U.S. President Joe Biden went through an awkward moment struggling to put on his jacket, footage showed on Wednesday.

As the president was stuck in his jacket and failed to wear it properly, First Lady Jill Biden came to the rescue.

His signature aviator sunglasses, balanced on top of his mask, also fell on the asphalt. The president quickly scooped up the glasses before walking away.

The Bidens were returning after meeting families affected by devastating floods in eastern Kentucky on Monday and were leaving for Air Force One.

It was Biden's first official travel after testing positive for COVID-19 last month. He tested negative for the infection on Sunday and was deemed fit to safely return to public engagement and presidential trips by his doctor.

Biden had promised Kentucky flood victims that their shattered lives will be restored – a message of optimism he hopes to beam right through a divided America three months before elections that will decide the fate of his presidency.

A disaster zone where floods have killed at least 37 people might seem an odd place for optimism.

The presidential motorcade rolled past scenes of savage natural violence – trees torn to pieces, yellow school buses tossed like toys, and fragments of people's houses and belongings festooning the banks of a minor creek that had transformed into a sort of tsunami.

But after visiting victims, including one family whose mobile home had floated clean off its foundations before being wrecked up the street, the Democrat said the natural calamity was a moment to recall deep bonds.

"Everyone has an obligation to help," Biden said. "I promise you, we're staying, the federal government, along with the state and county and the city, we're staying until everybody's back to where they were. Not a joke."