LONDON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama said on Tuesday he will visit a devastated section of Missouri on Sunday where 116 people were killed by a monster tornado.
Obama, making a statement from the U.S. ambassador's residence in London as he begins a state visit to Britain, said his message to those affected by storms in the Midwestern United States is that the federal government stands by them.
"All we can do is let them know that all of America cares deeply about them and that we are going to do absolutely everything we can to make sure that they recover," he said.
Obama is on a week-long, four-nation Europe tour and is to return to Washington on Saturday.
"Like all Americans, we have been monitoring what's been taking place very closely and have been...heartbroken by the images we've seen," Obama told reporters.
He said beyond the death toll, other people remain missing and hundreds more were injured.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the families who are suffering at this moment," he said.
Obama said he and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano had spoken to the Missouri governor, Jay Nixon.
"We've offered him not only our condolences, but we've told him that we will give him every ounce of resources the federal government may have that we can bring to bear on this situation."
Obama said during his trip to Missouri on Sunday, he will talk to families affected by the storm "hopefully to pray with folks and give them whatever assurance and comfort I can that the entire country is going to be behind them."
He urged Americans in storm zones to heed warnings to seek safety during a deadly spring in which storms across Southern states last month killed more than 300 people and caused more than $2 billion in property damage.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Steve Holland)
