[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 139 (Wednesday, September 30, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H10127]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               EXTOLLING THE U.S. ARMY CORPS OF ENGINEERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Westmoreland) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WESTMORELAND. Madam Speaker, times of crisis make or break 
reputations. My home State of Georgia experienced such a crisis in the 
past 2 weeks, with rainfall and floods believed to set the benchmark 
for a 500-year period.
  Last week President Obama declared parts of Georgia a disaster area, 
opening up Federal aid, and the House of Representatives paid tribute 
to both the victims of the flood and the courageous emergency workers 
who put their own lives on the line to protect lives and property.
  Tragically, despite our best efforts, at least 10 Georgians died in 
those floods. Seven of those deaths were in Douglas County, part of 
which I represent. The State of Georgia estimates that 20,000 homes 
suffered extensive damage, thousands were at least temporarily 
homeless, and damages have reached $500 million and could rise from 
there.
  The worst destruction occurred in the upper Chattahoochee River 
basin. Because the rising water flowing down the river could have 
easily snowballed and ravaged areas south of West Point Dam, we're 
fortunate that areas of west Georgia didn't experience devastation on 
the scale seen in north Georgia and metro Atlanta.
  While areas southwest of Atlanta did see some inevitable flooding 
during the heaviest rainfalls on record, counties south of West Point 
Lake benefited from the excellent management of the lake by the U.S. 
Army Corps of Engineers.
  In recent years the Corps of Engineers has battled both extremes from 
divvying up sacred water resources during a painful drought in 2007 to 
taming raging floodwaters in recent weeks.
  The Corps has performed important water management tasks that most 
Americans take for granted. The Corps takes abuse when it has to issue 
tough decisions, but its many good works go unnoticed.
  I want to correct that oversight today. The Corps management of the 
basin and specifically West Point Lake during the floods unquestionably 
saved lives and property. The Corps has acted with foresight and skill, 
and my constituents in west Georgia benefited from the actions 
immensely.
  When heavy rains began to fall in north Georgia and metro Atlanta, 
the Corps prepared early for the deluge of water heading downstream and 
strategically released water from the lake to create more storage 
capacity. A leading expert on West Point Lake, Joe Maltese of LaGrange, 
called the Corps' early maneuvering ``brilliant.''
  ``Throughout the week of the floods, the Corps used the water storage 
capacity it had been given to its fullest and held nature's fury back 
to protect as much and as many as they could downstream below West 
Point Dam,'' Maltese said.

                              {time}  1600

  The Corps walked a tightrope trying to assure the dam held back all 
it could against a mighty surge, and they succeeded.
  Even though this year's flood set the 500-year benchmark, the Corps 
managed to keep the dam below record levels set in 2003 while at the 
same time regulating releases to prevent massive flooding below the 
dam.
  Residents of Troup County, the county where West Point Lake is, have 
stood united in their praise of the Corps of Engineers. The LaGrange-
Troup County Chamber of Commerce West Point Lake Committee gave the 
Corps a sincere thank you. And the city of West Point, which did suffer 
some flooding, is grateful that the Corps of Engineers prevented the 
worst from happening. ``The Corps did an excellent job controlling the 
river,'' said West Point police chief David Kerr.
  To that, I would like to add my gratitude and congratulations to the 
fine men and women of the Corps of Engineers for their efforts during a 
trying time for Georgia. When crisis hit, these public servants stood 
ready and able. When reputations could be made or broken, they made 
theirs. We will never know how many lives were saved by their actions, 
and for that we're all grateful. And the people of west Georgia want to 
commend the Army Corps of Engineers.

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