 

The move amends Biden's disaster declaration for the state Sunday that provided federal funds for 75% of eligible costs, according to the White House. 

"I promise you, you're going to heal, we're going to recover, we're going to rebuild," Biden told Kentucky residents. "You're going to be stronger than you were before, you're going to build back better than it was."

Biden landed Wednesday morning at Fort Campbell on Air Force One and met with Gov. Andy Beshear, First Lady Britainy Beshear and former Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, Andy Beshear's father, before heading to Mayfield and Dawson Springs to survey damage there.

At a briefing with state, federal and local officials at the Mayfield airport, Biden said that immediately after a disaster is when people are "really, really moving and trying to help each other and trying to get things done.

"But after a month, after six weeks, after two months, people can get themselves to the point where they get very depressed about what's going on — particularly our young kids, particularly people who've lost somebody," he said. "And so I just want you to know the help that we're able to offer at the federal level is not just now."

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas thanked first responders who helped after the tornadoes, noting that many were "disaster survivors themselves."

He urged people affected by the storm to go to www.disasterassistance.gov or call 800-621-FEMA. Beshear said as of noon Tuesday, more than 1,800 families had sought out federal assistance online.

FEMA also has opened centers in Mayfield and Dawson Springs for tornado victims to register for federal assistance. They are open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church 960 Industrial Park Road, in Dawson Springs; and at a former Walmart, 1102 Paris Road, in Mayfield. 

The tornadoes that ripped across Kentucky late Friday and early Saturday left 74 people confirmed dead, although 122 still were missing Tuesday. Thousands more in the region are without heat, water or electricity.

Biden said the "scope and scale this destruction is almost beyond belief."

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.

"You can see it in peoples' faces," Biden said. "What they're really looking for, and look around, I say to the press... is just to be able to put their head down on a pillow, be able to close their eyes, take a deep breath, go to sleep and make sure the kids are okay."

Jeff and Tara Wilson, a married couple from Mayfield, were at the Graves County Fairgrounds on Tuesday, where a distribution center has been set up to pass out food, water and clothing to storm victims. They were setting up a mobile site for storm victims to receive counseling and said their home was unscathed.

Asked about the president’s visit and the reception he’ll receive in this prominently Republican region, Tara Wilson said: “Don’t know. I think that as long as everybody’s hearts are in the right place, we need to not focus on politics right now.” She said it was a “very positive thing” that Biden was visiting, and she and her husband expressed hope the president might help unite the community.

“This place is like a bomb has been dropped on it. And everyone needs to come together,” Wilson said. “So far that’s what’s happening. You’re seeing everyone pull together.”

Biden's trip to Kentucky comes at the close of a year marked by a notable uptick in extreme weather occurrences driven primarily by climate change. Only a month after he was sworn into office, Biden went to Houston to survey the damage wrought by last winter's historic storm there. He ultimately traveled to Idaho, Colorado and California to survey wildfire damage during the summer, as well as Louisiana, New Jersey and New York earlier this fall after Hurricane Ida tore through the region.

The disasters have offered Biden urgent and visceral evidence of what he said is the dire need for America to do more to combat climate change and prepare for future disasters — a case he made to help push for passage of his spending proposals.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, signed into law last month, includes billions for climate resilience projects aimed to better defend people and property from future storms, wildfires and other natural disasters. His proposed $2 trillion social spending package, still pending in Congress, includes billions more to help shift the nation away from oil, gas and coal and toward widespread clean energy and electric vehicle use.

The White House has spent much of the week engaging with lawmakers on the latter. Biden talked with West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a key Democratic holdout, in hopes of smoothing over some of his issues in time to pass a package before year’s end.

But on Wednesday, Biden’s focus was squarely on Kentucky. Five twisters hit the state, including one with an extraordinarily long path of about 200 miles (322 kilometers), authorities said.

In addition to the deaths in Kentucky, the tornadoes also killed at least six people in Illinois, where an 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.

The president signed two federal disaster declarations for Kentucky over the weekend, providing federal aid for search and rescue and cleanup operations, as well as aid for temporary housing and to help individuals and businesses recover.

Biden said earlier this week during a White House briefing on the tragedy with Mayorkas and other top emergency response officials that the federal government is committed to providing whatever the affected states need in the aftermath of the storm.

"We're going to get this done, I promise you," he said. "Your governor's not walking away, your county judge is not walking away, your congressman is not walking away, no one is walking away. We're in this for the long haul."

During a conversation Wednesday, Hopkins County Judge-Executive Jack Whitfield told Biden that when the president of the United States takes the time to come to Dawson Springs and give a child a hug, that makes a difference. 

Copyright 2021 WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved.