[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5545-S5546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 RECOGNITION OF KEVN TELEVISION'S ASSISTANCE DURING THE FLOODS OF 1997

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity 
today to recognize the important work of individuals at KEVN-TV in 
Rapid City, SD, in ongoing flood recovery efforts in the Dakotas.
  Early this year, residents of Minnesota, North Dakota, and South 
Dakota experienced relentless snowstorms and bitterly cold 
temperatures. Snowdrifts as high as buildings, roads with only one lane 
cleared, homes without heat for days, hundreds of thousands of dead 
livestock, and schools closed for a week at a time were commonplace. As 
if surviving the severe winter cold was not challenge enough, residents 
of the Upper Midwest could hardly imagine the extent of damage Mother 
Nature had yet to inflict with a 500-year flood. Record levels on the 
Big Sioux River and Lake Kampeska forced over 5,000 residents of 
Watertown, SD, to evacuate their homes and left over one-third of the 
city without sewer and water for 3 weeks. The city of Bruce, SD, was 
completely underwater when record low temperatures turned swollen 
streams into sheets of ice.
  The 50,000 residents of Grand Forks, ND, and 10,000 residents of East 
Grand Forks, MN, were forced to leave their homes and businesses as the 
Red River overwhelmed their cities in April. The devastation was 
astounding; an entire city underwater and a fire that gutted a majority 
of Grand Forks' downtown. Residents of both cities recently were 
allowed to return to what is left of their homes, and the long and 
difficult process of rebuilding shattered lives is just beginning.

[[Page S5546]]

  KEVN-TV aired a live fundraiser that collected over $53,000 for flood 
victims in Grand Forks. Many families escaped rising flood waters in 
the dead of night, often with only the clothes on their back, and 
ultimately lost everything in their homes. The money donated by KEVN-TV 
viewers will help families rebuild their lives.
  While those of us from the Midwest will never forget the destruction 
wrought by this year's floods, I have been heartened to witness 
firsthand and hear accounts of South Dakotans coming together within 
their community to protect homes, farms, and entire towns from rising 
floodwaters. The selfless actions of the individuals at KEVN-TV 
illustrate the resolve within South Dakotans to help our neighbors in 
times of trouble.
  Mr. President, there is much more to be done to rebuild and repair 
Grand Forks and other impacted communities. The individuals at KEVN-TV 
in Rapid City illustrate how the actions of a community can bring some 
relief to the victims of this natural disaster, and I ask you to join 
me in thanking them for their selfless efforts.

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