05.26.10

Sheldon Urges Colleagues to Vote for Flood Supplemental Appropriations Bill

Mr. President, I rise to speak about important funding in the supplemental appropriations act that will help my State of Rhode Island recover and rebuild from the recent devastating flood which left homes destroyed, businesses closed, and thousands and thousands out of work. The help in this bill is very important to us. Residents of our Ocean State were in a tough spot long before the rain started to fall. Our economy had been in severe recession for 28 months. Unemployment has remained over 12 percent, putting us in the top 5 States for unemployment for 12 months. Homelessness is on the rise. We are in the top 10 States for foreclosures, and our State budget is simply a disaster. The historic back-to-back floods in March hit an already hard-hit State. Rhode Island saw more rain during this disaster than any month on record ever, over 16 inches, with over 5 inches of rain falling on March 30 alone.

The devastation wrought by these storms exceeds anything in living memory. Meteorologists who have reviewed it are calling this the most damaging storm to hit the Ocean State since 1815. It is too soon to estimate the full economic impact of the March flooding, but it is clear that the economic damage to Rhode Island will be prolonged and severe. The peak storms of March 30 and 31 brought commerce not only in Rhode Island but in the region to a halt. Route I-95, the main artery that connects the major cities of New England and the middle Atlantic States, was closed for 2 full days. It flooded out following a surge of the Pawtuxet River. The river, which has a flood level of 9 feet, crested at its all-time high, almost 21 feet, on March 31.

It is hard to overstate the importance of I-95 to Rhode Island's economy because not only is it a regional artery, it is probably the single most heavily traveled local commuter and commercial artery for our State. Similarly, even Amtrak service through Rhode Island was suspended for 5 days due to the flooding out of the Amtrak rails.

At the height of the rains, Providence Street, a main road in West Warwick, looked more like a river than a road. This picture shows local emergency workers rescuing people who have been flooded into their homes and apartments, driving them through the flood in a boat with jet skis. It is not often that one sees local emergency workers driving down the roads of Rhode Island towns on boats and jet skis. But that is what it took to get residents out who had been trapped by rising flood waters.

A few days later, this was the scene at Angelo Padula & Sons auto salvage yard in West Warwick. The waters have receded, but we can clearly see the damage left behind. All of these cars were covered and filled with water. We can see the mud from the river heaped all over them. I don't know whether it can be seen on television, but hanging in the fencing is leaves and grass and other bits of trash, because the river was over all of this. This fence was a strainer, picking leaves, trash, and other debris out of the flow. This was completely under water when the river was at its height. When it came back, it left the devastation of this auto and salvage yard. According to local news reports, the floods destroyed 1,200 cars in this salvage yard as well as 16 cars in a sales lot and thousands of dollars worth of car parts. The damage to the surrounding neighborhood and the other businesses near Councilman Padula's yard was equally severe and devastating.

This legislation will enable the Army Corps of Engineers to examine the factors that led to the severe flooding in our State. It will help Rhode Island apply effective mitigation measures to forecast the risk of and prevent future flooding. Our communities are now hesitant to rebuild for fear of another flood. We must take steps to prevent a disaster such as this from happening again. People have to know where the danger area is. When you get two back-to-back floods in a matter of weeks that both blow through the 100-year flood line, one of which blows through the 500-year flood line in places, something is wrong with the measurement of the flood risk. The people who have been subjected to these floods know that. As one local business owner said in a recent report on WRNI, our local NPR station: What happens if it floods again in 2 months?

We need this knowledge. We need the support from the Army Corps to get in there and tell us what the real present flood risk is. Clearly, the previous estimates were badly wrong.

This bill also contains funding for community development block grants and economic development assistance grants for long-term recovery efforts that will help restore and rebuild Rhode Island communities. As I traveled around the State for days following the flood, the sheer magnitude of the damage was unprecedented. The Federal response came quickly. The President issued a disaster declaration almost immediately. Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano was on the ground within days. FEMA quickly came in to set up emergency assistance centers and begin processing disaster assistance applications. They set up offices all across the State. They did a phenomenal job of getting people into the State, of reaching out across the State and making sure they were widely spread and available to victims of the flood. So far FEMA has processed more than 25,000 claims and, in a State of a million people, that is a big number. I thank them for their hard work. Of course, FEMA delivers a particular specified product that is defined by law and regulation. They haven't been able to help everyone. People have fallen through the cracks, and so many Rhode Islanders remain frustrated.

I recently held one of my community dinners in Cranston for people to come and ask questions about flood aid. I heard from a number of people who feel as though they have fallen through the cracks in the wake of this disaster or feel that the help they have received is not enough.

Small business owners, for instance, have been limited to receiving low-interest loans from the SBA to recover from their flood damage. But for many of the small businesses which were already struggling through the terrible economy I described before the floods even came, the prospect of taking on more debt in order to repair flood damage is not feasible. They need grant support.

What is important about this legislation is that CDBG and EDA will allow the local municipalities to design appropriate programs to catch the people who were not those 25,000 satisfied customers of FEMA but are the people who, because of the nature of the program and the nature of their flood damage somehow managed to fall through the cracks.

For our towns and cities in Rhode Island, again, this could not have come at a worse time. I have already shown you some of the damage that was sustained in West Warwick. That is a town that was already experiencing hard economic times. Now the town's already stretched budget has been pushed to the limit by the overtime shifts and the emergency repairs and all of the extra effort required to deal with the flood and its aftermath. By lowering the State and municipal cost share from 25 percent to 10 percent, this appropriations package will be a big relief to the people of West Warwick. Frankly, the city of West Warwick and others will have the ability now to design packages to help their residents and their small businesses that were not adequately compensated by FEMA to try to get them back on their feet. So it is two good things for the municipalities: It is a reduction from 25 percent to 10 percent in their share, and it is an opportunity to create a plan that will help serve their constituents.

In Cumberland, RI, Hope Global, one of the town's largest employers, was completely washed out by the flood. This is a picture of Hope Global I have in the Chamber. This is their loading dock. Normally, there would be no water there at all. There would only be a parking lot there, and a truck would back up to this level. This would be several feet off the ground. As it was, I floated through those loading docks in an inflatable boat at Hope Global.

They are an enterprising company. Cheryl Merchant, who is their CEO, is an astonishing woman. She had all of the equipment in that factory jacked up on temporary pallets of one kind or another, so when the flood came in, it did not damage the machinery because it had been jacked up. When the floodwater went back down, they put the machinery back down on the ground. They got their electricity going again. They plugged back in, and they were running in no time. Before their executive offices were cleaned up, while everything was still a wreck, the machinery was already spinning and the Rhode Islanders at Hope Global were already back at work. That was a great thing. But now they face the problem of, do we stay? Should we go on? Should we find a location where we do not face this kind of a risk?

One of the important decisions Hope Global needs us to make is to reduce the threat of future flood damage. Can there be a berm that protects them from the river overflowing, as it did here? They would like to see that berm constructed along the riverbank for their protection, and we are hopeful the funding in this appropriations package will help Cumberland to assist the Army Corps in getting that done quickly.

I will close by pointing out that the motto on the Rhode Island State flag is ``hope.'' That is our symbol. That is the phrase, the word that has seen us through tough times in the past. The flooding has destroyed homes. It has closed businesses. It has put careers on hold. But the people of Rhode Island have stood up remarkably well. However, the job of rebuilding roads, rebuilding bridges, rebuilding sewage treatment plants, rebuilding public facilities, homes, and businesses is a colossal and daunting task for a State already 28 months into severe recession. Rhode Islanders are a resilient bunch. We will recover and rebuild. But this will certainly help us to get there.

Since this appropriations package was passed unanimously in committee, I hope for quick passage on the floor.
I see the very distinguished ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Senator Cochran of Mississippi, who represents a State that has seen its own share of flooding and difficulty recently. I know how sympathetic he is to our concerns and how effectively and helpfully he has worked with Jack Reed, my senior Senator, who is also on the Appropriations Committee, who has worked to see that this gets done. So I want to take this moment, as I conclude my remarks, to pass on my gratitude to the chairman, Senator Inouye; the ranking member, the distinguished Senator from Mississippi, Mr. Cochran; and my senior Senator, Jack Reed, for all of their work in pushing this funding through the Appropriations Committee to where it is now on the floor. Our State is lucky to have had their support, and I look forward to continuing my work with Senator Reed to make sure Rhode Island rebuilds.

I yield the floor.