Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today urged President Bush to declare a major disaster in California in order to help residents recover from deadly storms that have struck Southern California in the past week.

Following is the text of the letter Senator Feinstein sent to President Bush seeking his assistance:

February 23, 2005

President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

I am writing to request that you promptly declare a major disaster in the State of California in response to damage from severe storms that have swept through several Southern California counties over the past week.

Since the end of last year, Southern California has experienced a series of record storms resulting in widespread flooding, mudslides, and debris flows. Over the last week, the region again suffered overwhelming rain and snowfall.

The outcome has truly been tragic. Nine deaths are blamed on the most recent storms and Los Angeles alone has suffered over $10 million in public and private damage in the last seven days. This is all in addition to the $235 million in damage to public facilities region-wide from the previous set of storms. And serious threats still exist. Due to excessive ground saturation from the record rainfall, many communities remain at risk of further flooding and mudslides.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to make a formal request for federal assistance in the next several days. I respectfully urge you to approve the Governor’s request as quickly as possible, and I look forward to working with you in any way to ensure that those affected by this disaster get the assistance they need.

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator

cc: Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger