[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 50 (Thursday, April 24, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H1865-H1870]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
                        RED RIVER VALLEY FLOODS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mica). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 7, 1997, the gentleman from North Dakota [Mr. 
Pomeroy] is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority 
leader.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, my remarks tonight have nothing to do with 
political party or political ideology. In fact it has rather to do with 
something much more basic than that, disaster of an unprecedented 
character that has inundated the second largest city in the State that 
I represent, the State of North Dakota, and caused hundreds of millions 
of dollars of damage up and down the Red River in light of the 
disastrous floods we continue to experience. During the next few 
minutes I want to brief my colleagues about what brought this about, 
what weather circumstances were out there that caused

[[Page H1866]]

flooding of this unprecedented character.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to tell my colleagues of the preparations made to 
fight the flood, because I think it is important that they understand 
we did not just sit and give way to the river. In fact, this is only 
the final stages of what had been a heroic several-week period of 
frantic effort to beat these waters back. I want to tell you, sadly, 
about how the battle for Grand Forks was lost and how the city has now 
been totally inundated and the consequences of it. I want to bring you 
up to date in terms of how people are coping with this disaster and 
assess finally where we go from here.
  First, what brought all this about? Well, this has been one winter 
for the books in North Dakota. We are used to tough weather, we pride 
ourselves on it, but this year we had an unbelievable series of first 
occurrences, more snowfall than ever, worse blizzards than ever, a 50-
year storm on April 8, only now not quite 3 weeks ago, dumping more 
snow on already land that was just buried in snow. We had the first 
Presidential disaster declaration issued statewide for a snow 
emergency.
  Now very unusual to have a snow emergency, but in this circumstance 
we literally could not deal with the volumes of snow on our roads that 
were impeding access, critical access, to medical facilities and the 
like for the citizens of North Dakota, as you know many scattered about 
on the farms and remote smaller towns across the State. We needed more 
help in keeping our access to the facilities, and that is why as we 
coped with the snow, the Presidential declaration issued statewide had 
become acquired.
  I think that we would have been OK but for the blizzard of nearly 3 
weeks ago. The meteorologist tells us that this storm alone was a 50-
year event, worst storm in 50 years.
  So you take a situation where the land has been saturated with 
wetfall, covered with more snow than we have ever had in the history of 
recording snowfall in North Dakota, and add to it the worst blizzard in 
50 years, and you had all the elements for a true disaster.
  As the snow started to melt, we began to see in the rural areas just 
what we were up against. This picture shows what we have seen across an 
awful lot of rural acreage in North Dakota, standing water of flooding 
proportion and the small tributaries which carried it to the major 
river arteries also flooding. As the floodwater went from the rural 
reaches to the larger rivers, the flooding accelerated.
  We began with the State really following the blizzard of nearly 3 
weeks ago, the April 6 blizzard, in a virtual deep freeze. In fact we 
had some tragic loss of life due to exposure the second week in April 
as the State coped with freezing temperatures and power outages. As the 
weather warmed up, at last, and all the snow melted, the water really 
started to flood.
  Now we thought we were ready for the floods that we knew were to 
come. The Weather Service had given us early forecasts predicting 
severe flooding and giving us specific numbers that allowed the Corps 
of Engineers to begin the work on the dikes for these cities literally 
weeks earlier than had ever been attempted before. By the time we came 
into the month of April, millions of dollars had been spent elevating 
the levees and getting them ready for the flood water that we knew was 
to come.
  General Furman, the head of civil works for the Army Corps of 
Engineers, surveyed the preparations and indicated that he thought this 
represented the very best advanced measure work the Corps of Engineers 
had ever attempted, the best effort to stop cities from flooding 
represented in weeks of frantic activity, activity including the 
movement of massive amounts of clay and dirt in earthen levees at the 
city-wide level and then, as individual homeowners prepared, literally 
millions of sandbags, an estimated 6 million placed in Grand Forks 
alone, put in place bag by bag by bag, with the countless hours of 
hundreds and then thousands of volunteers.
  The floods impacted in particular the Red River Valley and caused us 
the most severe flooding that we have had to deal with, and the Red 
River is somewhat unique in North Dakota; it flows north. This is an 
unfortunate character for a river in the north country because you take 
water in the south and you send it into ice in the north before it is 
melted, frequently resulting in ice jams and exacerbating the flooding 
problem. All up the Red River Valley the cities have had problems; 
Wahpeton having their crest occur literally in the height of that April 
6 and 7 blizzard, people enduring ice and snow to place urgently needed 
sandbags in dikes that were just about to give way. Wahpeton fared 
relatively well through the flooding crests that they sustained. 
Unfortunately, their sister city, Breckenridge, MN, did not fare as 
well, and there have been hundreds of homes flooded in that city.
  North flows the river. As the problem eases in Wahpeton, the problem 
grows for Fargo and Moorhead. Frantic efforts have saved most of those 
cities, although dozens of homes have been lost in that fight as rural 
houses could not be protected and as urban ones in some neighborhoods 
gave way. Urgently constructed secondary dikes prevented much greater 
flooding in that area.
  Coming now to Grand Forks, certainly the greatest loss we have 
sustained in the flooding, the river running now at 54 feet. That is 
over a flood stage of 28 feet and over a normal elevation for that 
river of 16 feet. A river that on a summer day is 16 feet deep is 54 
feet deep as it rampages through the neighborhoods of Grand Forks 
tonight. This is several feet above the forecast. In fact, it is 
entirely possible that inundation would not have occurred had we 
prepared for a height of this magnitude. It is by a factor of several 
feet the highest flood ever reported in Grand Forks, ND, and they did 
not have the dikes constructed to the level to deal with it. Frantic 
and truly heroic efforts made in the final hours of the fight to get 
the levees up with the rapidly increasing height to the river 
unfortunately were unsuccessful.
  The general river flows in Grand Forks normally run at about 5,000 
cubic feet per second which is how they measure river flows. The water 
flowing by Grand Forks today is 110,000 cubic feet per second, 22 times 
the normal rate of flow, which gives you a very good idea about the 
amount of water in the Red River system that is funneling by Grand 
Forks and inundating that city and threatening two cities to the north, 
Drayton and Pembina, as the river crests continue to work their way 
north.

  Unfortunately the battle for Grand Forks, as anyone knows who has 
seen the television footage, was lost. It is a very flat city and the 
dikes were not capable of being lifted to the final elevations the 
floodwater required. As the dikes gave way and the streets in the 
lowest lying parts of town began to be inundated, they flooded also the 
city's storm sewer system. A storm sewer system very efficiently takes 
runoff water from city streets to the river when the river is at its 
normal elevation, but in this flat city when the river is at an 
elevation that is higher than the city streets, it just as efficiently 
transfers the water from the river throughout the neighborhoods. That 
is why only 1 in 10 of the flood victims in North Dakota had flood 
insurance. The great majority was well outside the 100-year flood 
plain, but water came charging through the storm sewers and bubbling up 
through the manhole covers on every corner slowly but surely inundated 
virtually 90 percent of the city of Grand Forks.
  There were some very dangerous periods during the loss of the city of 
Grand Forks. There were evacuations occurring in the dead of night, 
people forced to leave their homes with the possessions that they had 
on their backs in advance of the flooding waters. Others had slightly 
more time.
  I watched the Red River High School serve as an evacuation center, 
and I will tell you it looked something like you might see out of a war 
zone. People, evacuees from the city I know so well coming flooding 
into the school and being routed on to schoolbuses and sent to the 
shelter at the Grand Forks Air Force Base, all keeping them out of 
harm's way and the ever-rising waters.
  The hospital for the city that had 200 patients, many of them 
critically ill and in intensive care, had to be evacuated as their 
water system became polluted. People were med-evac'd to hospitals 
throughout North Dakota and Minnesota. Fortunately all of that transfer 
occurred with no loss of life. All of the evacuations occurred with no 
loss of life.

[[Page H1867]]

  The University of North Dakota, the largest university in North 
Dakota, a school of 11,000 forced 3 weeks before the end of the 
semester to just shut it down. The president of that university 
indicated to the professors: Give your students the grades they have 
earned to date or give them incompletes, but we are done with the 
semester, there will be no commencement, school is out, school is over, 
get your students out of town.
  All of this occurred as the water rose, and the next two charts I 
would show you go to show you the dimensions, the depths of the water 
that especially the lower lying parts of town had to contend with, yet 
again more than 90 percent of the town ended up being inundated.
  This is a home that has been in the water a day or two, and as you 
can see it is literally floating. Houses will float, and so these 
houses, a number of the houses, will be totally wrecked as they floated 
off their foundations, as the one in the picture illustrates.
  This shows a line of cars, people forced to leave their houses so 
quickly they could not even get their vehicles, and those vehicles have 
been bobbing like toy cars and trucks on the streets as the water has 
so completely inundated them, as you can see.
  Just when we thought it could not get any worse it got worse. A fire 
broke out that ultimately claimed 11 of the major buildings in the 
downtown intersection. This picture shows the first building to go into 
flame. They believe the cause of it was broken gas pipes. I talked to a 
fireman that was down fighting the fire, and he says, you know it is 
ironic, but a fireman's best friend is water. Water is a critical 
element we use to control fire. And yet we could not fight this fire 
because there was too much water, too much water on the street to get 
our equipment down, and they literally dove under water trying to 
locate hydrants to hook up their hose, and when they finally did get 
their equipment moved in rough proximity to the fire, got their hoses 
hooked up to the hydrants, the city's water system had been so badly 
damaged that there was no pressure for the water to fight the fire. 
Ultimately it was fought by air, Forest Service planes dropping a fire 
retardant on it and a Coast Guard helicopter using a device that was 
capable of bringing river water over the flame ultimately controlled it 
again after 11 buildings were lost, buildings including the Grand Forks 
Herald, the city's newspaper, one of the State's largest newspapers as 
well as a major bank and other major commercial buildings in downtown.
  The devastating aftermath is revealed in the next two pictures I 
have. You have a city that one person called it a mixture between 
Venice with the water and Berlin with the charred remnants of 
buildings. This is the scene today, a scene that has been widely 
reported in newspapers across the country and across the world 
reflecting the extent of the devastation that Grand Forks, ND has had 
to cope with.

                              {time}  1815

  The loss is as comprehensive as it is horrific. I mean, this is a 
God-awful scene, but just as God-awful is the fact that this disaster 
has touched virtually everyone in the community. I was there last 
weekend, and for an example, on a boat ride, as we toured the 
devastated downtown, the photographer taking pictures said, as we 
passed the newspaper, I might get a little emotional here. I asked him 
why in particular. He had lost 25 years of negatives in the fire at the 
Grand Forks Herald, all of his life's work reflected in his negatives, 
all of them torched and left without one in that fire.
  Later that afternoon I was on a street assessment looking at areas of 
town that had not yet been evacuated and the determination being made 
whether or not they needed to be evacuated. The policeman that was with 
me on that assessment had already lost his home, and the city 
attorney's home was subject to imminent threat and has now also been 
inundated. The mayor of Grand Forks, Mayor Pat Owens, a woman who has 
shown such tremendous character and courage in the face of this 
disaster had, all the while she maintained her public leadership, faced 
deep personal challenge. She had a 92-year-old father that she could 
not get to leave his house even though he was being flooded. He finally 
agreed to leave when necessary and agreed to take his dogs along. Her 
own house, aside from worrying about her father, was also lost.
  When I flew out Monday morning from Grand Forks, the people at the 
Northwest Airlines ticket desk were unshaven and unshowered, not 
surprising, given the fact that there is no water in Grand Forks. They 
indicated that to a person, the people at the counter had each lost 
their homes. Their families had been evacuated. But they said it could 
be worse, we still have employment.
  The telephone company is the only operating business in Grand Forks 
today, and it is operating because it is completely sandbagged. Crews 
are working around the clock pumping out water and actually using blow 
dryers to keep the cables dry. Boats bring in supplies to maintain the 
24-hour shift.
  The Grand Forks Herald, I believe, is a real example of just the 
courage of this community in coping with the disaster.
  Mr. Speaker, the city is presently publishing in a school north of 
town. The paper is being printed in St. Paul and flown back for 
distribution in Grand Forks free of charge so that people can track the 
information, and there is no advertising revenue in these newspapers 
supporting this city effort.
  This column, ``The Day That Changed Everything,'' was literally 
written by the editor as the newspaper building burned and destroyed 
completely that newspaper. The community, being desperate for news, 
continues to benefit from the heroic efforts of the Grand Forks Herald 
and its staff, and I really salute them for their effort.
  Mr. Speaker, the community response to this disaster has really been 
overwhelming. The Grand Forks Air Force Base, the major Air Force base 
13 miles out of town, has brought resources to bear that have been 
critical to our getting through this. They took a massive three-bay 
hangar and turned it over as an evacuation center, housing up to 2,500 
evacuees on cots; not very comfortable cots I know, because I slept on 
one Saturday and Sunday night in that shelter. But the hospitality, the 
friendliness, the support of encouragement provided by the men and 
women of the Air Force working at that base was something to behold. 
They have done a tremendous service and shown what an essential part of 
our community they truly are.
  Families throughout the region, both in North Dakota and the 
Minnesota side, have phoned into radio stations with the most 
unbelievable offers you have ever heard on the air: We have a home. We 
have room, we have a spare room, we will take a family. We have a 
finished basement. We will offer to house a family for the duration, 
until they can get back into their home.
  Can you imagine in some of the areas of this country people turning 
their homes open to total strangers for a period of time that is 
anything but certain, but could literally run weeks, if not more than a 
month? Well, that is what happened in great number in North Dakota. As 
a result, the number of people having to spend the entire duration of 
the evacuation period in that Air Force base has now dropped to under 
300 as people find more comfortable shelter with friends, relatives, or 
these wonderful volunteers taking total strangers into their homes and 
into their families.
  The mayor, I believe, put in perspective what has happened to Grand 
Forks. She said, we have suffered a disaster. Our hearts are broken, 
but we will get through this. It could be worse. Property, as difficult 
as it is to lose precious, lifelong possessions, can be replaced, homes 
can be rebuilt. But to date, we have come through this disaster without 
a single loss of life, and life is truly irreplaceable. That record 
held and held again today in Grand Forks, and let us all hope and pray 
that that continues to be the case, and we will avoid the ultimate 
disaster, loss of life, in this flood.
  Well, where do we go from here? I will tell my colleagues where we 
go. We pull together and we build back. The local support has, as I 
mentioned, been absolutely amazing. And what North Dakotans have seen I 
think to their amazement over the last several days is the extent of 
national support

[[Page H1868]]

that has been extended. There are innumerable stories I could tell my 
colleagues, corporate and individuals from across the country reaching 
out and assisting. AT&T put free phone lines immediately into that 
shelter, for example. Life USA Today Insurance Co. called me in my 
office yesterday and said, how can we help? Can we send cash, can we 
send people up and help clean out? Anything we can do, let us know. The 
AFL-CIO has contacted me and said, we want to help. We have people that 
lost everything they have. Do you have ways you could suggest we can 
help? Money or trade skills as we build back?
  I think, making it real personal, something happened in my office 
this morning that took me by surprise and was incredibly special to me. 
I saw a fellow I had not seen before, a boy with him. I figured maybe 
they were from North Dakota visiting the Nation's Capital. But no, they 
are people that live in the area, and the 7-year-old wrote this note 
that he wanted me to share with the people of Grand Forks. To the 
children of Grand Forks:

       My family and I survived Hurricane Andrew 5 years ago in 
     Florida, and I know that all of you will triumph over these 
     floods of 1997. Accept these small gifts, and good luck to 
     all of you. Peter Boyce, 7 years old, Jamie Elementary 
     School.

  Well, Peter, his father went on to explain, insisted that they pull 
together some bottled water, took the canned goods they could spare, 
and they brought them up, two boxes full. And I am under instruction 
from Peter Boyce to get those to the children of Grand Forks.
  That is just a perfect example of how people have reached out. There 
are 1-800 numbers established, which I do not believe protocol allows 
me to share with you on the floor. But the Red Cross has an 800 number, 
and in addition there is a 1-800 number set up through FEMA, the 
Federal Emergency Management Agency. And any of my colleagues that 
might like to individually provide that kind of support demonstrated by 
the gesture of Peter Boyce, I would urge you to contact those numbers.

  In spite of how touched we are with this national outpouring and the 
charitable outreach of thousands of Americans across the country, a 
number that I believe is going to even grow larger, we need the help of 
the Federal Government. I will tell my colleagues why we need the help 
of the Federal Government. It is kind of illustrated by a true story 
that occurred as the dikes were giving way. An engineer for the Corps 
of Engineers, a very talented woman engineer that had been there for 
all of the building of the dikes, she was frantically looking at her 
topography maps, looking for a secondary line of defense against the 
flooding waters. And she was crying and she said, there is no high 
ground, there is no high ground.
  Well, unfortunately, that is the case in a figurative way with the 
status of the city of Grand Forks right now. There was not a part of 
the community left untouched, nothing to build upon. The financial 
community, devastated. The university, sent home. The business 
community, under water and then aflame. We are going to have to 
completely rebuild this community, and it is going to take all of our 
help and all of our work.
  There have been some wonderful things that have occurred this week. 
The President came to Grand Forks, ND, and if my colleagues could only 
have seen what he did for the morale of the people spending the nights 
in the shelter. He told them: You are not in this alone. We are 
standing with you. And it meant an awful lot.
  The President returned and within 1 day of his return sent to the 
Congress an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill 
requesting an additional $300 million for relief in the Grand Forks 
area. The House Committee on Appropriations marked up this morning, a 
markup that convened 6 days after the dikes breached. They indicated 
that they also wanted to help and passed $210 million of relief on the 
$488 million that was in the additional relief package, bringing the 
total, not just for Grand Forks, but for North Dakota, Minnesota, and 
South Dakota, to $698 million. The chairman said it right when he 
announced to his committee members this morning: This is not enough. 
More will be required, but we are still assessing the damages, and this 
is a place to start.
  Disasters know no partisan lines, and I am very pleased to announce 
on the floor this evening that Speaker Gingrich will be visiting Grand 
Forks, ND, tomorrow, late afternoon, touring the devastation. The 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the House majority leader, a North 
Dakota native himself, will be touring the area on Monday, all to learn 
more about the extent of the devastation we have experienced and to be 
prepared to help.
  Ultimately, the Federal resources will be a critical part of our 
rebuilding. But even more critical than that and more fundamental than 
that is the tough character, the tough and resilient character and the 
optimism in the face of all odds of the people of North Dakota.
  I would close with my comments before yielding briefly to the 
gentleman from South Dakota [Mr. Thune] who in his State also has 
suffered a disaster, and he will tell you about it. But I want to close 
with this story I think reflecting the resilient character of the 
people of North Dakota.
  As I mentioned earlier, I spent Saturday and Sunday night with the 
evacuees in that Air Force hangar. On Monday morning as I got up to go 
to the airport, it was about 5:30 in the morning, and in a hangar full 
of more than 2,000 people you are always going to have some people 
milling about. Even that early hour I noticed two women about 70 years 
old walking around. I went to visit with them a little. I was amazed at 
how good they looked. Their hair was all fixed, they were presenting 
themselves very, very well, especially given the fact that they were 
staying in a hangar and it was 5:30 in the morning. Out of my surprise 
I said, you look great. And one woman replied: Well, of course; some of 
these soldiers are really good-looking.
  I think that underscores the unquenchable optimism of the people of 
North Dakota, and with the help of the Federal Government and with the 
help and prayers of the American people, we will be back and we will be 
back bigger and better than ever.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend and colleague, a freshman Member 
who distinguishes himself with his conscientious service to his State 
of South Dakota, Mr. Thune.
  Mr. THUNE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend and colleague 
from North Dakota, Mr. Pomeroy. I would like to echo many of the 
sentiments that he has just expressed, because I too have seen what he 
has seen firsthand. I had the opportunity earlier this week to view the 
damage in Grand Forks, ND, and it truly looks like a war zone. It is a 
city that has been utterly decimated. As we flew over it and saw that 
the entire area was just engulfed and consumed in water and the burned-
out buildings, it looked like a scene from a World War II movie.

                              {time}  1830

  They have a tremendous challenge ahead of them, and it is one that is 
going to take all of us working together to see that we get North 
Dakota and South Dakota back on their feet.
  I never thought that I would be saying after the winter and spring we 
have gone through in South Dakota that we are fortunate, but in this 
particular case, we are. After having seen what North Dakota is going 
through, some of our State's problems do not seem quite as big as they 
once did.
  Nevertheless, we have had what has been an unprecedented weather 
circumstance in our State. Conditions this year truly are historic in 
the history of the Dakotas. I, too, represent an entire State, like my 
neighbor to the north, and we are very geographically isolated. We are 
large States. We are truly accustomed and used to having adverse 
weather, tough circumstances and conditions to deal with. Yet, this 
year I think has tested that beyond the limits.
  I recall an incident not too long ago, just recently in my State of 
South Dakota, the city of Watertown, where people were out sandbagging 
in 30-below wind chills and 60-mile-an-hour winds. That is the kind of 
season that we have had to contend with.
  It is heart-wrenching when you see the stories and witness firsthand 
the people who have been torn from their homes. My friend, the 
gentleman from North Dakota, as he mentioned, has spent some time in 
the relief center

[[Page H1869]]

there, and had an opportunity to see again firsthand what people are 
going through and enduring, the effect, the toll it takes on families.
  A few weeks back my wife and I as well had an opportunity to spend 
some time in the Red Cross Emergency Relief Center in Watertown, SD, 
and it really is one of those things that you have to experience and 
see firsthand to have an appreciation for what these people are going 
through.
  I have talked with friends in my State who, as a result of April 
blizzards, have experienced enormous losses of livestock. It was bad 
enough during the blizzards during the winter, but then we got a late 
spring blizzard during calving season. I talked with one friend who has 
lost 50 calves in calving season, another who has lost 20.
  I think it is very important to note that for those of us who live in 
States like the Dakotas, that is our livelihood. We have an incredible 
challenge ahead of us to rebuild and to start to recover. Our economies 
are so dependent upon agriculture, and the cattle losses that we have 
experienced and much of the crop damage that is going to be caused as a 
result of not being able to get in the fields and plant, we are going 
to have a very, I think, difficult task ahead of us. We are going to 
need help.
  That is why it is so important that we work together. We appreciate 
very much the response we have seen from those at the Federal level, 
the President visiting North Dakota this last week, and again, the 
Speaker coming out tomorrow to see North Dakota. The various Federal 
agencies have responded in a very quick and immediate way, and we want 
to credit them for the help they have given, and look to them again for 
assistance.
  I think, again, the thing that I would note from all this, and we 
have seen an historic response, I think, from the Federal Government, 
we have also witnessed incredible examples of people working together. 
We have seen tremendous leadership at the local level; the mayor of 
Grand Forks, the mayor of Watertown, who have stepped up and led. Also 
our Governors in the States have helped take precautions so we have not 
lost lives.
  We are very blessed, I think, not to have lost lives in this. But 
there was an incredible, tremendous toll on property, people putting 
their lives back together. But people have come together and worked the 
very best in the human spirit, we have witnessed that firsthand. It 
really speaks well I think to the pioneer, frontier spirit that the 
people in our State have. Their spirits have been bent but they have 
not been broken, and we will rebound. We will get back on our feet.
  I can recall, again, going back in our history in 1972 with the flood 
in Rapid City that decimated the entire city, and the rebuilding effort 
that has been going forward there. It is now an economic wonder. It has 
become a great model for cities around the country. The economy is 
performing well. So Grand Forks I think as well will come back, but it 
will be a tribute to the leadership that they have there, and again, to 
the will and spirit of the people in that community and throughout our 
entire State.
  It is a work in progress. We have much that remains to be done. We 
are very appreciative of the great effort that has been put forward by 
the administration, the various Federal agencies, our State 
governments, our local governments, and individuals who have stepped up 
and been willing to make the sacrifices that are necessary to help our 
States and some of these communities get back on their feet.
  I look forward to working with my colleague, the gentleman from North 
Dakota, and other members of our delegation in our respective States, 
and Minnesota as well, and in the Senate, and working with our 
Governors and the various Federal agencies and through the 
appropriations process to bring the type of relief and assistance that 
is necessary.
  I think we all realize these are difficult times fiscally, and we 
have to do these things in a very responsible way. Yet, we also have to 
recognize that these are truly conditions that have put people in a 
position where there are things they can do, but others that are just 
beyond their control. We are going to have to step in and help.
  I appreciate my friend, the gentleman from North Dakota, for yielding 
to me.
  Mr. POMEROY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman 
for his remarks.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a floor that sees an awful lot of tough, 
partisan debate. I think it is very important that our colleagues see 
tonight that when it really matters, when it is really on the line, 
like it is for the people that we represent in the context of this 
disaster, this is a body that can, in a very bipartisan way, step up to 
the plate and reflect, really, what the American people are thinking, a 
desire to provide help for people who need help.
  Mr. Speaker, there is another North Dakota native in this House. I 
mentioned earlier that the majority leader is a native of North Dakota. 
So is the gentleman from Minnesota, Jim Ramstad, who very capably 
represents Minnesota and the Minneapolis area, specifically.
  He has been absolutely more genuine and more sincere in his offer of 
support, just as sincere as he could be. I appreciate all he has done 
for us already, and look forward to his continued help as we try to get 
the disaster assistance put into place.
  Mr. RAMSTAD. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. I 
also want to thank my friend, the gentleman from North Dakota, Earl 
Pomeroy, and recognize his efforts; the gentleman from 
Minnesota, Collin Peterson, who represents the Seventh District; our 
colleague, the gentleman from South Dakota, John Thune; the gentleman 
from Minnesota, Gil Gutknecht, who is from southern Minnesota. For you 
people, your districts have been most directly impacted by the horrible 
floods of 1997, and they all have represented their people so well at 
the time of their greatest need.

  I also have never been more proud of the people I represent in the 
Twin Cities suburban Third District. They have also been there, and 
they are there, they are going to remain there in support of our 
friends in North Dakota and South Dakota.
  Last weekend there were sandbagging operations around the clock at a 
correctional facility in Hennepin County there, with inmates working 
hand in hand with high school students, and 500 people from the Mormon 
Church and other churches; volunteers coming out to help sandbag and 
send the sandbags up north; food banks, many food banks helping. There 
is one I am familiar with, Lake Country Food Bank, Hy Rosen, the 
executive director. Right now as we speak, I talked to him earlier 
today, they are loading eight or nine semis of dry food to send up to 
people in need;
  The churches, sending choirs to cheer up the people in these flood-
devastated areas;
  The schools, young schoolchildren, trying to cheer up other young 
people who have been so devastated;
  Families pitching in, corporations.
  My colleague, the gentleman from South Dakota, mentioned several 
corporations. Northwest Airlines offered free transportation to get 
emergency supplies up. The State bar association, I know the 16 law 
firms, major firms in Grand Forks, were wiped out, 8 by the fire, 8 by 
the flood; everything destroyed, all their books, records, wiped out. 
Cheryl Ramstad Voss, who happens to be my sister and president-elect of 
the State bar, she has assembled a group tomorrow in the afternoon of 
the 50 big law firms in the Twin Cities to get together and help jump 
start those firms.
  The Governors have been tremendous. The National Guard, General 
Andreotti in Minnesota, the Salvation Army has been there. Also I want 
to thank FEMA Director James Lee Witt, Jim Franklin, who is the 
emergency management director in Minnesota, and the local officials; 
the mayors as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not want to take all my 5 minutes, I know there are 
other speakers. But I just want to conclude by saying that I strongly 
support the President's call for a $488 million Federal relief package. 
One-half is emergency dollars which the President has already committed 
during his visit, and $200 million of it depends on a special 
appropriation from us here in Congress.
  We need to continue to work together in a bipartisan way over the 
next week or two to finish the job of

[[Page H1870]]

getting this relief money to those people who so desperately, 
desperately need it.
  I know the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. Livingston] from the 
Committee on Appropriations said yesterday that he expects strong 
bipartisan support and quick action, and the people of those devastated 
areas certainly deserve nothing less.
  I am also, in conclusion, grateful to the Speaker. I know the 
gentleman invited him to tour the area to see firsthand how bad it is. 
I appreciate the invitation to go along with the Speaker. My favorite 
cousins had to evacuate their homes in Grand Forks. In fact, their 
daughter and her husband and little baby do not know what they have to 
come back to. It is in the area that is hard hit. We do not know for 
sure at this time. But I know the Speaker has made a commitment to 
support whatever is necessary to get this flood-ravaged area repaired 
and restored, and to help the people in the short term as well.
  We will be there with the full cost of emergency rescue and cleanup. 
We will be there for the permanent repair and restoration of 
facilities, as well as the short-term assistance, the disaster 
unemployment relief, the disaster food stamps. Then, over the longer 
term, we will be there with a Federal task force; a Marshall plan, as 
the President called it, for flood-ravaged areas.
  I thank my friend, the gentleman from North Dakota for yielding to 
me, and for the tremendous job that he has done in serving his people 
well.
  Mr. POMEROY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his remarks. The 
majority leader, the gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], said when it 
comes to disasters, once a North Dakotan, always a North Dakotan. The 
Congressman, although so capably representing Minnesota, has certainly 
shown with the depths of his concern and the sincerity of the energy 
behind his effort to do something to help that that is true for him as 
well.
  Mr. Speaker, this concludes the portion of our discussion about the 
Grand Forks, ND disaster and the disaster that has impacted our entire 
area. I do ask for Members' support and prayers. Mr. Speaker, I yield 
back the balance of my time.

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