Hurricanes' Destruction and Cost

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Weber for holding this Special Order and his leadership on this issue. My condolences to the people in his district. I know Beaumont, particularly, was hit the hardest. We were hit hard all around, but I know Beaumont was hit very hard. That is why we need to pass the supplemental in October, to help the great people in the great State of Texas.

I am chairman of the Homeland Security Committee. One of my responsibilities is overseeing the response efforts of FEMA--Federal, State, and local--to see is this working or not. I have seen what happened in Katrina and Rita and other disasters. I can tell you that this was the most impressive response effort Federal, State, and local.

I commend the President for signing an advanced disaster declaration at the request of my Governor, Governor Abbott, who enabled us to mobilize in advance and preposition assets to have, I think, one of the best responses I have seen in one of the most tragic storms that Texas has ever weathered.

By way of history, personally, my grandfather survived the 1900 Galveston hurricane. They rescued him from a treetop. He was 8 years old. Sadly, 10,000 people were killed in that tragic event.

In this case, we saved almost 20,000 lives, thanks to the good work of the people in this picture that I had the great privilege to see right after the storm hit. It was one of the most compassionate humanitarian responses I think I have ever witnessed.

This particular photo, I think, really captured what Houston looked like at the time--the first floor under water. It almost looks like the Iwo Jima of Harvey. You have DPS--Department of Public Safety--the American flag, a marine, Coast Guard, and National Guard. These people came together.

But do you know who else came together? You talked about the Cajun Navy, who came together from Louisiana to help Texans. A lot of Texans saved Texans in this storm. But to see that process was really a shining light in a very dark time.

There are so many untold stories of heroic bravery that took place. I call it Operation Dunkirk. Many of us know or read about that battle, or many of us have seen the movie, of all of the private boats that came out to save the British in that battle.

We saw hundreds of private boats coming out, working in unison with Federal, State, and local responders, saving lives. Again, there were 20,000 lives saved in the process.

Katy High School--Katy is in my district--became the forward operating base for the Texas Guard, the Active Duty servicemembers, and all of the first responders. This is where they launched their efforts to the Beaumont area after they took care of all of the crises and the flooding in the Houston area. I saw these guys going out in boats and helicopters and saving lives. This is the best side of mankind in one of the darkest chapters that our State has really seen. I had an opportunity to bring Speaker Ryan and Chairman Shuster of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee down to look at this. A remarkable story in, again, a really awful time, but we saw the resiliency of Texans helping other Texans.

But I also want to credit the entire Nation for responding in a very compassionate way. I went to the shelters and the churches and I saw all of the food coming in, and people calling me from other States asking: What can I do to help?

The firefighters I saw coming from Nebraska, Pennsylvania, and Ohio were all converging on the State. Indeed, the eyes of the Nation were on the State of Texas during this devastating hurricane that continued to rain for days.

Lastly, I do want to talk about what we can do moving forward. This is a 1940 map flood control plan that was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps under President Roosevelt, back in the forties. And you see here the Addicks Reservoir and Barker Reservoir that were built in the 1940s. This is the Buffalo Bayou, and this is downtown Houston.

But they had another plan at the time, and it was on Cypress Creek. That is in my district. In Katy is where these guys were. This is where it all started. This is the third flood in 2 years in this area, all starting at Cypress Creek. This is all developed now. It is not rice fields anymore. It was a watershed event into these reservoirs that then had a controlled release at 1 in the morning into these neighborhoods below, flooding the Buffalo Bayou, and then flooding Houston.

Mr. Speaker, as we look at the supplemental and other projects, this is the prevention that I think we can be doing in Congress that makes a lot of sense to provide infrastructure at key points to stop this flooding from ever happening again.

I know, as Texans, we are all going to come together as a delegation. I know this entire Congress would come together to not only save lives, as we did, and help with FEMA assistance to get people back up on their feet, but then do smart projects like this one to stop this kind of flooding from ever happening again. That is smart prevention that, at the end of the day, is going to save money and save human lives in the process.
In closing, I just want to say that I have never been prouder to call myself a Texan. I have seen a lot. It is my seventh term. Judge Poe and I came in together, and we have seen a lot in the seven terms we have been in Congress. I have never seen our State rally like this at a time of need, and the Nation rallying behind the State of Texas. I want to thank all of those who made it possible in our great State, and also in our great country, the United States of America.

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