Just back from a six-day diplomatic visit to Europe, President Barack Obama stood in one of the devastated neighborhoods in the tornado-torn Joplin, Mo. on Sunday.
“Obviously the scene speaks for itself,” Obama said after talking to residents who have been shattered by the May 22 tornado. “When we were in Tuscaloosa a few weeks ago, I talked about how I had not seen devastation like that in my lifetime. You come here to Joplin and it is just as heartbreaking and in some ways even more devastating.”
Exactly a week after the Missouri town was in the path of the deadliest tornado in 65 years that killed at least 139 people, Obama, accompanied by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon, promised a sustained federal response to revive the town.
“We’re going to be here long after the cameras leave,” Obama said to a standing ovation from survivors. “We’re not going to stop until Joplin is fully back on its feet.”
The president said the storm damage is a “national tragedy” that requires a “national response.”
“But obviously it’s going to take years to build back,” Obama said, before he rejoined the motorcade to attend a memorial service for the tornado victims at Missouri Southern State University with Nixon.
“Today is a day of remembrance, as we move here to the memorial service,” Nixon said. “The loss not only of life, not only of injuries, property are significant. It’s going to take a higher power to keep the strength of this community resolved to get this done. And we’re confident that it will happen.”
The Joplin tornado swept through a stretch nearly a mile wide, damaging about 8,000 buildings.
A month ago, the president toured the ruins in Tuscaloosa, Ala. After the state was damaged by a series of tornadoes.
