[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11194]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    FLORIDA'S HURRICANE PREPAREDNESS

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, this week tropical storm Alberto marked the 
first challenge of hurricane season for Florida residents. Florida 
residents again demonstrated their experience and level of 
preparedness. My district stood in Alberto's path, but the performance 
of emergency services and utilities proved exemplary, and the storm's 
disruption proved minimal.
  In fact, a silver lining might even be found. Yesterday's rain 
extinguished 18 wildfires. I applaud Governor Bush for his strong 
leadership in ordering an evacuation of low-lying areas and declaring a 
state of emergency. As we learned in the tragedy of Katrina, the threat 
of tropical weather must be taken seriously.
  While Alberto will certainly not be the greatest challenge we will 
face this hurricane season, we can be proud of our reaction in our 
State. Dunnellon Police Chief Bob Jackson, in central Florida, 
demonstrated the right attitude when he said we cannot control the 
weather, but we can certainly react in a proactive way.

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