Political Quotes

“as you no doubt know, the State of Vermont has been hit very hard by Hurricane Irene. The storm caused widespread flooding, resulting in a number of deaths, the loss of many homes and businesses, and hundreds of millions of dollars in damage to our property and our infrastructure. I have visited many of the most hard hit towns, and I was shocked and moved by the extent of the damage. Many of these towns still today have very limited access because the roads and bridges that link them to the outside world have been destroyed. Irene will go down in history as one of the very worst natural disasters ever to hit the State of Vermont. Let me take this opportunity again to thank everybody who has lent a hand to help their friends and neighbors stricken by this disaster. I especially wish to commend and thank our emergency responders--they did a fantastic job--the Vermont National Guard and our local officials for all they are doing to assist communities and individuals in getting back on their feet. We still do not know the cost of this disaster, but let me share with you just a few preliminary figures, and really this is quite remarkable, remembering that Vermont is a State of about 630,000 people, with approximately 200,000 households. Today, already more than 4,200 Vermonters--and by and large, those are households--have registered with FEMA. With 200,000 households, we have over 4,000 that have already registered with FEMA.…”