Obama says Oklahoma damage "difficult to comprehend"

President Obama was in Moore, Oklahoma surveying the destruction caused by last week's tornado and comforting locals.

SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama saying:

"Obviously, the damage here is pretty hard to comprehend."

Books and chairs from the now destroyed Plaza Towers elementary school. The category five tornado killed 24 people included seven children and injured 377. Standing just inches away from the devastation, the president vowed to provide federal aid to those rebuilding after the tornado.

SOUNDBITE: U.S. President Barack Obama saying:

"Everywhere, fellow Americans are praying with you, they're thinking about you, and they want to help. And so, I'm just a messenger here today, letting everybody here know that you are not alone, that you've got folks behind you. "

The Moore tornado was the most powerful of a spate of 76 twisters that touched down in 10 U.S. States over a several day period last week.