[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 43 (Monday, April 14, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3068-S3069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE DISASTER IN NORTH DAKOTA

  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, just for the information of my colleague, 
Senator Breaux is here. I have 20 minutes allocated. I will not take 20 
minutes. I hope to be closer to 10 minutes. So the Senator from 
Louisiana will have an opportunity as well.
  Mr. President, I have just returned from another trip to my home 
State of North Dakota to see firsthand the developing slow-motion 
disaster that is occurring there. I call it a slow-motion disaster, Mr. 
President, because it is not one of those things that happens and then 
is over with. We have a slow-motion disaster. We have had the worst 
winter on record in North Dakota. Then we were hit at the end by the 
most powerful winter storm in 50 years, on top of the greatest flood 
threat in 150 years.
  Mr. President, you can imagine, people of my State are beginning to 
wonder what happened, what could have led to a series of events as 
extreme as these. I don't think anyone has the answer at this point. We 
are truly coping with an unprecedented series of disasters. We have 
just had a visit from the Vice President of the United States, Vice 
President Gore, the Secretary of Transportation, Rodney Slater, and the 
head of FEMA, James Lee Witt, all in the State of North Dakota last 
Thursday and Friday. We deeply appreciated the Federal response. We got 
a Presidentially declared major disaster and we got it in very short 
order. We have also received unprecedented assistance from the Corps of 
Engineers, in terms of advanced measures, to hold down the catastrophe 
that could have occurred without the really heroic efforts by the Corps 
of Engineers, by FEMA, and by local agencies, local leadership and, of 
course, the extraordinary efforts of volunteers.
  We had people go 300 miles, from western North Dakota to eastern 
North Dakota, to help sandbag because they knew we were faced with an 
imminent disaster in eastern North Dakota. My own cousin, a professor 
at the University of Wisconsin, heard that Fargo, ND, was about to 
flood and they needed sandbaggers. He drove all night from Madison and 
arrived at 3 in the morning and sandbagged from the time he got there 
all day and into the next evening. That is the kind of attitude North 
Dakota has brought to this disaster.
  I tell you, out of all this, the thing I am most proud of is the 
response of the people of our State, which has truly been 
extraordinary. Not only have all of the Federal agencies and State 
agencies pulled together, along with the volunteers, literally 
thousands of them across the State that helped out, but we also want to 
thank the Red Cross for their outstanding assistance across North 
Dakota. We should also thank all of the other agencies. The mental 
health hotline tells me they are taking a dramatically increased level 
of calls.
  I have been asked, ``What did you see out there, Senator Conrad?'' 
This picture shows the power lines that are down. You can see that 
power pole after power pole snapped. They went down like tinker toys. 
We had this massive ice storm, after we already had 100 inches of snow 
in North Dakota, the heaviest snowfall we have ever experienced. Then 
we get this storm that dumped another 2 feet in parts of North Dakota. 
It was combined with ice. Ice formed on the lines, and there were 70-
mile-an-hour winds that came through. Those winds just took down these 
structures all across North Dakota. Over 4,000 power poles were taken 
down.
  Mr. President, it didn't end there. This is a picture of one of the 
most stunning events that occurred during this disaster. This is one of 
the largest structures in North America. This is a 2,000-foot 
television tower for KXJB television; it all went down, all 2,000 feet. 
You can see that this structure is laid out just as if somebody came 
and knocked it over and laid it out perfectly across the snow. That, of 
course, took a lot of television stations and radio stations off the 
air in the midst of this crisis. So not only did you have horrible 
weather, you also had a communications problem.
  Mr. President, this picture shows a farmer on his tractor. As you can 
see, these are his silos in the back. His tractor is up to its wheel 
rims in water. He is just getting across the farm trying to move into a 
position to rescue grain that would otherwise be destroyed by the 
rising flood waters.
  Mr. President, we have another chart that tells the extent of this 
disaster. We had 80,000 homes without power. From a week ago Saturday, 
on into the week, many homes were not restored until last Friday. This 
is in the midst of zero temperatures with 40-degree-below-zero wind 
chill factors, people without heat--80,000 people without power. There 
were over 600 people at emergency shelters, and that is as of Friday. 
Many more than that were in shelters during the peak. And 4,000 power 
poles were destroyed. Over 9\1/2\ feet of snow fell since November. 
That really is an extraordinary set of circumstances, with not only the 
most snowfall we have ever experienced, but they had the most powerful 
winter storm in 50 years on top of the greatest flood threat in 150 
years.
  The Red River to the north--I hear some of the national news media 
talking about it as though it flows south. Of course, anyone that knows 
geography knows the Red River flows north. The Red River has exceeded 
the highest flood levels ever in four different locations. In the 
northern part of the State, it is still rising. We have had the crest 
in the southern part of the State, although we expect the second crest 
to come later when this snow that has just fallen melts. Nonetheless, 
the peak crest has now hit the southern part of the State and is moving 
north. In the north, the river is still rising.
  The livestock losses were running 60 percent above normal before this 
latest storm hit. Because of the very severe weather conditions we have 
had, we have had tens of thousands of cattle killed across the State of 
North Dakota. In fact, this shows losses of more than 70,000. As of 
this morning, I have been notified that cattle losses, they now 
believe, are running well over 100,000 in the State of North Dakota. 
The occupant of the chair, who is from the neighboring State of 
Wyoming, understands what cattle losses mean in a State like ours. I 
think even the occupant of the chair would find it hard to fully 
appreciate the loss of 100,000 head. That is a tremendous economic blow 
to the State of North Dakota. As the occupant of the Chair knows well, 
we have been hurt by very low cattle prices as it is, and that industry 
is certainly struggling. To have piled on top a 100,000 loss of cattle 
across the State--in fact, they tell us 112,000 head is perhaps the 
best estimate. But that is an enormous economic blow to the State of 
North Dakota.
  Mr. President, I have come here this morning in order to share these 
circumstances with my colleagues so that they can appreciate and 
understand what is happening across the State. I can tell you that 
resilient North Dakotans continue to battle their disaster. In many 
places it is an uphill battle. But North Dakota has a can do attitude, 
and--as I saw in town after town as I traveled across the State on 
Thursday and Friday, the people are recovering. They understand what is 
at stake.
  Mr. President, we very much appreciate the Federal assistance that 
the

[[Page S3069]]

President has called for with his disaster declaration.
  Again, we want to thank the North Dakota National Guard, the Federal 
Emergency Management Agency, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Let 
me just say that the Corps of Engineers is being praised from one end 
of the State to the other by local officials who are saying this was 
the best prepared they have ever been for flooding disaster. That is a 
good thing because this is the worst flooding that we have seen in the 
history of North Dakota.
  I also again would like to thank the Red Cross, the Salvation Army, 
the church organizations, and volunteer organizations that have pitched 
in. The response, as one of the disaster coordinators told me, has just 
been superb. It has been everything you could possibly ask for.
  So we extend our appreciation to all of those who pitched in.
  I also want to conclude by saying that I very much appreciate what my 
colleagues have told me--that they will stand up and be supportive 
during this time of need. We certainly have attempted to do that when 
they were in a disaster situation. And I very much appreciate the words 
of support that we have received from literally dozens of our 
colleagues.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  Mr. BREAUX addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, I yield myself 20 minutes under the time 
allocated to the distinguished Democratic leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. BREAUX. Mr. President, let me commend Kent Conrad for his good 
remarks on the situation in his State and in that part of the country, 
and also my part of the country. There is no doubt about it because as 
the snow begins to melt eventually it finds its way down the 
Mississippi River and causes problems for us. We sympathize with what 
is going on in his area, and certainly we are willing to participate 
and help as well.
  So I commend him for his comments on the floor of the Senate.

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