Political Quotes

“Madam President, the city of Minot, ND, in my home state, is facing a dire emergency. Minot and other communities on the Souris River in my home State are facing a flood of epic proportion. We have a wall of water heading toward the city. I am told the sirens have just sounded in that town alerting people to evacuate. This is the headline this morning from that town's major newspaper. The headline reads: ``Projection: Devastation. Minot residents evacuate as historic rise in the Souris River approaches.'' This flood is a result of overly wet conditions for an extended period of time, a record snowmelt, combined with record rainfall in the basin above the city. We are now told that perhaps a third of the city will be underwater, and unprecedented rains have filled upstream reservoirs to capacity, leading to a dramatic change in the forecast in 48 hours. On Saturday, we were told we could expect the river level to reach elevation 1,555 feet in the city. On Monday, we were told 1,566 feet-- an 11-foot increase in 48 hours. The result is the defenses that have been built up over an extended period of time, that gave us about 3 feet of freeboard, are absolutely incapable of dealing with a flood of this magnitude and a rise happening this rapidly. This is the headline from yesterday in the Minot Daily News, which kind of summed it all up: `` `It's a sad day.' Crest could be 10 feet higher than June 1.'' It is staggering to understand what is happening here.…”