[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 11, 2023)]
[House]
[Pages H157-H158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              RESPONDING TO CALIFORNIA'S WEATHER EMERGENCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Kiley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KILEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak on the powerful winter 
storm systems that are currently impacting my district and much of the 
State of California.
  Rainfall in recent weeks has been several times above average, which, 
along with severe winds, has had devastating and cascading impacts. 
This includes flooding in Folsom and Lincoln, avalanches, and 
mudslides. The Tahoe area and Mono County are currently under avalanche 
warning. There are localized mudslides occurring in Plumas County.
  There have been road closures from downed trees, hundreds of downed 
trees that have disrupted travel plans; power outages affecting roughly 
345,000 Californians, 4,500 people in the Third District; and hundreds 
of school closures, including all schools in the Lake Tahoe Unified 
District.
  There have also been, tragically, at least 17 deaths in the State, 
including 5 in the Sacramento area.

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  I extend my most sincere sympathies to everyone who has been 
affected, who has been harmed, and whose lives have been disrupted.
  I also extend my most heartfelt gratitude to all the first responders 
who are working tirelessly to mitigate these impacts and to protect 
life and property.
  My office is working to ensure the greatest measure of Federal 
assistance is available to the affected communities. FEMA has issued an 
emergency declaration for most counties in California now, including 
Placer, Sacramento, El Dorado, and Yuba.
  My office is in constant communication with FEMA, and I have spoken 
personally to FEMA Regional Administrator Bob Fenton, who briefed me on 
the State Operations Center in California.
  We are also in close contact with local authorities, including 
members of the boards of supervisors in affected counties, and continue 
to closely monitor developments as more storms are expected.
  Mr. Speaker, California now finds itself in both a flood emergency 
and a drought emergency at the same time. That absurdity underscores a 
fundamental failure of governance.
  Citizens are told to take shorter showers. Farmers are told to fallow 
their fields. All the while, they watch water flow abundantly into the 
ocean. An estimated 8 billion gallons of water from these storms will 
flow into the ocean in the Los Angeles Basin alone.
  Cycles of wetness and dryness are nothing new to our State. Joan 
Didion, in 1977, wrote: ``California summers were characterized by the 
coughing in the pipes that meant the well was dry, and California 
winters by all-night watches on rivers about to crest.''
  Yet, since that time, we have done little to build the storage 
capacity that is needed to stabilize our water supply. That is why I am 
cosponsoring the WATER for California Act to expand our storage 
capacity. We must also strengthen our flood defenses to be better 
prepared for extreme weather events in the future.
  Our focus right now is on the days ahead. These storms are impacting 
different areas very differently, so it is important to be closely 
attuned to the advisories of your local government.
  On my website, we have a comprehensive emergency contacts document 
that constituents in affected areas can access for resources and phone 
numbers. You can find that at kiley.house.gov.

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