[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 362-363]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        FLOODING IN THE MIDWEST

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I would also like to speak for a moment 
about the flooding situation in the Midwest, and, of course, in my 
colleagues' neighboring State of Missouri.
  Last month, right in the midst of the holidays, rain storms swept 
through my State, covering it with 7 inches of rainfall in a very short 
period of time. The heavy rainfall caused water levels on the rivers to 
reach record highs. We were surprised. We expect this in the spring, 
not in December. Communities had to evacuate their homes for their own 
safety. Sadly, these storms were so severe they flooded roadways, 
claiming the lives of 10 people whose vehicles were swept away by the 
floods. Many of them did not realize how high the water actually was in 
these flash floods or how fast it was moving. They got caught in 
dangerous waters.
  Two areas that were some of the worst impacted were Alexander and 
Randolph Counties on the Mississippi River--Monroe County, I might add 
as well. Last Wednesday I went to visit two towns in these areas, Olive 
Branch and Evansville, to talk to the residents. In Olive Branch I met 
with Alexander County board vice-chair Lamar Houston and spoke with 
State representative Brandon Phelps. Both have been working diligently 
to help the community recover.
  I have some photographs which I think will tell the story. This is a 
photograph from Olive Branch. You can see water completely surrounding 
the home and covering the nearby areas. The levee that protects the 
communities of Olive Branch, Hodges Park, and Unity was breached and 
overtopped by a record crest at the Mississippi River. These overtops 
caused miles of flood damage, impacting ag lands as well as homes and 
businesses.
  Before flooding occurred, local law enforcement and emergency 
responders tried to evacuate everybody as quickly as possible. 
Thankfully, a lot of people heeded the call and went to find shelter 
with family and friends, but many residents I spoke with in these towns 
were still concerned about being able to recover from the flood and the 
damage.
  One man from Olive Branch, Bruce Ford, said his auto repair shop was 
engulfed by water. He worries he could be out of business for months. 
Bruce is working night and day to clean out the debris and to move his 
equipment back in. He was not sure when his shop would be ready to 
open. Even worse, if the levee breaches again this spring, which it 
might, he worries that he will not have the means to fix it all over 
again in just a few months.
  In Evansville--and this photo is taken in that area; this was taken 
on New Year's Eve crossing the Mississippi River at St. Louis. It shows 
the devastation on the Illinois side. As you can see, these buildings 
are nearly completely submerged in water, and for many areas around St. 
Louis the damage you see here is typical. When I went to visit 
Evansville, about an hour south from here, I met with residents who 
worked around the clock to sandbag homes and businesses to keep the 
Kaskaskia River out of their town.
  I met with Evansville mayor Craig Valleroy, emergency management 
codirector Nancy Shilling, who did a great job in making a presentation 
to me, and State Representative Jerry Costello, Jr.
  I was given a tour around the waterfront and flooded areas. As is 
often the case with disasters like these, I was impressed with the 
local residents, first responders, local officials, and volunteers, who 
just stepped up and started filling sandbags. By building a wall of 
sandbags around downtown, Evansville residents were able to hold off 
the worst of the flooding.
  Last week, I spoke with the Illinois Emergency Management Agency 
director, James Joseph, and the FEMA
Regional Administrator, Andrew Velasquez, about the rain and flooding. 
The Governor declared 23 counties State disaster areas. State and local 
emergency responders were dispatched to affected areas. The State 
provided almost 1 million sandbags--997,000; 4,000 tons of sand; and 
117 DOT trucks for flood mitigation.
  As the water continues to recede in the coming days, local officials 
and the Illinois Emergency Management Agency are working together to 
assess the damages. I might say there is one issue that Senator Kirk 
and I have looked at over and over again. We are blessed in our State 
to have about 13 million people. The largest percentage of them are 
around the Chicagoland area, but we have a vast State beyond Chicago. 
That is where I hail from--downstate Illinois, with hundreds of miles 
of small town and rural areas.
  When they go through flooding like this, and they are making a 
calculation of how much damage there has to be in order for the Federal 
Government to

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step in and help pay for the damage, they take into account the entire 
State and its population. The net result is, had this flooding occurred 
in a sparsely populated State, they would have received Federal 
assistance. But we have to hit a threshold number of about $18 million 
in public infrastructure damage before we qualify for Federal 
assistance.
  Senator Kirk and I have both witnessed the damage of two tornadoes in 
Illinois, one in Washington, IL, and another one in Harrisburg, which 
at first glance we thought would clearly qualify for Federal 
assistance. In neither case did we make the threshold of $18 million in 
damage. So I think this formula needs to be recalculated. The fact that 
we happen to have a great city like Chicago and the region around it as 
part of our State should not really inure to the detriment of people 
downstate in smaller rural areas who suffer this kind of damage from 
flooding and tornadoes.
  I am proud of the volunteers who came forward. I want to thank our 
National Guard. They are always there when we need them. Local law 
enforcement never gets enough credit--our firefighters, police, first 
responders, hospitals, and volunteers.
  When I went into Olive Branch--it is a tiny town--most of the 
activity in the community center that I went into was happening in the 
kitchen. They said: Go to that lady wearing the pink hat. She is in 
charge. She had been there every single day since this flooding 
started, asking all the neighbors to bring in covered dishes and some 
food for the volunteers and the people who were displaced from their 
homes. God bless them for caring so much for their neighbors and 
responding in this time of need.
  I want to recognize the hard work of the Federal and State employees 
who have been engaged in this. I have no doubt that the people of my 
State who have been impacted by these floods are going to roll up their 
sleeves and clean up the mess and get ready to make life normal again.
  Our thoughts are with the many people today who have lost their loved 
ones. There were about 25 who died in these floods in the Midwest. We 
will again stand with them and others as we prepare for the future, to 
rebuild as the people of Illinois and the United States always do, 
stronger for the experience.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Flake). The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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