Kent Conrad: “my State has been hit by one of the most remarkable series of events ever in the history of our State. First we had the…”

“my State has been hit by one of the most remarkable series of events ever in the history of our State. First we had the greatest snowfall in our State's history, over 100 inches of snow. Then the last of eight major blizzards hit. The eighth and final blizzard was the most powerful winter storm in 50 years. It included almost 2 feet of snow as well as major ice storms, then followed by 70 mile-an-hour winds that were devastating--80,000 people lost their electricity, many of them for a week. The economic devastation is truly remarkable. Now in the last 12 hours even more disaster is occurring. I am going to read just briefly from the major newspaper in my State, which is in the largest city of our State, Fargo, ND. The article begins this way: At 12:15 a.m. today, the flood of 1997 officially became the worst in Fargo-Moorhead's history. The National Weather Service said a reading taken at that time put the Red River's level at 39.12 feet. That exceeds . . . the river level measured in the flood of 1897--until this morning, the worst ever. That also means the Red [River] has hit the 500-year flood level.”