Biden to survey Kentucky tornado damage Wednesday

President Joe Biden said Monday he will travel to Kentucky later this week to survey damage left by a deadly tornado storm that struck late last week.

"We're going to get this done — we're going to be there as long as it takes to help," Biden said of the response effort during a White House briefing with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and other top emergency response officials.

The White House put out an advisory shortly after the president's announcement indicating Biden will visit the U.S. Army base at Fort Campbell, which is located on the Kentucky-Tennessee border, as well as the towns of Mayfield and Dawson Springs in Kentucky.

At a news conference earlier Monday in the state capital of Frankfort, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said there have been 64 confirmed deaths to date but “undoubtedly, there will be more” reported over the coming days. He said there are an estimated “105 Kentuckians that are unaccounted for” following the series of tornadoes that hit the region this past weekend.

Beshear said the tragedy has weighed on him emotionally but vowed to continue overseeing the lengthy response effort.

“Like the folks in western Kentucky, I’m not doing so well today, and I’m not sure how many of us are,” said the governor, who was elected in 2019.

He thanked the Biden administration for swiftly approving an emergency disaster declaration for the state on Saturday and the assistance the federal government has already begun providing.

“We need it,” said Beshear, a Democrat. “And we are really grateful for it.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also praised Biden for acting quickly.

“I appreciate the Administration’s quick work to speed resources to help deal with this crisis,” the Republican leader wrote Monday on Twitter.

Tens of thousands of homes remain without power throughout the state, and Beshear cautioned that it will take “a significant amount of time” to clear debris and other devastation wrought by the storms.

“There’s just a mountain of waste,” he said.

Still, there have been pockets of optimistic news in the days since the tornadoes hit.

Dozens of workers at a manufacturing plant in Mayfield have been rescued after Beshear previously said, based on initial reports, that it would take “a miracle” to find people alive there. However, eight people have been confirmed dead at the site and eight others remain missing.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Monday that the president's trip to Kentucky is being set so as to not detract from or impede the ongoing response efforts, and Biden does not intend to give a "major speech" while he is there. Without directly connecting the recent tornadoes to climate change, Psaki said that Biden remains concerned about the worsening effect that climate change does have on severe weather events.

"The president will talk about this more, and it is not a political thing," Psaki said. "Look at the communities that have been impacted — red, blue, purple, no color at all, communities that don't consider themselves political in any way, shape or form — this is certainly a driving reason why we need to do more on the climate crisis."