Political Quotes

“I rise today to express on behalf of the people of Guam our heartfelt sympathies to all our fellow Americans who are victims of winter storms and who are still without electricity to keep themselves warm. Mr. Speaker, as the Nation's attention focuses on the plight of our friends and neighbors in the northeast, we in Guam are quietly recovering from the devastation of a massive tropical cyclone, Typhoon Paka, which struck Guam on December 16th. Paka destroyed or severely damaged 8,000 homes, injuring more than 200 people and leaving more than 3,000 families homeless. Of the homeless, more than 1,000 required temporary housing immediately. The typhoon made a shambles out of hundreds of public and private buildings and facilities, schools, churches, stores, businesses and parks. The island was stripped of foliage, and thousands of trees as well as even concrete power poles were mowed down. Typhoon Paka pummeled Guam for 12 hours, causing an estimated $256 million in damages. Christmas in Guam was not as bright as usual, but the people of Guam celebrated a joyous and grateful holiday anyway. They had a Christmas miracle of a sort: Not a single human life was lost; and, in fact, nine new lives came into the world on the night of the storm. Typhoon Paka was an extraordinary storm. A super typhoon with a double eye wall packing maximum sustained winds of 160 miles per hour and gusts of 195 miles per hour.”