July 13, 2019

Duckworth Hosts Roundtable on Impacts of Extreme Flooding with Southern Illinois Leaders

 

[ULLIN, IL] – U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today hosted a roundtable discussion with officials from Alexander, Union, Randolph and Jackson counties to discuss the extreme flooding impacting communities in the area. Illinois Emergency Management Agency Director Alicia Tate-Nadeau, Southern Five Regional Planning District Executive Director Tiffany George, McClure Mayor Cheryle Dillon, Prairie du Rocher Mayor Raymond Cole, East Cape Girardeau City Clerk Becky Glodo, Jackson County Sheriff Robert Burns, as well as leaders from the Illinois Department of Transportation, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Alexander, Union and Jackson counties all participated in Senator Duckworth’s roundtable today. Photos from today’s meeting are available here.

“As Americans, it’s our responsibility to support one another in times of need, especially when our communities are devastated by disasters and severe weather,” said Duckworth. “Flooding across Southern Illinois has devastated so many families, and I will keep working with local leaders and doing all I can to help provide federal support to repair these affected communities.”

Duckworth, along with the Illinois Congressional Delegation, wrote to the U.S. Department of Agriculture this week to support Governor JB Pritzker’s request for a disaster declaration for eligible counties in Illinois impacted by significant damage done to crops by the ongoing flooding. Last month, Duckworth and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) introduced the Fairness in Federal Disaster Declarations Act to reform the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) disaster declaration process to make it more transparent and equitable to small and rural communities in larger states like Illinois.

Duckworth also asked for a study on how the federal government is managing flood risk management infrastructure in the Midwest and how the resilience of levees can be increased, and introduced legislation to help cities develop better methods for mapping, understanding and mitigating urban flooding.

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