[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 45 (Wednesday, April 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3235-S3236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MINNESOTA FLOODS

  Mr. GRAMS. Mr. President, I rise today to discuss my visit to 
Minnesota last week to see firsthand the floods that have ravaged my 
State, as well as North and South Dakota, and the damage left behind in 
the water's wake. For the many Minnesotans who live and work in 
counties devastated by these floods, this continues to be a very 
difficult and emotional time.
  Let me say first that President Clinton has approved the request of 
Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson to declare an additional 25 counties a 
major disaster area. That would help to bring to 46 the total number of 
counties eligible to receive Federal disaster assistance.
  As Governor Carlson said in making his request to the President, this 
assistance will help to get people back into their homes.
  The worst may not be over for many Minnesotans, however, especially 
those in the Red River Valley. Upstream on the Red River at 
Breckenridge, over 400 people were evacuated yesterday from the 
southern section of the community. It appears that the river may have 
stopped rising, and efforts will continue today to try and save the 
rest of the city.
  There is still the danger that the river might crest all at once from 
Wahpeton south of Fargo to Grand Forks on the north because of water 
created by melting snow.
  Last Thursday, I traveled with Senators Conrad and Dorgan of North 
Dakota, Senator Wellstone of Minnesota, and other members of the 
congressional delegation, along with James Lee Witt, the Director of 
the Federal Emergency Management Administration, to the cities of Ada, 
Moorhead, and many others. I traveled the next day with Vice President 
Al Gore to survey the damage in Breckenridge and elsewhere in western 
Minnesota.
  On Saturday, I visited Red Cross and emergency service centers with 
Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Joanne Benson. At each stop over those 3 
days, we witnessed widespread devastation and the strength of 
Minnesota's community spirit, as we spoke with many citizens whose 
lives have been turned upside down by the floods.
  The disastrous flooding has severely disrupted the lives of many 
Minnesotans. Dreams of enjoying warm spring weather after a brutally 
long Minnesota winter has been replaced with efforts to ensure families 
and communities are safe and that adequate food, water, and shelter is 
available.
  I am pleased that both State and Federal tax filing deadlines have 
been extended for those taxpayers living within the disaster areas.
  Later this week, I will introduce legislation modeled after a bill I 
signed into law during the Midwest floods of 1993 to help ease lending 
regulations in those disaster-declared areas as well. This will make it 
easier for the restructuring of loans and prevent unnecessary 
foreclosures on farmers and other small businesses. The flooding--and 
the snow, the ice, and the cold that made relief efforts extremely 
difficult--has been an exhausting nightmare for those who are in it, 
and it has been agonizing for the rest of the Nation to watch. The 
Minnesotans I met with at the flood sites we traveled to have been 
tested time and time again.
  The floods of 1997 are creating an agricultural disaster as well. 
While hard numbers do not exist yet, more than 2 million acres of 
Minnesota cropland are now under water, affecting thousands of farms, 
and all of Wilkin County's 400,000 acres of cropland are flooded. In 
Clay County, it is 200,000 acres under water.
  It has been estimated that farmers who already lost more than $100 
million due to the blizzards that caused the floods could now have 
flood losses totaling over $1 billion.
  Dairy farmers have been hit especially hard, forcing them to dump 
hundreds of thousands of pounds of milk because milk trucks could not 
reach them. The biggest problem has been getting out to the farms that 
are surrounded by water.
  Spring planting, which is normally just 2 weeks away, will be a 
problem in parts of southern Minnesota. Along the Red River Valley, 
more than 40 percent of the sugar beet crop is normally planted by the 
end of April. No one will be planting by then this year.
  According to the National Weather Service, flood warnings remain in 
effect until April 20 along the Mississippi from St. Paul to Red Wing, 
as well as for portions of the St. Croix and the Minnesota rivers.
  Red Cross volunteers have begun to close emergency shelters and are 
now distributing flood cleanup kits. By the end of last week, the Red 
Cross had served more than 55,000 meals to sandbaggers and those people 
in shelters.
  While tough times are still ahead, I was moved by Minnesotans coming 
together for the common goal of protecting and cleaning up their 
communities.
  In Ada, people are tense, weary from days of flood relief work, and 
still shaken by their losses. For those lucky enough to remain in their 
homes, the loss of heat and electricity were devastating in the harsh, 
winter-like conditions.
  You may have read the story of Ada residents Warren and Colleen 
Goltz. Although the Goltzes lost electricity as water in a nearby 
drainage ditch began to rise, they decided to stay in their house. Four 
feet of water seeped into the basement, ruining many of their 
possessions.
  They burned old newspapers in the fireplace to keep warm, but the 
temperature fell to 38 degrees. Finally, a friend arrived with a 
generator, another dropped off firewood, and another opened his house 
so they could use the phone.
  As Rev. Earl Schmidt of the Zion Lutheran Church of Ada said, ``It's 
going to make us much more caring for each other. I hope it makes us 
look to God more, obviously. And it's given us a quick lesson in 
survival.''
  We have been inspired once again by people of Minnesota, who have 
rallied together for their communities as they always do when tragedy 
strikes. It is during critical times such as these that we finally 
understand the importance of neighbor helping neighbor.
  At a time when we rarely make the effort to get to know and 
appreciate our neighbors, Minnesotans in a great many of our 
communities have formed lasting bonds over this past week and found 
their civic spirit had been restored.
  Mr. President, I was equally impressed with the efforts of 
Minnesota's

[[Page S3236]]

young people. All too often we hear and read about young people who are 
not responsible, who do not care about their community.
  Last week, I witnessed countless occasions when young and old worked 
together, filling and hauling sandbags, feeding those who had lost 
their homes, and finding them shelter. They set a remarkable example 
for the rest of the Nation.
  Much work has been done, but the most difficult work is yet to be 
accomplished, and that will be the cleanup that takes place over the 
next few months, after the news crews have moved on, the TV cameras 
have been hauled away, and the spotlight has shifted to another part of 
the country.
  I will be working with the Governor's office and with local officials 
to ensure that available Federal assistance will be distributed to 
those counties that so desperately need it.
  Mr. President, last week I witnessed neighbor helping neighbor and 
volunteers working side by side to help save their communities. It is 
this kind of determination that will lead people through these 
difficult times, as we deal with what one Minnesotan described as ``a 
flood frozen in place.''
  Thank you very much, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. DORGAN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, we have reserved an hour, I believe, in 
morning business. Is that correct?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, a number of my colleagues will be on the 
floor presently. I would like to begin the hour and will be yielding 
time to some of my colleagues. But I do want to follow, in the first 5 
minutes or so, the remarks of the Senator from Minnesota, Senator 
Grams, on the issue of flooding.
  We intend, during this hour, to talk about the chemical weapons 
treaty and the critical vote that will be coming up on that in the 
Senate next week on that issue. I will get to that.

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