[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Senate]
[Page 20000]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HURRICANE KATRINA

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, today is day 15 of Hurricane Katrina, 
which has devastated the southeastern part of Louisiana and parts of 
Mississippi and some parts of Alabama and other States. I have come to 
the floor, just for a few minutes, to give a few brief remarks--some on 
a positive note as to some positive things that are taking place, and 
then some which are descriptive detail as Senators, both Republicans 
and Democrats, begin to build ideas for the rebuilding of this great 
region.
  First, let me say how pleased I am that a group of Senators will be 
coming down to the region on Friday. Details of that trip will be 
announced, but Senators from Mississippi and Louisiana have suggested 
that some of our colleagues come down and see firsthand the 
devastation. Not wanting to use assets that were being required for 
search and rescue, now that phase is almost completed, and it is 
appropriate for Senators to come down. I understand Senator Reid and 
Senator Frist are organizing that trip with some of the Senators here. 
Senator Vitter and I and others look forward to getting them down on 
the ground to show them the breadth of the devastation.
  One point on that: This is a picture of New Orleans that was done by 
the New York Times. I thought it was extremely helpful, and I would 
like to take a moment of my short time on the floor to show this 
picture in a larger view.
  We understand the city of New Orleans has been particularly hard hit, 
not only by the hurricane but the subsequent breaches of the levees 
that put most of the city under 10 feet of water for 5 days, 6 days. 
Even going into actually today, the 15th day of this disaster, there is 
still water in the city, which is being pumped out now that the levees 
have been fixed. But the water is still not completely gone.
  In addition, in the picture you can see Jefferson Parish. I am going 
to try to provide an update of that tomorrow. Over here is St. Bernard 
Parish. Again, I am going to try to provide an update. On this side of 
the lake is St. Tammany Parish, and I will try to get to that in 
another day or so.
  But as Senators come down to view this whole region--not just New 
Orleans but an area of 90,000 square miles, the size of Great Britain, 
stretching from the Gulf Coast halfway through Louisiana--one thing to 
note about New Orleans that is still not quite understood is this river 
ridge was the high part of the original city. As you know, before we 
had concrete highways, the highways we built this Nation on were our 
rivers. So this city, being one of the oldest in the Nation, was built 
on this river.
  Amazingly and thankfully, the areas close to the river are not 
underwater, which is this whole ridge. The French Quarter has stayed 
pretty much high and dry, even the Lower Garden District. Some of the 
poorer areas along Tchoupitoulas Street are, thank God, out of the 
water all along the river ridge. The west bank has been spared where we 
want to build our Federal city complex. We now know it is a good place 
because it is a highland area and a good place to build.
  But this entire city--eastern New Orleans, which is a middle-income 
neighborhood of White and Black citizens, as well as some poor, very 
poor; and the Lower Ninth Ward--this is where the Lower Ninth Ward is--
Gentilly, which is a middle-income neighborhood of Black and White 
citizens; the Bywater neighborhood; Mid-City; Lakeview, which is 
predominantly White but very integrated in some parts and very high 
income--is completely underwater. Then, of course, there is the midpart 
of the city, which is low.
  So as our Senators come in, they will literally see what looks like 
Noah's Ark, looks like something of Biblical proportions. Maybe the 
water will have gone down by Friday. They are pumping it out quite 
fast. But just to get some sense, the entire city--poor areas and 
wealthy areas--is underwater, as well as the east bank of Jefferson. 
St. Bernard was still completely underwater the last time I flew over 
as well.
  So our work is complicated by having banks and schools not 
functioning. Shown in this picture, in each one of these blocks--I know 
I only have 1 minute left--these are schools, these green dots. All of 
these schools have 10 feet of water in them, every single green dot, 
except for the ones along the ridge. These are our courts. Most of our 
courts are not able to function, city or Federal courts.
  Our police stations are underwater, which is why some of our police 
were not able to function as well as they would under normal 
circumstances. But I am pleased to report, after hearing from Chief 
Compass today, not one commander of the New Orleans police force left 
his post, even though 80 percent of them have lost their homes. Some of 
them have lost their families. As the President said himself, first 
responders have been victims themselves.
  So I thought I would present that today, to say thank you to the 
Senators for organizing the trip. I know the Finance Committee is going 
to announce in just a few minutes some tax relief opportunities that 
Senator Grassley and Senator Baucus have worked out. I have worked with 
them. Senator Vitter and others have worked to put that together. We 
are very pleased more help is on the way.
  Mr. President, I appreciate Senator Cochran giving me the opportunity 
to speak for a few minutes about those points. I will try to get to the 
floor sometime tomorrow for the same reason.
  Thank you, Mr. President.

                          ____________________