President Trump visited tornado-ravaged disaster areas in Tennessee on Friday, just days after the twisters whipping across the state left 25 dead and dozens more injured.
Trump stepped off Air Force One and greeted Gov. Bill Lee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn and other top officials shortly after 10 a.m. in Nashville and then took a chopper to view hard-hit sites in Putnam County, including the devastated town of Cookeville, where eight people were killed.
“This is real devastation like you’ll never see, hopefully, again. This was about as big a tornado as you can have. It was 50 miles long, which is extraordinarily long, and a very wide one. And you see what’s happened. They got very little warning. They get a phone call and boom, the tornado is on them,” the president said in Cookeville, flanked by Lee and Ricky Shelton, the town’s mayor.
“All of a sudden, they’re watching television or something, and then it hits.”
The rubble was visible as he spoke. Broken lumber and splintered walls lay in piles, and jagged tree skeletons were the only things rising higher than a single story.
Asked if he had a message for the families of those killed and injured, he replied, “I have a message for the families of those that lost their lives. We love them, they’re incredible people, it’s an incredible state. Great people, it’s a great state, and they have great leadership.”
The president later met with survivors at the Church Of Christ Cookeville in a hall brimming with boxes of emergency supplies, pallets of bottled water, tables stacked with clothing and wheelbarrows leaning against the wall.
“We have done everything we need to do and our hearts go out to you. We are with you all the way,” he assured the crowd of about 100 people before sympathizing with those who lost loved ones.
“When you have those who lost somebody that’s a very tough situation. Nobody’s seen what you had to go through,” Trump said.
He also lavished grateful praise on first responders and other rescuers.
“Incredible. The people are incredible. We spoke — what they’ve done with the first responding and all of the care — emergency, fire, every aspect of it,” he said.
“They just went out, and they went out and did a great job of safety. Because you have such a great people here, you don’t have to worry about the law enforcement, you have to worry about just helping them. And you did it,” he continued. “You did a fantastic job. I want to thank you for that. What a job you did. We’re all talking about it too.”
Trump had earlier pledged prompt federal assistance to help Tennessee recover from the tornadoes.
The first tornado began early Tuesday morning, creating a more than 50-mile trail of destruction well after midnight.
A second tornado then exploded through communities farther east of Nashville, resulting in most of the deaths.
The National Weather Service said the second twister was an EF-4 tornado, categorized as “extreme,” with winds between 166 and 200 mph. Local officials have said it was on the ground for about 2 miles.
Shelton and Lee also spoke Friday, praising the federal government’s quick response.
“It’s been a tragic, painful week for our state,” Lee said. “God has used volunteers to bring hope to the state.”
Trump won the heavily GOP state by 26 percentage points in the 2016 election, and trounced Hillary Clinton in Putnam County by a margin of more than 2-to-1.
With Post wires
