the president and first lady started with the helicopter tour getting a bird s eye view of just the scope of the massive amounts of damage here in lee county, alabama. they then landed and took a walking tour of one of the neighborhoods that suffered some of the worst devastation. there, they met with families who lost loved ones in sunday s tornado. they include the family of sheila creech and marsha lynn grimes, a couple that died in the storm. mr. grimes 10-year-old daughter remains hospitalized and she was not well enough to go to the parents funeral and the daughter s friend, 10-year-old taylor thornton who was over for a visit at the time died in the storm. family and friends held a funeral service for taylor this morning. after touring the devastation, president trump visited a church that is serving as a staging area for relief efforts. there, he met with volunteers and first responders and thanked them for all their hard work during the hours and days following the tornado.
my dream car. it turns out, they want me to start next month. she can stay with you to finish her senior year. things will be tight but, we can make this work. now. grandpa, what about your dream car? this is my dream now. principal we can help you plan for that . charles: president trump arriving a short while ago in florida. he was in alabama earlier today visiting the victims of the tornado that killed 23 people this past sunday. jonathan is in lee county, alabama with the details on the president s visit.
disaster. now, let s go to a live shot that we have from the town of smith station about 20 miles away from where i m standing. you can see recovery efforts are well under way. the president s visit is receiving praise even from the other side of the aisle. the senator says such visits have a way of connecting washington politicians with communities in need on a much more intimate and enduring level. and now, coming back to our live location here in beauregard, alabama, look at all this debris on the ground and up in the trees. that s a concern as we go into the weekend because, charles, more severe weather is forecast for alabama. the worst storms are expected to pass to the north of us. but with all this debris on the ground, even moderate winds could scatter it. and the concern is that we ll slow down some of the recovery efforts. charles, back to you. charles: thank you very much, jonathan. now to an official who met with president trump in alabama today. joining us on the phone,
of opalaka, alabama, gary fuller. thank you for joining us. my pleasure to be with you. thank you. charles: before we talk about your visit today, give us an update on your town. i know you have about 30,000 folks there. how devastating was it and where are you now? well, thank goodness, charles, it did not touch okalaka, we re about 13 miles from the community of beauregard so the storm was south of ope k opelika and auburn. because of the density of the population here or in auburn would really it s bad enough as it is with 23 lives lost. but it would have been really a terrible, terrible thing had it moved several miles north. but, you know, the cleanup continues. we re very grateful to have the president and first lady with us today and i think they met some folks that are strong and will rebuild that community not only in beauregard but in smith
station. charles: mayor, talk to us more about the president. just how important it is, how critical is it for him and the first lady to be there and how it can lift the spirits of the folks there? well, i think all of us were greatly encouraged by the fact that he would take time to come here and be with those folks that have been harmed and somet including family members. but it s a great encouragement for us and then, of course, you know, the president has many fans in the state of alabama. and certainly here in lee county. i think he probably carried lee county in a big way back in the last election. so he was among friends. not all of them friends but mostly friends. and, of course, senator jones who is our junior u.s. senator