Hurricanes' Destruction and Cost

Floor Speech

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Thank you very much for yielding. I would like to thank my colleague, Randy Weber, my neighbor. I represent the 36th District in Texas and he represents the 14th, and he also represents my hometown of Beaumont, Texas, for this Special Order. I really appreciate that.

It was about a month ago that Hurricane Harvey began wreaking havoc on southeast Texas, dumping record amounts of rainfall across our region, upending the lives of thousands of families, businesses, and communities. Across our congressional district, the 36th District of Texas, we saw anywhere between 20 and 50 inches of rain, setting a new record for the United States. In fact, unofficially, ranchers in Liberty County, which I also represent, measured over 60 inches of rain.

Our entire district, from Houston to the Louisiana border, turned into, essentially, one gigantic lake, as thousands of homes that had never flooded before succumbed to Harvey's floodwaters. The impact was devastating and widespread.

No one was spared. People from all walks of life and socioeconomic situations, with the majority never having been displaced before, were baffled and desperate in their situations.

Each of the nine counties that I have the privilege of representing have been declared Federal disaster areas. The devastation is simply overwhelming, and the vast lake now is a vast debris field. But in the midst of this devastation, there were, and still continue to be, incredible stories of goodness. Let me share just a few examples.

In Orange, Texas, a young couple canceled their wedding to help their friends and neighbors clean up and begin the process of rebuilding. These newlyweds have now welcomed nearly a dozen family members into their nonflooded home. A volunteer fire department in Buna, Texas, became a big staging area, like many, many schools and volunteer fire departments all across this area.

In Cleveland, a constable organized a flotilla of boats to deliver shelter and supplies. Dozens and dozens of churches immediately marshaled their congregations and good Christian people for food, supplies, and shelters to be delivered.

In Deer Park, church members sprang into action immediately and began cooking and sharing meals with evacuees from Houston. In Silsbee, a church opened a community shelter after the county's only other shelter was cut off by floodwaters.

In Rose City, a really good friend and neighbor rescued nearly everyone in his entire neighborhood on his airboat, even as his own home was flooded. His name was Dennis Landry.

Since the flood, neighbors have organized mucking crews, where they help neighbors remove furniture, appliances, Sheetrock, carpets from one another's flooded homes.

This has happened all across the Texas Gulf Coast, and the stories go on and on: neighbors helping neighbors, communities helping communities, strangers helping strangers. Churches, first responders, private citizens, businesses, people from out of State all around our district are helping one another. But that is what we do in east Texas.

When times get tough, we pull together and we get to work. No one waits around to be told what to do. We are people of action, and we act when we see a need. And, quite frankly, this is what makes east Texas so special. Our communities are strong. And through our faith in God, we take care of one another in times of need regardless of our own means. It is our shared value for our fellow man that makes the difference.

In that same east Texas spirit, our office has been doing everything possible that we can do to help. From the very start, we have been working overtime to help people get back on their feet. We are blessed with a professional and dedicated staff that is second to none. And despite some of our own staff being flooded themselves, we have worked tirelessly to help our east Texas neighbors and friends get the information and resources they need to recover and build.

We are extremely grateful for their service, and I would like to personally recognize some of our staff: Lanie Brown, Lauren Jones, Rachel Iglesias, Sarah Blacksher, Beverly Ferguson, Will Carter, Jeannie Kranz, Joyce Morgan, Kelly Waterman, Beth Barber, Sarah Reese, Steve Janushkowsky, Lauren Ziegler.

These individuals have spent the past month doing everything they can to help the people of District 36. These are often the unsung heroes who go the extra mile each and every day, and lately, on weekends and evenings, to serve the needs of our constituents. It has not gone unnoticed and is part of the incredible good that has come out of a tragic hurricane. We are extremely proud and very grateful to them and their families and everyone who has pitched in.

I would also like to recognize our friends from Louisiana, and specifically my colleague, Congressman Garret Graves, and his staff, Paul Sawyer and David Cavell. Everywhere we went, we saw folks from Louisiana coming over and helping in the recovery, and we would tell them: Thank you so much. And we said: This is payback because of Katrina.

Countless churches and individuals and neighbors from our neighboring State of Louisiana came out to help. Thank God for the Cajun Airlift, the Cajun Navy, the Cajun Special Forces, and the Cajun Gravy. And lastly, I would like to thank our first responders. The death toll would have been much higher if it had not been for these brave men and women. And for our game wardens, our police departments, our DPS officers, sheriff's deputies, all the way to our U.S. Coast Guard and Texas and other States' National Guardsmen, we thank you for everything that you did, and we remember those who gave their lives in the line of service.

As we push forward, we have a long road ahead. People are still very much in need of assistance and resources as they work to put their lives back together. In fact, the fact that over 800 folks showed up for our Disaster Recovery Town Hall Meetings over the past several days demonstrates that there are still many in need.

Last Thursday night in Lumberton, Texas, we had over 200 people come out. In Orange, Texas, we saw that 77 percent of all homes in that county were impacted. We had over 500 people come out to meet with FEMA, State officials, and my staff on a Friday night, and that is big, because that is football night in Texas.

It is our goal to help folks cut through the bureaucracy and the red tape to get the answers and help that they need. We have been spreading staff out across our nine counties, setting up mobile offices to provide constituents with one-on-one assistance in applying for help and ensuring they have access to a computer or to complete the application. And this is not unusual. My colleagues and all of the other counties, up to 38 counties, I believe, were involved in this thing and have been doing the exact same thing. This will be a long road to our recovery, but together, we will recover, and we will rebuild and come back stronger than ever.
Congressman Weber, I want to thank you, and God bless.

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