Hurricane Katrina

HURRICANE KATRINA -- (Senate - September 06, 2005)

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Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I, too, rise in an expression of sympathy to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to convey my deep gratitude to the many people who are working in ongoing relief efforts.

As we gather here today, thousands of people throughout the South are struggling to recover from one of this Nation's greatest natural disasters. Really, if you think about it, it is a disaster that continues to unfold. With the public health issues, the sustenance-of-human-life issues, the needs that need to be met on a daily basis, this disaster, the full extent of it, is not yet even known.

As we all know, Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast on Monday, August 29, leaving in its wake destruction and devastation. The loss of life is incalculable at this time. The city of New Orleans lies in ruin, and residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida are struggling today to meet their most basic needs--shelter, food, clean water, and medical care.

This Congress has appropriated, on an emergency basis, more than $10 billion to help meet the most immediate needs of these victims of this disaster. But, obviously, there is more that needs to be done.

Thousands of Americans now face the daunting task of rebuilding their lives. I am proud to report the people of my State of Texas are doing their part, welcoming literally almost a quarter of a million people with open arms. While some Texans are providing resources to meet evacuees' immediate needs, others are facilitating longer term needs for this large and displaced population. State and local government agencies are coordinating efforts on the ground and countless volunteers--from churches, synagogues, mosques, other faith-based organizations, and just good hearted people--are providing all of the help they can on a round-the-clock basis to ensure our neighbors' needs are being met.

On the ground, nearly 2,000 soldiers and airmen from the Texas Air National Guard are continuing to provide assistance with Hurricane Katrina relief and security efforts. An additional 350 members of the Texas State Guard have also joined them. Texas National Guard aviation has moved more than 6,650 people, distributed 20,000 meals, and almost 40,000 bottles of water, and supplied more than a million pounds of material to help repair the breach in New Orleans' levees.

Even as Texas leaders have notified FEMA and Louisiana officials that we are nearing capacity, people across the State continue to open their homes to their neighbors in need and to reach out to help them in any way they can.

In the shelters, one of the most important ongoing efforts is to locate a place for displaced residents to actually live on a temporary basis. The Red Cross in Dallas is doing everything it can to register evacuees or those who have been victimized by Katrina. This will help facilitate the reuniting of these victims with their families and loved ones. This effort is being duplicated at all other shelters.

The city of Fort Worth and Tarrant County have partnered to provide the best possible care for victims. The local government has taken full responsibility for this situation and is managing these shelters in an efficient and professional manner.

In Houston, 20,000 people are being housed and cared for at the Astrodome. Another 4,000 are being sheltered at the Reliant Center. And 3,000 more are being housed at the George R. Brown Convention Center. It is estimated that up to 100,000 more are in hotels and shelters throughout the greater Houston area, with around 200,000 to 250,000 victims of Katrina in Texas.

Mr. President, 20,000 volunteers in Houston alone have been working to accommodate the enormous manpower requirements to put all of these efforts in place.

A lot of credit is due not only at the highest levels of State government, to Governor Perry and his team, but also to local leaders such as Harris County Judge Robert Eckels and Mayor Bill White of Houston who have done an excellent job working to mobilize the major county and city efforts to offer immediate shelter to these victims. Both the judge and the mayor have been going to Fortune 500 companies in the greater Houston area to ask for immediate help and have been met with generous offers of assistance. Shelter volunteers are working, also, to make sure the medical needs of these evacuees are being met. Dallas County Health and Human Services has stated that physicians are taking extra precautions to prevent the outbreak of communicable diseases at the shelters. The Mental Health and Mental Retardation Department has deployed social workers and psychiatrists to shelters to help deal with the mental trauma associated with this disaster.

But in addition to the immediate needs for food, clothing, water, and medical care, there are long-term needs that need to be addressed as well. We must also ensure that these long-term needs are met by this same team effort of

Federal, State, and local officials, as well as nongovernmental and faith-based organizations. Federal agencies have stepped up and have given information to evacuees on how to receive Social Security and other Government benefits while they are temporarily displaced.

The Post Office has stopped mail according to ZIP Codes so mail will not be lost and can ultimately be delivered. Local district clerks have given information regarding how to apply for child support payments. And I recently was in communication with district clerk Charles Bacarisse of Harris County, who is working with attorney general Gregg Abbott to make sure child support payments are delivered on time to those who are entitled to them.

Congress is also considering waivers so the Department of Housing and Urban Development can give out vouchers for housing.

My office has joined with the rest of the congressional delegation to facilitate the Federal Emergency Management Agency's ability to provide services and assisting HUD to provide housing as quickly as possible to such an enormous number of people. Likewise, communities have joined together, and many good people are personally even housing in their home those who have nowhere else to turn.

So I am gratified, but not surprised, by the big heart of the people in the State of Texas toward those who are in need. We know there are stories that are heartwarming on a personal level as well as on a larger level as to the way people are responding, which is in a way that we would all hope that if the shoe were on the other foot we would respond.

While we have heard there have been episodes of lawlessness, looting, and other acts of desperation, it is important to remember there have been innumerable acts of kindness from those expressing charity and goodwill which I believe truly embodies the American spirit and the Texas spirit. These are some of the stories on which I would like to close.

I was told an expectant couple from Louisiana was so appreciative of the warm welcome they received when they arrived in Dallas that they named their newest arrival, their baby girl, ``Dallas,'' after our fine city.

After a 23-hour drive to Texas, one woman gave birth to her new son and named him after the hospital where he was born in gratitude for the money, gift certificates, clothes, and other necessities that the hospital staff collected for her.

Louisiana resident Bernell Royal was rescued from his rooftop with nothing more than a bag of clothes--no identification, no wallet, no personal documents or effects. He is now being housed at a shelter in Austin, TX. Although he believes everything he owned is now gone, he told one reporter:

I feel like in Austin I've found a new sense of respect, dignity and honor. I would love to stay in Austin, get a job, and start a new life.

We hope he will.

In Duncanville, Darwin German II and his family wanted to help hurricane victims, so they decided to give away what they had--free apartments at the Candlelight Park Apartments. Move-in costs will be covered, as well as 4 months of free rent.

Dallas school officials over the weekend prepared to enroll approximately 500 student evacuees who were expected to start school today. The Dallas Morning News reports that Melissa Farria said when her children were registered for school:

These people are amazing. .....When they were saying they were registering students, I couldn't believe it.

And the University of Texas is likewise opening its doors to Texas students who were on their way to Louisiana universities. It has been reported that 134 undergraduates and 60 law students have now been enrolled at the University of Texas and will be able to continue their programs of study.

The Dallas Morning News is offering free classified advertisements for businesses and individuals offering free goods or services to evacuees from areas struck by Hurricane Katrina.

These are just some of the stories of goodwill and charity and big hearts that we found in response to this terrible disaster. I know the temptation is perhaps almost irresistible, particularly here in Congress, to point the finger of blame at mistakes made, plans that were not executed the way we hoped they might have been. Believe me, there will be plenty of time for that. But I believe right now it represents a distraction from the job we ought to be about, as exemplified by these wonderful Good Samaritans I have described this afternoon.

We ought to be about making sure people have food, shelter, and clean water; that they have medical care; that their children are allowed to go to school; and that we help them get on with their lives and leave the blame game and the finger-pointing for later on. I know Congress and the Senate will undertake a series of hearings--and, in fact, this afternoon--looking at gasoline prices. We should and we will deal with that issue appropriately. We also ought to look at the mistakes that were made and things that could be done better. I am confident the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee will, in due course, have hearings and make sure we learn from those mistakes and we do better next time.

But I think more than anything else this is a time for Americans to pull together. I wanted to take a few minutes to express my gratitude to the big-hearted people of Texas for taking in these nearly quarter of a million evacuees from Hurricane Katrina who had nowhere else to turn and who were looking for the milk of human kindness, which they found in the great State of Texas.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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