Filed under: News
ABC News' Sunlen Miller reports: "I've never seen devastation like this. It is heart-breaking," President Obama said today standing amid the rubble left by the tornadoes' path in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
"What you're seeing here is the consequence of just a few minutes of this extraordinarily powerful storm sweeping through this community," the president said with the First Lady and state and local leaders by his side. "In addition to keeping all the families who've been affected in our thoughts and prayers, obviously the priority now is to help this community recover."
The president spent almost two hours on the ground surveying the damage and speaking with residents.
His motorcade rode through a hard-hit commercial area, with stores demolished along the main Boulevard, only remnants of signs left. The president got out and walked though the Alberta neighborhood, another hard hit residential community with leveled houses and residents digging for possessions amid the rubble.
The president spoke to local officials in the "Mobile Command Center" truck in parking lot where he shook hands with police and other workers. He also visited Holt Elementary School located just outside the city limits in Holt, Alabama. The school sustained severe damage from the storm, but sections are being used as a relief center for supply distribution and a first aid center.
So far 211 tornadoes have been reported from Mississippi to New York, the worst tornado outbreak since 1974 when a super tornado outbreak killed more than 300 people. The Southeastern United States, were some of the hardest hit. "It's a blessing you're here," Obama said to one resident whose home had been lost, but he had not been injured.
The president thanked the team helping with recovery, from the Mayor to FEMA director Craig Fugate, both of whom toured with the president today.
"I want to just make a commitment to the communities here that we are going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild," Obama said, "property damage, which is obviously extensive, that's something that we can do something about."
Read more at ABC News.