[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 133 (Tuesday, July 28, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4533-S4534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            HURRICANE HANNA

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, over the weekend, as Texans continued to 
battle COVID-19, those in parts of the State came to face with another 
disaster at the same time. It just seems like the challenges keep 
coming. First, we are in a pandemic. Then George Floyd lost his life 
unnecessarily and raised our consciousness to the racial injustice that 
still exists in this country. Then we had a natural disaster like a 
hurricane. Hurricane Hanna made landfall in South Texas and brought 
heavy rains and high winds to communities that were already grappling 
with the pandemic, especially the Rio Grande Valley. On Sunday, nearly 
300,000 homes were without power in South Texas, and power is still 
being restored in a number of those communities. Navigating dangerous 
floodwaters and downed power lines is difficult under normal 
circumstances, and when you add a highly contagious virus to the mix, 
as you can imagine, it presents a host of logistical challenges.
  I first thank the first responders and emergency crews who have been 
working overtime these last few days to get our neighbors to safety and 
to restore their power as quickly as possible. There is a strong sense 
of community in South Texas and the Rio Grande Valley, and I have no 
doubt these communities will pull together and come out of this crisis 
stronger than before.
  I have been talking to a number of the leaders in several of the 
counties that have been affected, and we will continue working with 
them to ensure they have the resources they need to sustain their 
response and recovery efforts in the short term and address those 
critical infrastructure needs in the long term.
  I have also heard from a number of farmers, ranchers, and 
agricultural producers whose crops have been flooded, and I expect to 
hear more in the coming days about how we might be helpful, especially, 
again, in this already challenging time.

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