Political Quotes

“I rise to introduce the Emergency Vehicle and Community, EVAC, Planning Act. This legislation would strengthen communities to incorporate emergency evacuation routes in the transportation planning process. Specifically, this bill would direct the Department of Transportation, DOT, in consultation with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, to develop and publicly disseminate guidance and best practices for States, territories, Indian Tribes, and local governments to utilize to ensure necessary considerations are taken for evacuation routes during local planning. As we suffer from increasingly catastrophic natural disasters--from fires to hurricanes to flooding--efficient emergency evacuation routes can be the difference between life and death for our most vulnerable communities. The 2018 Camp Fire tore through the town of Paradise, CA, incinerating roughly 19,000 homes, businesses, and other buildings. Eighty-five people perished. But one of the most horrifying aspects of this tragedy was that some of the victims were killed in their cars when flames overtook the backed-up traffic on the only road out of town. We saw similar concerns in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina, which resulted in efforts to improve evacuation route capacity, after nearly 100,000 residents were trapped inside the city of New Orleans. And most recently in Lahaina, HI, a lack of evacuation routes contributed to making this the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century.…”