During his stop at Providence, Mr. Trump met with relatives of the 23 storm victims, as well as volunteers and emergency workers. Dressed in his presidency’s iteration of what political strategists sometimes describe as “disaster casual” — a windbreaker, showing a fraction of an open-collar shirt, and khaki pants — he posed for pictures and signed autographs, including at least one in a 12-year-old boy’s Bible.

“We couldn’t get here fast enough,” Mr. Trump said at the church. “I wanted to come the day it happened, but I spoke with the governor, and she said, ‘Just give us a little more time. We need a little more time.’”

One of the volunteers, Ada Ingram, who knew 10 of the people killed by Sunday’s tornado, later approached reporters and said the presidential visit was “a godsend” that would bond the small community. She said the crowd roared with applause after Mr. Trump signed the Bible.

“I enjoyed him coming,” said Ms. Ingram, who said she would vote again for Mr. Trump. “The situation is bad. And there are going to be people who will say, ‘Why did he come to my town.’ I don’t know why. I don’t why the hurricane happened. But there is a reason.”

The president ultimately emerged to a display of 23 white crosses, each an individual tribute to a victim of the storm, whose winds are believed to have reached 170 miles per hour. With the first lady, Melania Trump, at his side, the president moved slowly down the line of memorials before he waved to a crowd in the distance and left, ultimately bound for a weekend in Palm Beach, Fla.