[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 93 (Thursday, July 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H4503-H4505]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 2486, INLAND FLOOD FORECASTING AND
WARNING SYSTEM ACT OF 2002
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules,
I call up House Resolution 473 and ask for its immediate consideration.
The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:
H. Res. 473
Resolved, That at any time after the adoption of this
resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule
XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the
Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of
the bill (H.R. 2486) to authorize the National Weather
Service to conduct research and development, training, and
outreach activities relating to tropical cyclone inland
forecasting improvement, and for other purposes. The first
reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. General debate
shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour
equally divided and controlled by the chairman and ranking
minority member of the Committee on Science. After general
debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the
five-minute rule. It shall be in order to consider as an
original bill for the purpose of amendment under the five-
minute rule the amendment in the nature of a substitute
recommended by the Committee on Science now printed in the
[[Page H4504]]
bill. Each section of the committee amendment in the nature
of a substitute shall be considered as read. During
consideration of the bill for amendment, the Chairman of the
Committee of the Whole may accord priority in recognition on
the basis of whether the Member offering an amendment has
caused it to be printed in the portion of the Congressional
Record designated for that purpose in clause 8 of rule XVIII.
Amendments so printed shall be considered as read. At the
conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the
Committee shall rise and report the bill to the House with
such amendments as may have been adopted. Any Member may
demand a separate vote in the House on any amendment adopted
in the Committee of the Whole to the bill or to the committee
amendment in the nature of a substitute. The previous
question shall be considered as ordered on the bill and
amendments thereto to final passage without intervening
motion except one motion to recommit with or without
instructions.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Quinn). The gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Diaz-Balart) is recognized for 1 hour.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield
the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr.
McGovern), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume.
During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the
purpose of debate only.
(Mr. Diaz-Balart asked and was given permission to revise and extend
his remarks.)
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, House Resolution 473 is an open rule
providing for the consideration of H.R. 2486, the Inland Flood
Forecasting and Warning System Act of 2002. The rule provides 1 hour of
general debate evenly divided and controlled by the chairman and
ranking minority member of the Committee on Science.
This is a fair and balanced rule that will afford Members every
opportunity to debate the important issue before us.
The underlying legislation will help to improve the capability to
forecast accurately inland flooding associated with tropical cyclones.
Florida knows the fury of hurricanes all too well, but the damage goes
much deeper than that which occurs on our battered coasts.
As storms move inland, they begin to slow and often come to a stop
over a particular area. The residents of my district in western Miami-
Dade County have seen firsthand the damage that inland flooding can
cause. Hurricanes and other tropical disturbances cause homes to flood
and streets to become impassable. The danger associated with this type
of flooding is a major issue that many Americans are simply not aware
of.
This legislation instructs the National Weather Service to develop,
test, and deploy an inland flood warning system for use by public and
emergency management officials. With passage of the legislation, we
will also provide increased training to improve forecasting and risk-
management techniques for inland flooding.
Mr. Speaker, this is a good bill. It will help protect Americans
across the Nation. I urge, accordingly, my colleagues to support this
open rule and the underlying legislation.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Diaz-Balart) for
yielding me the customary 30 minutes. This is a fair and open rule for
a noncontroversial bill. H.R. 2486 will direct the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, through the U.S. Weather Research Program,
to improve the ability to accurately forecast inland flooding.
Additionally, this bill will direct NOAA to develop, test, and install
a new flood warning index so that weather service personnel and local
meteorologists will be able to explain the dangers of weather
emergencies to the public.
Currently, the National Weather Service does not have the ability to
accurately forecast coastal inland flooding caused by either tropical
cyclones or excessive heavy rains. This legislation gives the National
Weather Service the technology to better forecast these natural
disasters.
Simply put, the information that will be provided by the National
Weather Service to the American public is a vital step towards limiting
fatalities and property damage.
As many remember, Hurricane Floyd killed 48 people and caused almost
$3 billion in property damage to inland locations in 1999. One year
later, Tropical Storm Allison left areas of Texas with over 35 inches
of rain, and then continued its course through the southwest,
ultimately leading to the deaths of more than 50 people.
Over the past week, eight people have died and two more are missing
as a result of over 30 inches of rain in Texas. According to the Red
Cross, at least 48,000 houses have been affected by this rainfall and
flash flooding.
{time} 1045
The Governor of Texas estimates this damage will cost over $1
billion. These examples of fatalities and property damage were a direct
result of inland flooding.
The New England region also suffers from severe storms that result in
devastating inland flooding. In 2000, a Nor'easter hit the coast of
Massachusetts, and FEMA and other Federal agencies are still working
with families and businesses in central Massachusetts on recovery
programs. Based on information gathered as a result of this
legislation, families and communities will be better able to plan for
these storms. Hopefully this will lead to saving lives and property
across the country.
Mr. Speaker, this bill was unanimously referred to the House by the
Committee on Science. It authorizes approximately $1 million annually
for FY 2003 through FY 2007. Of that, $250,000 can be used for merit
review grants to colleges and universities like the Worcester
Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth,
which are in my congressional district, for improving coastal and
inland flooding forecasting.
In order to avoid a recurrence of the devastating results of previous
inland flooding, NOAA needs this funding to develop research that will
help solve these problems. The bill before us today is an important
step in that direction.
Mr. Speaker, I commend the members of the Committee on Science for
their bipartisan work on this bill. I especially want to thank my
colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge), for his
leadership on this issue. I ask Members to support this open rule and
to support the Inland Flood Forecasting and Warning System Act. I hope
this Congress will not just authorize these important programs, but
make sure the funds are made available to carry them out.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), the distinguished chairman of the Subcommittee
on Environment, Technology, and Standards of the Committee on Science.
Mr. EHLERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, most Americans do not understand the power of floods
until they encounter them. Floods cause an immense amount of damage to
this Nation and also cause an average of approximately 100 deaths per
year throughout America. Most Americans are not aware of how dangerous
they are and do not realize that we lose almost as many people to
floods as we do to tornadoes within this country.
Flooding affects every Congressional District in this country. The
force of only 6 inches of swiftly moving water can easily knock people
off their feet and carry them away into a nearby stream. The force of 2
feet of moving water can sweep cars away.
I am sure all of us have seen night after night on the evening news
pictures of cars being trapped in water and we say, how could that
happen? How could these people not know the danger? But it fools us. We
think it is a small amount of water, but there is so much force that it
can easily stall a car or sweep it away and carry it down the river.
The public needs more useful information about flooding, about the
nature of floods, the damage from floods, and, most importantly, they
need more and better information about when floods are likely to occur.
The bill that is before us, H.R. 2486, the Inland Flood Forecasting
and Warning System Act, which came out
[[Page H4505]]
of our subcommittee, provides that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, better known as NOAA, will have a $6 million
authorization for a 5-year period to, first of all, develop a new flood
warning index that will give the public, the media, and emergency
management officials more useful information about the risks and
dangers posed by expected floods.
We have done very well in this country in terms of tornado warnings,
we have done very well in terms of hurricane warnings, and we have
saved not just hundreds, but thousands, of lives over the past few
decades with these new warning systems that have been in place. But we
have ignored the need to warn people about floods; and not just about
the general nature of a flood, but we have to outline roughly the
boundaries of the expected flood so people know when to evacuate before
the water hits them. So this bill will help develop the new flood
warning index that will be understandable by the public, can be easily
broadcast by the media, so that we can give warnings out so people will
know precisely what to do before the flood hits.
The second aspect of the bill is that it will conduct research and
develop, new flooding models, to improve the capability to more
accurately forecast inland flooding due to tropical storms. Most people
are not aware of the fact that deaths from hurricanes are not from
these strong winds that come in from offshore. Most of the deaths are
due to floods which occur when the hurricane moves inland and drops
huge amounts of rain with resulting flood waters occurring.
It is an excellent bill. I was very pleased to work with the
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) on this bill. We have
perfected it in every way possible. It will serve the people of our
Nation well. I urge that we pass this rule and then pass the bill.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the distinguished
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady).
Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leadership of the
Committee on Rules and appreciate the leadership of the subcommittee
chairman, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Ehlers), on this issue.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to express my strong support for the Inland
Flood Forecasting and Warning System Act and urge all Members to vote
for this important, truly lifesaving, measure.
Mr. Speaker, when flood water starts to pour through your front door,
it does not care if you are a Republican or Democrat, and for this
reason I am pleased to be an original cosponsor in working on this
common-sense bill with my colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina
(Mr. Etheridge), and fellow Texan, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hall).
When it comes to hurricanes and tropical storms, the gulf coast of
Texas where I am from is pretty experienced. The hurricane season is
something we prepare for, we monitor daily and we have grown to live
with.
However, we were hit especially hard by Tropical Storm Allison, and
it was extremely difficult to see lives lost and people left homeless
in its aftermath. Tropical Storm Allison was the costliest tropical
storm in U.S. history, both in terms of life and in property damage.
That means homes, things people have worked their lives for. More than
50 people died. The storm caused more than $5 billion in damage
throughout the Southeast United States, but especially in our Houston
area, where 35 inches of rain fell in just a few days.
The amount of flooding and the unprecedented damage caused by Allison
surprised even the most experienced among us. It has caused our
communities to wonder whether we are doing all we can to prepare for
and prevent this level of damage in the future.
This legislation is a big step forward in the right direction. It
would help prepare residents for future natural events like Allison by
finding ways to improve the weather system modeling and early
forecasting. It would allow NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, to develop an inland early warning index so we would
understand how severe these storms could be, and then to train our
emergency management personnel in improving these methods.
Here is the key point: Research that leads to earlier, more accurate
forecasting is a sound investment, an awfully sound investment. So is
finding new ways to alert communities to inland flooding. Flooding
affects all of us in the United States, as the gentleman from Michigan
(Chairman Ehlers) told us.
In conclusion, I will tell you, no one can control the weather, but
we can certainly control our preparation for it. This bill will help
provide inland residents with the warning system that raises the
awareness of the destructiveness of such storms so we can protect
ourselves, our families and our property, as well as ultimately
lowering tax costs to the United States taxpayers.
I urge all of my colleagues to support this very important bill.
Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I will just simply close by reminding my colleagues that
this is a fair and open rule for a good bill, and I would urge my
colleagues to support the rule and support the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. DIAZ-BALART. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I also would urge all of my colleagues to support the
rule as well as the underlying legislation, for which the debate will
now begin shortly.
Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, I yield back the
balance of my time, and I move the previous question on the resolution.
The previous question was ordered.
The resolution was agreed to.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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