to put that in perspective, that would take five years for the city of bakersfield, california, to achieve that number. that would take 10 years for yuma city, nevada, to receive that level of rain. for those americans that haven't realized they can live in the pleasure of the subtropics and you live up north, to translate that to snowfall, that's the equivalent of a 25-foot snowstorm. a storm that leaves 25 feet of snow. this is categorized again as a 1,000-year event. 31 inches of rain and in some cases as short as perhaps 36 hours. mr. speaker, we have areas that have never, ever flooded, never seen water, never retained, held water in any way, shape, or form that dealt with several feet of water in their homes and businesses. in livingston parish, louisiana, it's estimated 86% of the homes and 91% of the businesses were flooded. this has been a devastating event for many folks in our community. mr. speaker, as we move forward, certainly the stafford act, the federal disaster law, has a role in helping our communities to recover. what happened when this storm first came about and the fl