[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 35 (Monday, March 5, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1376-S1377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FRIDAY'S TORNADOES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last Friday evening tornadoes hit 
several counties across Kentucky, including Magoffin, Menifee, Morgan, 
Laurel, Martin, Johnson, and Trimble. I might say these were not just 
tornadoes, these were very severe tornadoes all over the southern and 
midwestern part of our country leaving an incredible trail of 
devastation across many of our States.
  In my State the storm caused at least 20 fatalities and more than 300

[[Page S1377]]

people in Kentucky were injured. Forty-eight Kentucky counties suffered 
damage from the storms and tornadoes Friday evening. I am told that 
about 19,000 people were without power yesterday. This morning my 
colleague Senator Paul and I sent a letter to the President urging him 
to approve Gov. Steven Beshear's request for Federal assistance.
  Yesterday I had a chance to visit arguably the hardest hit of our 
communities, West Liberty, KY. It was a scene of total devastation. The 
whole community has either been evacuated or is in the process of being 
evacuated. The county judge--in our State the county judge is like the 
county executive in a number of States--Tim Conley, and Mayor Rupe, the 
mayor of West Liberty, and I toured, frankly, what little is left of 
the community. I ran into the county attorney there. Not only had her 
home been wiped out, her office had been wiped out.
  The most poignant story of the day was when one of the local 
residents came up to one of my assistants and said: Here, I found $70. 
It doesn't belong to me. I want you to take it and see to it that it is 
used for the community.
  My assistant said: No one knows where the $70 came from or who it 
belongs to and you are wiped out. Why don't you keep it?
  This citizen of West Liberty, KY, said: ``I just wouldn't feel right 
about it.''
  ``I just wouldn't feel right about it.'' Those are the kind of people 
who are in West Liberty, KY. Those are the kind of people today who are 
homeless, who have lost friends and relatives. Of course, in a town 
that is devastated there are no jobs. Where do people go to work when 
their place of business has been wiped out?
  FEMA is on the ground, and we will do everything we can to try to 
help these good folks rebuild their lives. Similar stories are the case 
in a number of other Kentucky counties, but West Liberty I singled out 
because it was probably the most devastated of any of our communities.
  I applaud the work of the first responders. There were people from 
all over my State who immediately came to the site, some of them with 
some official responsibility--they were with the Red Cross or they were 
with the National Guard. In fact, there were 400 National Guard troops 
mobilized across the State in these severely hit areas. But many of the 
people I ran into in West Liberty, KY, were simply people who got in 
their cars, loaded them up with bottled water and whatever food they 
could come up with, and went there to be helpful.
  There was one restaurant in another town that sent in a very large 
number of barbecue sandwiches just to try to feed the people who were 
there trying to help get started. I went to the command center. Of 
course, one of the biggest questions in a situation such as that is, 
what do you do first? Obviously, the first effort to get the power back 
on. The AEP, the power company, was there trying to get the power up 
and running. Then they had a priority chart: What do you do second? 
What do you do third?
  I want to express to them and say again on the Senate floor today, we 
are going to be there for these good folks not only in West Liberty but 
in the other counties that were hit in our State. That is why FEMA 
exists. They do a good job. Hopefully, it will not require any 
additional funding for us to have to appropriate. Hopefully, they will 
have enough funds in their budget to take care of this, but if there is 
a shortfall we will be there to be helpful.
  I wanted to share with my colleagues today the devastation to which 
we were subjected last weekend. It is reminiscent of a tornado that hit 
Kentucky in the 1970s. I remember it went into my mother and father's 
neighborhood. The house next door to them was obliterated. The houses 
across the street were obliterated. Amazingly enough, my mothers and 
father's house seemed largely untouched. There were very few homes in 
West Liberty, KY, yesterday or Friday night that were untouched. It 
came through there with a stunning force.
  I heard one story I will also relate. The county judge was in a 
building and literally grabbed somebody by the leg and pulled him 
inside the building as the storm was attempting to suck him out into 
the street. He was able to save that person. So the incredible force of 
these massive tornadoes is truly destructive, and we will help local 
residents get their lives back together as soon as we possibly can.
  I yield the floor.

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