Date: 2016-06-08
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. on April 1718. 2016 Houston experienced a historic flood event that claimed the lives of eight people. damaged over 1.150 households. disrupted hundreds of businesses. closed community centers. schools. and places of worship due to flood waters. On Monday. April 25. I led a tour and held a press conference with the Army Corps of Engineers. local and state elected officials to focus on the damaged caused by the flood and to refocus our efforts on reducing the damage and frequency of flooding in the Houston area. On April 25. President Obama granted the request for federal Individual Assistance for Harris County residences and business owners who were affected by severe weather and flooding. I would like to thank all the local. state and federal officials who helped in making this possible. On May 3. 2016. I held a town hall for the residents of Houston. which includes my constituents in the 18th Congressional District so that they could learn from FEMA what resources were available to assist them with recovery. Unfortunately. that was not the end of the story of flooding in Houston for 2016in early June another record setting rainfall led to catastrophic flooding throughout the Houston area. At the beginning of this month Houston once again was flooded and another Disaster Assistance request was submitted to the White House. I am grateful to the President and the great work of those at the Department of Homeland Security who worked tirelessly to help people after both events. I spoke on the House Floor several times over the last six weeks about the floods and the suffering caused by the waters that came through our communitiesdamaging homes. our schools. places of business. and our places of worship. I am gratified that the House approved my amendments to The Energy and Water Appropriations Act which will help facilitate the $3 million needed to fund the Army Corps of Engineers Houston Regional Watershed Assessment flood risk management feasibility study. The Energy and Water Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2017 provides that the Secretary of the Army may initiate up to six new study starts during fiscal year 2017. and that five of those studies are to consist of studies where the majority of the benefits are derived from flood and storm damage reduction or from navigation transportation savings. My discussion on the House floor about Jackson Lee Amendment with Chairman SIMPSON and Ranking Member KAPTUR of the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee made a compelling case and legislative record that the Houston Regional Watershed Assessment Flood Risk Management Feasibility study is most deserving to be selected by the Secretary of the Army as one of the new study starts. The Energy and Water Appropriations Act is still under consideration in the House. and I continue to work with my colleagues in moving this important effort forward. The Houston Regional Watershed Assessment study is critically needed given the frequency and severity of historiclevel flood events in recent years in and around the Houston metropolitan area. The purpose of the Houston Regional Watershed Assessment is to identify risk reduction measures and optimize performance from a multiobjective systems performance perspective of the regional network of nested and intermingled watersheds. reservoir dams. flood flow conveyance channels. storm water detention basins. and related Flood Risk Management (FRM) infrastructure. Special emphasis of the study. which covers 22 primary watersheds within Harris Countys 1.756 square miles. will be placed on extreme flood events that exceed the system capacity resulting in impacts to asset conditions/functions and loss of life. The Federal government should not run every aspect of our livesbut it is an umbrella on a rainy dayit is a shelter in a powerful storm. The Federal government is help when no other source of help can meet the challenges we may be facing is sufficient. It takes all sectors of a community to effectively prepare for. protect against. respond to. recover from. and mitigate against any disaster. We come together as communitywe come together as Houstonianswe come together as Texans and yeswe come together as Americans to provide support. help and assistance to each other during difficult times. This is a difficult time for many in our city of Houston. Some of those who were hit hard by the flood are here tonight. but there are many others who suffered losses who were not able to be here. I ask that you take material with you to share with your neighbors. friends. family. and coworkers who had flood damage or economic impacts due to the flood. but were not able to join us tonight so that they can get the help they may need to recover from the historic flooding. You may qualify for FEMA Individual Assistance grants of up to $33.000 from the federal government. and lowinterest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration. An estimated 240 billion gallons of water fell in the Houston area over a 12 hour period. which resulted in several areas exceeding the 100 to 500 year flood event record. The records on floods are based upon the time period of rain fall. the location of the rain fall. and the duration of the event over a watershed. The areas that experienced these historic rain falls in April were west of 145. north of 110. and Greens Bayou. An estimated 140 billion gallons of water fell over the Cypress Creek. Spring Creek. and Addicks watershed in just 14 hours. The flooding problems in the Houston area are frequent. widespread. and severe. with projects to reduce flood risks in place that are valued at several billion dollars. Recent historical flooding in the region was documented in 1979. 1980. 1983. 1989. 1993. 1994. 1997. 2001 (Tropical Storm Allison). 2006. 2007. and 2008 (Hurricane Ike). In 2015. the Houston and surrounding area experienced widespread historic flooding. and again two weeks ago we saw significant flooding damage and loss of life during the 12 hour flood event from April 1718. 2016. On June 6. 2016. I held a tour of the flood damage in Houston. Texas with the President and CEO of The American Red Cross Gail McGovern: Following the flooding in April I worked with FEMA and the city of Houston to provide housing to those left homeless by the flooding in April. Organized a Houston area delegation letter to appropriators to fund a study. Sent letters to appropriators on the impact of flooding on the region and requested that a similar effort to deal with storm surge be undertaken for the upper Texas Gulf Coast. On March 10. 2016. 1 held what is likely one of the first Congressional events to raise public awareness regarding Zika Virus and to ascertain the needs of local and state agencies who would be responsible for responding to the threat. On June 1. 2016. CDC reports are there are 1.732 confirmed Zika cases in the continental United States and U.S. Territories. Cases of the Zika Virus have been reported in every state in the United States except Alaska. Idaho. North Dakota. South Dakota. and Wisconsin. At that meeting I called for the following directives to happen: 1. Establish a national task force to discuss the Zika virus. The First meeting of the Task Force occurred on Tuesday. June 7. 2016. Other objectives that I outlined included: 2. Creation of public service messages explaining what the word DEET means and why it is important to protect yourself with insect repellant. 3. We must make sure that untreated mosquito bed netting is available to women and girls in high risk areas. 4. Post posters in all public hospitals highlighting the dangers of the Zika virus and how one can protect themselves from the Zika virus. 5. Hold a MAJOR briefing in Houston with officials from the CDC regarding the Zika virus. 6. Conduct a Houston/Harris County Public service campaign to inform the community about traveling to Zika Virus mosquito borne infected regions around the world. and 7. We must secure public and private funds to cleanup illegally dumped tires and other debris where mosquitos may breed near people. We must also rethink how testing is conducted for the Zika Virus. Dr. Peter Hotez. Dean of the School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine recommends that an aggressive testing and disease surveillance approach be adopted for areas of greatest risk along the Gulf Coast like the city of Houston. Subtropical climate. Areas of Extreme Poverty. Presence of the most threatening Zika Virus carrying mosquitoes the Aedes Aegypti. Mosquito breeding conditions that are supportive of spread of the disease from travelers who come to the Houston area with the illness. The CDC guidance for persons who seek testing for the disease should allow for greater testing in areas that have these conditions along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida. Mosquito surveillance along the Gulf Coast is not even nor as wellresourced as it once was due to budget cuts and a lack of concern regarding mosquito borne disease. which has greatly reduced capacity and competence in this critical area. The mosquito that carries Zika Virus is known as the greatest killer of peopleit is also known as the yellow fever mosquito. This Aedes mosquito is the real threat and it must be battled from the neighborhood level up to the county or parish level. President Obamas request for $1.9 Billion in Zika Virus Emergency Response Funding. The Senate passed a Zika Virus Appropriations of $1.1 billion. but unfortunately the House only provided $622 million. The Senate has called for a conference to reconcile the differences between the two bills. The CDC reported on May 30. 2016. that it has confirmed cases of the Zika Virus include 279 pregnant women in the United States or U.S. Territories. This number is double the number of cases reported the previous week. The CDC is reporting all pregnant women who have "any laboratory evidence" of possible infection. no matter what. The CDC made the change after seeing reports of asymptomatic pregnant womenwomen with no symptoms who delivered children with known Zika Virus birth defects. These are sobering and troubling numbers this early in our mosquito season. These cases of Zika Virus include both travel related and those that were contracted from mosquito bites. The 13 Local Cases of the Zika Virus are all travel related thus far. Seven cases of the Zika Virus recorded by Harris County Public Health Environmental Services. Six reported by the City of Houston Public Health Department Reported cases of the Zika Virus. We know that 4 in 5 people who contract the Zika Virus have no symptoms. This is especially problematic for pregnant women who may become infected with the Zika Virus and have no symptoms. Although the contracting of the disease is most associated with mosquitoes it has been transmitted sexually. This presents other challenges to Zika Virus public education and preparedness.