President Joe Biden flew to Kentucky on Wednesday (15) to assess areas hardest hit by one of the deadliest hurricanes of the history of U.S, an earthquake that killed at least 74 people in the state and another 14 in different regions.
Biden, who has already faced tragic personal losses, will repeat his familiar role as chief comforter, while vowing to use the power of the federal government to rebuild devastated communities that have suffered billions of dollars in damage.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear gave a grim update on Tuesday, saying that among the dead were a dozen children, the youngest of whom was a 2-month-old baby. He added that he expected the death toll to increase in the coming days, with more than 100 missing.
Biden will visit the Army facility at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for a briefing on the storm before heading to Mayfield and Dawson Springs, two cities 70 miles apart that were largely razed to the ground by the tornados.
The President will be “assessing the storm damage firsthand, (and) making sure we are doing everything possible to provide assistance as quickly as possible in the affected areas to support recovery efforts,” said the spokesperson for the White House Jen Psaki on Tuesday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sent search and rescue and emergency response teams to Kentucky, along with teams to help survivors register for assistance, Psaki said.
FEMA also sent dozens of generators to the state, along with 511,000 liters of water, 74,000 food baskets and thousands of cribs, blankets, baby kits and pandemic protection kits.
Biden has approved federal disaster statements for Kentucky and the neighboring states of Tennessee and Illinois, offering residents and local authorities more federal aid.
Credit ratings agency DBRS Morningstar said the tornadoes were likely the most severe in the United States since 2011. Insurers are sufficiently prepared to cover the damage without significant capital impact, it said in a report.
The trip marks one of the few that Biden, a Democrat, has made areas that lean heavily toward the Republican Party, many of whose voters and leaders have embraced the Republican’s fraudulent claims. Donald Trump that he won the 2020 elections.
The White House was careful not to involve politics in disaster relief efforts, including not focusing on what role, if any, climate change may have played in the tragic events.
“He sees them as human beings, not as people who have party affiliations,” Psaki said.
“And in his heart, he empathizes with everything they’re going through.”
“The message he will send them directly and clearly tomorrow is: ‘We are here to help, we want to rebuild, we will stand by your side and we will help your leaders do just that,” he added.
Biden lost his first wife and daughter in a car accident in 1972, and their eldest son, Beau, died in 2015 after battling brain cancer.
*With information from Rod Nickel, Reuters
Reference: CNN Brasil
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