LONDON ? President Obama interrupted his European trip on Tuesday to express sympathy for victims of the tornadoes in the Midwest that have killed more than 100 people.
Speaking from London, where he arrived on Monday evening for a two-day state visit, Mr. Obama said, ?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.?
Mr. Obama said he would travel to Missouri on Sunday, a day after he returns from Europe, to meet with victims of the storms and to inspect the damage, which particularly devastated the city of Joplin.
?The devastation is comparable and may end up exceeding some of the devastation that we saw in Tuscaloosa, Ala., just a few weeks ago,? Mr. Obama said in remarks from Winfield House, the residence of the American ambassador to Britain.
The president said he had sent W. Craig Fugate, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Administration, to Missouri to help coordinate the federal response. Mr. Obama said he had telephoned the governor of Missouri, Jay Nixon.
?We understand that there are more storms that are forecast today,? the president concluded. ?So the thing I think I want to emphasize more than anything else, it is critical that Americans in affected areas heed storm warnings and take the lead of your local officials.?
Mr. Obama?s own travel plans have been affected by the forces of nature. He cut short a visit to Ireland Monday and flew to London a day early to outrun a spreading ash cloud from a volcano eruption in Iceland.