Houston Flooding

Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, over this last weekend and through yesterday, large parts of central and southeast Texas experienced torrential downpours. The Houston region in particular experienced so much rain, it led to widespread flooding. I know many people have seen that on TV, in news reports, or online.

Many will recall that last year over Memorial Day weekend, Harris County, which is where Houston is located, suffered from similar flooding. This year's rain seems to be even more widespread, with some areas receiving as much as 20 inches of rain in a relatively short period of time. Whole subdivisions were submerged, interstate highways were impassable, and power was knocked out, which affected more than 100,000 people at one point. Tragically, several people have died as a result of these floods.

Amidst this tragedy, Texans have been quick to help one another. Crews had performed more than 1,000 rescues as of yesterday afternoon, and even one TV reporter on location covering the story rushed to rescue an elderly man from a flooded underpass. The rescue is on YouTube. I recommend anybody who is interested to watch it. It is really quite a rescue.

This morning I spoke to County Judge Ed Emmett of Harris County, and I will continue to stay in close contact with him, as well as the chief of the Texas Department of Emergency Management, in the coming days.

The one thing I do know is that Texans are resilient. In particular, the people in the Houston region, where I happen to have been born, are used to storms that cause that kind of flooding. But the rebuilding effort will be long and one that will require support from officials at all levels.

Going forward, I will do everything I can to help mobilize Federal resources for the Houston area should the Governor determine a Federal disaster declaration is necessary. In the meantime, our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Houston and other affected areas in Texas, and we hope and pray for their safety and their fast recovery.

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