10th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina

Floor Speech

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Mr. ADERHOLT. Mr. Speaker, I want to just mention to you that it is hard to believe that it has been 10 years ago, in the early morning hours of August 29, just a month from today, that Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast as a category 3 hurricane.

With sustained winds up to 140 miles an hour and a storm surge over 9 meters high in some places, the impact to the gulf region was very devastating.

While the economic cost of the storm is very difficult to measure, some estimates have put the damage over $100 billion. Hundreds of thousands of refugees scattered across the country. Most importantly, no price tag can be assigned to the loss of the nearly 2,000 lives that were lost.

In the aftermath of the tragic storm, there were many hearings; there were many inquiries, studies, investigations, reforms, and policy changes that were conducted, and most of those were for good reason.

The initial emergency response to Katrina was far less than what should be expected of our Federal, State, and local governments.

However, this evening, I do want to thank my colleague for his allowing this, putting together this time. As he said, we are not here to talk about the failures, so much as we are here to talk about the spirit of the people that were affected.

It is easy to sit back and to point fingers and to place blame, but this evening, we want to talk about and bring attention to the spirit of the people that were affected, both directly and indirectly by Hurricane Katrina.

In the days after the hurricane, when it became clear that thousands of people would not be able to return to their homes, work began to find permanent shelter for these individuals.

Thousands of refugees from Louisiana were given housing in manufactured housing that was purchased by FEMA and was stationed, actually, in my home State of Alabama in the State parks.

The outpouring that came the following days of support from the local community was, I think, best described as just overwhelming. As soon as the people found out that the refugees were headed into our area, supplies were starting to be gathered together, and drives were started immediately as they were being organized.

A member of my own staff organized one of those numerous drives on his own initiative. Thousands of pounds of food, of clothing, and personal hygiene products were collected. They were distributed to the people, and these people that were helped had little more than just the clothes on their back.

I am also proud that, after this show of support, that many of the refugees decided to make the Fourth District, the district I represent, their home. In one particular case, a refugee from Louisiana ended up working for Desoto State Park, where she had been housed.

Finally, the resilience of Alabamians who lived along the Gulf Coast was also inspiring as well.

Though the Gulf Coast of Alabama was not the hardest hit of the region, the Gulf Coast of Alabama was severely impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

While there is still some healing that needs to be done, the Gulf Coast is not only back in business, but it has returned to life as usual and it is thriving.

New shipyards are being constructed, new businesses are opening up, and tourism has returned to the region. This, I believe, is a testament to the spirit of the people of the State of Alabama as well as our neighboring States, Mississippi and Louisiana.

As we move forward as a country and as a region, I hope that we will not only look to the lessons we have learned from the failures of this response, but also to the lessons we learned about kindness, the lessons of charity, being a good neighbor, and, actually, the spirit of this great Nation.

So I want to thank my colleague from Louisiana for putting this time together to draw attention--again, not to place the blame on the individuals or organizations that we could point blame to this evening, but to the spirit and to the greatness of all those that were involved and to the kindness, the charity, and the spirit that arose from that occasion.

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