[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 86 (Wednesday, May 22, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S3024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                          Flooding in Oklahoma

  Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, just to give the Senate body a quick 
update of what is happening in my State right now, we have had some 
pretty dramatic flooding and over 15 tornadoes in the last 48 hours 
across the State. Thankfully, most of those tornadoes hit in open 
areas. They did not hit structures. There have been some structures 
that have been damaged, but the flooding has been far worse than the 
tornadoes and the high winds.
  Just 2 nights ago, in one of our counties, Osage County, we had 
severe flash flooding, where from 10 p.m. to 2:30 in the morning, over 
100 different homes had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. 
Many of those folks had law enforcement, firefighters, and first 
responders arriving at their home with a boat or with a truck to get 
them out, literally, in their pajamas so they could escape. Many of 
those homes have 4 to 6 feet of water in them now.
  It has been intense for those folks who are in the area. In fact, it 
is interesting. The director of emergency management for that area 
spent the entire night saving homes and helping people get out. When 
dawn broke and they knew they had gotten everyone out, he headed back 
to his own house only to find out he could no longer get to his home 
anymore because of the floodwaters.
  We have had folks all over the State, whether that be in Perry, where 
we had two homes that were destroyed in a tornado that night that, 
thankfully, did not hit the center of town. We had other spots, like 
around Eufaula, where we had some serious flooding; Stillwater, where 
there has been flooding. In Dale we had a very dangerous overnight 
tornado that came in, literally, while everyone was sleeping. There are 
pockets of folks who are there who have been affected by this, 
literally, all over the State.
  For the department of transportation folks, for the folks in our 
police and fire departments, for the emergency management individuals--
both for the State and the counties--for mayors and city managers, for 
hospitals, for county workers, for city staff, for the Corps of 
Engineers, and, quite frankly, for just neighbors down the street, it 
has been a long week. There have been a lot of folks serving each other 
to take care of those needs, and there will be for a while.
  I thought this body would need a quick update because sometimes 
people feel a long way from the center of the country when you are in 
Washington, DC, but we need to understand what is happening in the 
center of the country right now--literally, the center of America. It 
is affecting all Americans.