Ted Poe: “I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen) for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, my Houston area has…”

“I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Frelinghuysen) for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, my Houston area has suffered a historic hurricane, one that really changed the lives of all the people who were affected. My district was hammered by this flood. To put it in perspective, 27 trillion gallons of rain fell over Texas and parts of Louisiana in the 6 days of the flood. That is enough water to file the Houston Astrodome 85,000 times. At the height of the flood, 70 percent of Harris County, which is the Houston area, was flooded, 70 percent was underwater. The devastation in Texas equalled, Mr. Speaker, the size of New Jersey. You place New Jersey in southeast Texas, that is how much of the area was affected by this flood and the rain. People had anywhere between 36 and 52 inches of rain. The Weather Service had to create a new color, purple, on their maps to show how much rain had fallen. Nothing like this has ever happened in North America. 72,000 people were rescued by first responders and volunteers from high water. This is the largest civilian water evacuation since Dunkirk. Thousands of civilian volunteers worked along with city and county first responders to save countless lives. The heroes came from all walks of life, from all parts of the country. The attitude of the people of Texas was one of inspiration.…”