[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 82 (Thursday, June 12, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  RECOGNITION OF SUE MATTHEW AND JAN WEGENKE'S ASSISTANCE DURING THE 
                             FLOODS OF 1997

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity 
today to recognize the important work of Sue Matthews and Jan Wegenke 
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.
  Sue Matthews and Jan Wegenke are nurses at the Fort Meade Veterans 
Administration facility in South Dakota. Both Sue and Jan volunteered 
to travel to Grand Forks and helped victims with mental health issues. 
In addition to the counseling, Sue and Jan lent a hand wherever needed, 
including helping many individuals clean out their damaged homes.
  While those of us from the Midwest will never forget the destruction 
wrought by this year's floods, I have been heartened to witness first-
hand and hear accounts of South Dakotans coming together within their 
community to protect homes, farms, and entire towns from rising flood 
waters. The selfless actions of people like Sue Matthews and Jan 
Wegenke 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. Sue Matthews and Jan 
Wegenke illustrate how two individuals 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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