Letter to Barack Obama, President of the United States - Declaring Major Disaster for Arizona Due to Severe Flooding in September

Letter

October 31, 2014

The Honorable Barack Obama
President of the United States
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear President Obama:

As you know, the Governor of Arizona, Jan Brewer, has made a formal request under Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act that you declare a Major Disaster for the State of Arizona as a result of severe flooding during the period of September 7, 2014 through September 9, 2014. We are writing to ask that you expeditiously consider this request.

As Governor Brewer's disaster request letter outlines, heavy rainfall caused by the remnants of Hurricane Norbert resulted in extensive flooding throughout the State. The Phoenix area experienced its wettest day in history, surpassing a record set in 1939. A preliminary damages assessments for Maricopa, La Paz, and Pinal Counties exceeded $18 million. Among other impacts, major sections of freeways were closed, canals and flood control systems were overwhelmed, and two individuals perished in separate flash flood incidents. State search and rescue teams spent considerable resources performing numerous rescues of stranded drivers and residents for this incident, in addition to services provided during flooding from two other hurricane remnants (Hurricane Lowell and Hurricane Odile) -- all of which impacted Arizona within a two-month period.

We thank you for your attention to this matter, and your swift consideration of Governor Brewer's Major Disaster Declaration request.

Sincerely,

John McCain
Jeff Flake
Ann Kirkpatrick
Ron Barber
Raúl Grijalva
Paul Gosar
Matt Salmon
Ed Pastor
Trent Franks
Kyrsten Sinema