🔴Air Force One is departing for D.C. after POTUS Biden tour storm damage in western Kentucky.

WATCH LIVE: President Joe Biden is departing for D.C. after touring storm damage in western Kentucky today. Biden is providing federal support for the commonwealth, approving a major disaster declaration.Show more

Biden is met by military officers at Fort Campbell, Ky, and Gov Beshear. Potus is on Marine One, press pool in Ospreys, as we head to Mayfield

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PRESIDENT BIDEN VISITS KENTUCKY: President Joe Biden departs from the White House lawn en route to Kentucky where he will survey damage from the devastating tornadoes. He will tour tornado damage in Mayfield, Princeton and Dawson Springs.

POTUS Biden is headed to Kentucky to survey the damage and offer federal support for the victims of devastating tornadoes that killed dozens.

More than 30 tornadoes tore through Kentucky in Mayfield, Princeton & Dawson Springs and at least four other states over the weekend, killing at least 88 people and demolishing homes, downing power lines and cutting off residents from key utilities as temperatures dropped below freezing in Kentucky earlier this week.

Biden will visit Fort Campbell for a storm briefing. While POTUS is expected to speak, it’s not the focus of the trip. White House press secretary Psaki said the POTUS will meet with storm victims and local officials to provide federal support.

POTUS Joe Biden “wants to hear directly from people, and he wants to offer his support directly to them,” Psaki said.

Asked about the president’s visit and the reception he’ll receive in this prominently GOP region, Tara Wilson replied: “Don’t know. I think that as long as everybody’s hearts are in the right place, we need to not focus on politics right now.” She said it was a “very positive thing” that Biden was visiting, and she and her husband expressed hope the president might help unite the community.

“This place is like a bomb has been dropped on it. And everyone needs to come together,” Wilson said. “So far that’s what’s happening. You’re seeing everyone pull together.”

POTUS trip to Kentucky comes at the close of a year marked by a notable uptick in extreme weather occurrences driven primarily by climate change. Only a month after he was sworn into office, POTUS went to Houston to survey the damage wrought by last winter’s historic storm there.

The $1 trillion infrastructure bill, signed into law last month, includes billions for climate resilience projects aimed to better defend people and property from future storms, wildfires, and other natural disasters.

Biden said earlier this week during a White House briefing on the tragedy with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas and other top emergency response officials that the federal government is committed to providing whatever the affected states need in the aftermath of the storm.