[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 95 (Tuesday, July 8, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S6971]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           MICHIGAN TRAGEDIES

  Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, late on Wednesday, July 2, the State of 
Michigan was the recipient of an uninvited guest for the holiday 
weekend: Namely, a series of intense thunderstorms which ripped through 
the south-central and south-eastern portions of our State.
  Heavy rains, accompanied by 13 confirmed tornado touchdowns, and 
powerful straight line winds in excess of 70 to 100 miles per hour 
caused extensive damage, injury and some deaths in our State. I have 
had the chance since then to tour a number of the damaged sites in our 
State, and I know that Senator Levin has likewise been visiting some of 
these communities. I can attest to the level of destruction which has 
taken place in Michigan.
  Just to put some statistics to the descriptions, all told we had 13 
people who were killed as a result of the storms, approximately 117 
others as of this morning who were injured, and some 1,482 people are 
homeless today as a result of the storm. Public damage estimates at 
this point are now close to $135 million, and are expected to rise.
  To put it in even a more personal perspective, in Grosse Pointe 
Farms, MI, winds in excess of 75 miles per hour caused the collapse of 
an occupied picnic pavilion gazebo. It actually swept the gazebo across 
the park, lifted it and those in it through a fence and into Lake St. 
Clair. Five people, including several very young children, were killed 
as a result. In Wayne and Macomb, Counties, flooding caused by the 
intense rainfalls resulted in nearly 52 million dollars' worth of 
damage to the public water and sewer systems. In the city of Detroit, 
the headquarters of Focus:HOPE, a volunteer organization that feeds 
over 50,000 people a month in Michigan, sustained $10 million in 
damages when a tornado tore the roof off several of its buildings and 
blew out dozens of windows. In the city of Hamtramck, another community 
I visited, the scene was reminiscent of a Hollywood set, with cars up-
ended, houses destroyed, and roofs ripped off buildings. It was an 
incredible act of nature which, at one point, left approximately 
325,000 people in our State without power.
  I appear today, really, just to give the Senate an update. Michigan 
is a resilient place and the people in all of these communities have 
risen to this challenge. People have been volunteering, helping 
neighbors, and coming from all over our State to lend a hand in places 
such as Chesaning, a city in Saginaw County, and in Genesee, Wayne, 
Macomb and Oakland Counties. I am very proud of those people, Mr. 
President. I appear today to thank all of those who have stepped up to 
this challenge.
  Government officials, led by our Governor John Engler, Detroit Mayor 
Dennis Archer, Mayor Kozaren of Hamtramck, Mayor Danaher of Grosse 
Pointe Farms, Supervisor Kirsh of Washington Township, Supervisor 
DePalma of Groveland Township, Supervisor Walls of Springfield 
Township, Mayor Jester of East Lansing, Supervisor Miesle of Cohoctah 
Township, Supervisor Kingsley of Conway Township, Supervisor Wendling 
of Maple Grove Township, Village President Mahoney of Chesaning and 
numerous other local officials have pulled together the State and local 
resource teams to get out and help distressed folks. The Michigan State 
emergency personnel, the State police, and FEMA have already begun the 
public damage assessments and they have been stalwarts in addressing 
these problems. I want to commend them, but I especially want to 
commend the volunteers from all over our State who have joined together 
to provide these first few days the kind of neighbor-to-neighbor help 
that truly makes the difference when crises of this type occur.
  Our office is very actively involved, along with the other 
congressional offices, in trying to provide assistance. We have made it 
clear to those in need, if there is anything we can do we will be there 
to help. We also intend to continue the efforts to work with our State 
and with FEMA to provide whatever assistance we can, and if a decision 
to seek Federal aid is made, certainly I urge the President to move 
quickly to approve it. My wife, today, in fact, is in the State working 
with the Red Cross in a number of the shelters that have been provided. 
People from our staff and other congressional staffs, I know, are 
likewise performing various volunteer services.
  So, Mr. President, I want to send a heartfelt thanks to those in our 
State who have donated their time and energy. To the families of those 
who have lost loved ones, we send our prayers and condolences. And to 
the many others who have been affected by this, we want you to know 
that people are committed to working to do everything we can to return 
things to normal and to overcome this tragedy. It was an incredible 
storm, but Michigan is an incredible State, and I know we will 
successfully rebuild and put things back on track in a very short 
period of time.
  I yield the floor.

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