Bill Clinton: “my colleague has eloquently described the damage and devastation that he and I visited together last week. Floods are…”

“my colleague has eloquently described the damage and devastation that he and I visited together last week. Floods are biblical. They go back as far as human history is recorded. But I never cease to be amazed at the damage they cause. There is something about a flood that is so devastating. It leaves behind places that are destroyed because of mold. It ruins businesses and homes. It leaves a residue of mud and muck and debris. It is a demoralizing, debilitating disaster. As Senator Schumer and I traveled from Binghamton north, we saw firsthand people coping and trying to figure out what was next-- businesses that lost everything and don't know how they will ever get back into business, homes that were washed into rivers and creeks, city halls and fire departments and police departments with records that were obliterated in an afternoon. Now, if this were a once-in-a-hundred-years phenomenon, maybe I would not be so worried, but time and again we have heard that there have been 3 floods in this area of New York in the last 24 months, 2 of which were classified as 100-year floods, 1 of which was classified as a 300-year flood. We are beginning to see the effects that were predicted by the National Hurricane Center earlier this year. We had even seen our National Archives, which holds our most precious founding documents, like the Constitution and Bill of Rights, fighting back the floodwaters, trying to preserve America's history.…”