Louisiana Floods

Floor Speech

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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 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.

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