Legislative Branch Appropriations Act, 2017

Floor Speech

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Mr. CASSIDY. Mr. President, I have spoken on the floor twice now to tell the stories of the devastation caused by the great flood of 2016 and the depth of need the families of Louisiana have.

Since I last spoke, about 10,000 more people have applied for individual assistance through FEMA, and now about 150,000 folks in Louisiana have applied for individual assistance. This is a serious, immediate issue, and we need help for those who are in great need.

In all of the debate back and forth, some people have forgotten or never realized how massive this disaster was--an unprecedented event.

The National Weather Service deemed this as a once-in-a-thousand-years event. Twenty parishes have been declared disaster areas. In the city of Denham Springs, 90 percent of homes flooded, and in about half of the structures flooded, it will cost owners over 50 percent of the value of the building to repair. Ninety percent of the housing stock in this town has been flooded.

According to the estimates by the Advocate newspaper--the paper in the Baton Rouge area--as many as 12,000 Baton Rouge area businesses flooded. The National Flood Insurance Program has found that when businesses floods, as much as 40 percent of them never reopen. For a small business to reopen their doors, there is great cost, and this can prove too great to rebuild. The consequence of this is to the owner of the business, but it is perhaps felt more greatly by the employees--and their families--who lose their jobs.

This flooding caused $8.7 billion in damage. If you take out hurricanes, this has been the most expensive natural disaster to happen in the United States in the last 100 years. Let me repeat that. Take out Sandy and Katrina, and we have the most expensive natural disaster in the last 100 years--$8.7 billion.

No one was prepared, and it is not their fault. Less than a quarter of the population had flood insurance because the flood occurred in areas more than 50 feet above sea level. One fellow who called me lives 7 miles from the river, and he got 4 feet of water. He did not expect to have a flood and was not required to have flood insurance. Why would you when you are 7 miles away from the river?

Thousands of families were completely caught off guard by a thousand- year flood and are now struggling to pick up the pieces. They need our help. They are trying to make a decision whether to rebuild or just move on: We can't afford to repair our house. We owe more than it is worth. Let's just walk away from our mortgage, buy a trailer, and hopefully be able to do something different in the future.

Here are a couple of examples of families affected. This is a street.

This is not a lake; this is a street. This is a family being evacuated by volunteers. The water was too deep for them to get out. You can imagine, if this is on the street, it is also in the house. And that which most people keep--wedding dresses, picture albums, toys, clothes--is flooded too. When the water recedes and the water goes out of the house, also what goes out are these heirlooms, picture albums, clothes, and piles of debris on the side of the road.

Let me also remind you of Dorothy Brooks. She is 78 years old. In this picture, she was being rescued out of 3 feet of water. You can see the water here next to the deputy's leggings. This is in Tangipahoa Parish, and this is Sergeant Thomas Wheeler. Dorothy relies on a wheelchair. As you might guess, she could not evacuate, nor could she prepare for the flooding.

Dorothy is not the only person who is handicapped or who is a senior citizen who was affected. At their age, they have been unable to evacuate but also unable to carry out the repairs once the floodwaters recede. One example of this is Roy and Vera Rodney--both in their eighties--who had 4 inches of water in their house. It was not a whole lot, but 4 inches.

The FEMA inspector told them their home was habitable, so they were denied repairs and rental assistance. Being in their eighties and having no family in town, they couldn't gut and repair their home on their own. The water sat, and there was damage to the carpet. Their belongings sat. Mold came in, mold spread, and now their house is too unhealthy to live in. They have evacuated to family who live far away, and while there, they are not available to let volunteers come in to gut their house. In the weeks that they have been forced to wait, the house has remained ungutted and mold has continued to spread. Because they could not get their aid in time, the cost of recovery has grown.

The Rodney story is the story of the whole region. Dollars to help that come sooner will have a greater impact than the same amount of money that comes later. Again, if the Rodneys had been able to take out 4 inches of wet baseboard, furniture, carpet, wood flooring, their home would have dried and they would have rebuilt. Because they could not, mold spread, the damage increased, and now the whole house has to be remediated. The same amount of money sooner has a greater impact than later. That is the story of us seeking funding for Louisiana in the CR.

Helping each other is a fundamental American value. I ask all my colleagues to support this continuing resolution with the money for disaster relief for families--not just in Louisiana but also in Louisiana--who have been faced with natural disasters, to help families like these who have lost everything put their lives back together. Let's do what is right and pass this legislation so we can help relieve these flood victims.

I yield the floor.

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