10-Year Anniversary of West Virginia Floods

Floor Speech

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Mr. JUSTICE. Mr. President, June 23. You know, it is a beautiful sunny day in a lot of places in this country right now. And June 23 is usually that in West Virginia, but I can tell you all that 10 years ago--10 years ago today--June 23 turned into one really, really tough period in my great State.

I am here today to speak on just one thing, and for one reason and one reason alone, and that is just this: I am here to speak for all the great people that pulled the rope together, that did every single thing we had to do at a time when it was tragic beyond all comprehension.

I am here to tell you just a couple of stories, but just imagine this: I was just beginning or in the middle of running for Governor, my first term, in the State of West Virginia.

All of a sudden, it started raining that morning, and it rained-- rained like none of us have ever seen. Eleven inches of rain in West Virginia over just a short period of time is astronomical beyond all comprehension. Eleven inches of rain in a lot of places in this country is no big deal, but 11 inches of rain in the mountains of West Virginia is one big, big, big deal.

Just imagine this: We were getting ready at the Greenbrier to have a FedEx golf tournament for the PGA Tour. At 2 o'clock in the day, I went down to inspect all the build-out that we had done. We were just days away from having the golf tournament. The PGA asked us to build this little footbridge across Howard's Creek, and I did it. It cost $7,000. I thought it was absolutely the most ridiculous thing that I had ever done, but I did it.

At 2 o'clock in the day, I went down there to just look and to see what Howard's Creek was all about, and I could see the water was almost at the bottom of this little footbridge that I had built across Howard's Creek for the players to walk across. I said: You know, that $7,000 that I spent right there for that is just going to go ``shoop,'' and it is going to zip right away.

Two hours later--2 hours later--I left the Greenbrier to go to an event in Charleston, WV, and when I went out the front gate of the Greenbrier and turned and started down the little hill, the water was almost mountain to mountain--that fast, a solid moat. I thought, well, I can drive through this, and it won't be too awful bad.

Well, I drove through it downstream. It was probably the dumbest thing in the world to do, but I got through it, had a flat tire, and I knew then I had to get back into the Greenbrier because there was something taking place that none of us had ever seen.

Now, just think about this just for a second. We had 15 people die in Greenbrier County. Twenty-three people died in West Virginia. Communities like Elkview and all kinds of schools, a third of the population--a third of the entire population of the entire State was without power. It was just flat unbelievable.

But to take it one step further, we hunted bodies all over the place. We found three different bodies on the golf courses. And I think about Ashley Cagle, a young lady who absolutely served in our U.S. Army. Imagine this: Ashley Cagle waded out into one of the ponds on the golf courses to pull one of the bodies out of the pond.

I think about a friend and a good, good young man, Andrew Sullivan, and the courage he had. His family lost everything, and then the tragedy beyond that is astronomical, but he had the courage--the courage--to stay together.

I think about Ronnie Scott and Tom Bill Dudley. I think about that just for one second. I am a basketball coach. And at the scorer's table, there they were, game after game after game after game, keeping the clock and the book.

Tom Bill's house was washed completely away.

Ronnie Scott absolutely told his wife he was going to take the car and the kids and go to high ground, and he did. Then, all of a sudden, he looked back. His wife was supposed to get the dog and the other car and come to high ground, and all of a sudden, the phone rang, and it was his wife. His wife said: Ronnie, I can't get out of the house now. The water is coming up too fast.

So Ronnie started climbing a hill to where he could see his house, the rain just pouring down on him. All of a sudden, the next time the phone rang, it was his wife, and his wife said: Ronnie, I am in the attic, and I smell gas.

Then, all of a sudden, the entire house exploded like a bomb had hit that house and leveled it right to the ground. It blew her 70 feet into a tree--third-degree burns. Three days later, she died.

There is story after story after story of the courage of how we hung together.

One of the great moments that I was able to do--and a lot of people say: Boy, that was unbelievable that you did it.

I would say: Bull feathers. It was what we do in West Virginia.

We opened the Greenbrier to anybody to just come in and stay there. They walked in with no shoes on. They walked in--700 of them. The great thing about it is the people of the Greenbrier took care of them and tried to help them in every single way they possibly could, even to the point of teaching them swimming lessons--the little kids.

I am telling you today is a day that I will never forget, and it is hard for me to talk without having big, giant tears in my eyes. And I can tell you just this: I don't want you to ever forget all those great people that bound together. That is what this country does. That is what West Virginians do. We bind together to be able to do something that no one thought we could even do, and that is build back and come back.

Now, there is tragedy after tragedy after tragedy that happens all over the place. The first responders, the National Guard--on and on and on--were so unbelievable, it was off the chart. But the last thing I will tell you is just this: Imagine wading in the mud looking for the bodies. For 6 weeks--6 weeks--every day, I would go there. I suspended the campaign and everything, which you just should do, for crying out loud. You know, every day I would go there, and we would look for a little 14-year-old girl, Mykala Phillips. Whew. We finally found her 6 miles downstream.

Absolutely--I have said this prayer so many times that I can't tell you. When I would be on the way there, I would be praying that, please, Lord, some way somehow, let me see where she is, and let me go there and just take my coat and lay it on her and then call for help. This family is hurting so bad, it is unbelievable.

Well, we finally found her.

I think about the National Guard wading in all that mud, and I think about all these families. It is unbelievable--totally, absolutely unbelievable.

The last thing I will tell you is just imagine this: Family after family after family--their house was just full of mud, full of mud; all their memories, all their pictures, all their photo albums, all their everything. Literally, they took it out in the street and just piled it in a pile, mud and everything. Along would come an end loader with the National Guard and pick it up and throw it in a dump truck, and off it would go.

I am telling you, the people of West Virginia are really good, and they had to stay together to get through that. It was the worst disaster I have ever seen in my life. And I know that across this country, from time to time, there is tough stuff, and we have just got to come together. We did it in West Virginia. We have done it across this country over and over and over. And I salute this great country and the great State of West Virginia in every way.

I ask you just this: On this day 10 years ago--say a little prayer at some point in time today for all those great people of West Virginia-- the 23 that we lost all across the State, all those that had to come together to absolutely build and become stronger. God bless each and every one of them.

Thank you so much for letting me speak.

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