First Lady Jill Biden to survey tornado recovery in Bowling Green Thursday
First Lady Jill Biden will visit Bowling Green on Thursday, nearly four weeks after the most deadly tornado spree in state history.
The First Lady will join Gov. Andy Beshear and First Lady Britainy Beshear to survey recovery efforts and highlight the federal partnership with local agencies that are leading the clean-up and providing aid.
The visit comes just three weeks following the daylong trip made by President Joe Biden, who pledged he would do “whatever it takes as long as it takes” to support Kentucky’s recovery.
Deputy FEMA Administrator Erik Hooks is scheduled to accompany Jill Biden when they survey storm damage in the Creekwood neighborhood of Bowling Green, where many families have been displaced from their homes. Area schools were being used as shelters.
Near midday, the entourage will move to a FEMA state disaster recovery center in Bowling Green.
More than 70 lives were lost in Kentucky as a result of the twisters and Beshear has said it could cost billions of dollars to completely recover.
The Biden administration has already pledged to reimburse the commonwealth for 100% of eligible costs in the eight counties where FEMA has declared a disaster emergency for 30 days following the Dec. 10 outbreak. Those counties are Caldwell, Fulton, Graves, Hopkins, Marshall, Muhlenberg, Taylor and Warren.
On Monday, Beshear requested a 60-day extension from the federal government.
“When you look at where downtown Mayfield still is, it’s going to take a lot longer than 30 days, and the costs are immense — exceeding $100 million to ultimately clean up debris,” Beshear said on Monday. “We’ve notified the federal government that, that is coming. We have the support of the entire federal delegation of Kentucky, and so we’ll be pushing forward with that very important request.”
Over the New Years weekend, the National Weather Service reported at least 10 other tornadoes touched down in Kentucky, including one packing 115 mile-per-hour winds in Hopkinsville. Fortunately, no injuries or deaths were reported from the latest burst of storms.
