BY STEVE HOLLAND
BEAUREGARD, Ala. (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday visited communities in eastern Alabama devastated by tornadoes that tore through homes and businesses, killing 23 people.
Trump and his wife Melania Trump took a helicopter tour of the area before going to the homes of some victims in the tiny and especially hard-hit community of Beauregard, near the border with Georgia.
Their motorcade passed trees knocked down like kindling and homes scattered in pieces.
“This is unbelievable,” Trump said as he and Alabama Governor Kay Ivey surveyed the devastation. He said he had seen “unbelievable” destruction from the air, too.
Relatives of one victim, Marshall Lynn Grimes, showed the president the 59-year-old’s cherished motorcycle vest and Bible. Trump hugged members of the family.
The president and Melania Trump then visited a disaster relief center at the Providence Baptist Church in Opelika, the county seat, to meet with survivors, volunteers, and first responders.
Tables at the church were piled high with donated clothes, toiletries and other items. Twenty-three crosses were set up on a lawn outside.
Trump met privately with more victims’ families inside the church. He said he talked with one woman who lost 10 people in the storm.
“I said how did it go, and she said I lost 10,” Trump said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
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