The Flourishing Flood

• Jessy Fishkin, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

It has been raining for ten whole days and there’s no sign of stopping in this tiny rural town of Gunther. Two days ago the Town Mayor issued a flood warning so I helped my dad fill sand bags to surround our house and a few of the shops in town. The possibility of evacuating scared me a little. Gunther has never flooded in the past, but even I know that doesn’t mean it wont flood in the future.

I went to bed, closed my eyes and I wished as hard as I could that the rain would just go away. I awoke in the middle of the night and overheard mum and dad talking. Dad said “I think we should make an emergency kit. We may have to evacuate at a moment’s notice and we need to take the absolute essentials. ” Mum replied, “I hope Ross has memorised our phone numbers incase we get separated.” ‘Emergency’, ‘evacuation’ and ‘separation’ are three words no eleven-year-old wants to hear.

The rain got worse in the morning. Water had come into our house covering every inch of the house. Mum called out to me and asked to help load the car with valuables. Mum looked angrily at dad and shouted “We should have evacuated hours ago Tom!”

We made our way to the car but it didn’t seem like a good idea to drive. We listened to the radio and heard the announcer mention that all Gunther residents should evacuate because a flash flooding was occurring. I asked dad, “If there’s a flash flood, shouldn’t we move to higher ground”. Dad agreed and we all got out of the car and made our way onto the roof of the house. I heard the announcer say, “If you are leaving your home remember – do not walk through or drive into flooded waters. If floodwaters rise around your car, abandon your car and move to higher ground immediately.” This was a relief to hear. The thought of our car being swept away in rapidly moving water and seeking refuge on the roof of our car gave me a million goosebumps.

My dad contacted emergency services. After a few hours I heard the sound of a helicopter hovering over us. In a matter of minutes we were hoisted up into the helicopter. I never thought that I would have a bird’s eye view of my flooded house from an emergency helicopter. As we made our way out of town I saw toppled cars with smashed windows inside of shops.

We were placed on ground in a shelter a few kilometers outside of town with hundreds of other people. We returned home after a few days and clean up effort started almost immediately. Even I knew that we had lost everything and life wasn’t going to be the same again. I took away a valuable lesson; it can flood anywhere it rains! Even in a small rural town like Gunther.