Mitch Landrieu: “this is a fairly dramatic chart I want to show people. It is a little scary for me and, I am sure, the people I…”

“this is a fairly dramatic chart I want to show people. It is a little scary for me and, I am sure, the people I represent. It is also very scary for Florida, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia. This is the track of all hurricanes from 1955 to 2005. This is what the southeastern part of this country has to brace itself for every year--year after year after year. According to all reports, these storms are getting stronger and stronger and more numerous. We have been very blessed that we have not had a critical storm this summer. But the season is still open until November. This yellow track is the track of Katrina. This blue track is the track of Rita which actually hit 2 years ago today. I was down in Cameron Parish on the corner of Louisiana, and east Texas is still hurting very badly, as well as our areas, from this storm. It has not recovered yet. My point is, this bill not only has projects for inland waterways and navigation, but it provides vital projects for all of the southeastern United States and for the eastern seaboard to protect the people, the great industries, and manufacturing that are represented through all sorts of navigable waterways and ports that service this whole Nation. Without this bill, this whole area will become significantly more vulnerable and open to storms, erosion, and surges. This is a very dramatic chart that shows what we are up against.”