People need to be cautious because anything built by man can be destroyed by Mother Nature.

You know, we lose more homes every year to flooding than we do any other event in America.

You cannot depend on a sandbag dike to save your life. You put it up to try to save your property.

Before Katrina, it was a longstanding tradition in our country for political officials to wait until the last minute to warn, to take action, to evacuate. No more. With Irene, you had mass evacuations - mandatory ones - issued days ahead of time. That was the right thing to do.

America needs to get over it. We can't control everything. We can't control the storms.

The National Guard has served America as both a wartime force and the first military responders in times of domestic crisis. Hundreds of times each year, the nation's governors call upon their Guard troops to respond to fires, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters.

I think American industry has lost perspective about their products.