[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 171 (Tuesday, November 6, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H12766-H12767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  EXPRESSING SUPPORT AND SYMPATHY FOR VICTIMS OF DEVASTATING FLOODING 
                         THAT OCCURRED IN OHIO

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the 
resolution (H. Res. 728) expressing the support and sympathy of the 
House of Representatives and the people of the United States for the 
victims of the devastating flooding that occurred across many parts of 
Ohio in August 2007 and commending the communities, volunteer 
organizations, churches and emergency response agencies for their 
continuing work to restore the affected areas across the state.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 728

       Whereas heavy rainstorms brought severe flooding to Ohio 
     and the upper Midwest over the week of August 19, 2007;
       Whereas, in many parts of Ohio, this was the worst flood 
     since 1913 with nearly 15 inches of rain in some areas;
       Whereas the record storms and flooding were responsible for 
     up to 18 deaths across parts of the upper Midwest--some of 
     these in Ohio;
       Whereas over 500 citizens were forced to flee their homes 
     and businesses and many hundreds of homes and businesses were 
     damaged;
       Whereas, on August 21, 2007, Allen, Crawford, Hancock, 
     Hardin, Paulding, Putnam, Richland, Seneca, Van Wert and 
     Wyandot counties made initial local emergency declaration;
       Whereas, on August 22, 2007, Governor Ted Strickland issued 
     a State disaster declaration for Allen, Crawford, Hancock, 
     Hardin, Putnam, Richland, Seneca, Wyandot and Van Wert 
     Counties;
       Whereas, on August 27, 2007, President George W. Bush 
     issued a Federal disaster declaration for Allen, Crawford, 
     Hancock, Putnam, Richland and Wyandot Counties and later 
     added Hardin and Seneca Counties; and
       Whereas Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and 
     Indiana also experienced serious, storms, flooding and 
     tornadoes: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) expresses its support and profoundest sympathy for the 
     victims of the devastating flooding that occurred across much 
     of Ohio and the surrounding region in August 2007;
       (2) conveys its gratitude to the local, State and Federal 
     officials and emergency personnel who responded to this 
     emergency and continue working to restore normalcy in the 
     affected counties;
       (3) thanks the many volunteers, charitable organizations, 
     business and individual donors, churches and religious 
     organizations for their generosity in responding to this 
     crisis; and
       (4) commends the people of Ohio for their indomitable 
     spirit and for the grace and magnanimity with which they have 
     supported one another during the flooding and continuing 
     recovery.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Jordan) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Massachusetts.


                             General Leave

  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their 
remarks.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform, I'm pleased to join my colleagues in 
the consideration of H. Res. 728, which is a bill that expresses the 
support and sympathy of the House of Representatives and the people of 
the United States for the victims of the devastating floods that swept 
across Ohio in August of 2007.
  H. Res. 728, which has 51 cosponsors, was introduced by my friend, 
Representative Jim Jordan, on October 10, 2007. H. Res. 728 was 
reported from the Oversight Committee on October 23, 2007, by voice 
vote.
  Mr. Speaker, during the week of August 19, 2007, Ohio received over 
15 inches of rain in a violent storm that swept across the State. 
Firefighters and volunteers from that State performed great acts of 
heroism in rescuing people from life-threatening conditions.

                              {time}  1230

  The storm caused major flooding that damaged many homes and 
businesses, and the water forced at least 500 families from their homes 
in several northern Ohio towns.
  Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio declared states of emergency in nine 
counties in northwest and north central Ohio. This was, indeed, the 
worst flooding for Ohio since 1913.
  I now rise in support of the victims in this disaster and to commend 
the State, local and Federal officials and emergency personnel for 
their response to this crisis situation.
  I commend my colleague, Representative Jordan, for seeking to express 
support and sympathy for the Ohio flood victims.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of this 
resolution. Obviously, as a result of these devastating floods this 
summer, we had eight counties that were declared disaster counties in 
our State, 4\1/2\ of those counties I had the privilege of 
representing. The other 3\1/2\ counties were represented by our late 
friend, Congressman Paul Gillmor.
  I want to commend Congressman Gillmor's staff for the help of Paul, 
of course, when he was with us, and then his staff for the great 
assistance they provided our office and others as we worked through 
this.
  I also just want to take a moment to thank those local leaders, both 
our police, our fire, our EMS people, our local public officials and 
our State public officials who did just an outstanding job and also 
commend our Federal officials. FEMA was there in Ohio, the leaders were 
there, Director Paulison, as well as Mr. Preston with the SBA, and then 
they have been in Ohio for several months serving families and 
individuals and local governments who were devastated by these floods.

[[Page H12767]]

  The thing, I guess, that really stands out for me, in the midst of 
this devastation, it was so neat to see how communities come together, 
how people work together and all kinds of acts of kindness from family 
member to family member and from neighbor to neighbor and community to 
community. It was amazing to see what takes place when devastation hits 
an area.
  The resolution just expresses our commendation for those individuals, 
those local officials, those families, those people in west central and 
north central Ohio who did such an outstanding job dealing with the 
devastation that took place.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of our time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend and colleague, Ms. Marcy 
Kaptur from Ohio, for as much time as she may consume.
  Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Thank you 
distinguished Chairman Lynch, and my dear friend from our delegation 
Congressman Jim Jordan.
  Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in support of House Resolution 
728, which speaks to the issue of the flooding throughout Ohio in 
August of this year.
  Congressman Jordan and I stood shoulder to shoulder with the late 
Congressman Paul Gillmor in Findlay to survey the devastating 100-year 
flood level. This flooding ripped through the heart of many small towns 
in northwest Ohio, burying our communities in feet of mud and water 
while washing away the dreams of so many today.
  We know there are probably over $100 million worth of damages. We owe 
so much to all the emergency workers--to the fire, to the police, to 
the local officials like Mayor Iriti, who I thought, did an outstanding 
job--for trying to address this situation, which wasn't any of their 
fault or our fault. You had 15 inches of rain within 24 hours; and this 
flood truly was different.
  Instead of simply devastating our community, the flood also sent a 
shock wave through all of us on the challenge of fresh water management 
that our region, our very flat region, faces.
  It is ironic that in Ohio we were talking about too much water at a 
time when, now, Georgia and the southeastern States are experiencing 
record droughts. We know in our region the status quo is not 
acceptable. We were very pleased that Secretary Chertoff joined us and 
offered the continuing help of FEMA to address the damage from these 
floods in August. We knew that our region had potential water 
management problems. But we never thought they would come now so 
quickly. We had launched a watershed management partnership in the 
Western Lake Erie Basin to handle the growing levels of storm water 
runoff.
  The Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture 
have driven forward a remarkable partnership that is unique in its 
scope anywhere in the country for what it is trying to accomplish. At 
the center of this assessment is the understanding that we must better 
manage our fresh water asset for the future.
  It is our competitive advantage, without question, in the Great Lakes 
States. We have been buffeted in our region by globalization, but we 
will not give up our greatest asset. We know we must manage it with a 
comprehensive basinwide solution.
  I think this flooding was a real clarion call to people in our 
region. We saw the levels of damage and now having to remediate after 
the fact. But had we had in place structures and systems to handle this 
level of water, we would not have had the level of damage that we 
experienced. We know that the level of rainfall was extraordinarily 
large, but the point is, we were not properly prepared for it, and we 
have now had this clarion call.
  We were very fortunate that the loss of life was minimized, but, 
nonetheless, people are still digging out. I think this resolution is a 
very important step forward as we try to handle this precious global 
asset of fresh water in our region in a much, much wiser way so that we 
can avoid the flooding of the future.
  Even Marathon Oil had eight feet of water in its corporate 
headquarters in Findlay, Ohio. Business leaders, the chamber, a broad 
band of public officials and private sector leadership across the 
region recognize we can't go through this again. We have to think about 
dry dams. We have to think of reservoirs. We have to think of ways to 
avoid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage and put those 
dollars to work avoiding that kind of disaster in the future.
  In recognizing all of those who helped to handle this enormous 
tragedy that befell our area, we also look to the future and the fact 
that we have the Western Lake Erie Basin partnership as a building 
block toward the future in order to make the future better than the 
past and to learn the lessons that history has now taught us.
  I am very pleased to join my colleagues here today, Congressman 
Lynch, who has taken such great leadership on this measure. We, in 
Ohio, appreciate the response of all the emergency personnel who did so 
very much, and to the people who suffered, and also to Congressman Jim 
Jordan for bringing this to the floor today. We are joined hand in hand 
as we move forward together in northern Ohio to better manage our fresh 
water asset for future generations.
  Mr. JORDAN of Ohio. Let me, too, just thank Congressman Lynch and 
Congresswoman Kaptur. Congresswoman Kaptur has been right at the front 
of looking at this in a comprehensive way, and we appreciate that. She 
talked about our mayors both in Findlay and Shelby, Ohio, who have done 
so much work and who are looking at this overall approach.
  Also, we talked about our local officials. I don't know if we 
mentioned our two U.S. Senators who have been very helpful in this 
effort as well, looking at this in a broad way.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.
  Mr. LYNCH. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Lynch) that the House suspend the 
rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 728.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the resolution was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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