[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 83 (Monday, June 16, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5712]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




RECOGNITION OF THE ASSISTANCE OF BOY SCOUT TROOPS 48, 112, 152, AND 159 
   OF SIOUX FALLS AND TROOP 582 OF BRANDON DURING THE FLOODS OF 1997

 Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity 
today to recognize the important work of Boy Scouts from Troops 48, 
112, 152, 159, and 582 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 under water 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.
  Heavy winter snows forced Big Stone Lake, along the South Dakota and 
Minnesota border, to 9 feet above flood level. The rising waters drove 
40 families from their homes and caused vast amounts of damage. 
Volunteers from the surrounding communities quickly came to the 
residents' assistance, but once the flood waters began to recede, 
residents faced countless hours of clean up on their own. That is when 
the 45 young men of Troops 48, 112, 152, 159, and 582 rose to the 
challenge and traveled to Big Stone City to help residents clean up.
  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 
flood waters. The selfless actions of Boy Scout Troops 48, 112, 152, 
159, and 582 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 
impacted communities. The Boy Scout troops of Sioux Falls and Brandon 
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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