Expressing the support and sympathy of the House of Representatives and the people of the United States for the victims of the devastating flooding that occurred across many parts of Ohio in August 2007 and commending the communities, volunteer organizations, churches and emergency response agencies for their continuing work to restore the affected areas across the state.

I thank the gentleman for yielding. Thank you distinguished Chairman Lynch, and my dear friend from our delegation Congressman Jim Jordan.

Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to rise in support of House Resolution 728, which speaks to the issue of the flooding throughout Ohio in August of this year.

Congressman Jordan and I stood shoulder to shoulder with the late Congressman Paul Gillmor in Findlay to survey the devastating 100-year flood level. This flooding ripped through the heart of many small towns in northwest Ohio, burying our communities in feet of mud and water while washing away the dreams of so many today.

We know there are probably over $100 million worth of damages. We owe so much to all the emergency workers--to the fire, to the police, to the local officials like Mayor Iriti, who I thought, did an outstanding job--for trying to address this situation, which wasn't any of their fault or our fault. You had 15 inches of rain within 24 hours; and this flood truly was different.

Instead of simply devastating our community, the flood also sent a shock wave through all of us on the challenge of fresh water management that our region, our very flat region, faces.

It is ironic that in Ohio we were talking about too much water at a time when, now, Georgia and the southeastern States are experiencing record droughts. We know in our region the status quo is not acceptable. We were very pleased that Secretary Chertoff joined us and offered the continuing help of FEMA to address the damage from these floods in August. We knew that our region had potential water management problems. But we never thought they would come now so quickly. We had launched a watershed management partnership in the Western Lake Erie Basin to handle the growing levels of storm water runoff.

The Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Agriculture have driven forward a remarkable partnership that is unique in its scope anywhere in the country for what it is trying to accomplish. At the center of this assessment is the understanding that we must better manage our fresh water asset for the future.

It is our competitive advantage, without question, in the Great Lakes States. We have been buffeted in our region by globalization, but we will not give up our greatest asset. We know we must manage it with a comprehensive basinwide solution.

I think this flooding was a real clarion call to people in our region. We saw the levels of damage and now having to remediate after the fact. But had we had in place structures and systems to handle this level of water, we would not have had the level of damage that we experienced. We know that the level of rainfall was extraordinarily large, but the point is, we were not properly prepared for it, and we have now had this clarion call.

We were very fortunate that the loss of life was minimized, but, nonetheless, people are still digging out. I think this resolution is a very important step forward as we try to handle this precious global asset of fresh water in our region in a much, much wiser way so that we can avoid the flooding of the future.

Even Marathon Oil had eight feet of water in its corporate headquarters in Findlay, Ohio. Business leaders, the chamber, a broad band of public officials and private sector leadership across the region recognize we can't go through this again. We have to think about dry dams. We have to think of reservoirs. We have to think of ways to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars worth of damage and put those dollars to work avoiding that kind of disaster in the future.

In recognizing all of those who helped to handle this enormous tragedy that befell our area, we also look to the future and the fact that we have the Western Lake Erie Basin partnership as a building block toward the future in order to make the future better than the past and to learn the lessons that history has now taught us.

I am very pleased to join my colleagues here today, Congressman Lynch, who has taken such great leadership on this measure. We, in Ohio, appreciate the response of all the emergency personnel who did so very much, and to the people who suffered, and also to Congressman Jim Jordan for bringing this to the floor today. We are joined hand in hand as we move forward together in northern Ohio to better manage our fresh water asset for future generations.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 728) expressing the support and sympathy of the House of Representatives and the people of the United States for the victims of the devastating flooding that occurred across many parts of Ohio in August 2007 and commending the communities, volunteer organizations, churches and emergency response agencies for their continuing work to restore the affected areas across the state.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. Speaker, as a member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, I'm pleased to join my colleagues in the consideration of H. Res. 728, which is a bill that expresses the support and sympathy of the House of Representatives and the people of the United States for the victims of the devastating floods that swept across Ohio in August of 2007.

H. Res. 728, which has 51 cosponsors, was introduced by my friend, Representative Jim Jordan, on October 10, 2007. H. Res. 728 was reported from the Oversight Committee on October 23, 2007, by voice vote.

Mr. Speaker, during the week of August 19, 2007, Ohio received over 15 inches of rain in a violent storm that swept across the State. Firefighters and volunteers from that State performed great acts of heroism in rescuing people from life-threatening conditions.

The storm caused major flooding that damaged many homes and businesses, and the water forced at least 500 families from their homes in several northern Ohio towns.

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio declared states of emergency in nine counties in northwest and north central Ohio. This was, indeed, the worst flooding for Ohio since 1913.

I now rise in support of the victims in this disaster and to commend the State, local and Federal officials and emergency personnel for their response to this crisis situation.

I commend my colleague, Representative Jordan, for seeking to express support and sympathy for the Ohio flood victims.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend and colleague, Ms. Marcy Kaptur from Ohio, for as much time as she may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. Speaker, I too rise in support of this resolution. Obviously, as a result of these devastating floods this summer, we had eight counties that were declared disaster counties in our State, 4\1/2\ of those counties I had the privilege of representing. The other 3\1/2\ counties were represented by our late friend, Congressman Paul Gillmor.

I want to commend Congressman Gillmor's staff for the help of Paul, of course, when he was with us, and then his staff for the great assistance they provided our office and others as we worked through this.

I also just want to take a moment to thank those local leaders, both our police, our fire, our EMS people, our local public officials and our State public officials who did just an outstanding job and also commend our Federal officials. FEMA was there in Ohio, the leaders were there, Director Paulison, as well as Mr. Preston with the SBA, and then they have been in Ohio for several months serving families and individuals and local governments who were devastated by these floods.

The thing, I guess, that really stands out for me, in the midst of this devastation, it was so neat to see how communities come together, how people work together and all kinds of acts of kindness from family member to family member and from neighbor to neighbor and community to community. It was amazing to see what takes place when devastation hits an area.

The resolution just expresses our commendation for those individuals, those local officials, those families, those people in west central and north central Ohio who did such an outstanding job dealing with the devastation that took place.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of our time.

Let me, too, just thank Congressman Lynch and Congresswoman Kaptur. Congresswoman Kaptur has been right at the front of looking at this in a comprehensive way, and we appreciate that. She talked about our mayors both in Findlay and Shelby, Ohio, who have done so much work and who are looking at this overall approach.

Also, we talked about our local officials. I don't know if we mentioned our two U.S. Senators who have been very helpful in this effort as well, looking at this in a broad way.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of our time.