Special Message to the Congress Requesting Additional Funds for the Rehabilitation of the Flood Stricken Areas of the Midwest.

To the Congress of the United States:

I request your urgent consideration of a matter of grave emergency.

A great flood disaster-one of the most terrible in the history of the United States-has struck a vast area of the Middle West. The center of its devastation is the valley of the Kansas River, but destruction is spread through other Kansas valleys and parts of Missouri and Oklahoma, and has touched several of the adjacent States.

From May 15 to early July, rain fell almost constantly over an area of thousands of square miles, with the heaviest downpours concentrated in south-central Kansas. By early July, the streams and rivers of Kansas had risen to unprecedented heights. Reservoirs, where they existed, overflowed. Millions of tons of water plunged downstream, crumbling dikes and levees all along the course and sweeping away homes, farms, businesses, roads, bridges, and communication lines. The crest of the flood hit the concentrated industrial area along the river banks at Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri, on July 13, and swept a path of destruction across the entire width of Missouri before its force was spent.

The velocity of the waters, as well as their depth and volume, was without parallel in the recorded history of the region. For the month of July, stream flow in central Kansas was seventy times normal.

The loss to the Nation along 1,000 miles of river valleys is now being measured. Already more than one billion dollars in physical damage and at least that much more in loss of income has been counted in preliminary estimates. When the final estimate is in, the toll will be greater.

I wish that every Member of the Congress could have flown, as I did, over these valleys at the height of the flood. I wish that every Member of the Congress could now tramp through the desolated cities of Kansas and drive through the wasteland where lie what were some of the richest farm acres in the world, their crops now obliterated.

It is estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 homes were flooded. Of these, some 10,000 or 15,000 are destroyed or have suffered major damage--many beyond repair.

At the peak of the flood, some two or three hundred thousand persons were driven from their homes. At least 20,000 of these are still displaced--living in schoolhouses, churches, auditoriums, trailer camps, temporary housing, or with relatives, friends or strangers who took them in when the disaster struck.

At least 5 million acres of farm land, including some of the richest and most productive agricultural land in the Nation, has been badly damaged. Land in the path of the floods was gouged and eroded, its topsoil carried away. At least 30,000 farms were wholly or partially under water--many standing under 25 feet or more at the peak and remaining flooded for many days. When the water left, thousands of acres were buried under sand and gravel. Thousands of acres are still covered by "trapped water" and must be drained. A year's crops were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of livestock killed, several million dollars worth of critical farm machinery and equipment destroyed or seriously damaged.

At least 10,000 miles of fences were destroyed--enough to skirt the perimeter of the United States. Farm buildings were damaged on 17,000 farms.

At least 5,000 small businesses were completely or partially destroyed. Store and factory buildings were swept away, merchandise and equipment ruined.

More than one billion dollars of loss--in property damage, and loss of production and employment--has already been suffered by the industries that are tightly concentrated along the Kansas and Missouri rivers at Kansas City, Kansas, and Kansas City, Missouri.

In many cases, particularly upstream, time was too short and trucks too few to allow families to save their furniture and other household possessions. As the crisis struck, organized effort had to be devoted to saving life. Few lives were lost, but many families today have virtually nothing beyond the clothes they wore when they fled--or were rescued from--the path of the waters.

In the American tradition, neighbors have taken care of neighbors. Every refugee is being sheltered; everyone is fed. Cities not flooded have "adopted" stricken cities. States and communities with emergency Federal aid, are. restoring and repairing roads, utilities, and public buildings. A great national organization, the American Red Cross, has done and is doing the heroic emergency job that people stricken with disaster can always count upon. During the crisis, Federal agencies, particularly the units of the Armed Forces in the area, threw all available men and resources into the fight to minimize the destruction.

In the tremendous task of putting families and communities back on their feet, the Federal Government now can do two things. First, under the Disaster Relief Act of 1950, regular activities of several Federal agencies can be specially directed to emergency aid, and 25 million dollars have been appropriated to assist communities in clearing debris, in health protection, in the emergency repair of public property, and to provide temporary housing and for other emergency relief. Mr. Raymond M. Foley, Administrator of the Housing and Home Finance Agency, is responsible for these funds, and for coordinating Federal Agency emergency relief activities.

Thus far, nearly 11 million dollars have been allocated to Federal agencies and to State governments for re-allocation to local governmental units. Temporary housing needs, remaining clean-up costs, and estimates now being completed by States and communities to cover emergency repairs to waterworks, sewer systems, streets, roads, bridges and other community facilities will probably exhaust the remaining 14 million dollars, even with the fullest contributions the local governments can themselves make.

Second, a number of lending agencies-including the Department of Agriculture, the Housing and Home Finance Agency, the Veterans Administration, and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation--can to a limited extent make or insure loans for the rehabilitation of farms, homes, and businesses.

But in a disaster of this magnitude, the combined resources now available to the Federal Government, the States and the local communities, and private organizations such as the American Red Cross, are far from enough to accomplish the tremendous task of restoring for the Nation the productivity and economic vitality of one of its major regions.

There are two reasons why the Nation must act--and at once--to restore the stricken regions to economic health.

The first is humanitarian. The victims of the flood must be given opportunity to renew their farming, to reopen their businesses, to build new homes, to find employment--and without a crushing burden of new debt for every individual. In this land, we do not take the view that a man's misfortune, suffered through no fault of his own, is his own affair, or that a stricken community shall be left to shift for itself. Normally the aid comes from local resources or from those of private relief agencies. But when the disaster spreads beyond the capacity of those resources, then the Nation itself must act to share the loss.

The second reason is that we are now engaged as a Nation in a struggle for survival, and we cannot afford to dispense for long with the industrial and agricultural production that came but is not now coming from the flooded areas. The industries in those valleys turned out hundreds of products that are critical in the building of military and economic strength. Our meat supply will be seriously affected by the loss of corn and livestock, and the food supplies of not only this Nation but the whole free world may suffer from the loss of wheat.

Because of the effect of the disaster on the defense effort, I assigned to the Director of Defense Mobilization, Mr. Charles E. Wilson, the task of coordinating long-range Federal rehabilitation activities as distinguished from the emergency relief aid previously described. Mr. Alfred E. Howse, of Mr. Wilson's staff, has been directing this work in the flood area. They have seen to it that priorities have been granted for repair work in the area, and that all types of aid have been extended within the limits of existing laws and funds. The recommendations contained in this message are based upon their estimates, after a month of close observation.

We urgently need to take steps to relieve human suffering and restore economic life in this flood area, and to protect against future losses from disasters of this type.

In the long run, of course, the greatest need is for the prevention of floods--through carefully planned and coordinated programs of conservation and water control. Until flood prevention can be assured, however, other measures are urgently required to meet the needs of the present and of the immediate future.

I recommend, therefore, that the Congress at once approve an appropriation of 400 million dollars for the following purposes:

1. To indemnify the flood victims for a portion of their loss of real and personal property.

2. To make and guarantee loans on liberal terms for the building of homes and businesses to replace those destroyed.

3. To help farmers drain and rehabilitate their land, replace buildings, and restore the productive capacity of their farms, through on-farm assistance and disaster loans.

4. To permit loans where necessary to enable State and local government participation in the rehabilitation activities.

5. To provide funds to establish a national system of flood disaster insurance, similar to the war damage insurance system of World War II.

To administer the program, I expect to establish a Flood Disaster Administration as a small policy and control body, with operating functions placed in existing Federal and State departments and agencies.

Under the circumstances, a broad degree of discretion in administering the rehabilitation funds is necessary. In this emergency, speed of action is all-important. Winter is approaching, and Congressional authorization for Federal aid cannot be delayed to await the development of fully detailed plans for the administration of aid in the variety of individual circumstances that will arise. A broad legislative directive will let the stricken region know in general what can be counted on, so that individuals and communities can make plans for going ahead with rehabilitation activities.

The loan programs represent no new departure in Government policy. My recommendations will simply increase the available funds and remove certain normal limitations which are inappropriate in a disaster of this magnitude.

But loans--even on liberal terms--are not enough to meet this situation. People who lost their homes, farms, and businesses now have little or no security to offer a lender. Very few, if any, individuals or businesses had any insurance protection against their flood losses. Generally speaking, private insurance companies have not offered such protection, because of the uncertain nature of the risk. Consequently, many people were left after the flood with nothing--or with nothing but their debts. If they could borrow more, new loans added to the old ones would create a debt burden that for an indefinite time to come would be a drag on the economic vitality of the region and would impair its ability to contribute to building our national security.

For these reasons, I consider it essential to provide some rehabilitation grants, directed particularly to assist wage earners and small farmers and businessmen, whose losses in this flood represented personal financial tragedy. To accomplish the most in rehabilitation with the money available, the indemnity program should provide a sliding scale. For example, on the first $10,000 of loss (after deducting a standard amount of perhaps $200), the payment might be 80 percent, on the next $10,000, 60 percent, and so on, with a maximum payment of perhaps $20,000 for any one claimant. The ceiling would exclude the bulk of the industrial losses, but it would enable individuals and small businesses to make a prompt new start. Fortunately, most of the large industrial concerns affected have other resources; and many are, in fact, already proceeding with reconstruction of their plants.

As part of the rehabilitation program, local redevelopment plans should be required in some cases to assure that rebuilding does not take place in areas subject to recurrent flooding. For example, some of the devastated urban areas could best be converted to parks, recreation areas, or other public uses to minimize the amount of investment in construction on flood plains.

The whole aid program must be carried out on a basis of joint participation by Federal, State, and local governments. The States and cities that are affected have already spent much in restoring their own public services. Nevertheless, the States, and where possible the cities, should share the cost of the whole program on some equitable basis.

The lack of a national system of flood disaster insurance is now a major gap in the means by which a man can make his home, his farm, or his business secure against events beyond his control. It is a basic requisite to the rapid re-opening of plants in the flood region, where dikes cannot be rebuilt for some months, and companies are unwilling, in some cases, to undertake the risk of being inundated in the meantime.

The system of flood insurance should be based, if possible, upon private insurance with re;insurance by the Government. This was the principle of the war risk insurance in effect in World War If. It depends, of course, upon the demonstration by private insurers that they can meet the needs of those seeking insurance at reasonable rates.

Once the system of flood insurance is in effect, there should be no need in the future for a program of partial indemnities such as is now proposed for the Midwest flood victims. As a permanent national policy, insurance is far superior to direct Federal payments.

Suggested appropriation language to carry out these recommendations is attached to this

message.

The major features of the indemnification proposals I am making are similar to those already introduced in the Congress by Senator Hennings and Representative Bolling of Missouri. The principles incorporated in all my recommendations have the support of the Governors of Kansas and Missouri and the Governors' advisory committees which represent major groups within the two States. They will revive a region of the Nation now badly hurt--a region of such importance to the security and welfare of the whole country that its revival must be the immediate concern of all our citizens.

I urge the adoption of this program as an emergency measure. Whatever is done must be started with the greatest speed.

Homeless families must be re-housed quickly. Industrial production and transportation must be restored. To avert the loss of next year's farm production from much of the flooded land, drainage ditches must be opened, debris cleared away, and silted soil seeded to cover crops in the remaining 60 to 90 days before winter sets in. Tax resources of States and communities must be re-established.

In all of these things, we must move quickly. Every day counts.

HARRY S. TRUMAN