[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13429-13430]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            LOUISIANA FLOODS

  Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I rise again today to bring attention to 
the devastating floods in my State of Louisiana, which are now being 
called the Great Flood of 2016. In a matter of a few days, 7.1 million 
gallons of rain fell on Louisiana--more than fell during Hurricane 
Katrina. The flooding that resulted caused $8.7 billion in damages to 
homes and businesses.
  A flood event of this magnitude is such a low probability that it is 
called a thousand-year flood. To put this in perspective--just 
statistically--the last time a flood of this magnitude would have 
occurred in this area would have been 500 years before Christopher 
Columbus discovered the Americas.
  It is hard to comprehend, but this chart may help. We all know of the 
devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy and of Katrina, Rita, and Wilma 
in 2005. This is from the 1871 Chicago fire. This is the fifth largest 
disaster after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. In the last 100 
years, the 2016 Louisiana flood is the third largest disaster in 
American history.
  The National Hurricane Center was not able to warn us for this. They 
said that rain is going to start. It started to rain, and the next day 
there was flooding. Most folks who were flooded had never been flooded 
before. They were living in areas that they were told were not at risk 
for flooding.
  The first parishes did not have time to evacuate or to prepare. Here 
you can see a family being helped out by volunteers. In the back, you 
see what is called a high-water vehicle. It doesn't flood out, but it 
is a single vehicle. There were as many as 30,000 folks evacuated from 
their homes by what was called the ``Cajun Navy''--Americans helping 
Americans get out.
  By the way, this is a residential street. This is a neighborhood in 
which you can see the street itself flooded. This family's belongings 
are now piled up on the side of a road. They escaped with the bags they 
hold. This is one family. So far, 144,000 people have applied for 
individual assistance through FEMA.
  I suggest that these people need to know their fellow Americans care 
about them. Just as important for communities, small businesses were 
hit too. According to the local newspaper, 12,000 small businesses in 
the area flooded have been out of commission because of the flood. This 
is from Denham Springs. It is a town right

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across the Amite River from East Baton Rouge Parish. You see everything 
they are selling piled up on the side of the road. Of course, this is 
tragic for the business, but think about the community. The National 
Flood Insurance Program estimates that 40 percent of small businesses 
that flood never recover and never go back into business.
  This is tragic not just for the business owner but also for the 
people whom she employees because you have just destroyed the job and 
the opportunity for everyone whom she does employ.
  It is one thing to look at statistics and to look at the huge scope 
of this disaster, but I return to the fact that it is a disaster 
affecting individuals and affecting families--people who have lost 
everything. When I say ``everything''--they still have their life, but 
the floodwaters have now receded. You would say: Wait, how can 
floodwaters have receded if we still have a home under which there is 
obviously a lot of water?
  This flood was so devastating. There is a community called Cypress 
Point in the French Settlement. The homes were built far above the base 
flood elevation. They were told they were not at risk of flooding. The 
floodwaters rose, though, to 46 feet above flood level, and they ripped 
out the ground beneath the homes. What you are looking at used to be 
ground beneath the home. Now the river has taken away the bank, and 
these homes are sitting in a river.
  Ten of these homes are being condemned, and there is a certain kind 
of bitterness these folks must feel. First, they didn't think they were 
going to flood. If they want to come back and put supports under their 
home, they will have to get an Army Corps of Engineers permit to do 
that. If their home falls into the river--and it looks like that could 
happen--they have to pay to remove their home from that river. They are 
going to be caught coming and going. Again, these homes are built above 
the base flood elevation.
  This is Dorothy Brooks. Dorothy is 78. She is being rescued. She is 
wheelchair-bound. Here is Sergeant Thomas Wheeler of the Tangipahoa 
Parish Sheriff's Office carrying her out. Dorothy did not have time to 
get out on her own. You can still see rain falling, even though water 
is up to about 3 or 4 feet. Many seniors like Dorothy were able to 
return to their home, but due to their age, they could not rip it out. 
If your home is flooded to 4 feet, you have to go around and physically 
take the sheetrock and the insulation out that is behind the carpet and 
the wood floors. If not, mold comes in.
  Here is a tragic example of it. Roy and Vera Rodney are both in their 
eighties. They had 4 inches of water in their home. The FEMA inspector 
told them that it was habitable. So they were denied repairs and rental 
assistance, but they didn't have any family nearby. They couldn't gut 
their house. They couldn't repair it. So the water-damaged carpet, 
furniture, and belongings stayed, and, predictably, mold appeared. They 
could no longer live there. They evacuated. They weren't there to let 
volunteers in to rip it out. Now they have mold throughout their home, 
and it is uninhabitable. Because they couldn't get the aid they needed, 
cost of recovery grew with time.
  If there is a metaphor here, it is this. If you are unable to get the 
aid when needed, the cost of recovery grows with time. Roy and Vera 
were not required to purchase flood insurance. They lived in zone X. 
Zone X is thought to be at such low risk of flooding that flood 
insurance is not required.
  By the way, that is a huge factor in flooding. About 80 percent of 
the homes that were flooded did not have flood insurance--not because 
they didn't purchase it on purpose when they were told to but because 
they were told they lived in low-risk areas for flooding where flood 
insurance was not required.
  I will say that is why Federal aid is so critical. We have thousands 
of families completely caught off guard, unprepared--through no fault 
of their own--by a freak of nature, a thousand-year flood. They are now 
struggling to pick up the pieces. They are trying to make the decision: 
Do I stay and rebuild, or do I just move on? Families, businesses, 
Louisiana need help. I ask that we pass this funding bill quickly. 
People are hurting; people need help.
  Some look at this picture and just see debris. This may be 
Youngsville, a community I visited, but it could be any community. I 
would say that is not debris. That is a wedding dress that was saved 
for 20 years. It is picture albums, children's toys, clothes to go to 
work, textbooks, and memorabilia. It is their life, piled up the road.
  I am thankful that Senate leadership has put what they are calling a 
down payment on the continuing resolution. This reassures families that 
their fellow Americans care and that they can rebuild and prosper, but 
we are not through yet. Helping each other is a fundamental American 
value.
  I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to support this 
legislation--to help families faced with losing their homes and losing 
everything, to help folks pick up the pieces and put their lives back 
together. To Americans across the country, call your Senator and ask 
them to support Dorothy, Ray, and Vera.
  I yield back.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts.

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