Ted Poe: “The rains came down and the floods came up. And although Texas did not receive Noah's 40 days and 40 nights of rain, the…”

“The rains came down and the floods came up. And although Texas did not receive Noah's 40 days and 40 nights of rain, the recent 10 days of rain were of Biblical proportions. The whole State received the incessant rain. And about the time we thought it was all over on Saturday morning, it all happened again Saturday night, flooding many of the same homes and communities throughout the State. In Houston, six, so far, have died. Statewide, there are now 24 deaths. Eleven are still missing in Hays County when the Blanco River rose so fast at night it trapped people in over 200 resort homes that were on the river--homes that eventually washed away. Many of Texas' rivers--the Trinity, the Colorado, the Brazos, and the San Jacinto-- rose at rapid record rates and are still out of their banks. Weather experts, Mr. Speaker, said so much rain fell in Texas in May that it was enough moisture to cover the entire State in 8 inches of water. That is a lot of rain. Seventy counties have been designated disaster areas. But the rainbow news, Mr. Speaker, is that many, many voluntarily helped their neighbors and strangers survive the troubled waters of the floods. Here is just one example. The hard rain in Dallas flooded the Trinity River. Dallas is in north Texas. The Trinity River flows south down to southeast Texas near Houston, and the added rain in southeast Texas had the Trinity River the size of the Mississippi River.…”