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Floor Speech

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Mr. CORNYN. Madam President, 2 days ago, I came to the floor to speak about the catastrophic flooding in Central Texas, and I would like to update my colleagues on the status of those recovery operations and also to express my gratitude to many of them who have reached out and offered their condolences--not to me but through me to my constituents and the people who are still grieving and who were so adversely affected by this natural disaster. For many who are affected by this tragedy, the pain will never go away.

At this point in the rescue and recovery efforts, more than 119 deaths so far have been confirmed across the State. Remember, this happened mainly the early morning of July 4, in the early morning hours. But that 119 deaths so far includes 36 children in Kerr County alone.

Sadly, we learned a couple of days ago that, after counting all of the day campers and other people who were camping alongside the Guadalupe River during the Fourth of July weekend, where they were expecting to celebrate the Nation's birth but also fireworks displays and cookouts and things like that, unfortunately, people outside of the organized camps, mainly children and counselors--170 of them are missing in addition.

So, for many of my constituents back home in Texas, the nightmare is not over. Of course, these loved ones who were lost were mothers and fathers and teachers, high schoolers, and precious children, young children.

Those who died at Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp, included two 8-year-old girls from Austin named Linnie McCown and Mary Stevens. As hard as it is to look at the pictures of these young girls, I think it is important to remember that these are not just numbers; these are human lives that were lost in this tragedy and families left behind who will never ever forget this terrible tragedy, nor fully recover.

These two young girls were sleeping in a cabin called the Bubble Inn, which was close to the banks of the Guadalupe River.

Linnie attended Casis Elementary School in West Austin. Her father Michael drove down to the Hill Country to search for his daughter. He told a reporter that when he went to the cabin at Camp Mystic and saw the stuffed animals, charm bracelets, and photos, he wanted to take some of those for each parent, even while he himself was looking for answers about his own daughter.

After learning about Linnie's death, Michael wrote on social media:

She filled our hearts with so much joy we cannot begin to explain. We are going to miss her very much but know she's up there shining bright.

Mary Stevens attended Highland Park Elementary School in North Central Austin. Her mother Stacy said on a post after her death:

Our world is shattered but I have peace getting your letters and knowing you were having the time of your life at camp and had a dance party with all of your friends before the Lord decided to take you from us. He has bigger plans for you.

Mary and Linnie were just two of the victims of this horrific flooding, and there are many others with their own stories and families and futures that were cut far too short.

Now 6 days after the flooding, rescue and recovery efforts for those who remain unaccounted for are still underway. I would like to reiterate the message of Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who shared with me in Kerrville on Saturday her No. 1 priority, which was to save lives and to reunite families.

As I said, there are now 170, at last count, people still missing in Kerr County alone, including 5 campers and 1 counselor from Camp Mystic. This number does not include others that were missing in surrounding counties like Travis, Williamson County, Burnet County, and it doesn't include out-of-town visitors who may have been vacationing in Central Texas. Because of that, the sad reality is, this number will rise.

Once again, I want to recognize Governor Abbott and the many other State and local officials who snapped into action in response to this disaster, as well as the first-line responders who are committed to recovering as many people as possible.

More than 19 different State, local, and national government entities have been involved in these rescue efforts, and according to Lieutenant Colonel Baker of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, the Texas game wardens alone have conducted more than 400 rescues and 30 recoveries.

I am grateful as well to President Trump and Secretary Noem for their rapid Federal response. President Trump, when I talked to him on Saturday morning, said: Whatever you need. And that message was reiterated by Secretary Noem. And, of course, the President agreed to a Federal disaster declaration at the request of Governor Abbott on the spot.

I am especially thankful to the President for his kind words of love and support for those who have lost everything during this very, very sad time for Texas. The President and the First Lady are expected to come to Central Texas tomorrow, and I look forward to joining them once again.

To all of my Senate colleagues who have expressed words of kindness and condolences over the last few days, I want to express my appreciation to them. It is not hard for each of us to imagine, as parents or grandparents or husbands or wives, what a loss like this must mean in the lives of those who have been left behind.

Occasionally, we see people try to make political hay and engage in the blame game after a disaster like this. Of course, I guess I am not entirely surprised by that, but my request to them is, Please, wait. Wait until we have recovered all of those who are unaccounted for. There will be plenty of time for a thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances. Of course, it is only normal to say: Well, we want to make sure, in the future, we learn lessons from this experience so that we can save lives in the future. That time will come, but it is not now.

We need to use our words to encourage and to uplift and to console our fellow Americans during this difficult time. Now is not the time for partisanship; now is the time for unity. As Texans, we are accustomed to working and playing as a team. We don't point fingers. We ask: What can I do to help?

So the best thing we can do right now is to offer our condolences to the families of the victims and to continue to support the ongoing recovery efforts. It is imperative right now that we continue to work relentlessly, in the words of Governor Abbott, to recover as many people as possible who are yet unaccounted for. And he said: We will account for all of them.

Again, I want to reiterate what I said previously in that there is zero evidence of any failure on the part of the National Weather Service or any government Agency that they contributed to this horrific disaster. But if there are technologies we can implement, training we can promote, or systems we can improve, we should look to doing that in the future, for the future. There will be time for Federal efforts beyond the major disaster declaration granted by the Trump administration. We have already begun to try to identify legislative efforts we might undertake here in the Congress.

In listening to my colleague from Vermont, we know that natural disasters like this are not confined to any specific part of the country, to any State, or to any region. They happen everywhere at different times and in different places. It remains unclear whether there is anything that could have been done differently to prevent this horrible tragedy from taking place, but our goal must, nevertheless, remain to prevent more mothers and fathers and families from suffering the very great pain that so many are feeling right now.

This week, there has been example after example of Texans helping fellow Texans. Countless prayer vigils and donation drives have been organized across the State in honor of those who lost their lives in the flooding. Fundraisers have raised tens of thousands of dollars for everything from a fund in memory of Mystic camper Hadley Hanna to money for Lyle and Sue Glenna, a couple from Minnesota who managed to use their car horns to alert others at their campground of the incoming flood, likely saving multiple lives in the process.

There wasn't a single spot left in the parking lot of the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas for the vigil that was held there, and University of Texas students gathered at UT Tower in Austin to honor Chloe Childress and Katherine Ferruzzo--Camp Mystic counselors and incoming freshmen. Chloe lost her life in the flooding, and Katherine remains unaccounted for at this time.

As a father of two daughters, I can't imagine what these parents are going through, or grandparents or families or friends, given the loss of these young girls--of these lives that had only just begun. For those who are still waiting to hear news about their missing children or family members, they should know that we are doing everything humanly possible to find them and bring them home.

While I can't show the photos of every person who has died or is still missing due to the flooding, I want all who have lost loved ones to know that the prayers of those of us here and, I believe, of those across the Nation are lifting them up and are with them during their time of unimaginable grief.

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