[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 14 (Thursday, February 1, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S862-S863]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      GRACE SOOTHES MOTHER NATURE

 Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, last month the people of the 
Catskills region suffered some of the worst floods of their history. 
The waters swept away homes and property, roadways and bridges, 
schools, and businesses. There was injury and death. But the people 
endured with grace and courage and, as a recent editorial by Paul Smart 
in the Mountain Eagle attests, they have harnessed that same spirit to 
begin rebuilding their dreams.
  Mr. President, I ask that this editorial be printed in the Record 
following my remarks.
  The editorial follows:

              [From the Mountain Eagle, Tannersville, NY]

                          The Force of Nature

       The past week has been a wearying one for us here in the 
     Catskills. Friday saw us all battling against floodwaters. 
     Saturday morning was a time of assessment and reassessment. 
     By Sunday, clean-up had begun.
       Driving around our coverage region, which enfolds most of 
     the damaged areas, the largeness of real disaster crept up on 
     us. Snapping 

[[Page S863]]
     photos and gathering stories, we went from an unconscious comparison of 
     one township's horrors to others to an almost overbearing 
     sense of tragedy.
       The damage is everywhere. The most visible cataclysms of 
     Margaretville, Walton and the Schoharie Valley are the tip to 
     a sad iceberg. Roads and bridges were damaged in nearly every 
     township. Basements and yards and driveways, not to mention 
     whole first floors and entire homes, have been trashed by the 
     oft-forgotten force of nature. The damage totals, still being 
     added up as we go to press, are staggering.
       In the midst of all this, though, were incredible moments 
     that defined man's hope, that characterized people's 
     resilience better than any example we've encountered. 
     Everyone chipped in to help each other. Battered business 
     people and homeowners laughed at their fate, then vowed 
     recovery. Outside help started pouring in. Bitterness was 
     given no toehold amongst the destruction.
       Of course, much of this can be chalked up to the closeness 
     between invigoration and enervation. There are times when one 
     has no alternative but to look up. The call of the moment has 
     been deafening; we've had no choice but to focus on the now, 
     on the jobs at hand. It will only be later that the real pain 
     of what we've been through will hit. We must prepare for 
     then.
       We must remember that the recent floods have proven our 
     region's cohesion, at least in nature's eyes. And we must 
     remember that it has only been through our shared efforts 
     that we've come through all this. The outside world has not 
     forsaken us, just as we have not forsaken each other.
       Nature is a cruel mistress. We sometimes scoff at the ideas 
     of 100-year flood plains that rule our planning documents, 
     sometimes think that we've reached an age where our human 
     efforts can thwart all. But then matters fall out of our 
     hands. We are forced to realize where we live, what we must 
     deal with for our choices. And when we rebuild our dreams, we 
     must do so cogniscent of the tragedies that have preceded our 
     actions.
       Good times still lie ahead of us, just as they occupy our 
     memories. As humans, we know how to persevere, how to rebuild 
     and fortify. The future is always ours.
       Please let us know what we can do to help. We care for this 
     region. We know its days of glory have yet to come.
       And we bless all our angels for helping us through this 
     past week: our local officials, our emergency volunteers, our 
     neighbors and saviors. We even thank dear Mother Nature for 
     having dropped our temperatures below freezing last Friday 
     night so the waters would abate and we could get on with the 
     hard business of life.

                          ____________________