CA
Story-
TCH- Telling
After the Flood
UP
Reading about weather in books is one thing, but living through a natural
disaster was another. Even though the flood was not too bad, I was not prepared for
FRID
what it was really like!
I t all started two days ago. I t was a rainy day, like every other rainy day I’ve ever
AY
remembered. The only unusual thing was how anxious the adults seemed to be getting. I
started to pay more attention whenever I saw the news on at our house, at a restaurant, or
anywhere else. The meteorologists kept saying that the rain hadn’ t stopped in a long
time, and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. I didn’t really know what
that meant for us, since Mom was always saying that rain was good for all the plants. The
next morning, however, I began to understand.
I woke up and went down for breakfast. Usually Mom or Dad was already
eating by the time that I woke up, but neither of them was at the kitchen table, and
the lights all over the house were off. This is weird, I thought. I went to get out the
milk, but there was a note on the refrigerator telling me not to open the door. As I
was wondering what I could eat for breakfast, I noticed that the rain was still going,
and that I could hear noises coming from the basement. I went to investigate. Peeking
through the basement door, I immediately stopped. There was water down there!
I t didn’t look like a lot, but there were toys and things floating by! I could hear Mom and
Dad’s voices.
“Hello? What’s going on down here?” I called down the stairs.
“Good morning, Vicky. All of this rain is causing some problems. The power all over
town is out. Our basement is flooded, and so are some of the roads. A lot of houses have
water in them, too,” Dad called back.
A little water didn’t seem too bad, and the power had gone out before, so I wasn’t too
worried. Mom and Dad seemed to be taking care of i t. They were talking about a pump,
so I think they were getting the water out of the basement. I went to go play in my room.
Not too long after, Mom and Dad came back upstairs, changed their clothes, and washed
their hands using hand sanitizer. I asked them what was going on.
Not too long after, Mom and Dad came back upstairs, changed their clothes, and washed
their hands using hand sanitizer. I asked them what was going on.
“Well, we pumped the water out by hand, but there’s some damage downstairs. We’re
going to have to find some fans once the power comes back to try to dry out the basement
as much as we can, but we might have to tear out the drywall and replace i t. There are
things that got all wet that we’re going to have to replace, too. I t’s quite the mess,” Mom
said. “We’re also going to have to see i f we can get a generator, i t looks l ike the power
will probably be out for the rest of the day.”
We decided to drive around to see how other people in our town were doing. There
were a lot of roads that were closed because of water covering the road, so we
couldn’t get to the store. One bridge over the river was closed because water was
rushing over it! The houses by the river looked like they were in the river. We stopped
to help people who were filling bags with sand. The bags helped to keep the water
away.
They said their neighbors across the street were in another town living with relatives until
their house could be repaired. I couldn’t believe how much the flood was affecting us!
When we finished filling up sandbags, we drove back home.
“I can’t believe those people lost all of their clothes and household items. We should
go through our stuff and see what we can donate. We’re lucky we only had a couple
of inches of water in our basement, it could have been a lot worse,” said Dad. Mom
and I agreed. Even though we didn’t have power and fixing the basement could get
expensive, we were lucky.
Questions:
1. Retell the story in your own words.
2. How did Vicky’s understanding of a flood change?
3. Why did Vicky’s parents put a note on the refrigerator telling her not
to open i t?
4. What other i tems besides clothes might Vicky and her family be able
to donate to victims of the flood?
5. What would you do for an entire day without power?
Answers:
1. Retell the story in your own
words. Answers wi ll vary.
2. How did Vicky’s understanding of a flood change?
Her understanding of the flood changed when she saw the note of
the fridge door and heard noises from the basement. She learned
that their basement was flooded.
3. Why did Vicky’s parents put a note on the refrigerator telling her not
to open i t?
They put a note on the refrigerator not to open it as the power was
out. When the power is out the refrigerator does not work. You’l l
want to keep it closed not to let the cold air out , so the food inside
stays fresh for a longer time.
4. What other i tems besides clothes might Vicky and her family be able
to donate to victims of the flood?
Answers wi ll vary, but appropriate responses could be food and
blankets.
5. What would you do for an entire day without power?
Answers wi ll vary.
