John Cornyn: “2 days ago, I came to the floor to speak about the catastrophic flooding in Central Texas, and I would like to update my…”

“2 days ago, I came to the floor to speak about the catastrophic flooding in Central Texas, and I would like to update my colleagues on the status of those recovery operations and also to express my gratitude to many of them who have reached out and offered their condolences--not to me but through me to my constituents and the people who are still grieving and who were so adversely affected by this natural disaster. For many who are affected by this tragedy, the pain will never go away. At this point in the rescue and recovery efforts, more than 119 deaths so far have been confirmed across the State. Remember, this happened mainly the early morning of July 4, in the early morning hours. But that 119 deaths so far includes 36 children in Kerr County alone. Sadly, we learned a couple of days ago that, after counting all of the day campers and other people who were camping alongside the Guadalupe River during the Fourth of July weekend, where they were expecting to celebrate the Nation's birth but also fireworks displays and cookouts and things like that, unfortunately, people outside of the organized camps, mainly children and counselors--170 of them are missing in addition. So, for many of my constituents back home in Texas, the nightmare is not over. Of course, these loved ones who were lost were mothers and fathers and teachers, high schoolers, and precious children, young children.”