Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, July 14, 1994 TAG: 9407140100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: ALBANY, GA. LENGTH: Medium
Clinton took to television to promise local farmers he would ask Congress for twice the normal level of aid. '`One thing I do not want to do,'' he said, ``is to allow this flood to become a reason for more good farmers to leave the land.''
It was an urgent display of federal generosity in a region where Clinton's popularity is at an ebb, and where two of the congressional districts that are underwater appear ready to float into Republican hands in November as the Democratic incumbents, Reps. Earl Hutto from the Florida Panhandle and J. Roy Rowland of south-central Georgia, are not seeking re-election.
A White House spokesman said the presidential visit, which included meetings with Republican as well as Democratic politicians, was ``a fairly natural response when people are suffering.''
Clinton left his limousine, jumbo jet and necktie at home for Wednesday's visit, choosing instead to fly a mid-sized military plane to the center of the flooded region before taking a half-hour helicopter ride to see the damage.
A swirling rainstorm held up his departure by a half-hour as his plane sat on the runway.
With his entourage through the day were national and local politicians including both Georgia senators, two of its House members and the Democratic governors of Georgia, Alabama and Florida.
The city of Albany, Ga., they saw swimming in water the color of light coffee, 12 feet deep in places and at least 25 feet over flood stage in most. The flood easily exceeded a record set in 1925.
Clinton said, ``A lot of the agony that people will have in their businesses, and these little towns that have had all their business districts wiped out, will not become apparent until after the waters go down. Our commitment is to stay in this for the long run, and to do whatever is necessary.''
Clinton promised the growers to offset every cent of their crop losses above the deductible, rather than the 50 cents on the dollar that has been customary in recent years.
Since the remnants of a tropical storm drifted inland and stalled on July 5, up to three feet of rain has swamped a West Virginia-sized swath of the deep South, from Atlanta to the Florida Panhandle and Alabama's Gulf Coast.
By the White House's count, the flooding has killed 31 people and left 50,000 homeless, 5,000 of them crammed into school gymnasiums and dozens of other refugee centers.
Most aid Clinton pledged Wednesday would help people reclaim flooded houses or find new ones. It includes $38 million in temporary loans to public housing authorities with damaged apartments and $11.6 million for emergency shelter, food and water.
The Labor Department will spend $4 million to hire people made jobless by the flood for cleanup work, and the Transportation Department will spend $12.5 million to rebuild highways.
The floodwaters have covered a million acres of farmland and soaked thousands of homes and businesses. All but one of the flood-related deaths - that one in Alabama - have been in Georgia.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB