[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 8923-8925]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          MONTANA FLOOD HEROES

  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Book of Matthew, chapter 23, verses 11 
and 12, reads:

       The greatest among you will be your servant. For those who 
     exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble 
     themselves will be exalted.

  I rise today to recognize five of Montana's greatest servants--five 
Montana heroes.
  Our State has faced severe flooding, unrelenting flooding for the 
past several weeks. As water levels rise, Montanans across the State 
are stepping up to help. This is the essence of what it means to be a 
Montanan: stepping up to help fellow Montanans, ordinary folks doing 
extraordinary things for their friends and neighbors. We are all in 
this together.
  That is why I have begun calling attention to the Montana heroes 
going above and beyond the call of duty in the floods we are 
experiencing in our State today.
  I want to recognize Pastor Cathy Moorehead of the United Methodist 
Church and Father Daniel Wathan of Saint Benedict's Church of Roundup. 
Last week, Cathy and Daniel showed me the flood damage caused by rising 
waters from the nearby Musselshell River. Most of the town of Roundup 
has been underwater for days.
  I remember many times I had gone to the Busy Bee Cafe in Roundup. 
Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that restaurant might be 
underwater. A few days ago, it was. The floods have come back again. It 
is not entirely underwater, but so much of it is, it is virtually 
destroyed.
  Cathy and Daniel took it upon themselves to make sure their neighbors 
had a hot meal, a dry place to sleep, medical care, and a shoulder to 
cry

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on--and it is food not only for those displaced by the floods but also 
for the National Guard so the National Guard does not have to eat all 
those rations they otherwise would have to eat.
  I have talked to the Guard. They are so appreciative that they do not 
have to eat the food they otherwise had been given. Ask anyone around, 
and they will tell you Cathy and Daniel's outstanding efforts continue 
to be indispensable.
  Floodwaters have returned to Roundup, and our prayers are with them 
all today.
  This month, the Crow Indian Tribe also faced devastating floods. 
Rising water has severed food and water supplies. There is no drinking 
water. Rushing water has swept away bridges and streets.
  As soon as the floodwaters struck the Crow Reservation, Crow Tribe 
member April Toineeta got to work. April worked with the Red Cross to 
set up shelter for flood victims. She made sure the Indian Health 
Service had the latest information about where medical care was most 
urgently needed. She was universally recognized as the go-to person for 
help. April. April Toineeta. April has been working 18-hour days, 
sleeping on the floor of the Crow Housing Authority, doing whatever it 
takes to help her community. April's hard work inspires all of us to 
help each other through the floods in any way we can.
  When Box Elder Creek burst its banks, floodwaters destroyed the 
Harris family home north of Mill Iron, just outside of Ekalaka. 
Neighbors Charlie and Gail Brence hopped on four-wheelers and went to 
rescue the Harris family of seven. When they arrived, the Harris home 
was under 6 feet of water, rapidly rising. They offered the Harris 
family a warm and safe place to stay, a shoulder to cry on, and a 
helping hand as they worked to save their cattle and salvage personal 
belongings from the destroyed home. Gail Brence said: ``We're 
Montanans. This is what we do.''
  Pastor Cathy, Father Dan, April, and Charlie and Gail are the best of 
the best Montana has to offer. They represent our can-do attitude, our 
willingness to help our neighbor. Our belief is that when times are 
tough, we know we are the strongest when we work together.
  There are hundreds of other unsung heroes across Montana. I am 
calling on all Montanans to share their stories of ordinary folks doing 
extraordinary things for their friends and neighbors, whether on 
Facebook or call my office. We want to hear these inspiring stories. We 
want to share them.
  You know, some folks in our State say--and it is somewhat true--that 
Montana is really one big town. We tend to know each other. We are big 
in area, few in people. But we tend to know each other, about one or 
two degrees of separation. We are really one big small town. We are 
there to help each other.
  In closing, I wish to share a humble thank-you for all Montana's 
heroes back home. I do not know what we would do without you. Thank you 
for your service.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.


                          Flooding in Missouri

  Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, Missouri has withstood a number of 
tremendous natural disasters this spring. In fact, the flood our good 
friend from Montana just talked about is headed down the Missouri River 
from Montana, to the Dakotas, to Missouri right now.
  We have had floods along the Mississippi. We have had floods of the 
Black River that required the evacuation of part of Poplar Bluff, MO. 
We have had tornadoes in both St. Louis and Joplin and now, as I said, 
the Missouri River floods.
  The Missouri River flood is beginning to reflect what has happened 
upstream with the above-normal snowpack that we do not see much of, but 
we see it when it melts in the spring. And high rainfall amounts this 
spring have made the difference in what is happening in our State.
  The flooding along the Missouri River, which is about to get to 
crisis stage, will now join floods along the Mississippi River, the 
Black River, and tornadoes in St. Louis and Joplin. River levels are 
expected to rise near record levels and remain there until early or 
mid-August. This, of course, will put a tremendous pressure on our 
levee system. The estimates I heard this week were that between now and 
2 weeks from today, there will be at least two dozen levees underwater, 
which means the water will have gotten high enough to come over the 
tops of these levees, and maybe over 50 levees on the Missouri River 
before it gets to St. Louis will be underwater and will have water on 
both sides of them until well into the summer. Of course, that begins 
to undermine the very basis of the levee itself when it stands in water 
on both sides.
  The Corps and local sponsors are working to reinforce the levees 
along the Missouri River. We see that the Department of Agriculture and 
the Corps also have to get engaged to get the damaged land cleared and 
rehabilitated for all this levee protection to be restored.
  There is some discussion on the opening of the levee in the boot 
heel, a place called Birds Point. That had been the plan, to open that 
levee in a flood disaster, since 1937, but it had not happened since 
1937.
  Mr. President, 130,000 additional acres of farmland means at this 
moment we probably have 500,000 acres of farmland--a little more than 
that--underwater, and that number will be much higher than that by this 
time next week. But that 130,000 acres at Birds Point will still be 
underwater most of next year unless the Corps goes back in, as they 
committed they would, and gets a temporary levee that becomes a 
permanent levee in as soon as possible.
  We also cannot underestimate--and it would be hard to even 
overestimate--the challenges Joplin, MO, faces, a city in which the 
death toll from the tornadoes has now exceeded any tornado in the last 
50 years. I think the mid-1950s was the last time this much loss of 
life occurred in a tornado.
  I live about 60 miles from Joplin in Springfield, MO. I represented 
both Joplin and Springfield in the House of Representatives for 14 
years. I had an office in Joplin. I have been there literally hundreds 
of times. And as a southwest Missourian, I have seen lots of tornado 
damage, but I have never seen anything like this damage.
  I went to the area Tuesday after the tornado hit over the weekend. I 
think the tornado hit on Sunday afternoon late. I was there most of the 
day Tuesday. I was riding with a veteran police sergeant down streets 
that both he and I had been down many times, and neither of us could 
ever really tell quite where we were because the devastation was that 
great. Every street looked like the street next to it. The buildings 
were ground up. The 2 by 4s had become toothpicks. It was almost 
unrecognizable.
  This same tornado, if it would have hit and stayed on the ground for 
6 miles in an area of farmland, would have done some damage, but there 
would not have been nearly as much damage. As it happened, it ripped 
through the city of Joplin in a swath that was at least half a mile 
wide and in some places three-quarters of a mile wide. It stayed on the 
ground for 6 miles and destroyed approximately 30 percent of the 
buildings in a town of 50,000 people. There were 141 people killed, 
including those who in the hospitals from injuries since the tornado, 
because of the tornado. More than 900 people were injured, and 8,000 
homes and apartments were destroyed. And I think here the word 
``destroyed'' is the right word. Others were damaged; these were 
destroyed. Mr. President, 8,000 places where people lived 3 weeks ago 
aren't there today, and more than 500 commercial properties were 
demolished by this devastating tornado.
  Homes, churches, the high school, the vo-tech school, three 
elementary schools, and the Catholic school at all levels are all gone, 
and then other schools were damaged. How you get back to school in 
August and September of this year with those schools gone is a huge 
challenge, one that a

[[Page 8925]]

community would assume it would never have to meet, but the community 
has been meeting it, as have people from all over the country and 
particularly from our State.
  Rescue efforts, led by groups such as Missouri Task Force 1 and other 
public safety officials--fire departments, law enforcement, medical 
personnel, the volunteers--have up until now been tireless, but I can 
tell you they are getting pretty tired.
  People in Missouri and across America have been overwhelmingly 
generous with their time and resources in the aftermath of this storm, 
and all Missourians are grateful for it. Large corporations and small 
community organizations and individuals have helped. People have 
responded to calls on the phone by doing whatever they were asked to do 
to make a small donation.
  The General Motors Foundation announced a $100,000 grant to the Red 
Cross, along with two vehicles, full-sized vans, and free access to 
their OnStar service after the disaster.
  The Ford Motor Company donated another $50,000 to Feeding America for 
Joplin, and their employees in the Kansas City plant are assisting as 
volunteers in relief efforts.
  Walmart committed $1 million.
  Home Depot and Walmart both had--there was a Walmart supercenter and 
a Home Depot store that were totally demolished, 100-percent 
demolished. In both cases, they had late-Sunday-afternoon shoppers in 
them.
  In one store was a man and his 4-year-old and 1-year-old. I am not 
sure they were on the way to the Home Depot, but at the last minute 
they were running into the Home Depot, thinking that would be the 
safest place to be, and those big concrete walls collapsed inward, and 
the mom who sent them to get lightbulbs or whatever she had sent them 
to get never saw those three people who were so much of her life 
before.
  The St. Louis Cardinals donated $25,000 to Convoy of Hope.
  The Kansas City Royals and Kansas City Chiefs each gave $35,000 to 
Heart to Heart International.
  Duracell opened a Power Relief Trailer.
  Tide opened a Loads of Hope location, offering laundry services for 
the thousands of affected families.
  Heart of Missouri United Way collected over $1 million and pledged 
that 100 percent of those funds that were raised in that drive would go 
to Joplin.
  Target contributed $95,000 to relief.
  AT&T and Verizon both gave $50,000.
  Sprint, a Missouri company, a Kansas City area-based company, gave 
$100,000.
  TAMKO gave $1 million. Their headquarters are in Joplin. Their 
headquarters were not affected, but many of their employees were.
  Loves Travel Shop gave $150,000.
  Great Southern and Southwest Missouri Bank both donated $10,000.
  The Girl Scouts in Houston, MO, were collecting toys for the children 
of Joplin who had lost their toys.
  The University of Missouri produced a tornado relief t-shirt with the 
slogan ``One State. One Spirit. One Mizzou.''
  The Mizzou football team and D. Rowe's Restaurant partnered to fill a 
semi truck of groceries and other items to send to the location.
  The American Red Cross, the Harvesters Community Food Network, sent 
14,000 ready-to-eat meals.
  The Kansas Speedway and the Highway Roadhouse and Kitchen collected 
items for victims.
  The Ozarks Technical Community College is collecting funds to help 
people.
  The students in a high school in St. Louis, which had its own 
tornado, sent things to Joplin as well.
  FEMA is doing what it can.
  We need to prioritize spending.
  As I reach the conclusion of my remarks and mention the people who 
need to be mentioned--I sent President Obama a letter. I spoke with 
Secretary Napolitano shortly after this disaster insisting that the 
Federal Government do what we did in Katrina and reimburse taxpayers 
for their expenses at the 100-percent level. We have gone from 75 to 
90, so only 10 percent more, and I will be happy with that number. Mr. 
President, 75 percent was the first number discussed, but we are at 90 
now. The Federal Government needs to do this. And local utility 
companies need to get the same kind of assistance others have had in 
similar disasters.
  In all cases, the first responders were people's neighbors. Their 
neighbors will still be there 6 months later when people are still 
struggling.
  But with thanks to everyone who has helped, with appreciation for the 
Federal employees who have been there and absolute insistence that we 
do everything we need to do to treat this disaster as it needs to be 
treated because it truly is a disaster, I will be working with 
everything we can find to make this situation a challenge the community 
can meet.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The senior Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that after I am 
recognized, Senator Whitehouse be recognized--we are speaking on the 
same topic--for up to 10 minutes and, at the conclusion of that time, 
Senator Alexander from Tennessee be recognized.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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