Flood threat prompts Valley Congressmen to call for high level of federal readiness

FRESNO - Three Central Valley Congressmenhave called on President Bush and the federal government "to stand ready to expeditea federal disaster declaration for sixteen Northern and CentralCalifornia counties."

In a letter to the President, Congressmen Jim Costa,D-Fresno, Devin Nunes, R-Visalia, and George Radanovich, R-Mariposa, cited sixweeks of heavy rain as the reason they are urging a high level of federal readiness. The severe rains, they wrote the President, havealready resulted in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declaring that a state ofemergency exists in the sixteen counties. Included were the counties of: Calaveras, Fresno,Kings, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Tulare and Tuolumne inthe central part of the state.

Expressing their concern after visiting local areasthreatened with flooding, Costa, Nunes and Radanovich urged the President andthe federal government to "work with and remain on close watch with California and local officials...if we are to avoid theconsequences of a natural disaster such as the one that befell the Gulf Coaststates last fall."

The full text of the letter is in the accompanying PDF file.

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