Hurricane Assistance for Florida

HURRICANE ASSISTANCE FOR FLORIDA -- (House of Representatives - September 08, 2005)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation with all 25 Members from the State of Florida that would assist residents of Florida who were victims of Hurricane Katrina. But before I do, I would like to say that I am proud to have supported the two emergency relief supplemental that we have passed for victims of the hurricane in an overwhelmingly bipartisan fashion. The pain of those who have lost loved ones, their homes, their pets and now find themselves in temporary housing thousands of miles from home, their pain is palpable.

As a Member of Congress who represents south Florida, I can empathize with the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the gulf States because my home, south Florida, has been struck by numerous hurricanes and is threatened by them every year. Even now we have Hurricane Ophelia, which at 5 o'clock was declared a hurricane approaching the coast.

The scenes of the destruction throughout Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi have reminded south Floridians of the devastation of Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane which struck south Florida 13 years ago.

However, I rise tonight to call the Nation's attention to something that I think has been overlooked, understandably, by the Nation, and that is the plight of those residents in Florida who suffered damage because of Hurricane Katrina. I want to remind people that Hurricane Katrina first made landfall in Florida, striking Broward and Miami-Dade counties in the heart of my congressional district.

When it first hit Florida, Hurricane Katrina was not a large storm. In fact, when it made landfall in Florida, it was only a Category 1 hurricane which moved quickly over the State and moved out into the gulf before building strength and causing the devastation that has transfixed our Nation for the last 10 days.

While only a Category 1 hurricane at the time, the damage caused by Katrina in south Florida was extensive for many people.

In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, more than 350 homes were damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reports today that Craig Fugate, Florida's emergency management chief, told FEMA officials this week that the State expects the loss of over 2,000 farm-related jobs in Miami-Dade County alone. Okra, malanga, sweet potato, and cassava crops have been destroyed, he said, resulting in about a $492 million loss. In addition, State agriculture officials say avocado and tropical fruit crops were severely affected.

Many of the farmers and agricultural workers that grow and tend these crops will be out of jobs or will lose significant income this year as a result of this storm.

On Saturday, August 27, the front page of The Washington Post and many other media outlets throughout the country showed pictures of the flooding and damage in south Florida resulting from Hurricane Katrina.

That is why it came as a surprise to many homeowners when last week FEMA announced that they would not be providing individual assistance to residents of Florida who suffered damage or destruction as a result of Hurricane Katrina.

I want to make it very clear to you, Madam Speaker, what the effect of this decision means to the residents of south Florida who suffered damage from the hurricane. This here, this, is what FEMA refuses to pay for when Hurricane Katrina struck Florida.

This woman here, who has had the roof ripped off her house and most of her possessions water damaged, FEMA's response to her is, you are on your own. Good luck.

And how about this family here. This woman is standing in water that is above her knees. The water is inside her house and has damaged her cars. Her house is not a fancy beach house. It is an average American's house. Her car is a later model and clearly more than 10 years old.

What was FEMA's response to her family's request for help? The same as it was to the people in New Orleans who were dying in the first days after Katrina struck: you are on your own.

My question to FEMA is this: Storms do not know State boundaries, so why does FEMA?

Looking at this picture here of the woman standing in her destroyed home, I am reminded of a woman that I met last week when touring hurricane damage in my own congressional district. I was touring the damage at the Park City Estates mobile home community in Davie, when I met Dorothy Rothbauer, an 86-year-old resident whose mobile home was damaged in Hurricane Katrina.

Ms. Rothbauer's home is roughly 20 miles from the beach. Her mobile home is nice. It is not extravagant. It is cozy and it has been her home for 25 years. Ms. Rothbauer is not a woman who lives beyond her means. She lives modestly and saves her money and has gotten by all of these years.

But now she needs help. She needs her government's help. As she showed me the damage to her house, she began to cry. It was excruciating. Pieces of the exterior have fallen off. Water has leaked in and the extent of structural damage is unknown.

She looked into my eyes, knowing that FEMA had told her that they could not offer her assistance, and crying, asked me what she was supposed to do now.

As I visited the other homes in the neighborhood, I realized that Dorothy's house did not have even as extensive damage as the others.

Across the street and down the block, roofs were entirely ripped off of these houses.

Dorothy's neighborhood is just one of many communities affected by Hurricane Katrina throughout Broward and Miami-Dade counties. And FEMA's answer to why they are not offering individual assistance to us in Florida is that for this storm FEMA has decided there is a State threshold of 800 homes that need to be damaged in Florida.

My State of Florida has been hit by six hurricanes, six in the past 2 years. Denying the people of Florida Federal assistance to rebuild their homes is wrong, and I urge my colleagues in the House to join the 25 Members from Florida in ensuring that FEMA will reimburse them for their damage.

The Census Bureau reports that in 2004, the percentage of people living in the Miami/FL area in poverty was 17 percent. The Federal poverty level is, just $12,334 for a family of two and only $19,307 for a family of four. Denying the people of this area Federal aid in rebuilding their lives is unconscionable.

It is for this reason, Mr. Speaker, that today I am proud to introduce legislation that is co-sponsored by every member of Florida's House of Representatives delegation. All twenty-five Republicans and Democrats.

My legislation would direct FEMA to cover valid claims for individual assistance resulting from Hurricane Katrina's impact on the State of Florida.

This legislation does not ask for something unusual, it only asks to right the wrong done to the people of Florida and it allows us as a Nation to answer the tear-filled question of what am I supposed to do now, posed to me by Dorothy Rothbauer last week.

I urge my colleagues to co-sponsor my legislation that would extend relief to the Florida victims of Hurricane Katrina.

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