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""J:.J~""J: HR. SPARKS: "The Lower Arkansas was the most puzzling thing to me. ,']e moved troops in. I never saw an area that was so completely devastated and the people more bewildered, particularly down in Holly and Granada. We brought in kitchens and troops. We were feeding at one time over I l,OOO people that were homeless in that area. f.!any people \'lere at a complete loss as to \'lhat to do. They had no water, no power, no gas, no food; the banks were inundated, so no money. As a matter of fact, \'Ie had to keep troops there for some two to three weeks to assist with the ordinary affairs of the towns. l'1e flew in medical teams, water purification units, generators to get some power in the towns; the Army brought in helicopters from Texas, Okla- homa and surrounding states. The helicopters evacuated considerably in excess of l,OOO. people. They tried to evacuate one man who was standing on his car, and just as they tried to get to the man he slipped and fell into the torrent and was drowned. But the helicopters did rescue a good many people. As I say, the devastation was incredible. In prowers County, which was the worst hit in the state percentage-wise, I thiruc the damages about equalled the assessed valuation of that county. So they have a long hard row to bring that county back to any type of economic unit again. We are proceeding as rapidly as we can. I made some Etatement against cr&sh planning and I am convinced of that. The reason I make that statement has already been brought out to some extent. It is going to take us probably fifteen years, at least, to bring under control just these areas that suffered severe damages. ,']e hope to get started this I fiscal year but it is a long, difficult pro- gram and it will depend on how long people's memories may be. If they want things done, they'll get them done. If they forget about it in the next year, then that's what will happen to flood control planning, it won't get any\vhere . "