[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 81 (Tuesday, June 12, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H3028-H3029]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TROPICAL STORM ALLISON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sterns). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening to talk about 
the recent flooding in my hometown of Houston and the devastation it 
has caused. I know the national news has covered some of it, but 
watching my colleagues around the country with their devastation in 
previous years, I had no idea until this last week and this last 
weekend what major flood waters can do.
  Starting last Tuesday, June 5, Tropical Storm Allison made landfall 
on the Southeast Texas coastline, bringing with it 5 days of rain and 
damages estimated to be $1 billion or more and the countless loss of 
property and disruption of people's lives and as many as 20 people have 
lost their lives.
  While many areas of Houston and Harris County have significant 
flooding, our 29th district, that I am honored to represent, was hit 
particularly hard, because of the residential nature of our district. 
Many of the city's bayous run through our district, and two of these 
bayous, Hunting and Greens bayous, overflowed their banks causing 
widespread flooding.
  Over 10,000 residents were forced to leave their homes by Greens 
Bayou alone, as flooding in the area reached a 1,000 year level. Even 
those who were not flooded out of their homes suffered thousands of 
dollars worth of damage to their homes in personal belongings.
  The damage from this storm, however, is not limited just to our 
residential areas. The whole community has been hit, area hospitals, 
not only our regional hospitals on Interstate 10, but

[[Page H3029]]

the Texas Medical Center suffered interruptions in power that make 
treating existing patients along with flood-related casualties 
extremely difficult. Several were forced to close because of the 
flooding problems in the Texas Medical Center.
  There are backups working now. But over the weekend, when you can 
imagine with the devastation that we had, the communications across the 
city were disrupted as well, with Houston's emergency communications 
network knocked out; and fire and rescue workers were forced to often 
rely on hand-held radios.
  Over 100,000 residents were without phone service and the 911 system 
was overwhelmed, and only quick action by our Harris County employees 
prevented loss of more long-distance and cellular communications.
  Even today, 15,000 Houston and Harris County residents, including our 
district office, are without phone service, as the central office in 
Houston was under 5 feet of water for most of the weekend.
  Even though classes are out for the summer and schools have not yet 
begun for the summer school, our public schools have not been spared. 
Over 300 Houston Independent School Districts have suffered flood 
damage.
  Other districts were not spared. North Forest ISD is now using two of 
their schools that were not hit for shelters, manned by the Red Cross 
and school employees, suffered a great deal of damage, including office 
equipment and computers.
  Sheldon Independent School District suffered serious flooding in 
their whole district, and only two schools were not flooded. Right now, 
the waters have receded; and the Federal Emergency Management Agency is 
on the ground, helping those who have lost their homes and their 
property and their businesses to rebuild.
  Disaster recovery centers, where residents can go and begin accessing 
Federal aid, are being established in time through this week and will 
be up and running, and people have begun the long process of putting 
their lives back together.
  While we cannot prevent a catastrophe of this magnitude, there are 
actions we can take both locally and in Washington to lessen the impact 
of future flooding.
  At the local level, I encourage every resident possible to purchase 
flood insurance. It is affordable. The average cost about $350 a year.
  And for more information, they can call 1-888-CALL-FLOOD or go online 
which is http://www.fema.gov/nfip.
  On the Federal level, we can do more. For the last several years, 
funding for our Harris County Flood Control has been steady, but we 
know we need to do better.
  I have walked the streets yesterday and today visiting with our FEMA 
representatives in areas in Aldine, Mesa Road and Sheldon, to CE King 
areas and seeing the devastation, Mr. Speaker, and I encourage my 
constituents and all people to call the 1-800 number for FEMA, 1-800-
462-9029 to make sure they get their information there so FEMA can do 
the job that we expect them to do.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Tauzin).
  Mr. TAUZIN. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to take a minute to thank the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Green) for the special order, because as the 
gentleman knows residents of Louisiana suffered along with residents of 
Texas. All over my district, we had similar flooding.
  This morning, the President declared a disaster area in the parishes 
that I represent in South Louisiana. In my hometown, we had a rain 
gauge that measured 38 inches of rainfall at one location, in my 
hometown, an amazing amount of rain. No one could have prepared for it.
  I want to thank the gentleman for reading those numbers. I hope 
people have listened carefully. FEMA is on the job, and we hope relief 
is coming soon.
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, whatever time I have left, I know 
that Storm Allison moved from Texas to Louisiana, and we are seeing 
that devastation along the Gulf Coast, and I know we will be here to 
provide that funding.

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