Kent Conrad: “I add my words to those who talked about the tragedy in Oklahoma this morning. I remember watching television last night…”

“I add my words to those who talked about the tragedy in Oklahoma this morning. I remember watching television last night and seeing the power and the destructive might of those storms that swept across Oklahoma and parts of Kansas as well. I have a feeling for what the people are going through, as a result of the disasters that hit North Dakota in 1997. We had the worst flood in 500 years in Grand Forks, ND, and we had 95 percent of the town evacuated, the largest mass evacuation of a city in the United States since the Civil War. I know the trauma those people are facing, and I know the difficulty of recovery. Our hearts go out to the people in Oklahoma and Kansas who have been so affected. I hope they know that we are prepared to respond and to help. We in North Dakota remember very well how people reached out a helping hand to our State, so many people from around the country who actually came to North Dakota to help us rebuild--the Red Cross, the other organizations, the Salvation Army. We had a woman from California who came to town and gave $2,000 to every family that had been affected, a gift of tens of millions of dollars. We remember very well the Federal Government's rapid response, the agencies of the Federal Government that moved to assist the people who were affected. FEMA did an absolutely superb job under the leadership of James Lee Witt. We will never forget it.”