[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8259]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      URBAN FLOODING AWARENESS ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Quigley) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. QUIGLEY. Mr. Speaker, as Members of Congress continue to debate 
whether or not climate change is real, Americans are paying the price. 
To the climate doubters that I serve with, I will remind them that 
there are over 200 peer-reviewed scientific studies that conclude that 
climate change is real and that man contributes to it, and there are 
zero peer-reviewed scientific studies that say the opposite.
  Climate change often brings images to mind of melting icecaps and 
rising sea levels, but the effects of climate change are being felt 
every day by people around the country. Climate change is causing even 
more destructive storms which, when combined with our aging 
infrastructure, is resulting in cities around the country being 
pummeled by urban flooding.
  A little more than 2 years ago, residents in my district endured 
their second 100-year flood in a mere 3 years. A 100-year storm means 
that there is a 1 percent chance that a storm of that magnitude will 
happen every year, but folks in Chicago are experiencing these storms 
with greater intensity and frequency.
  The morning after the rains bombarded Chicago in 2013, I visited 
numerous community members and their homes. The damage I saw was 
devastating: thousands of homes and businesses flooded; tons of 
carpeting, furniture, and memories are ruined; businesses shattered; 
and entrepreneurs' dreams crushed, along with millions of dollars in 
damages.
  Throughout the region, we saw the closure of schools, libraries, and 
even hospitals were forced to relocate patients. That kind of 
devastation cannot be ignored. Our constituents cannot be ignored.
  In Chicago, over the past century, we have seen countless storms that 
have caused pipes to back up into houses and dump upwards of 1.5 inches 
of rain in a single day. What is more, rains of more than 2.5 inches a 
day are expected to increase another 50 percent in the next 20 years.
  The National Climate Assessment, released by the Obama administration 
last year, predicted that the frequency and intensity of the Midwest's 
heaviest downpours will more than double over the next 100 years. That 
means even more trouble for our Nation's already deteriorating 
infrastructure and the cities around the country that rely on that 
infrastructure to keep them safe. Storm drains are outdated; sewers are 
inadequate, and families are at risk.
  Whether it is because of flooded pipes or the lack of permeable 
surfaces in our cities, our constituents are paying the prices. 
Thousands of households in America are affected every year by urban 
flooding, yielding catastrophic economic, environmental, and social 
damage in some of our country's largest cities. Basements with water 
damage decrease property values by an estimated 10 to 25 percent.
  But the impacts don't end there. Chronically damp houses can cause 
respiratory problems and higher insurance costs. Additionally, almost 
two out of five small businesses cannot open after experiencing a 
flooding disaster. Urban flooding erodes streams and riverbeds and 
degrades the quality of our drinking water sources and the health of 
our aquatic ecosystems.
  It is time we come up with a national response to this growing 
problem. That is why I am proud to introduce the Urban Flooding 
Awareness Act. This legislation will finally create a definition of 
urban flooding to be used when designing flood maps and will require a 
first-of-its-kind study to analyze the costs associated with urban 
flooding and develop solutions. It would also help us better protect 
downstream communities from the flooding impacts of development in 
upstream areas.
  Existing regulatory and policy mechanisms are not adequate for this 
task. It is time we develop new strategies. By identifying the most 
effective and economical remedies to urban flooding, we are better 
preparing our communities to defend themselves against the devastation 
caused by increasingly intense weather.

                              {time}  1015

  And investing in real solutions to this problem now is the only way 
to avoid higher costs down the road. We can learn from our successes 
and investigate innovative new strategies for funding crucial new 
programs that eliminate flood risk and damage. Our cities need the best 
tools available if they are going to survive this era of supersized 
storms.

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