President Barack Obama’s Memorial Day speech at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Illinois was canceled today because of a violent thunderstorm.
“Excuse me, everybody listen up,” Obama said from underneath an umbrella as he briefly took the stage. “We are a little bit concerned about lightning. This may not be safe.”
As rain poured down, the president asked the crowd to move back to their cars and try to wait out the storm.
“But we don’t want to endanger anyone, particularly the children, in the audience,” he said. “A little bit of rain doesn’t hurt anybody but we don’t want anybody struck by lightning.”
People trudged barefoot across flooded fields and took shelter in their vehicles. There were sharp bursts of lightning. Everyone was drenched. The wreath that Obama had laid earlier blew over.
Instead of delivering his speech, Obama is visiting with service families inside buses.
Watch:
