North Dakota Flooding

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Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, the city of Minot, ND, in my home state, is facing a dire emergency. Minot and other communities on the Souris River in my home State are facing a flood of epic proportion. We have a wall of water heading toward the city. I am told the sirens have just sounded in that town alerting people to evacuate.

This is the headline this morning from that town's major newspaper. The headline reads: ``Projection: Devastation. Minot residents evacuate as historic rise in the Souris River approaches.''

This flood is a result of overly wet conditions for an extended period of time, a record snowmelt, combined with record rainfall in the basin above the city. We are now told that perhaps a third of the city will be underwater, and unprecedented rains have filled upstream reservoirs to capacity, leading to a dramatic change in the forecast in 48 hours.

On Saturday, we were told we could expect the river level to reach elevation 1,555 feet in the city. On Monday, we were told 1,566 feet--an 11-foot increase in 48 hours. The result is the defenses that have been built up over an extended period of time, that gave us about 3 feet of freeboard, are absolutely incapable of dealing with a flood of this magnitude and a rise happening this rapidly.

This is the headline from yesterday in the Minot Daily News, which kind of summed it all up: `` `It's a sad day.' Crest could be 10 feet higher than June 1.''

It is staggering to understand what is happening here. There are four reservoirs above the city of Minot, all of them filled to capacity. In fact, we have been told the floodgates of the major reservoir in Canada are wide open. They cannot control the flow of water. Whatever comes in is going out because they have lost the ability to meter out the water more slowly.

This is what we are seeing happen all over Minot as crews rush in to try and provide secondary defenses, to protect as much of the city's critical infrastructure as possible--schools, water treatment facilities, other critical infrastructure--that is going to be necessary to be able to continue to fight this flood menace.

This was the headline in the Bismarck Tribune: ``Crisis to the North. Souris Floods Force 11,000 Residents From Minot.'' It is a town of 40,000. So when you have 11,000 people forced to flee, that has a devastating impact.

This is the headline, again, from the Minot Daily News of June 20, on Monday: ``Water Woes Continue. People in danger zones advised to be prepared to evacuate.'' And as I have said, that evacuation is occurring as I speak.

The Fargo Forum, which is the biggest newspaper in our State, had this headline: ``11,000 Forced Out. Rising Souris moves up evacuation time. Residents in heart of city work fast to save what they can.''

My own cousin and her family have a home that is in danger. They have moved everything from the basement to the first floor. Now they say they will have 7 feet of water on the first floor of their house. This is happening to people throughout the Minot community.

These pictures that ran in the newspapers tell the story in a powerful and clear way. What we have is somebody trying to go into a neighborhood. You can see there is a police vehicle, because they are under mandatory evacuation. This person tried to get over to perhaps rescue a pet or take care of some last-minute business; maybe turn off the gas. And there he is, stuck in the water, as these floodwaters rise, and rise very rapidly.

This picture also gives a perspective on what we are confronting. Here is the dike, levee, that has just been raised, and you can see there is maybe 2 or 3 feet of freeboard there. But what is coming is 10 more feet of water, so there is absolutely no way these dikes can possibly hold. There is no way they can protect the city. These dikes are going to overtop, and thousands of residents will be displaced.

This picture shows another shot. In this place, they didn't have the dikes covered by plastic. You can see a couple of feet of freeboard there. All these houses are at risk as this wall of water comes our way.

This is another shot showing a house, and you can see they have the main dike and they have also built a secondary dike to protect their home. All these efforts will prove to be for naught because of this unprecedented wall of water. In fact, this is five feet higher than in all of recorded history. That is what is happening to this community of Minot, ND--home to 40,000 people, home to one of the major Air Force bases of the United States, home of the Minuteman missiles, and home of the B-52 bombers. Minot, ND, the fourth largest city in my State, is about to experience the greatest devastation in the history of the town--a flood worse than the 1969 flood by many feet, and that flood was a modern-day record to that point, the 1969 flood.

This chart shows the evacuation zones. This gives you some sense of how major the relocation of people is out of this city. These are the evacuation zones 1 through 8 that go right on the edge of the river, and you can see all of these people under mandatory evacuation.

They are going to have to leave, and they are going to have to leave very quickly.

Madam President, I would like to end as I began, by showing the headline this morning in the Minot Daily News. ``Projection: Devastation.''

There is no way around it. There is absolutely no way to respond when the flood forecast changes this rapidly and the water is coming this quickly. The result is these people are going to face high water not for just a day or two. Typically in a flood, the water comes and the water goes. In this circumstance, the water is coming and it is not leaving anytime soon. They have told us as recently as yesterday that we could expect high water until the middle of July. Can you imagine, to have your house under water from late June to the middle of July, the devastation that will result.

So this headline, ``Projection: Devastation,'' says it very well. That is what we are faced with in this community.

The bottom line is, we are going to need help. And we are certainly getting it. We deeply appreciate the efforts of the Corps of Engineers, FEMA, and all of the other Federal agencies that are helping. The National Guard, certainly hundreds of troops there are doing a fantastic job of patrolling these dikes, of helping people move, of making certain that people get out of harm's way because job number 1 is protecting people's lives. We also have an obligation to do everything we can to protect as much of the property as is humanly possible. We very much appreciate the assistance the Red Cross is giving.

I just met with General Kowalski of the U.S. Air Force, a three-star general who has as part of his command the Minot Air Force Base. I called the Secretary of the Air Force yesterday and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force the day before and asked them to be alert to the need for that base to help us because there is so much they can provide in assistance, being out of harm's way. The base is 12 miles north of the town.

General Kowalski came to me this morning to deliver the message that the U.S. Air Force is prepared to help in every way possible. We deeply appreciate that commitment and that support. We remember very well in 1997, when we had record floods in Grand Forks, ND--that is home to one of the other major Air Force bases of the United States--the extraordinary support and help they provided to us at that time.

The final board I will show is the headline from the Minot Daily News of June 21: ``It's a sad day.'' It is indeed a sad day. But the people of North Dakota are tough, they are resilient, and they are going to come back. I have every confidence that we will rebuild this town. It will be a tough slog, but the people of North Dakota are equal to it, and we deeply appreciate the help we are getting from people all across America.

I have seen America at its best in a time of crisis. When people are down, when they are hurt, when they are devastated by natural disaster, the people of the United States rally and help out.

That is the ethic of my State. When a farmer gets sick and can't harvest his crop, the neighbors pitch in. When a barn burns down, the neighbors pitch in. That is the best of community spirit. That is the best of America. We are going to be relying on that generosity of spirit in the days ahead.

Madam President, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

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