Midwest Floods

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, Saturday morning, I was in Alton, IL. This picture here is what we saw. You have to look closely to understand what I am looking at here. These grain elevators are in downtown Alton, IL, and this is the Mississippi River, which has now risen to the point that it is just below this red line. I know this red line a little bit because it marks the 1993 flood level of the same Mississippi River, so we are almost there. We were hoping over the weekend that the river would crest and that Alton and so many other communities in the Midwest would be spared further flooding.

The interesting thing is, when I went down there to talk to the people engaged in the recovery effort and trying to help fight these floodwaters, there was an insight I was really surprised to hear. I asked them what is different about this flood, because we get lots of floods in the Midwest. The difference with this flood, according to those who have done the research, is this is a flood of longer duration than any flood we have seen since 1927.

When I spoke to the mayor of the town of Alton, IL, I said: So this comes and goes? He said: It never goes, Senator. We have had six floods in the last 10 years that were supposed to be breaking historic records.

So let's step back for a minute and take an honest look at this, if we can, and realize that we are living in a little different world this year than we did just a few years ago. The extreme weather events, which we hear reported every single day, suggest that something is going on beyond just changes in the weather. When we see rainfall and snowfall in the upper Midwest, which is now responsible for this flooding situation here, we have to ask ourselves the obvious question: Is this just a one-off event, or are we seeing the new normal? And if this is the new normal, are we prepared for it?

When these floodwaters hopefully recede in the very near future, there will be a lot of repair work to be done. There is a lot of damage to homes, businesses, and families. But then there will be a big question: What do we do next? If this is the new normal in our weather patterns, if we are in fact seeing a change in our climate around the United States and around the world, how will we respond? My first concern, of course, is my home State of Illinois and the folks who are kind enough to let me serve them in the U.S. Senate.

I want to do everything I can to work with the Army Corps of Engineers, which is a critical part of flood protection for the Midwest. These earthen levees you will see along the shorelines of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers have been sorely taxed by these floodwaters. When they are drenched and soaked over long periods of time, they tend to weaken. We count on the Army Corps of Engineers and the good people locally to step forward and help us fortify these levees. We need to continue to do that, maybe even more so because of the frequency of the floods we are seeing in the Midwest.

But we have a responsibility here in Washington too. What are we doing about the climate change that is happening around the world? What are we doing to make sure our kids and grandkids will inherit an Earth that is habitable and that won't face these kinds of awful occurrences on a regular basis? Are we willing to make sacrifices and changes in the comfort of our own lives just a little bit so that our kids and grandkids have a world that they can live in, a world that is habitable, that they can pass on to the next generation? I don't think that is too much to ask.

There was an agreement reached a few years ago in Paris. Every nation in the world signed up to do something. Every single nation in the world signed up to do something to reach a common goal of stopping the warming of this planet and everything that has followed. Then what happened with the election of this President? President Trump stepped forward and said: Count us out. The United States is not in the Paris Agreement any longer. We are the only nation in the world to step away from that agreement. The rest of the world understands the gravity of this challenge. Today, it is the floods in the Midwest. Tomorrow, it will be that tornado in Oklahoma. The list goes on and on and on.

I stand ready to work with everyone I can locally to deal with this, but I also plead with this administration--open your eyes to the reality of climate change in the world and what it is doing to the extreme weather patterns we currently face.

Our Governor, J. B. Pritzker, has declared a disaster in 34 of Illinois's 102 counties--about a third of the State. Four hundred Illinois National Guard men and women members are working sometimes around the clock to do their part, and my hat is off to them and their families for their extraordinary sacrifice.

The levees, like the Nutwood Levee, which isn't far from Alton, IL, were breached by floodwaters, and over the past week, a small town was evacuated. State and local officials have urged everyone there to be careful and make certain that they do everything they can to protect themselves and their property.

When you take a look at this picture taken in Alton, IL, you don't see the real story. There are a few people, families who are looking at floodwaters, but the real story is the coordinated effort, which is heartwarming. It is not just the Federal agencies, like the Corps of Engineers and the Coast Guard; it is not just the State agencies, like the Illinois Emergency Management Agency; it is the local units of government, like the city of Alton and so many other cities, that have come together to coordinate their efforts and to make the best of what they have.

It is also an effort by a lot of charitable organizations. As you might expect, the Red Cross was on the scene almost immediately, and we also know the Salvation Army has been involved as well. They are all doing their part to make sure we work together.

But the one group that should be recognized--they may not have a formal title--are the men and women, the families and community leaders who stepped up and rolled up their sleeves to fill the sandbags to help their neighbors. It is not just a midwestern thing, but it is a midwestern thing, as far as I am concerned. Our people and our families across my State time and again step up to lend a helping hand to one another. In this time of need with this kind of flooding damage in Alton and all across our State, it does my heart proud to see that these folks have once again responded to this call.

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