Barack Obama visits Joplin tornado scene ~ HOTnEWS

President described the scene as 'heartbreaking' and promised a 'national response' to the tornado that struck a week ago

Chris McGreal in Washington
The Guardian, Monday 30 May 2011
Article history

President Barack Obama views damage from the tornado that devastated Joplin. Photograph: J. Scott Applewhite/AP

It was, said Barack Obama, the worst destruction he had ever seen. As the president flew over the small town of Joplin, Missouri, one of those travelling with him said it looked as if the heart of the city had been destroyed by a giant bulldozer cutting a swath nearly a mile wide. On the ground, Obama described the scene as "heartbreaking" and promised a "national response" to the tornado that struck a week ago, killing at least 139 people and leaving scores missing. More than 900 were injured. The president returned from his much heralded tour of Europe to pay a sobering visit to Joplin, a city of about 50,000 people which was hit by the deadliest tornado in the US in more than 60 years. His motorcade moved along a main street that one of those accompanying him described as looking as if it had been destroyed by a giant bulldozer. Most of the houses are reduced to debris. Trees were not only stripped of their branches but their bark, leaving unusually white wooden stumps. Obama stopped to talk to survivors who spoke of a miracle that they had survived when others had not. "Sorry for your loss," he told an anguished woman, hugging her twice as they talked One of those the president spoke to was 85 year-old Hugh Hills who was holding a large American flag in front of his largely destroyed house on Kentucky avenue. Hills told Obama he had "just pulled my chicken pot pie out of the oven when I looked at the TV and it said the storm is coming. And then the TV cut off". Hills said he hid in a cupboard while most of his house was destroyed around him. The president said afterwards that he had listened to "harrowing stories but also miraculous stories". "Obviously, it is going to take years to build back," he said. "This is just not your tragedy. This is a national tragedy, and that means there's going to be a national response. "What I've been telling every family that I've met here is we're going to be here long after the cameras leave. We are not going to stop until Joplin is fully back on its feet."