The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“Flooding in Oklahoma (Executive Session)” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S3024 on May 22, 2019.
The Department handles nearly all infrastructure crisscrossing the country. Downsizing the Federal Government, a project aimed at lowering taxes and boosting federal efficiency, said the Department should be privatized to save money, reduce congestion and spur innovation.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
Flooding in Oklahoma
Mr. LANKFORD. Mr. President, just to give the Senate body a quick update of what is happening in my State right now, we have had some pretty dramatic flooding and over 15 tornadoes in the last 48 hours across the State. Thankfully, most of those tornadoes hit in open areas. They did not hit structures. There have been some structures that have been damaged, but the flooding has been far worse than the tornadoes and the high winds.
Just 2 nights ago, in one of our counties, Osage County, we had severe flash flooding, where from 10 p.m. to 2:30 in the morning, over 100 different homes had to be evacuated in the middle of the night. Many of those folks had law enforcement, firefighters, and first responders arriving at their home with a boat or with a truck to get them out, literally, in their pajamas so they could escape. Many of those homes have 4 to 6 feet of water in them now.
It has been intense for those folks who are in the area. In fact, it is interesting. The director of emergency management for that area spent the entire night saving homes and helping people get out. When dawn broke and they knew they had gotten everyone out, he headed back to his own house only to find out he could no longer get to his home anymore because of the floodwaters.
We have had folks all over the State, whether that be in Perry, where we had two homes that were destroyed in a tornado that night that, thankfully, did not hit the center of town. We had other spots, like around Eufaula, where we had some serious flooding; Stillwater, where there has been flooding. In Dale we had a very dangerous overnight tornado that came in, literally, while everyone was sleeping. There are pockets of folks who are there who have been affected by this, literally, all over the State.
For the department of transportation folks, for the folks in our police and fire departments, for the emergency management individuals--
both for the State and the counties--for mayors and city managers, for hospitals, for county workers, for city staff, for the Corps of Engineers, and, quite frankly, for just neighbors down the street, it has been a long week. There have been a lot of folks serving each other to take care of those needs, and there will be for a while.
I thought this body would need a quick update because sometimes people feel a long way from the center of the country when you are in Washington, DC, but we need to understand what is happening in the center of the country right now--literally, the center of America. It is affecting all Americans.
