Biden tours flood-ravaged Kentucky as White House highlights climate crisis

At least 37 people have died in the flooding since a deluge late last month that dropped up to 10.5in of rain in only 48 hours.

The US president said the nation had an obligation to help all its people, declaring the federal government would provide support until residents were back on their feet.

Behind him as he spoke was a house that the storm had dislodged and dumped on the ground, tilted sideways.

Earlier in the day, en route from his holiday home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, having emerged from coronavirus isolation, to Kentucky, Biden hailed historic health and climate action legislation that passed the tough hurdle of the US Senate on Sunday.

Then, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, addressed the issue of climate change in her media briefing aboard Air Force One en route to Lexington with Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden.

This cut would bring the US within striking distance of a goal set by Joe Biden to cut emissions in half by 2030, a target that scientists say must be achieved by the whole world if catastrophic global heating, triggering escalating heatwaves, droughts and floods, is to be avoided.