[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9930-9931]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          FLOODING IN WEST VIRGINIA AND MINERS PROTECTION ACT

  Mr. MANCHIN. Madam President, first, I thank Senator Reid and all of 
my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for the compassion and the 
outpouring of love they have given to our State. They have expressed 
that to me. I also thank Senator Reid and my Democratic colleagues for 
their commitment to the Miners Protection Act. I also thank Senator 
Capito, my colleague and counterpart in the Senate. She is committed to 
working on that.
  There is a promise that was made, and basically the miners kept their 
promise. By their hard work, they have kept the country supplied with 
energy that has been needed. These are mostly the widows who are 
depending on these pensions--they are modest pensions--but basically it 
is their health care. They will get a 90-day notice July 15 if we do 
nothing, and we cannot do that. We cannot do that to any part of this 
great country and especially those who have worked so hard and given so 
much.
  I thank him for that commitment. I hope my colleagues, all of my 
colleagues, my Republican and Democratic colleagues, will help me keep 
this commitment and this promise to our miners.
  Madam President, I wish to tell you a little bit about what is going 
on in my State of West Virginia. I came back last night.
  I was driving home Thursday night, and I got caught in Virginia 
driving on I-81. This deluge of water started. Rains I have never seen 
before started while I was on I-81. After getting into Lexington, VA, I 
cross over to I-64 to come in. Then from I-64 I go through Clifton 
Forge and Covington. I have traveled quite a bit that way, and I have 
never seen water like this.
  The river started coming across the road. We were able to get through 
that. I was asked what my first impression was coming into West 
Virginia. I was driving, and we came into West Virginia on the 
Greenbrier County side and White Sulfur Springs. The beautiful 
Greenbrier is there as soon as you come into our State.
  The exit where you get off where you go to the Greenbrier and go into 
White Sulfur Springs, I looked down, and it was totally under water--
all those stores where I used to stop, see people, and the little 
filling stations, but the eeriest thing I ever saw in my life was all 
these cars were under water and their lights were on. So you know if 
their lights were on, someone was driving. For the water to come up 
that quickly that you couldn't even turn your car off, you just jumped 
out or tried to swim out or tried to get out the best you could, that 
totally gives you an idea of how fast this river rose. No one has ever 
seen anything like it. Then I saw a trailer, a person's home, floating 
down the road, the middle of the road. I am thinking, ``What 
happened?''
  Then I drove and got into Charleston, and as Senator Reid said, 9 
inches. We had up to 10 inches of rain in some parts, 9 inches to 10 
inches in this area of southeastern West Virginia that really got hit. 
All of the counties got hit pretty good, but a few of them really got 
inundated.
  If you can imagine 9 inches to 10 inches of rain happening within a 
2-hour to 6-hour period, that would be almost like turning on all the 
hoses you have in your house, put them in the house, turn them on full 
force, and let them run for that period of time and see what happens. 
It is just unbelievable.
  Of the things we saw, first, people didn't have insurance because 
they didn't think they were in the flood plain. Next, people who were 
in the flood plain couldn't afford the insurance. Next, most of our 
State--the hills and the beautiful mountains we have, over the years 
most of the people--the last 100 years or 200 years--have built in the 
valleys because that is where the river had meandered and kind of cut 
out the flat, level places. They are asking: Why would they build? I 
mean, this is where they have always been.
  Over the years, they have either dredged the rivers, they have done 
different things, they built floodwalls. We build dams to hold back the 
water in certain areas, which has helped tremendously. Now we have to 
rethink how we do this. We need the Army Corps of Engineers. We need 
the Federal Government.
  I thank President Obama and his Chief of Staff, Denis McDonough. I 
called Denis, and I said: Denis, if we have ever needed help, we need 
it now.
  He said: Senator, I can assure you the President is ready to help as 
quickly as you put your declaration in.
  Never have we had a declaration signed and turned around. I thank the 
President, I thank Denis, and the entire White House staff for the 
compassion they have had for my State and all the people of our State--
as hard as it has been hit.
  We have three counties with a declaration: Nicholas, Kanawha, and 
Greenbrier--which was really hit hard, which is where the Greenbrier 
Resort is. Those counties are getting immediate relief. We have 500--
going to 700--National Guardsmen coming in.
  I flew over the area. I visited all the areas by car on Friday. I 
flew over on Saturday. I have never seen an entire town, an entire 
city, inundated with water, the entire town. In Rainhill, WV, there 
wasn't a dry spot in the town so everybody got caught.
  Somebody asked about the warning. We did give warning. There is 
never--if you have lived all your life, your parents and grandparents 
before you, and you heard stories about water coming this fast and this 
quick--let me give you one example, and you can imagine. I went to 
White Sulfur Springs yesterday in the little town--you have seen

[[Page 9931]]

the pictures on television, the house that was floating and on fire. I 
was there, right where it happened.
  Before I got to that house, I was walking down, and there was a lady 
standing there. There were foundations of a few homes, but there was no 
sign of a home anywhere. She had flowers and a cross. And that was 
where her husband, who was a grandfather, and her--but her husband, her 
daughter, and two grandchildren were in the house. They got clear to 
the attic, and the house left. One of the kids was safe, but one little 
child, the mother of the children--their daughter--and the grandfather 
were lost in the flood. She was standing there and looking.
  What do you say? There are no words to replace that. You see these 
types of tragedies.
  Then I walked across the bridge. This gentleman came and got me he 
said: Come on, Joe. I want you to come over and see. I walked up across 
the bridge where another--not large--stream comes out of the mountains, 
but it had become a raging river. That is where the forks basically 
join. When what happens, sometimes the hydrology will back up, and it 
creates a dam. The water creates a dam of itself.
  I walked in there, and it looked like a bomb had gone off. There were 
three or four homes completely burning that had exploded. He lived in 
one of them. He said, when this all hit, the water, he ran as quickly 
as he could with his wife. He hid up in a cave on the hillside. They 
thought everybody had gotten out. A lady did get out, and she came back 
into the home.
  Well, when the houses shifted, it broke the gas line. When the 
gaslines broke, they filled the homes with natural gas. When the houses 
shifted, then the power lines broke loose. The sparks from the power 
line hit the gas and blew up the homes, like explosions going off. The 
woman in the house got caught. She couldn't get back out--she went back 
in to get something. She went up into the attic and was burned over 70 
percent of her body. Then she jumped into a tree and hung in a tree for 
3 hours to 4 hours until they rescued her. I understand she passed away 
yesterday.
  We have 23 confirmed dead. We thought there were 25 because two 
people were swept away and reported missing. They found them alive so 
we are at 23, but we still have 5, 6, or 7 unaccounted for.
  The tragedy continues. Love is outpouring from people. First, I thank 
FEMA. FEMA is there doing an unbelievable job and the National Guard. 
We are going to depend on the Corps of Engineers. It is going to take 
everything we have to put our State back together where the people can 
have some infrastructure. Maybe we can change some streams to the point 
where they will move differently or water will flow a little 
differently, hopefully, but this is where you need your Federal 
Government. The State--no State, the Presiding Officer's beautiful 
State of Iowa--couldn't do it by itself. We cannot do it by ourselves. 
I thank FEMA, first responders, and Red Cross. We have everybody in.
  If people want to know how they can help, there are people who say: I 
don't have any money, but I want to come to your State. We need you. We 
need volunteers who want to work. We need people who have resources who 
want to help with their money and donations. If they want to send 
goods, we need that too. We need everything. People have lost 
everything.
  To give you an example, Jim Justice, the owner of the Greenbrier 
Resort--the Greenbrier is closed indefinitely right now. The big golf 
tournament that was planned, the Greenbrier Classic, has been 
cancelled. And the golf course is pretty much running to a certain 
extent, but they will come back. So Jim, basically, has opened up the 
Greenbrier to anybody who is homeless right now--anyone who has lost 
their home. He said: We will give you a place to stay for free; come to 
the Greenbrier. We don't have hot water--because of their boiler 
systems--but we have water. So that is what they are able to do, and he 
has been so gracious to do that.
  I tell people, if they can get on my Web site, manchin.senate.gov--at 
the front of our Web site, you can see everything you can do. It will 
take you to the site where you can get in contact with the right people 
to help our State.
  Again, I know of the love and compassion people have, and I have 
watched people come together. Our little State has always taken care of 
itself. When you ask people ``Do you have a place to stay?'' they will 
say ``Well, I am staying with my neighbor up here'' or they are doing 
this or that. So that has been fantastic. But the outpouring of love 
and compassion from around the country has been unbelievable.
  We have a lot of famous West Virginians. Brad Paisley has called, and 
he wants to do a benefit for the State, and that is going to be 
tremendous. John Kruk and just so many people--so many people have 
stepped up to the plate.
  From the bottom of my heart, I want to say thank you to everybody for 
reaching out. It is not over. I just called home, and it is raining 
again. We have flash flood warnings out for the same areas again. But I 
talked to the weather channel, and we are not supposed to get anywhere 
near what we got before, so we will be able to handle this, I hope. But 
it basically just stops the cleanup, and it is devastating to see what 
has happened.
  So I say thank you to all my colleagues and everyone who has sent 
their heartfelt, sincere condolences for our State and for the people 
who have lost their lives. That is the first and foremost thing. We can 
replace everything else, but we can't replace those dear little kids, 
parents, and grandparents who were lost.
  With that, Madam President, I say thank you from the great State of 
West Virginia, and on behalf of my colleague Senator Capito, I thank 
you very much. We have both been on the trail working together and 
trying to get all the relief we can, and just keep us in your prayers.
  With that, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON. Madam 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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